21 août 2019 | International, Terrestre
By: Jen Judson
UPDATE: This story has been updated to include a statement from Raytheon.
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon has moved from taking a “strategic pause” on the Redesigned Kill Vehicle program to outright killing it.
The Department of Defense decided to terminate the current Boeing contract to develop the RKV — effective Aug. 22 — “due to technical design problems,” according to an Aug. 21 statement by the department.
Raytheon is the actual developer of the RKV and serves as a sub-contractor to Boeing.
The RKV would have replaced the current Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle (EKV) on the Ground-Based Interceptor, which makes up the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system designed to protect the homeland from ballistic missile threats. It would have also been fielded on all future ground-based interceptors — a total of 64 ultimately.
The EKV is designed to destroy targets in high-speed collisions after separating from the booster rocket.
The EKV required technical changes in the past several years due to issues in tests. The Missile Defense Agency decided to initiate a program to redesign the kill vehicle. In the meantime, MDA has had several successful tests of the GMD system with the EKV following engineering changes.
Now that the RKV is dead in the water, the Pentagon plans to move forward with a new, next-generation interceptor competition, the statement said.
According to a defense official, no more ground-based interceptors will be built, and all future interceptors that are fielded as part of the GMD system will be the new interceptors.
“Ending the program was the responsible thing to do,” Mike Griffin, undersecretary of defense for research and engineering, said in the statement. “Development programs sometimes encounter problems. After exercising due diligence, we decided the path we're going down wouldn't be fruitful, so we're not going down that path anymore. This decision supports our efforts to gain full value from every future taxpayer dollar spent on defense.”
With the blessing of the undersecretary of defense, Griffin made the decision on Aug. 14 to terminate the program, one week after he told reporters at the Space and Missile Defense Symposium in Huntsville, Alabama, to expect a decision on the way forward for RKV soon.
MDA and Boeing in December 2018 deferred a critical design review of the RKV “due to the failure of certain critical components to meet technical requirements as specified in the development contract,” the statement noted.
After MDA assessed the issues, it issued a stop work order on the contract in May to analyze alternative options.
“The department ultimately determined the technical design problems were so significant as to be either insurmountable or cost-prohibitive to correct,” the statement said.
The DoD plans to take data garnered from research and testing of the RKV prior to its cancellation to inform the next-generation interceptor program, “which will include a new kill vehicle,” according to the statement.
“The U.S. Missile Defense Agency is updating its requirements in the face of an increasingly complex threat environment," Raytheon said in a statement. The company “supports their decision to cease work on the Redesigned Kill Vehicle (RKV) and initiate a competition for the next-generation interceptor to meet these advanced threats. Raytheon will continue to develop and offer a wide range of advanced missile defense technologies available to protect the United States now and in the future.”
There are 44 ground-based interceptorss in place at Fort Greely, Alaska, and Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, with plans to add 22 additional missile silos at Fort Greely to support 20 more ground-based interceptors.
The defense official said the Pentagon is still working through the details of a new, next-generation interceptor competition, including when it will be initiated and the pace at which the technology will be developed and fielded.
14 juillet 2021 | International, Sécurité
The language in the July 13 document differs from previous versions, which would carefully choose their use of words on the matter.
30 juillet 2019 | International, Aérospatial
July 29, 2019 - Edgewood, NY -- CPI Aerostructures, Inc. (“CPI Aero®”) (NYSE American: CVU) today announced that it has been awarded a $65.7 million indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract from the United States Air Force to provide structural modification kits, program management, logistics, and other sustainment services in support of Phase 3 of the T-38C Pacer Classic III Fuselage Structural Modification Kit Integration program (“PC III”) and the Talon Repair Inspection and Maintenance (“TRIM”) program. The company also received its first delivery order under the contract valued at $3.4 million for which work will commence immediately. For more than 50 years, the Northrop T-38 has been the principal supersonic jet trainer used by the US Air Force. PC III and TRIM are expected to increase the structural service life of the T-38 beyond 2030. PC III is a three-phase aircraft modification program that began in 2011 to increase the structural service life of a certain number of T-38C Talon aircraft. Requirements for Phase I were fulfilled by Northrop Grumman Technical Services. In 2015, CPI Aero was awarded Phase 2 of PC III and is currently supplying kits and services to the USAF under that contract through 2021. Under the new contract announced today, CPI will support the final phase of PC III as well as TRIM. The TRIM program is a separate USAF structural modification effort that will extend the structural service life of T-38A and T-38 model types, as well as, T-38C models that were not modified during PC III. Douglas McCrosson, President and CEO of CPI Aero, stated, “We are honored to have been chosen by the U.S. Air Force to continue our work on PC III and begin work on TRIM , two programs that are essential to the critical mission of training our future military aviators. This contract recognizes our excellent past performance as a prime contractor to the USAF and our long history with the T-38 platform that dates back to 2001. It is a testament to our reputation as an exceptional supply chain partner and leverages the investments we have made in developing world class engineering, supply chain management and program management capabilities.” For the PCIII Phase III requirement, the period of performance is anticipated as a three-year ordering period, with an additional one year for delivery after an order is placed. For the TRIM requirement, the period of performance is anticipated as a 10-year ordering period, with an additional one year for delivery after an order is placed. About CPI Aero CPI Aero is a U.S. manufacturer of structural assemblies for fixed wing aircraft, helicopters and airborne Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance and Electronic Warfare pod systems in both the commercial aerospace and national security markets. Within the global aerostructure supply chain, CPI Aero is either a Tier 1 supplier to aircraft OEMs or a Tier 2 subcontractor to major Tier 1 manufacturers. CPI also is a prime contractor to the U.S. Department of Defense, primarily the Air Force. In conjunction with its assembly operations, CPI Aero provides engineering, program management, supply chain management, and MRO services. CPI Aero is included in the Russell Microcap® Index. The above statements include forward looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, which are described from time to time in CPI Aero's SEC reports, including CPI Aero's Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018, and Form 10-Q for the three-month period ended March 31, 2019. CPI Aero® is a registered trademark of CPI Aerostructures, Inc. For more information, visit www.cpiaero.com, and follow us on Twitter @CPIAERO. Contact: Vincent Palazzolo Chief Financial Officer CPI Aero (631) 586-5200 www.cpiaero.com Investor Relations Counsel: LHA Investor Relations Sanjay M. Hurry/Jody Burfening (212) 838-3777 cpiaero@lhai.com www.lhai.com View source version on CPI Aero: http://www.cpiaero.com/cpi-aero-announces-%2465.7m-air-force-contract.html https://www.epicos.com/article/449408/cpi-aero-announces-657-million-air-force-contract-t-38-aircraft-modification-kits
8 mai 2023 | International, Aérospatial
Helsinki and Washington have been discussing a new cooperation agreement that could take a page from Norway's playbook when it comes to the US warplanes.