Lockheed: F-35 upgrade delays will lead to fewer 2023 deliveries

Sur le même sujet

• 

  23 novembre 2020 | International, Aérospatial

  Five European allies sign on to build NATO’s next medium-lift helicopter

  STUTTGART, Germany – Five NATO member nations have signed on to build the alliance's next-generation helicopter, planned to replace existing fleets starting in 2035. France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy and Greece each signed letters of intent to participate in the program, dubbed “Next-Generation Rotorcraft Capability,” or NGRC, per a Nov. 19 statement issued by NATO. Over the coming years, these partners will work together to develop “an entirely new helicopter capability” that would replace a variety of medium multi-role rotorcraft fleets that are expected to retire between 2035 and 2040. The program was launched on the margins of the virtually held defense ministerial meeting in October, the alliance said. “By investing our resources and channeling our development initiatives through a multinational framework, we are making sure allies are equipped with the best available capabilities, which helps to maintain NATO's technological edge,” NATO Deputy Secretary-General Mircea Geoană was quoted as saying in the release. The letters of intent are non-binding documents, and the initial cooperation effort is in principle open to other NATO allies and partners, subject to the approval of the existing participants, a NATO official said in an email to Defense News. Details including cost, work share between the five nations and specific timelines have not yet been released. NATO envisions defense ministers from participating countries will sign a legally binding memorandum of understanding for the initial concept phase around 2022. In the meantime, the allies will develop a statement of requirements to inform that concept phase, and hash out a cooperation plan to define, develop and field the next-generation helicopter. The NATO official noted that it will be critical to “get the intellectual foundation for NGRC right,” and that 2021 discussions to establish an initial common statement of requirements will not require “substantial” capital expenditures. Next year's efforts will provide “a robust starting point for the participants to discuss and design the subsequent concept phase and agree on the associated funding requirements for the following years,” the official said. As a medium multi-role rotorcraft, this new capability would assist NATO allies in missions including insertion and extraction of special operations forces, and transporting small- and medium-sized cargo and troops within operational theaters. It would also be used in medical evacuation, search and rescue, and anti-submarine warfare. NATO is launching this effort just as the U.S. Army is firming up requirements for its own new medium multi-role rotorcraft, via the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) competition. A draft request for proposals for this capability – part of the service's next-generation Future Vertical Lift family of systems – is expected by the end of 2020. Bell and a Boeing-Sikorsky team have each already built a technology demonstrator, and are expected to compete for the contract award, with plans to field the new aircraft by 2030. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2020/11/20/five-european-allies-sign-on-to-build-natos-next-medium-lift-helicopter/

• 

  16 janvier 2024 | International, C4ISR

  Honeywell's quantum computing firm valued at $5 billion after latest fundraise

• 

  13 novembre 2019 | International, Aérospatial

  KC-46 cargo solution still ‘months’ away

  By: Aaron Mehta and Valerie Insinna WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force expects to resolve a safety issue with the cargo capability of its KC-46A Pegasus tanker within “months,” the service's top acquisition official said Tuesday. Will Roper said he is “confident” the issue would get fixed and that the problem,— which has led the Air Force to stop the tankers from flying with cargo in their holds — was not his top concern for the Boeing-made plane. “The issue with the locks was identified. We're working options currently with Boeing and their supplier,” Roper said at a breakfast hosted by the Defense Writers Group. “We're looking to our operators to tell us which one of the solutions that have been identified is the one that they prefer." In September, Defense News first reported that the KC-46 was restricted from carrying either cargo or people in the back of the aircraft. The restriction was set after a recent flight where cargo locks on the bottom of the aircraft's floor became unlocked, creating concerns that airmen could be hurt or killed by heavy equipment that suddenly bursts free during a flight. It has been a rough year for the KC-46. The Air Force suspended KC-46 flights at Boeing's production line in Everett, Washington, this February after finding debris. Then it paused all tanker deliveries in March as the service investigated the extent of the problem. The service began accepting tankers again later that month, only for deliveries to stop — and restart — in April due to similar problems. The cargo issue represents the fourth category 1 deficiency for the tanker, and the issues are becoming increasingly expensive for Boeing: The company is locked into a fixed-price contract, which means it is responsible for paying for a expenses beyond the initial $4.9 billion award for development of the aircraft. So far, the company has paid more than $3.5 billion of its own money to fund corrections to ongoing technical issues. The other three issues are: The remote vision system, or RVS — the camera system that allows KC-46 boom operators to steer the boom into a receiver aircraft without having to look out a window and use visual cues — provides imagery in certain lighting conditions that appears warped or misleading. Boeing has agreed to pay for potentially extensive hardware and software fixes, but the Air Force believes it could be up to four years until the system is fully functional. The Air Force has recorded instances of the boom scraping against the airframe of receiver aircraft. Boeing and the Air Force believe this problem is a symptom of the RVS' acuity problems, and that the problem will be eliminated once the camera system is fixed. Boeing must redesign the boom to accommodate the A-10 plane, which currently does not generate the thrust necessary to push into the boom for refueling. This problem is a requirements change by the Air Force, which approved Boeing's design in 2016. Last month, Boeing received a $55.5 million contract to begin work on the new boom actuator. Roper said the cargo issue “goes into the kind of normal deficiency space” and noted that it's the type of issue that is discovered by the normal testing process. The more long-term issues, such as the remote visual system, are “the areas I keep the most focus on,” he said. https://www.defensenews.com/air/2019/11/12/kc-46-cargo-solution-still-months-away/