27 avril 2020 | International, Aérospatial
By PAUL MCLEARY
WASHINGTON: The Missile Defense Agency issued a long-awaited request for proposal today for its next-generation missile interceptor, eight months after the surprise cancellation of its multi-billion dollar attempt to replace the current, aging system.
The Next Generation Interceptor program will replace the Redesigned Kill Vehicle effort, the Boeing and Raytheon project that failed to get off the ground.
The new competition calls for contractors to submit bids by July 31, though it will be years before anything can be built and tested.
MDA chief Vice Adm. Jon Hill said last month that he wants to field the new system as soon as possible, and a timeline of 2030, is “unacceptable from a warfighter view” and “unacceptable to me as a program manager.”
But it's unclear when a system will be ready for testing. “We want to deliver the first round as soon as possible,” Hill continued. “That also means we can't take shortcuts in the design or in the requirements or in the flight testing regime, because if you want to go save time that is what most programs will do, so we can't afford that, but I will tell you that timeline will be driven by who we award to.”
The RKV program was part of an ambitious technology effort helmed by Boeing — though Raytheon was building the Kill Vehicles — to replace the current Exo-Atmospheric Kill Vehicle. Both are ground-based interceptors designed to defend the US against long-range ballistic missile attacks. The companies won't have to pay back any of the billion-plus dollars the government awarded them to do the work, as Pentagon officials have said some of the effort can be salvaged and used on the new program.
Problems had been mounting in the program's development for years. The Missile Defense Agency said back in 2016 it expected the first RKV flight test by 2019, with fielding in 2020. The last estimate, released with the fiscal 2020 budget request, pushed the fielding date back to 2025.
https://breakingdefense.com/2020/04/dod-tries-again-on-multi-billion-missile-interceptor/
16 mars 2021 | International, Aérospatial, Naval
A possible $1.77 billion sale of Boeing surveillance aircraft to Germany can be seen as a stopgap until a planned plane becomes available in the 2030s.
8 juin 2020 | International, Aérospatial
Le Pentagone veut faire du F-35 le prochain avion spécialisé dans les missions de destruction des défenses anti-aériennes. Logique ! Un programme lancé par le Pentagone va se traduire par l'ajout de modifications structurelles sur les F-35 plus récents pour leur permettre de remplir plus efficacement les missions SEAD et DEAD (Suppression/Destruction of Enemy Air Defenses). Ces modifications s'appliqueront à tous les modèles de F-35, aux Etats-Unis et auprès des autres pays clients. Jusqu'à présent, l'appareil pouvait remplir la mission SEAD de manière empirique, en utilisant sa capacité de bombardement et ses équipements de guerre électronique adossés à sa faible signature radar. L'exigence d'une modification structurelle semble indiquer que l'avion de Lockheed Martín pourra désormais faire plus et mieux, avec par la capacité d'emporter de nouveaux capteurs et de nouveaux armements. F.L. https://www.aerobuzz.fr/breves-defense/le-f-35-adoube-pour-la-lutte-anti-radar/
8 mai 2023 | International, Aérospatial
The organization replaces the Commercial Services Office, which was established just a year ago.