26 mars 2021 | International, Aérospatial

Fatigue testing confirms longer lifespan of the latest L-39 aircraft | Aerospace Testing International

Fatigue testing confirms long lifespan of L-39NG jet trainer aircraft will far exceed that of the previous L-39 Albatros version

https://www.aerospacetestinginternational.com/news/defense/fatigue-testing-confirms-longer-lifespan-of-the-latest-l-39-aircraft.html

Sur le même sujet

  • Airbus joins forces with Lockheed to step in Boeing’s backyard

    14 janvier 2019 | International, Aérospatial

    Airbus joins forces with Lockheed to step in Boeing’s backyard

    CLÉMENT CHARPENTREAU One company's demise is another one's opportunity. Or in this case, two companies. Lockheed Martin and Airbus signed a memorandum of agreement to “jointly explore opportunities to meet the growing demand for aerial refueling for US defense customers.” The manufacturers are taking advantage of the difficulties encountered by Boeing's KC-46A Pegasus. It was Airbus (partnered with Northrop Grumman at the time) that initially won the KC-X tender launched by the Pentagon for a new refueling system to equip the United States Air Force. With its A330 MRTT already in production, the European manufacturer was way ahead of its American rival whose KC-46 “Pegasus” was still on the drawing board. However, political concerns invited themselves into the acquisition process, and after several years of lobbying, the contract was eventually taken away from Airbus and given to Boeing. 179 aircraft were ordered, with the first aircraft to be delivered around May 2016, and the following 17 by 2017. But since then, the KC-46 program had a bumpy flight, and the USAF is still waiting for its planes. The development of the tanker exceeded the initial forecast by $3 billion (which hints at a deliberate underestimation to win the contract over Airbus), and the delivery has been constantly delayed. The last precise deadline in date, October 2018, was finally postponed to “a little later” by Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson in an interview to Bloomberg. In March 2018, Wilson commented on the matter in front of the Congress: “One of our frustrations with Boeing is they're much more focused on their commercial activity than on getting this right for the Air Force and getting these aircraft to the Air Force”. As Boeing was contractually obliged to deliver 18 planes and 9 refueling pods by October 2018, it will now face financial penalties. The KC-46 is currently ongoing certification with the FAA. Boeing's struggle comes as a perfect opportunity for Airbus and Lockheed Martin to offer their services to the USAF and its allies, both in the short and long term. “These may range from ways to support critical near-term air-refuelling needs, such as a fee-for-service structure to conceptualizing the tanker of the future,” they said in a common press release. In the coming twenty years, the USAF will need two new types of refueling aircraft. The programs should be respectively known as KC-Y, to replace the gigantic KC-10s, and KC-Z, a stealth tanker. This new partnership could allow Airbus to put its A330MRTT on the table once more, in a version adapted to the needs of the USAF that would use Lockheed Martin's competence in the matter. The tanker is now operated by six air forces around the world, and has already seen some actions. While awaiting for the KC-Y tender to begin, Airbus could offer a leasing service to the USAF, in a similar way as AirTanker is already doing for the Royal Air Force with its ten Airbus Voyagers (A330 MRTT). With Lockheed Martin as a partner, Airbus could set a foot in the U.S. defense industry... for good this time. https://www.aerotime.aero/clement.charpentreau/22151-airbus-joins-forces-with-lockheed-to-step-in-boeing-s-backyard

  • StandardAero valued at $10.4 bln as shares jump in NYSE debut

    2 octobre 2024 | International, Aérospatial

    StandardAero valued at $10.4 bln as shares jump in NYSE debut

  • Germany in talks with Lockheed Martin over ‘fragile’ missile defense program

    9 décembre 2019 | International, Aérospatial

    Germany in talks with Lockheed Martin over ‘fragile’ missile defense program

    By: Sebastian Sprenger COLOGNE, Germany – German defense officials are negotiating with contractors Lockheed Martin and MBDA Deutschland about a bid proposal for a next-generation antimissile program that the government believes is missing crucial components, according to a new defense ministry report. Information about the status of the high-profile TLVS program, short for Taktisches Luftverteidigungssystem, is included in the latest, unclassified portion of a biannual assessment by the defense ministry on the progress of key military acquisition programs. The document constitutes the defense ministry's first public evaluation of the U.S.-German industry consortium's second and final bid, submitted in June. “The analysis of the second offer shows that the proposal still falls short of the government's requirements because key elements and services were not included, some of which had been previously agreed,” the document states. Additionally, some performance requirements, which are left unexplained in the report, were not addressed in the industry bid, it adds. Talks with the companies are ongoing to clarify outstanding issues by the end of 2019, the defense ministry wrote. Overall, the government considers the program to be “fragile” based on a high degree of technological and managerial complexity. That is compared to a more upbeat assessment in the previous report, dated June, which found “significant progress” had been made over the previous six months. The defense ministry did not respond to a request for comment on what elements the Lockheed Martin-MBDA proposal was lacking. A Lockheed spokesman referred questions to the German government, writing in an email, “It is a matter for the German MoD to comment on the content of its latest project report and position relating to TLVS.” The report offers an explanation for why defense officials have been unable to articulate a time table for submitting the multibillion-dollar program to the German parliament for consideration. For one, the government must first wait for a foreign military sales process to play out with the United States over access to key performance data of the Lockheed-made PAC-3 MSE interceptor, the primary missile of the TLVS system. Germany launched the petition for the requisite goods and services in April 2019. In addition, officials are unable to formulate a path for integrating a secondary interceptor into the system, the IRIS-T SL, to be made by Germany's Diehl Defence, officials wrote. That is because the most recent Lockheed-MBDA proposal lacks the detailed interface documentation that would be needed to integrate such an interceptor into TLVS. Without that information, however, officials are unable to solicit a bid from Diehl, according to the report. German officials consider the ability to use IRIS-T missile a must-have for TLVS because those missiles are domestically made and because they are cheaper. Amid the runaway program complexity giving officials headaches, the government still appears to believe in the promise of the TLVS system as a replacement of the country's fleet of Patriot batteries. If it can be made to work, the military expects a “technological advantage” that will position the country as a NATO leader in missile defense, the report states. Officials will make decisions about the way ahead after ongoing talks with industry come to an end, it adds. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2019/12/06/germany-in-talks-with-lockheed-martin-over-fragile-missile-defense-program

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