27 octobre 2024 | International, Aérospatial

Lockheed Martin Announces Successful Flight of First Bulgarian F-16 Block 70 Aircraft

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  • Turkey is building a new attack helo. Here are the weapons that will arm it

    12 mars 2019 | International, Aérospatial

    Turkey is building a new attack helo. Here are the weapons that will arm it

    By: Burak Ege Bekdil ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey's procurement authorities have officially launched the country's first indigenous program to build a heavy helicopter gunship in the 8- to 10-ton category. A contract was signed between the procurement authority, Presidency of Defence Industries, and the country's top aerospace company, the government-controlled Turkish Aerospace Industries, or TAI. Officials from both entities said they expect the new chopper will take its maiden flight within five years. They officials also said the new attack platform will feature an advanced target-tracking system, imagery technology, electronic warfare suites, a cruise system, and communications and weapons systems. Other features include a high-caliber gun system, new-generation 2.75-inch rockets with different guidance systems, long-range anti-tank missiles and air-to-air rockets. The attack helicopter is expected to perform all-weather missions at high altitude and have twin turboshaft engines as well as a 1,200-kilogram payload. TAI already makes the T129, a 5-ton attack helicopter based on its predecessor, the A129 Mangusta. The T129 is a twin-engine multirole attack helicopter produced under license from the Italian-British AgustaWestland. The T129 is powered by two LHTEC T800-4A turboshaft engines. Each engine can produce 1,014 kilowatts of output power. The T800-4A is an export version of the CTS800 engine. LHTEC, the maker of the engine, is a joint venture between the American firm Honeywell and the British company Rolls-Royce. In 2018, TAI signed a $1.5 billion to sell a batch of 30 T129 helicopter gunships to Pakistan. TAI officials say they also want to export the heavy attack platform, specifically to the Asia-Pacific and Middle Eastern markets. However, as is the case with the T129, TAI will have to win U.S. export licenses for any export deal with a third country. https://www.defensenews.com/industry/techwatch/2019/03/07/turkey-is-building-a-new-attack-helo-here-are-the-weapons-that-will-arm-it

  • Budget deal advances despite GOP worries over costs, smaller boost for military

    26 juillet 2019 | International, Autre défense

    Budget deal advances despite GOP worries over costs, smaller boost for military

    By: Leo Shane III and Joe Gould House lawmakers on Thursday advanced a two-year, $2.7 trillion budget plan with $738 billion in military funding in fiscal 2020 over the objections of conservative colleagues who objected to the increased federal spending levels. The measure — which passed 284-149 — has the support of President Donald Trump and leaders from both chambers, but drew the support of only 65 Republicans in the final vote. That's roughly one-third of the House GOP membership. Senate lawmakers are expected to take up the matter next week. The measure is designed to prevent a partial government shutdown this fall and stabilize appropriations plans for all aspects of federal agencies until after next year's presidential election. On the House floor Thursday, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith, D-Wash., called the deal a critical step forward in restoring regular budget order and predictability not just for military programs, but for all of the government. “There is no secret we have big differences between the Democratically controlled House and White House and the Republican-controlled Senate,” he said. “Despite those differences, we have to function. We have to be able to fund the government and meet our responsibilities to the American people.” Ahead of the vote, Trump worked to bolster Republican support for the measure, which would increase Defense Department spending by more than 3 percent over fiscal 2019 levels. He tweeted that the new budget plan “greatly helps our Military and our Vets.” White House officials (and Republican congressional leaders) had pushed for even more in defense spending recent weeks, while congressional Democrats had insisted any military funding increase be offset with additional non-defense spending. In the end, the non-military money in the new budget deal will grow by about $10 billion more than defense spending over the next two years, and the military spending for fiscal 2020 will fall about $12 billion short of the White House's hopes. Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., and chairman of the Republican Study Committee, in a statement called the compromise plan “a massive spending deal that will further in debt future generations and remove reasonable safeguards to prevent the growth of government and the misuse of taxpayer dollars.” Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., and a House Armed Services Committee member, said he would only vote for the deal if it were paired with congressional action to look for paths toward debt reduction. “It you could create a commission that was empowered to bring its recommendations to the floor for an up or down vote, and had members who were younger, next-generation members, I think it could work,” Gallagher said in a video posted to Twitter. Two weeks ago, House Republicans voted against a $733 billion military spending topline as part of the annual defense policy bill, in large part citing insufficient funding totals for national security. House Armed Services Committee ranking member Rep. Mac. Thornberry, R-Texas, on Thursday voted for the slightly larger defense spending total, telling reporters the two-year deal would provide much-needed stability for the military. “Given the political turmoil that comes with an election year ... having a two-year budget deal that takes us to the end, hallelujah, of the Budget Control Act is more valuable than if you had held out for a few billion,” Thornberry said. Democrats had misgivings of their own, including the deal's lack of restrictions on Trump's ability to shift money within the budget toward a controversial border wall. The Pentagon was expected to shift a total of about $6.1 billion from its budget to help build a border wall, including about $3.6 billion from military construction projects. But in the end, all but 16 Democrats in the House backed the measure. House members began their extended summer break on Thursday night, leaving the details of separate appropriations bills reflecting the new budget deal to be sorted out in September. The Senate is scheduled to begin their break at the end of next week, after voting on the measure. https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2019/07/25/budget-deal-advances-despite-gop-worries-over-costs-smaller-boost-for-military/

  • Lockheed to Retrofit F-35s for Suppression/Destruction of Enemy Air Defenses Role

    3 juin 2020 | International, Aérospatial

    Lockheed to Retrofit F-35s for Suppression/Destruction of Enemy Air Defenses Role

    June 2, 2020 | By John A. Tirpak The Pentagon awarded Lockheed Martin a $26.7 million contract on June 1 to develop a structural modification for the F-35 strike fighter to improve its Suppression/Destruction of Enemy Air Defenses capability (SEAD/DEAD). The retrofit design will be applied to both U.S. and foreign F-35s in Lots 14 and 15, and will be completed by August 2022. The contract, issued by Naval Air Systems Command on behalf of all F-35 users, says Lockheed will perform the engineering necessary to modify the aircraft to perform “full up” SEAD and DEAD. When the Air Force declared the F-35 operational in 2016, it described the F-35's SEAD/DEAD suite as able to perform the mission in a “limited” fashion. The need for a structural modification indicates the aircraft will be fitted with new munitions and/or sensors to carry out the role, which usually involves detecting, fixing, and attacking ground-based air defense threats, which can be mobile or stationary. When the service declared initial operational capability for the F-35A, the aircraft was in the 3i configuration, which gave it capability to release satellite-guided bombs. With the 3F version, the F-35 gained capability for the GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb and AGM-154 Stand-Off Weapon—both used for SEAD/DEAD. The Block 4 upgrade will enable the F-35 to carry the in-development Stand-in Attack Weapon (SiAW). The Navy plans to field its AGM-88E Anti-Radiation Guided Missile, a successor to the HARM anti-radiation missile, and the Air Force is considering the weapon, as well. The ARRGM and HARM home in on the last known emissions of a surface-to-air missile radar at high speed; their presence and success in previous conflicts has dissuaded enemies from turning their radars on in some instances, hence “suppression.” The F-35's ASQ-239 electronic warfare system can passively detect an enemy air defense system's emissions and geo-locate these targets in concert with the F-35's other systems. Air Force leaders have said the F-35, by virtue of its stealth, will become the main platform for the SEAD/DEAD mission in the coming decade. That role is now primarily performed by the F-16 with the HARM. https://www.airforcemag.com/lockheed-to-retrofit-f-35s-for-suppression-destruction-of-enemy-air-defenses-role

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