3 janvier 2019 | International, Aérospatial

Le Pentagone passe des contrats pour près d’un milliard de dollars pour les futurs F-35

Le groupe américain Lockheed Martin a obtenu un contrat de plus de 721 millions de dollars pour le développement des futurs avions de combat F-35 Lightning II, le type de chasseur choisi par la Belgique pour remplacer ses F-16 à partir de 2023, a annoncé le Pentagone.

Cet avenant à un contrat antérieur doit permettre à Lockheed de développer et de tester ce que le Pentagone qualifie de «Technology Refresh 3 (TR3) System» pour les avions du lot de production (LRIP) 15, des avions à commander en 2021 pour des livraisons prévues en 2023.

Le nouveau contrat porte sur un montant de 712,482 millions de dollars.

Les travaux concernés par ce contrat seront effectués à Fort Worth (Texas), qui abrite la principale ligne de production du F-35, un chasseur furtif de 5ème génération, et devraient être terminés en mars 2023, a précisé le Pentagone dans un communiqué daté du 27 décembre.

Le lendemain, le ministère américain de la Défense a annoncé l'attribution d'un contrat de 230,145 millions de dollars au motoriste Pratt & Whitney Military Engines, filiale de United Technologies Corp., pour les tests des moteurs F-135 qui propulseront le F-35 dans sa version Block 4 et destinés à l'US Air Force, à l'US Navy, au corps des Marines et aux clients étrangers.

https://www.sudinfo.be/id93860/article/2019-01-02/le-pentagone-passe-des-contrats-pour-pres-dun-milliard-de-dollars-pour-les

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  • FLIR Wins U.S. Army Heavyweight Robot Contract Worth Up to $109M

    6 décembre 2019 | International, Terrestre

    FLIR Wins U.S. Army Heavyweight Robot Contract Worth Up to $109M

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  • How One Component Improved U.S. Navy F/A-18 Fleet Readiness

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To increase reliability General Electric Aviation Systems, in consultation with the Navy, began working to redesign the GCU. A G3-to-G4 conversion kit could reach up to 532 flight hours. A G4 GCU was even better—sustaining 1,220 flight hours. Naval Air Systems Command (Navair) flight-tested the G4 in August 2015, and GE started production in mid-2016, Joe Krisciunas, general manager and president of GE Aviation Electrical Power Systems, tells Aviation Week. But the part was still only being manufactured at a minimal rate. The matter came to a head in October 2018, when then-Defense Secretary Jim Mattis set an 80% mission-capable readiness goal. At the time, only 260 F/A-18 and EA-18G aircraft were capable of flying missions—approximately 60%, far short of the mandate. In response, the Navy convened a Reliability Control Board (RCB) in 2019 to improve the F/A-18 and EA-18G mission-capable rate. The board pinpointed the main problem—insufficient production of the F414's GCU. 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