BAE Systems to upgrade flight control computers for F-15EX and F/A-18E/F fighters

Sur le même sujet

• 

  28 janvier 2021 | International, Naval

  Maritime Administration inks a deal for two more multi-mission support ships

  By: David B. Larter WASHINGTON – The Maritime Administration has inked a deal for two more training ships for its prospective Merchant Marine officers in a move that could provide the Navy with a suitable hull for special mission auxiliary ships in the future. MARAD contracted for two additional National Security Multi-Mission Vessels, adding on to the two it purchased last year. The ships are destined for use at Maine Maritime Academy in Castine, Maine, and Texas A&M Maritime Academy in Galveston, Texas. The contract, announced Jan. 19, with Philly Shipyard in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is worth approximately $600 million. If the last ship is contracted, it would bring the total buy to $1.5 billion, according to the marine trade publication gCaptain. The NMSVs are also national assets that can be used in humanitarian assistance missions, can accommodate up to 1,000 people and includes a modern medical facility. The vessels could also prove useful in the Navy's quest to identify a flexible hull that can meet a series of missions as it seeks to replace its aging logistics fleet, Sal Mercogliano, a former merchant mariner and maritime historian at Campbell University, told Defense News last year. “Those vessels serve as a potential hull form for maybe a hospital ship, maybe a command ship, an aviation logistics ship, a sub tender: There's potential there,” Mercogliano said. Questions remain around how the Navy will replace some of its special mission ships, such as the aging hospital ships, and the NMSV is worthy of consideration. For moving lots of tanks and howitzers across long distances, the NSMV isn't well-suited. But for many of the other missions the Navy needs to recapitalize, including its hospital ships, it could prove useful. “I don't think they'd be good for a roll-on/roll-off — it's not designed for a large mission bay,” Mercogliano said. “But I think for the hospital ship, a command ship, there's a lot of utility there.” https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2021/01/27/maritime-administration-inks-a-deal-for-two-more-multi-mission-support-ships

• 

  11 mars 2022 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

  L’Australie augmente significativement les effectifs de son armée

  L'Australie va renforcer les effectifs de son armée d'environ 30 % d'ici à 2040, a annoncé, jeudi 10 mars, son Premier ministre, Scott Morrison. Les forces de défense australiennes atteindront 80 000 personnes, soit un renfort de 18 500 soldats, pour un coût de quelque 38 Md$ australiens (25 Md€ environ), a-t-il déclaré lors d'une conférence de presse dans une caserne de l'armée, à Brisbane. Selon M. Morrison, il s'agit de « la plus forte augmentation » des effectifs des forces de défense « en temps de paix dans l'histoire de l'Australie ». Ce renforcement militaire marque, selon lui, la reconnaissance par son gouvernement des « menaces et de l'environnement auxquels nous sommes confrontés en tant que pays, en tant que démocratie libérale dans l'Indo-Pacifique ». Les Echos du 10 mars

• 

  15 janvier 2020 | International, Aérospatial

  Lockheed Martin to Integrate New Situational Awareness System for F-35

  By Frank Wolfe Lockheed Martin is to integrate the Raytheon Next-Generation Electro-Optical Distributed Aperture System (DAS) into all F-35 variants over the next two years under a nearly $99 million contract announced by the Pentagon on Dec. 30. The system is to provide "360-degree situational and environmental awareness day or night," according to Raytheon, for navigation, missile and aircraft detection and tracking. The pilot's helmet is to receive high-resolution, real time imagery from six external infrared cameras. Northrop Grumman developed the current AN/AAQ-37 DAS, but bowed out of a bid for the follow-on program in 2018, as company executives said that the pay-off would be higher for other business opportunities. Lockheed Martin is to perform the integration work on the new Raytheon DAS in Ft. Worth and finish the work by July 2022 for delivery to the F-35 fleet beginning in 2023 with production Lot 15 aircraft. As Pentagon officials follow congressional direction to reduce F-35 sustainment costs and improve aircraft performance, Lockheed Martin has said that the Raytheon DAS will lead to more than $3 billion in life cycle cost savings, a 45 percent reduction in unit recurring costs, a more than 50 percent reduction in operations and sustainment costs, five times more reliability, and twice the performance capability. Raytheon has also been moving to install the Stormbreaker smart bomb, previously known as Small Diameter Bomb II, on the F-35. Stormbreaker has a tri-mode seeker that uses imaging infrared, millimeter wave, and a semi-active laser to destroy moving targets in adverse weather from up to 45 miles away. Raytheon said that it completed integration of the Stormbreaker on the U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle by Boeing in April, 2018. Integration of the Stormbreaker on U.S. Navy F/A-18 E/F aircraft by Boeing and the Lockheed Martin F-35 has begun. All F-35 variants are to carry Stormbreaker by 2023, according to Raytheon, which said that the F-35 can carry eight Stormbreaker weapons internally and eight on the wings. https://www.aviationtoday.com/2020/01/14/lockheed-martin-to-integrate-new-situational-awareness-system-for-f-35/