August 17, 2018 | International, Aerospace, Naval

The US Navy’s fight to fix its worn-out Super Hornet fleet is making way

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Navy is slowly making progress to restore to fighting condition its hard-worn fleet of F/A-18 Super Hornet fighters, which last year had just one in three of its fighters ready to deploy.

Today, almost half of the Navy's 546 Super Hornets are considered “mission capable,” a sign that the readiness investments made in the Mattis era are beginning to bear fruit.

In an Aug. 7 media roundtable, Navy Secretary Richard Spencer told reporters the Navy had been chipping away at long-term down aircraft that had been clogging the aviation maintenance depots. The Navy started 2018 with 241 fully mission capable aircraft, and that number is now at 270, he said.

Spencer credited the budget increases from the last two years for the turn-around, but also attributed the success to finding new processes that save time.

Specifically, he highlighted a program called the Depot Readiness Initiative. As part of that program, Spencer said, the Navy is letting the depots perform regular calendar maintenance as well as depot-level maintenance at the same time, a move that cuts out redundant work by performing scheduled and depot maintenance at the same time.

In the roundtable, Spencer said he was stunned at how badly degraded readiness was in the service when he took over.

“I didn't have a full appreciation for the size of the readiness hole, how deep it was, and how wide it was. my analogy is you have a thoroughbred horse in the stable that you're running in a race every single day.

“You cannot do that. Something's going to happen eventually. ... If you look at where we are now, I can tell you we're a more ready and lethal force today than we were last year.”

Full article: https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2018/08/16/the-us-navys-fight-to-fix-its-worn-out-super-hornet-fleet-is-making-way

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December 4, 2020 | International, Aerospace

KONGSBERG awarded second follow-on JSM contract with Japan valued 820 MNOK
December 1, 2020 - The JSM is a 5th generation stealth air-to surface missile developed to fill F-35A anti-surface warfare (ASuW) and land attack capability gaps. JSM can be carried internally in the F-35 thus ensuring the aircraft's low-signature capabilities. The JSM has superior performance against well-defended sea- and land targets across long distances. “The international F-35 user community is continuing to show great interest in the JSM and KONGSBERG is very proud to have been selected by Japan to provide the JSM for their F-35 fleet. “Our relationship is growing even stronger with this second follow-on contract”, says Eirik Lie, President, Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace AS. For editors: KONGSBERG and the Government of Japan are not disclosing any further detail on value, volume or timeline of the contract. For further information, please contact: Ronny Lie, Group Vice President Communications, Kongsberg Gruppen ASA, Tel.: (+47) 916 10 798. Jan Erik Hoff, Group Vice President Investor Relations, Kongsberg Gruppen ASA, Tel: (+47) 991 11 916. View source version on KONGSBERG: https://www.kongsberg.com/newsandmedia/news-archive/20202/kongsberg-awarded-second-follow-on-jsm-contract-with-japan-valued-820-mnok/
August 12, 2024 | International, Land

Poland signs deal for 48 Patriot system launchers
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June 9, 2020 | International, C4ISR, Security

Special Operations Command wants to upgrade its data analytics platform
Andrew Eversden U.S. Special Operations Command wants ideas from industry to improve the organization's large data analytics platform, an initiative that could lead to as much as $600 million in contracts in the next decade. A request for information released June 5 outlines two lines of effort for changes to the Global Analytics Platform: development and system upgrades, and maintenance and sustainment. SOCOM is exploring both a single-award, indefinite delivery, indefinite delivery contract for each lines of effort or a multi-award ID/IQ for each one. SOCOM, headquartered at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla., expects the contract to be worth as much $600 million for 10 years of work. Analysts use the platform to search, discover and analyze large quantities of data. The platform contains applications that are “interfacing with robust data ingest, enrichment, transport, and dissemination across intelligence and operations portfolios.” It is also deploy into the Intelligence Community's Commercial Cloud Services (C2) environment, the solicitation reads. Under the first line of effort, the combatant command wants to upgrade the platform to apply more data science and machine learning/artificial intelligence capabilities to “to improve analyst workflow and free trapped technical capacity.” Agile software will be added “to implement iterative methodologies for the development of applications” to add to the current system architecture. The contractor will also provide technical experts to build and deploy tools to “aggregate and analyze intelligence data for real time exploitation in support of USSOCOM missions.” The request states that the expected places of performance are Arlington, Va., Fort Bragg, N.C., the National Geospatial Agency at Fort Belvoir, Va., and locations outside the continental United States. The performance period is Nov. 1, 2021 to Oct. 31, 2031. It also said the platform provides “intelligence targeting support to the find, fix, finish, exploit, and analyze cycle and direct intelligence support to ongoing operations.” SOCOM is investing heavily to improve its data environment. In a separate effort, USSOCOM wants to place all the data commanders need into a single pane of glass, SOCOM Acquisition Executive James Smith said at a May conference. Responses are due July 31. https://www.c4isrnet.com/newsletters/daily-brief/2020/06/08/special-operations-command-wants-to-upgrade-is-data-analytics-platform/

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