9 novembre 2020 | International, Aérospatial
By Greg Waldron5 November 2020
BAE Systems, Boeing, and Lockheed Martin have replied to a request for information (RFI) related to work on Tokyo's F-X future fighter programme.
Japan's Acquisition, Technology & Logistics Agency (ATLA) confirms that the RFI was issued on 16 September, with seven companies showing initial interest. Only BAE, Boeing and Lockheed replied prior to the RFI's deadline – the Lockheed bid also involves Northrop Grumman.
“MHI (Mitsubishi Heavy Industries) will conduct conceptual design to look for the best fighter configuration to meet the requirement,” says ATLA.
“Receiving the answers of the RFI from 3 companies, [the ministry of defence] will assess them and choose a candidate company by the end of the year.”
News of the RFI responses follows the 30 October confirmation that the ministry had signed a contract with MHI to develop the F-X, which will succeed the Mitsubishi-produced F-2 in the 2030s.
BAE, which is leading the international Tempest programme in Europe, says that its response to the RFI discusses the company's technical capabilities across a range of areas where BAE can support F-X development.
“We are delighted to have submitted our response to the Japanese Ministry of Defence and we firmly believe that we can add significant value to the F-X programme,” says Andy Latham, campaign delivery director – Japan, for BAE Systems' Air business.
“We have decades of experience of partnering with nations around the world to deliver sovereign capability. Our track record of collaborating on complex combat aircraft programmes has provided us with insight and understanding of the likely challenges and the range of capabilities, technologies and relationships required to successfully deliver the next generation of such programmes.”
Boeing has extensive combat aircraft experience in Japan, including involvement in upgrading Tokyo's fleet of F-15J fighters to a new “Japanese Super Interceptor” standard.
“We are honoured to have been invited to submit a proposal to support the design and production of Japan's next generation fighter,” says Boeing.
“Our proposal is for a Japan-led, next-generation fighter with cutting-edge technology based on the best of Japanese industry and Boeing. We have a strong and rich history of partnering with Japan, and a proven track record in advanced fighters, which will ensure a low-cost, low-risk approach for the Government of Japan and Japanese industry, along with key Japan-US interoperability.”
Lockheed also has a long history in Japan. The F-2 is a derivative of the F-16, and Tokyo is in the process of obtaining up to 147 F-35s, which would make it the second largest operator of the type. MHI operates a final assembly line for the F-35.
“Lockheed Martin has responded to Japan's F-X request for information (RFI) with Northrop Grumman,” says the company. “Our comprehensive RFI response outlines potential areas of development support and participation that could significantly reduce F-X development costs and schedule by leveraging close industry cooperation with Japan's F-X integrator, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and ensuring indigenous design and sovereignty.”
The company points to its experience with stealth aircraft, and also touches on the importance of interoperability with assets such as the F-35.
“We firmly believe that we are well positioned to partner with MHI to cost-effectively develop Japan's next fighter and continue supporting the evolution of Japan's technological capabilities.”
5 septembre 2024 | International, Naval
In this Defense News Conference panel, Navy experts discuss the expansion of unmanned vehicles and how they are shaping the future of maritime warfare.
10 mars 2020 | International, C4ISR
"Our fully networked C3 [Command, Control, & Communications] will look completely different" from current satellites and terminals, said OSD's Doug Schroeder. By THERESA HITCHENS SATELLITE 2020: The Pentagon wants industry ideas on how to craft a “fundamentally new architecture” for command, control and communications (C3) that will allow “any user using any terminal to connect to any other user using any other terminal,” says Doug Schroeder, who oversees the effort under the Office of Research and Engineering (R&E). This kind of omnipresent, all-service connectivity across land, sea, air, and space is essential for the Pentagon's rapidly evolving of future war, known as Joint-All Domain Operations. “Our Fully Networked C3 communications will look completely different. We have a new vision. We're crafting it with the help of industry,” he said. “We're relying on very heavily on industry, starting with this Broad Agency Announcement dated March 6,” which asks for companies to submit white papers in short order. According to Schroeder, the Space Development Agency (SDA) will be the funding authority. Vendors whose short, 10 to 15 page white papers are chosen will be invited at the end of April to a Pitch Day. Winners then will be given three months to develop a proposal; contracts for prototypes will be granted 24 months later. Speaking to a relatively sparse audience here at the annual commercial satellite industry conference, Satellite 2020 — which is underway despite the threat of the COVID-19 Coronavirus — Schroeder stressed: “We are going to take our new direction from you.” The new strategy, called Fully Networked C3 (FNC3), is being spearheaded by R&E director Mike Griffin and his assistant director for FNC3, Michael Zatman. According to the BAA, the first issued under the effort, the new strategy is being designed to “enable the DoD to reliably communicate with all its tactical and strategic assets.” C3 is one of Griffin's Top Ten areas of technology innovation for which DoD is developing an agency-wide development strategy. Specifically, DoD now is looking for “Beyond-Line-Of-Site (BLOS) communications systems for airborne, surface, and subsurface systems that is [sic] compatible with both FNC3 enabled systems and legacy systems,” the BAA states. The BAA calls for White Papers to be submitted by March 30 for three different types of BLOS technologies: 1. Protected Radio Frequency (RF) BLOS Communications. 2. Multi-User/Multi-Point High-Data-Rate Laser Communications. 3. Communications with submerged assets. R&E intends to “develop, prototype, and demonstrate each innovative communications capability with the goal of transitioning the technologies into programs of record,” the BAA said. To ensure speedy results, DoD will use Other Transaction Authority (OTA) for prototyping (found under 10 U.S. Code § 2371b.) Much of the detail about the effort is contained in classified annexes. What we do know: Beyond-Line-Of-Sight communications relayed through satellites generally require equipping platforms — such as aircraft, ships, and ground vehicles — with high-throughput voice and data links, capabilities all of the services have expressed interest in. In particular, after years of little progress, Griffin has reinvigorated DoD interest in optical communications via laser links, in large part due to fears about Russian and Chinese RF jamming. Commercial industry has been rushing to develop optical links to enable satellite-to-satellite data transmission, and the Space Development Agency is interested in that capability for its so-called transport layer of small satellites in Low Earth Orbit. Radio-frequency communications with submarines when underwater are generally limited to terse text messages, transmitted at very low frequencies (three to 30 kilohertz) and extremely low frequencies (three to 300 hertz) and requiring very large antennas to receie them. Research work is ongoing at MIT on how to link traditional underwater sonar to airborne RF receivers, a methodology called Translational Acoustic-RF) communication. Research also is ongoing, including at MIT's Lincoln Lab, on using narrow-beam lasers to allow one underwater vehicle to communicate with another. BLOS communications can also be accomplished without using satellites. Alternative method include tropospheric scatter using microwave radiation, high frequency (HF) wireless, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) relays, and passive reflector systems. https://breakingdefense.com/2020/03/pentagon-seeks-new-satcom-tech-for-fully-networked-c3
3 octobre 2018 | International, Aérospatial
Lee Hudson | Aerospace Daily & Defense Report Bell's experience with V-22Osprey and V-280 Valor tiltrotor aircraft position the company well for the U.S. Marine Corps' Group 5 unmanned aerial system (UAS) competition, the chief executive says. Mitch Snyder, Bell chief executive officer, said Oct. 2 during a Defense One event that the company's offering for the Marine Air-Ground Task Force Expeditionary (MUX) UAS, the V-247 Vigilant, is the next iteration in tiltrotor technology for the company. The multimission aircraft “it could be airborne early warning on one mission, it can be an attack vehicle, it could just be an operating node—it's whatever you want it to be,” Snyder says. Keith Flail, vice president of advanced tiltrotor systems at Bell, told Aerospace DAILY Sept. 25 during Modern Day Marine at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, that the company is focused on the seven key capability gaps the service outlined during an industry day in June. Full article: http://aviationweek.com/defense/tiltrotor-experience-positions-bell-mux-competition