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  • U.S. Navy, Coast Guard, Royal Canadian Navy Conduct Tri-Party Staff Talks

    July 25, 2019 | Local, Naval

    U.S. Navy, Coast Guard, Royal Canadian Navy Conduct Tri-Party Staff Talks

    HALIFAX, Nova Scotia (NNS) -- Members of Commander, U.S. 2nd Fleet staff and the U.S Coast Guard Atlantic Area Command joined Canadian Armed Forces' Joint Task Force Atlantic for the 2019 Tri-Party Staff Talks at Canadian Armed Forces Base Halifax, Nova Scotia, July 18-20. This year's staff talks culminated with Commander, U.S. 2nd Fleet (C2F) taking the lead role for the staff talks, as well as Frontier Sentinal, the yearly exercise conducted by the U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, and Royal Canadian Navy. The tri-party rotates acting as the lead for the exercise every two years. Until the reestablishment of C2F in 2018, U.S. Fleet Forces command represented the U.S. Navy in the cohort. The talks evaluated the joint organizations' ability to conduct inter-organizational communications at the operational and tactical levels, achieve and maintain shared maritime domain awareness, and conduct collaborative operational planning. All groups will be required to identify any problems, considerations, constraints, and restraints they are likely to encounter within this scenario. Honing these skills is increasingly important as U.S. 2nd Fleet steps into the role previously occupied by U.S. Fleet Forces Command. “I consider our tri-party relationship to be foundational to 2nd Fleets ability to effectively operate,” said Vice Adm. Andrew Lewis, commander U.S. 2nd Fleet. “We need to be seamless in scenario in order to effectively work together in real world operations. We must transcend interoperability to complete integration between our organizations.” Frontier Sentinel is an annual exercise between all three organizations that serves as the cornerstone for validating the interoperability of the tri-party commands and tactical assets, highlighting challenges to interoperability and identifying solutions. https://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=110346&utm_source=phplist3026&utm_medium=email&utm_content=HTML&utm_campaign=Headlines

  • 4 almost invisible threats to keep US intel officials on edge

    July 24, 2019 | Security

    4 almost invisible threats to keep US intel officials on edge

    By: Nathan Strout The emergence of near-peer allies such as China and Russia presents new concerns to the Defense Intelligence Agency, the organization's director, Lt. Gen. Robert Ashley, said July 19 at the Aspen Institute's Security Forum. The DIA is charged with providing policymakers with intelligence on the military threats posed by foreign governments and non-state actors. Here are four issues America's highest ranking military intelligence officer says are keeping him up at night: - Cyberwarfare Without mentioning specific nations posing a threat, Ashley emphasized his broad concern over cyberattacks from hostile powers. With an increasing number of devices and systems connected to the internet, the vulnerability of infrastructure, power grids, banking and more to cyber attacks is a major concern, he said. “That's kind of the one that keeps me up at night,” he said. “Not to make light of it, but there's some great briefs the NSA will give you and you literally throw your phone away on the way out.” - Threats to National Security Space “We're seeing a period of great competition that is moving its way into space, and the risks there, obviously from a warfighting standpoint, is position, navigation and timing, [meteorological data and] missile early warning systems. Ashley referred to an unclassified document released by the DIA earlier this year that lays out the threats posed by Iran, North Korea, Russia and China in space. Among the capabilities under development by those four nations are directed energy weapons, direct ascent weapons, and co-orbital satellites. Co-orbital satellites are able to essentially nestle up to another satellite in orbit and possibly stealing data or directly damaging the other satellite. “You have the ability to damage a sensor, you can cut lines, you in fact could disable that with a co-orbital satellites,” explained Ashley. Another major concern to national security space is environmental. Space debris, deactivated satellites and the broken pieces of other satellites and launch vehicles, pose a major threat to active spacecraft. Objects as small as 10 centimeters can destroy military satellites in a collision, and there are about 21,000 of those objects, said Ashley. Finding a solution to managing that space debris is a problem the DIA is focused on, he noted. - Hypersonics Hypersonic weapons, missiles able to reach Mach 5 and beyond, pose a unique threat in that they operate in a fundamentally different way than the traditional ballistics the United States' missile defense systems were built to defend against. While traditional ballistic missiles have a set course that make intercepts possible, the speed of hypersonics and their ability to maneuver en route makes interception significantly more complex. “Part of what we have to develop, and this gets into artificial intelligence, algorithms, advanced analytics, is can you be predictive in nature in how that vehicle is going to operate. And so we have to gather a lot of data, structuring algorithms, and see how we can do that,” said Ashley. Defeating hypersonic weapon systems requires rethinking missile defense, and Ashley noted that the military is already taking apart hypersonic missiles and learning how they operate in order to neutralize the threat. - Artificial intelligence Developing artificial intelligence and machine learning programs to process the vast amounts of data that the intelligence community collects is essential, Ashley noted. By giving rote tasks to machines, like processing images and identifying hospitals, human analysts are freed up to interpret that data and make hard decisions," said Ashley. “It is allowing analysts to spend time doing analysis and not having to do a lot of just rigorous kinds of work. It also gives you insights that you may never see because of its ability to aggregate information together,” he said. Ashley referred to the still-under-development Machine-Assisted Analytic Rapid-Repository System (MARS), a system that will use machine learning to process vast amounts of information from intelligence community databases and present it in useful ways for human analysts. MARS will replace the Modern Integrated Database, which was built more than two decades ago. “By applying artificial intelligence, computer vision, we can have a much richer information environment with all that data in there,” said Ashley. “Quantum computing, quantum sensing and quantum communications are all integral to the way ahead." https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/space/2019/07/22/4-almost-invisible-threats-to-keep-us-intel-officials-on-edge/

  • Robots compete to hunt snipers in Navy challenge

    July 24, 2019 | Other Defence

    Robots compete to hunt snipers in Navy challenge

    By: Kelsey D. Atherton The snipers were perched around the hockey rink in Florida. As its human handlers exited through a side of the rink, a counter-sniper team robot into position, before unleashing foam orbs on its turreted foes. A succession of teams passed through, each trying to best both the defenders and their competition, armed with an arsenal you could find in a toy store. Even with comical armaments, there are still lessons for the future of war from foam orb live fire exercises. Held May 22, the Panama City Division of the Naval Surface Warfare Center's 2019 Director's Cup was designed to see if autonomous robots could perform a simulated anti-sniper mission. It's a task that is, in theory, well suited for robots, whose sensors can read the environment differently than human eyes and whose artificial bodies lack the soft fleshy bits that snipers like to target. For the robots to be effective at the mission, they need to complete a set of fixed tasks: navigate the space, find the snipers, place shots on target, and return to where it had launched. In addition, teams were detracted points from their score for hitting objects other than the target and for each shot after the first 10 on a target, with score bonuses available for more quickly completing the challenge. Launched by the Center in 2015, the competition takes place every other year and requires teams to create and field “a fully autonomous, artificially intelligent, ground-based vehicle to neutralize a dangerous battlespace.” (A secondary goal of the competition is fostering teamwork among the teams tasked with building the robots.) While the ammunition was nerf and the battlefield abstracted, the exercise was designed to showcase full autonomy, leaving humans to set the machines in motion and then get out of the way as they performed target identification and shooting. Each team used a Clearpath Robotics Jackal uncrewed ground vehicle as the basis for their robot. Prior competitions required the teams to build both hardware and software from scratch for the robot; with the same standard robot body, the 2019 teams were able to focus on the autonomous features of robot fighting. Besides the basic robot body, the teams outfitted their jackals with a range of sensors, including LMS-111 laser sensors, inertial measurement units, ZED stereo cameras for image identification, NVIDIA Xavier processors, and “an Arbotix-M microcontroller for classification, control and neutralization of a target,” according to Clearpath. For armament, the robots sported Nerf Rival Nemesis guns, with a 100-round capacity. Or at least, that was the basis for what they were supposed to use. The ammunition remained the same across teams but the actual gun was subject to interpretation. How those parts were all integrated together varied team to team. One team mounted the stereo camera directly above the barrel of their Nerf gun. Another mounted two Nerf guns on individual turrets in special 3D-printed casings. The winning team chose to largely eschew the Nerf design, building a custom hopper and using brushless motors with velocity control for greater accuracy. Like beetles iterating around a similar body, the range of options for robots on the same chassis was surprisingly varied. All told, this was a small-scale competition with a goofy weapon in a low-stakes format. It is iteration in this space, as the tools of autonomy become cheap and the means of implementing autonomy become more available, that will make autonomous machines a more durable presence on the battlefields of the future. Targeting systems, navigation algorithms, target distinction and learning how to place the precise number of shots on target? These are the precursors to lethal autonomy, the laboratory experiments and field tests. https://www.c4isrnet.com/unmanned/2019/07/03/robots-compete-to-hunt-snipers-in-navy-challenge/

  • Life Saving Anti-Collision Software Integrated Into First F-35s Seven Years Ahead Of Schedule

    July 24, 2019 | Aerospace

    Life Saving Anti-Collision Software Integrated Into First F-35s Seven Years Ahead Of Schedule

    FORT WORTH, Texas, July 24, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The F-35 Joint Program Office, U.S. Air Force and Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) have started integrating the Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System (Auto-GCAS) on to Air Force F-35As in the fleet. Leveraging a rapid, agile development, test and contracting approach, the joint government and industry team successfully fielded the life-saving technology seven years earlier than previously planned. "This is a great day for the warfighter as the Auto-GCAS is a proven system that is long overdue," said Lt. Gen. Eric Fick, F-35 Program Executive Officer. "Expediting this life-saving technology into the F-35 across the global fleet will bring more warfighters home. Over the service life of the F-35 fleet, having Auto-GCAS is estimated to prevent more than 26 ground collisions from happening. It is indeed a remarkable achievement in aeronautics which will improve the performance, efficiency, and safety of the F-35. The time and effort expended to deliver this critical warfighting capability is worth it – it will save lives." Originally developed for the F-16 in partnership with NASA and the Air Force Research Laboratory, Auto-GCAS uses terrain mapping, geolocation and automation to detect and avoid potential ground collisions. When the program recognizes imminent impact, it will prompt the pilot to take action. If the pilot is unresponsive, Auto-GCAS assumes temporary control to divert the aircraft out of harm's way, and then returns control of the aircraft to the pilot once on a safe trajectory. The system has been operating successfully aboard the F-16 for more than five years and has already been credited with saving eight F-16 pilots' lives since 2014. "Early integration of Auto GCAS in the F-35 is bringing game changing safety capability to a rapidly growing fleet. It couldn't have come at a better time as we near full rate production resulting in more aircraft and pilots exposed to rigorous missions," said Lt. Col. Darren Wees of the Air Force's F-35 Integration Office. "Many thanks to the tenacious efforts of many organizations, primarily the Air Force Research Lab, Air Force Test Center, Lockheed Martin and the F-35 Joint Program Office who made this a technical reality, as well as the U.S. services and F-35 Partner Nations that ensured its inclusion in the program. These efforts have already saved lives and aircraft in the F-16, and will save lives in the F-35." Auto-GCAS was originally slated for delivery in the 2026 timeframe. To accelerate the technology, Air Force Research Laboratory and Lockheed Martin conducted positive feasibility studies and the F-35 Joint Program Office and Lockheed Martin then implemented an agile approach to develop the technology for integration on the F-35. The 412th Test Wing at Edwards Air Force Base then completed a rigorous flight testing program to validate its performance and safety, which led to the wing's formal recommendation to field Auto-GCAS aboard the F-35. "The F-35 is the most survivable fighter jet in the world today – and the addition of Auto-GCAS will further enhance safety and save lives," said Greg Ulmer, Lockheed Martin's vice president and general manager of the F-35 program. "The safe and effective acceleration of this technology is a testament to the joint government and industry team partnering in an agile environment to deliver life-saving capability to our men and women in uniform, significantly sooner than planned." U.S. Air Force F-35As are the first to receive Auto-GCAS, and the system will next be integrated aboard the F-35B and F-35C variants. The Auto-GCAS team was recently recognized with the National Aeronautic Associations' 2018 Robert J. Collier Trophy, and received the prestigious award in June 2019. With stealth technology, advanced sensors, supersonic speed, weapons capacity and superior range, the F-35 is the most lethal, survivable and connected aircraft in the world. More than a fighter jet, the F-35's ability to collect, analyze and share data, is a powerful force multiplier that enhances all airborne, surface and ground-based assets in the battlespace enabling men and women in uniform to execute their mission and return home safely. For additional information, visit www.f35.com. About Lockheed Martin Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 105,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. https://news.lockheedmartin.com/2019-07-24-Life-Saving-Anti-Collision-Software-Integrated-into-First-F-35s-Seven-Years-Ahead-of-Schedule

  • Army’s Rapid Tech Office Set To Deliver Initial Hypersonics Capability In FY ’23, 50KW Laser Weapon In FY ’22

    July 24, 2019 | International, Land

    Army’s Rapid Tech Office Set To Deliver Initial Hypersonics Capability In FY ’23, 50KW Laser Weapon In FY ’22

    The Army's retooled rapid capabilities office has received approval to move ahead with its programs to deliver an initial combat capability for a hypersonic weapon in fiscal year 2023, with plans to announce a prototype award in August, and a Stryker-mounted... https://www.defensedaily.com/armys-rapid-tech-office-set-deliver-initial-hypersonics-capability-fy23-50kw-laser-weapon-fy22/army/

  • Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - July 23, 2019

    July 24, 2019 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security, Other Defence

    Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - July 23, 2019

    DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Innovation Associates Inc., Johnson City, New York, has been awarded a maximum $450,000,000 firm‐fixed‐price, indefinite‐delivery/indefinite‐quantity contract for automated pharmaceutical equipment, accessories, maintenance and training under the Patient Monitoring and Capital Equipment Program. This is a five-year base contract with one five‐year option period. This was a competitive acquisition with 36 responses received. Location of performance is New York, with a July 22, 2024, performance completion date. Using customers are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and federal civilian agencies. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2019 through 2024 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE2D1‐19‐D‐0017). Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., Stratford, Connecticut, has been awarded a maximum $9,804,501 firm-fixed-price delivery order (SPRPA1-19-F-C15B) against basic ordering agreement SPRPA1-17-G-C101, for H-53 hydraulic fluid tanks. This was a sole-source acquisition using justification 10 U.S. Code 2304 (c)(1), as stated in Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1. This is a one-year contract with no option periods. Location of performance is Connecticut, with a Sept. 30, 2020, performance completion date. Using military service is Navy. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2019 Navy working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Aviation, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ARMY ASNA, Santa Ana, California (W911QY-19-D-0045); and Mills Manufacturing Corp.,* Ashville, North Carolina (W911QY-19-D-0046), will compete for each order of the $249,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for the purchase T-11 Personnel Parachute System. Bids were solicited via the internet with two received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of July 22, 2019. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is the contracting activity. North Carolina Division of Services for the Blind, Raleigh, North Carolina, was awarded a $42,289,265 firm-fixed-price contract for full food services to be provided at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Bids were solicited via the internet with five received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of July 31, 2024. U.S. Army Mission and Installation Contracting Command, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, is the contracting activity (W9124J-19-D-0014). NAVY GCR-MDI LLC,* Pinehurst, North Carolina, is awarded an $8,014,356 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for base operations support services at Naval Submarine Base, Kings Bay, and outlying areas. The work to be performed provides for base operations support services to include custodial, pest control, integrated solid waste management, grounds maintenance and landscaping, pavement clearance, and other related services. The maximum dollar value including the base period and four option years is $40,320,917. Work will be performed in Kings Bay, Georgia (99%); and outlying areas (1%), and is expected to be completed by September 2020. If all options are exercised, work will continue through September 2024. No funds will be obligated at time of award. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Navy); fiscal 2020 Defense Health Program; and fiscal 2020 family housing operations and maintenance (Navy) contract funds in the amount of $7,527,488 for recurring work will be obligated on individual task orders issued during the base period. This contract was competitively procured via the Navy Electronic Commerce Online website, with three proposals received. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Southeast, Jacksonville, Florida, is the contracting activity (N69450-19-D-1725). *Small Business https://dod.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article/1914030//

  • Armée de l'Air : campagne d'essai pour les C-130H modernisés par Collins Aerospace

    July 24, 2019 | International, Aerospace

    Armée de l'Air : campagne d'essai pour les C-130H modernisés par Collins Aerospace

    Le premier des Lockheed Martin C-130H de l'Armée de l'Air doté de la nouvelle avionique Collins Aerospace a débuté sa campagne d'essais en vol et de certification sur la base aérienne de Bordeaux-Mérignac. L'avion est équipé de la solution avionique Collins Aerospace Flight2™ et du double affichage tête haute (HUD), HGS-4500, avec système de vision améliorée multibande, EVS-300, pour améliorer la perception des pilotes de leur environnement. Une caméra infrarouge pour la détection d'objectifs a également été intégrée au HGS. Ensemble, ces solutions permettent d'améliorer les capacités opérationnelles des appareils pour répondre aux besoins spécifiques des missions. “Avec Flight2™, l'Armée de l'Air française dispose d'une avionique de dernière génération et d'une solution optimisée de support et de maintenance pour mener à bien ses missions exigeantes dans le monde entier,” a déclaré Olivier Pedron, directeur général, avionique de Collins Aerospace en France. Après le premier vol et la qualification par la direction générale de l'armement (DGA) des deux premiers appareils rénovés, Collins Aerospace et Sabena Technics fourniront des kits de modification au Service industriel de l'aéronautique (SIAé) pour l'installation en série sur les 12 C-130H restants de la flotte française. Le contrat de modernisation avait été attribué en septembre 2016, par la DGA, à Collins Aerospace pour la maîtrise d'ouvrage, conformément à sa certification FRA-21J, aux côtés de ses partenaires Lockheed Martin et Sabena Technics. Flight2™ permettra aux C-130H français un accès sans restriction à l'espace aérien mondial tel que défini par l'Organisation de l'Aviation Civile Internationale (OACI), leur procurant des capacités tactiques accrues tant sur les thé'tres d'opérations que dans l'espace aérien civil. De plus, il permet une communalité pour le support et la maintenance avec les autres plateformes de l'Armée de l'Air telles qu' E-3, AWACS, et KC-135 ainsi qu'une communalité avec les HUD du C-130J. https://www.air-cosmos.com/article/arme-de-lair-campagne-dessai-pour-les-c-130h-moderniss-par-collins-aerospace-21508

  • Esper confirmed as new defense secretary, ending Pentagon leadership uncertainty

    July 24, 2019 | International, Other Defence

    Esper confirmed as new defense secretary, ending Pentagon leadership uncertainty

    By: Joe Gould and Leo Shane III WASHINGTON — The Senate on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved Mark Esper to be the country's 27th defense secretary, ending a wait of more than 200 days for a permanent Pentagon leader. Esper's relatively drama-free confirmation vote — 90-8 — stood in contrast to the seven months of uncertainty in the highest levels of the military's leadership. After former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis was forced out of his post early on the first day of 2019, acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan helmed the department until he suddenly withdrew from consideration for the full-time job in June amid reports of domestic violence among his family members. Esper, who until then had served as Army secretary for since late 2017, bounced between that job and the acting defense secretary job over the last five weeks. Lawmakers and military officials expressed concerns over the temporary, unclear leadership in recent months, especially as other top military posts were vacated. Tuesday's vote ends the longest period the Defense Department has gone without a permanent, confirmed leader since it became a Cabinet-level agency. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said ahead of the vote Tuesday that Esper is “beyond qualified” for the top military job. "His record of public service is beyond impressive,” McConnell said. “His commitment to serving our service members is beyond obvious. And the need for a Senate-confirmed secretary of defense is beyond urgent.” Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., offered similar praise. “It's not very often we have someone that is enthusiastically supported by Republicans, by Democrats, and he is obviously the right person,” he said. “He has the trust of our president, the trust of our military, the trust of Congress and the country to keep our nation safe.” The only sharp opposition to Esper's nomination came from Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Senate Armed Services Committee member and 2020 presidential hopeful, who grilled Esper over his ties to his former employer, Raytheon. But since President Donald Trump announced Esper's nomination last month, Democrats and Republicans have mostly offered effusive praise for Esper as the right candidate for the job. At Esper's confirmation hearing last week, Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., lauded Esper for hosting him and Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., for an unvarnished look at problematic Army housing in Virginia. “That willingness to show personal accountability was very, very impressive,” Kaine said. “He's been proactive and he's been transparent. ... And I think those are trademarks of exceptional leadership.” Work ahead Esper, a West Point graduate and former Army lieutenant colonel, was vice president of government relations for Raytheon — the third-largest defense contractor in the United States — for seven years before becoming Army secretary. His most notable work leading the Army included a shake-up of the service's acquisitions portfolio. He inherits a military charged with following the National Defense Strategy's focus on competition with Russia and China but still grappling with Iran tensions, politically charged troop deployments on America's southern border and pressure from Trump to exit Afghanistan. The American Enterprise Institute's Rick Berger said the leadership vacuum after Mattis has left the Pentagon “adrift.” Esper would be wise to reset relationships with Capitol Hill and the press, who have both grumbled at a lack of engagement, he added. “The department has never been more timid about telling its story to the public or to Capitol Hill, a legacy of Secretary Mattis and his caretaker successor,” Berger said. Loren DeJong Schulman, a deputy director at the Center for a New American Security, said Esper's priorities will be to fill the department's widespread leadership vacancies, to dig into the fiscal 2021 budget process and to assert himself in decisions regarding tension with Iran. "In doing so, he has the opportunity to reorient some troubling trends in the Pentagon, such as the growing absence of transparency with the press, Hill, and American people, and the dominance of the Joint Staff in what should be political-military policy debates," she said. “Esper is also fighting a White House policy process driven by presidential tweet and instinct, without a responsible deliberate process. Like Mattis, Esper can insist on better cross-agency deliberation to develop policy ideas that support the president's objectives.” Senators will move onto the next Pentagon leadership vacancy tomorrow when they hold a confirmation hearing for David Norquist to be deputy secretary of defense. Trump has already nominated Ryan McCarthy to replace Esper as secretary of the Army. https://www.defensenews.com/news/pentagon-congress/2019/07/23/esper-confirmed-as-new-defense-secretary-ending-pentagon-leadership-uncertainty/

  • F-35 Mod Adds New Missiles To Weapons Bay

    July 24, 2019 | International, Aerospace

    F-35 Mod Adds New Missiles To Weapons Bay

    Lockheed Martin will modify the F-35 weapons bay to accommodate a very long-range, anti-radiation missile and support a potential future upgrade to carry up to six air-to-air missiles internally, a source close to the program says. The U.S. Defense Department awarded Lockheed Martin a $34.7 million contract on July 18 to complete the weapons bay modifications by July 2022. The contract announcement released by the Pentagon specifically calls for altering the portion of the Station 425 bulkhead inside the weapons to carry “aft heavy weaponry.” A source close to the program says the weapon involved in the modification program is the Navy's Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile-Extended Range (AARGM-ER). Although the baseline AARGM bears a close resemblance to the AGM-88 High-speed Anti-Radiation Missile, the AARGM-ER removes the mid-body wings and increases the diameter of the missile body. The maximum range of the AARGM-ER is classified. The Air Force is developing a new version of the AARGM-ER, which is called the Stand-in Attack Weapon. The modification to Station 425 also will allow the F-35 to carry six AIM-120 missiles internally, the source says. Lockheed has proposed the so-called “Sidekick” modification to increase the F-35's internal load-out from four to six air-to-air missiles. The Station 425 modification is funded by all three U.S. service branches acquiring the F-35. Although the AARGM-ER is not yet cleared for export, foreign customers also are contributing, supplying about $7 million of funding for the modification program. https://aviationweek.com/defense/f-35-mod-adds-new-missiles-weapons-bay

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