23 juin 2021 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité
Contracts for June 21, 2021
Today
12 septembre 2019 | International, Terrestre
DSEI: UK’s Warrior fleet upgrade about 18 months away from kickoff
By: Andrew Chuter
LONDON — Negotiations are underway on a production contract to update the British Army's fleet of Warrior infantry fighting vehicles, according to the Ministry of Defence official running the program.
“We are now talking about how we go forward on production,” Marcus Bruton, the MoD's Warrior upgrade director said during an interview at the DSEI show Sept. 10.
Bruton said the two sides were probably 18 months away from a contract allowing Lockheed Martin and its supply chain to start upgrading the Warrior.
The effort to progress the long running Warrior capability sustainment development program into the manufacturing phase has come on the back of Lockheed Martin successfully achieving 20 battlefield mission assessments – a key milestone in the reliability growth test program now underway.
The MoD said in March it would open manufacturing contract negotiations once it was satisfied with progress on reliability trials.
In late August Lockheed Martin achieved that milestone. The company said that in cooperation with the British Army Armoured Trials and Development Unit, it had fired thousands of rounds from the new CTAI developed 40 mm cannon, driven more than 5,000 kms, and achieved the battlefield mission assessments with flying colors.
Lockheed Martin Warrior program Director Lee Fellows said he is expecting a deal towards the back end of next year. The company is keen to get the production contract signed and sealed but “we need to get it right, so it will take as long as it needs to," he added. "Getting it done at pace and quality aequally important.”
Quantities, the mix of variants and affordability are among the items due to be discussed.
Discussions on how to overcome issues of design authority ownership is also part of the build up to a production contract, said the officials. BAE holds the design authority on the existing legacy Warrior, but Lockheed Martin holds the approval for the extensive upgrade — particularly the new turret.
“The expectation is there will be a collaboration with BAE. We are talking with them already, that's part of the negotiations,” said Fellows.
Neither executive will comment on what sort of upgrade numbers the British Army is looking at. Roughly 740 vehicles were delivered to the British Army starting 1988 but a number were lost in Iraq and Afghanistan. A number of vehicles have been earmarked for battlefield support duties that don't require a new turret.
At one time the number of hulls to be updated was in the region of 380, but suppliers at a company briefing in March said that as the British Army downsized and budgets became more challenging the figure slipped to around 265 or lower.
The Lockheed Martin executive said that the next 18 months or so will bring further reliability growth trials, but that the major risks have been removed and testing had not unearthed any significant problems.
The update is considered one of the Army's top priorities alongside other vehicle programs, including the Challenger 2 tank upgrade and procurement of the Boxer mechanized infantry vehicle from German company Artec.
Lockheed Martin was awarded a development deal to upgrade Warrior vehicles back in 2011, but the program has been dogged with problems slowing down progress towards a production deal by several years.
The update program includes a new turret fitted with the CTAI cannon, electronic architecture, a modular protection systems and other enhancements.
It's a much needed update. The current vehicle's inability to fire on the move is just one of a number of shortcomings deemed to make the Warrior obsolete by current battlefield standards.
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28 août 2023 | International, Terrestre, Sécurité
Poland MND finalises offset agreements for PAC-3 WISLA Phase II
Poland has signed offset agreements for elements of medium-range anti-aircraft and anti-missile systems, under WISLA Phase II programme.
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30 avril 2020 | International, Aérospatial
Boeing gets another $827M charge on the KC-46 program
By: Valerie Insinna WASHINGTON — Boeing took a $827 million hit as cost overruns continue for the KC-46 tanker program, the company announced Wednesday. About $551 million of the pre-tax charge was caused by new expenses associated with designing and integrating a new Remote Vision System for the tanker as part of an April agreement with the Air Force. The remainder of the charge reflected “productivity inefficiencies and COVID-19 related factory disruption,” according to a news release. KC-46 production stopped for about three weeks over the past month due to a temporary shutdown at Boeing facilities in the Seattle area — including the factory in Everett, Wash., where the tanker is produced. With the new charge, Boeing has now racked up about $4.6 billion in cost overruns over the life of the KC-46 program. Those expenses must be completely paid by Boeing under the terms of the $4.9 billion fixed-price firm contract it agreed to in 2011. The bill comes as Boeing contends with the continued grounding of the 737 MAX and instability to the air travel market posed by COVID-19, which has led to lost orders and disruptions throughout the company's production lines. But the RVS deal struck in April could potentially mark a new chapter for the tanker program, which has been mired in disputes between Boeing and the Air Force for years. The RVS — integrated by Boeing with cameras and sensors from Collins Aerospace — feeds live video and other data to the boom operator, who is able to use those cues to pump gas into another aircraft. But the Air Force has complained that the system does not work properly in all lighting conditions, leading to an increased risk of the KC-46 accidentally scraping the aircraft receiving fuel. Under the terms of the new deal, Boeing will make incremental hardware and software improvements to the existing system, but it will also design a new “RVS 2.0” with high-definition color cameras, better displays and improved computing systems not on the market when the first RVS was developed. During an earnings call with investors on Wednesday, Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun said the defense market continues to be healthy with solid demand. Overall, first quarter revenue for Boeing's defense sector decreased to $6 billion, down from about $6.6 billion in 2019. Most of that reduction was due to the KC-46 charge, according to the company, but a number of other defense programs were also impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, leading to reduced margin. https://www.defensenews.com/air/2020/04/29/boeing-gets-another-827m-charge-on-the-kc-46-program/