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  30 juillet 2020 | International, Aérospatial

  Boeing and Mitsubishi sign agreement to support Japan F-15 upgrades

  By: Mike Yeo   1 day ago MELBOURNE, Australia — American firm Boeing has signed an agreement with Japanese company Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to support upgrades to Japan's fleet of F-15 fighter jets. The agreement, made through the U.S. Direct Commercial Sales process, is part of a larger $4.5 billion modernization program for 98 of Japan's F-15J/DJ Eagle interceptors ordered through the U.S. Foreign Military Sales process and approved by the U.S. State Department in 2019. Boeing will provide MHI with retrofit drawings, ground support equipment and technical publications for the upgrade of the first two F-15J aircraft to the Japan Super Interceptor configuration, also known as F-15JSI. The full suite of upgrades will introduce a new radar, electronic warfare capabilities and weapons. Also included is a new advanced cockpit system running on an advanced mission computer for meant to improve pilot situational awareness. The new active electronically scanned array radar will be the Raytheon AN/APG-82(v)1 multimode set, which is also being fit on the U.S. Air Force's F-15E Strike Eagles. Japan had requested 103 radars, including six spare sets, along with 116 Honeywell Advanced Display Core Processor II mission computers and 101 BAE Systems AN/ALQ-239 digital electronic warfare systems. The upgrade package will also include anti-spoofing GPS gear for more precise navigation, as well as new radios. Japan's also requested “aircraft and munition integration and test support.” The U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency notification about Japan's request did not provide more details, but Boeing's announcement of the contract included artwork of an F-15 in Japanese markings with a Lockheed Martin AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile on its centerline weapon station. Japan had confirmed in its Mid-Term Defense Plan in late 2018 that it intended to procure the JASSM for long-range land-attack missions and integrate it onto F-15s. However, it's not clear whether Japan will take up Boeing's proposal to increase the number of AIM-120 medium-range air-to-air missiles that can be carried by the F-15 to 18, which the company had previously displayed on model at an aerospace exhibition in Japan. The Japan Air Self-Defense Force operates a fleet of about 200 single-seat F-15J and two-seat F-15DJ Eagle aircraft. These are all configured for an air defense role with virtually no air-to-ground capability, and they serve with seven different operational squadrons throughout Japan, a training squadron and another unit in the dedicated aggressor role, acting as the adversary during training exercises. The fleet, particularly the two squadrons based on Japan's southern island of Okinawa, have been heavily engaged in monitoring foreign military aircraft entering Japan's air defense identification zone in the international airspace around Japan. The Defense Ministry says these foreign aircraft are predominantly Chinese, with Russian aircraft coming in at a distant second. The Japan Times newspaper recently reported on China's increased use of an air base in its Fujian province to fly fighter jets near the disputed Senkaku islands. In response, the Japan Air Self-Defense Force scrambles interceptors from Okinawa once the Chinese jets take off from the Fujian base. The newspaper also reported that the Japan Air Self-Defense Force is scrambling four instead of two aircraft on each occasion, noting that the Chinese base is closer to the disputed islands than the Japanese air bases in Okinawa. https://www.defensenews.com/industry/2020/07/29/boeing-and-mitsubishi-ink-deal-to-support-japan-f-15-upgrades/

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  18 novembre 2020 | International, Aérospatial

  US Air Force chief’s top modernization priorities aren’t what you think they are

  By: Valerie Insinna WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force is spending tens of billions of dollars every year to buy new aircraft, including F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, KC-46 tankers, the T-7A trainer jet and more. But none of those platforms makes the list of Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown's top three modernization priorities. “In some cases, I'm not so much enamored with airplanes, although, you know, I flew airplanes,” Brown said during a Nov. 12 interview where Defense News asked him to list his top three weapons priorities for the Air Force. “It's really the capability” that matters, he said. "And as we look at, you know, future conflicts, we may be fighting differently. I don't know that for a fact. But when I came in, cyber wasn't a thing. Now it is. Space was a benign environment. Now, not as much. Here's what Brown put on his list: 1. Nuclear modernization Brown pointed to the recapitalization of the Air Force's nuclear weapons and delivery systems as his No. 1 modernization priority. “Nuclear modernization is there at the top,” Brown said. “That's important.” The Air Force plans to field new ICBMs and develop a new stealth bomber, almost concurrently, through the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent and B-21 Raider programs. During Brown's four years as chief of staff, both efforts will hit critical milestones. The B-21 program is further along, having completed a critical design review in 2018. The first B-21 bomber is currently under construction by Northrop Grumman at the company's facilities in Palmdale, California. In August, Maj. Gen. Mark Weatherington, commander of Eighth Air Force, said the aircraft would fly in 2022. The Air Force plans to buy at least 100 B-21s, though it is considering a larger program of record. Meanwhile, the Air Force awarded Northrop a $13 billion contract for the GBSD program in September. Although the legacy Minuteman III ICBMs won't begin to be retired and replaced until 2029, it will be Brown's job to ensure the program stays on track and gets the funding it needs during the pivotal early days of its engineering and manufacturing development stage. Aside from major delivery systems, the Air Force is also pursuing a dual-capable air-launched cruise missile: the Long Range Standoff Missile. The Air Force is responsible for two legs of the nuclear triad — intercontinental ballistic missiles and nuclear bombers — with the Navy responsible for ballistic missile submarines. With the Navy currently replacing its current Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines with the Columbia class, all of the nation's major nuclear modernization bills will be coming to a head around the same time. That may create pressure on the Air Force's and the Navy's budgets in the coming years, especially as spending is projected to flatten. But the services have contended there is no time to waste when it comes to nuclear modernization — all programs must stay on schedule. 2. Advanced Battle Management System Like his predecessor, now-retired Gen. Dave Goldfein, Brown wants the Air Force's shooters and sensors to be able to instantaneously share data with the joint force — a concept the military has termed Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control. Brown's second priority, the Advanced Battle Management System, is the Air Force's effort to field a series of technologies that will make CJADC2 a reality. “I look at ABMS [as critical] because that's going to help us enable our decision-making and how we contribute to Joint All-Domain Command and Control,” Brown said. (The “C” in the concept's name was recently added.) However, Brown acknowledged the service has more work to do to convince lawmakers of the viability of the ABMS program. The Air Force envisions ABMS as a family of systems — think everything from cloud computing technologies, artificial intelligence algorithms and smart devices alongside traditional communications gear like radios. Instead of issuing exact requirements, the service wants to test what industry has available in a series of “on ramp” exercises, eventually buying what works after technologies are customized to meet user needs. Congress, however, has been skeptical. While the Air Force requested $302 million for the program in fiscal 2021, the House and Senate Appropriations committees would subtract anywhere from $50 million to almost $100 million from that sum, citing concerns about the service's acquisition strategy and lack of detailed requirements. “That's feedback to me, feedback to the Air Force that something is maybe being lost in the translation,” Brown said. “We're doing this a bit different than we have done a traditional acquisition program. ... And for us, for the Hill, it is a bit different. I think it's an area that we, as an Air Force, do need to do a little bit better job of how we talk it up.” 3. Cutting-edge acquisition methods Brown's third modernization priority isn't a program at all: He wants to see continued advancements in new acquisition methods that allow the Air Force to more quickly buy new equipment at lower prices. Currently, “by the time [new technology] gets to the hands of the war fighter, the software that's in it is a decade or two decades or 15 years old. How are we able to do things a bit faster in that regard?” Brown said. He pointed to advanced manufacturing processes like digital engineering, which employs detailed data and models during the design of a product, and simulates how it will be manufactured, tested, operated and sustained throughout its life cycle. Air Force acquisition executive Will Roper has heralded techniques like digital engineering for enabling the rapid development and recent first flight of a full-scale demonstrator aircraft, which was tested as part of the service's Next Generation Air Dominance program. Roper told Defense News in September that it will be up to Brown and other Air Force leaders to decide whether it's worth buying into the Digital Century Series plan for NGAD, which would involve the service more rapidly purchasing small batches of aircraft from various manufacturers. While Brown didn't comment on whether the Air Force has committed to the Digital Century Series model for purchasing future combat jets, he cited the approach as one that could potentially speed up the fielding of new technologies. “If we keep doing the same approach we have since I've been in the Air Force and expect a different result, then we're not going to do very well,” Brown said. “We have to change our approach. And this drives change in our thinking, change about how we think about acquisition, it changes how we as an Air Force engage with and collaborate with [the Office of the Secretary of Defense], with [the Pentagon's Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation office], with the Hill, with industry. And, you know, I think we've gotten some traction in certain areas, but it's going to require constant dialogue and collaboration and transparency.” https://www.defensenews.com/air/2020/11/17/the-air-force-chiefs-top-modernization-priorities-arent-what-you-think-they-are/

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  24 décembre 2023 | International, Sécurité

  A friendly reminder from the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces: NORAD is ready to track Santa’s flight

  The Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces remind you that North American Aerospace Defense Command is ready to track Santa on Dec. 24, for the program’s 68th year.