US Air Force delays full-rate production decision for KC-46 aircraft

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  5 juin 2020 | International, Naval

  SAIC wins contract foe heavyweight and lightweight torpedo testing services for U.S Navy

  Reston, Va. - (BUSINESS WIRE) - June 2, 2020 - The U.S. Navy awarded Science Applications International Corp. (NYSE: SAIC) a prime contract worth approximately $60 million to continue to provide mission engineering support by testing heavyweight and lightweight torpedoes for the Naval Sea Systems Command. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200602005228/en/ In support of the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Division Newport, SAIC will handle testing and data collection for MK 48 Heavyweight Torpedoes, and MK 54 and MK 46 Lightweight torpedoes. “For more than 13 years, SAIC has supported the testing of approximately 150 torpedoes as part of the engineering, technical, and management services we provide to the NUWC's Propulsion Test Facility in Newport, Rhode Island,” said Jim Scanlon, executive vice president and general manager of the Defense Systems Group. “We look forward to continuing to support NUWC with testing of torpedoes and torpedo components over the next five years.” As part of the single-award contract, SAIC will prepare the test facility and test torpedoes, interface the test torpedo, execute the test, and collect and process test data. Additionally, SAIC will support preparing torpedoes for testing at off-site test ranges and locations. SAIC will also provide maintenance, upgrades, and operational support for test torpedo assembly and turnaround, system and subsystem testing, data reduction, test equipment operation, and data and configuration management. The cost-plus-fixed-fee and firm-fixed-price contract has a one-year base period of performance with four option years. About SAIC SAIC® is a premier Fortune 500® technology integrator driving our nation's digital transformation. Our robust portfolio of offerings across the defense, space, civilian, and intelligence markets includes secure high-end solutions in engineering, IT modernization, and mission solutions. Using our expertise and understanding of existing and emerging technologies, we integrate the best components from our own portfolio and our partner ecosystem to deliver innovative, effective, and efficient solutions that are critical to achieving our customers' missions. We are 25,500 strong; driven by mission, united by purpose, and inspired by opportunities. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, SAIC has pro forma annual revenues of approximately $7.1 billion.​​​​ For more information, visit saic.com. For ongoing news, please visit our newsroom. Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements in this release contain or are based on “forward-looking” information within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by words such as “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “guidance,” and similar words or phrases. Forward-looking statements in this release may include, among others, estimates of future revenues, operating income, earnings, earnings per share, charges, total contract value, backlog, outstanding shares and cash flows, as well as statements about future dividends, share repurchases and other capital deployment plans. Such statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risk, uncertainties and assumptions, and actual results may differ materially from the guidance and other forward-looking statements made in this release as a result of various factors. Risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause or contribute to these material differences include those discussed in the “Risk Factors,” “Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and “Legal Proceedings” sections of our Annual Report on Form 10-K, as updated in any subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and other filings with the SEC, which may be viewed or obtained through the Investor Relations section of our website at saic.com or on the SEC's website at sec.gov. Due to such risks, uncertainties and assumptions you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. SAIC expressly disclaims any duty to update any forward-looking statement provided in this release to reflect subsequent events, actual results or changes in SAIC's expectations. SAIC also disclaims any duty to comment upon or correct information that may be contained in reports published by investment analysts or others. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200602005228/en/ Lauren Presti 703-676-8982 lauren.a.presti@saic.com Source: Science Applications International Corp.

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  19 août 2020 | International, Terrestre

  USAF Errantly Reveals Research On ICBM-Range Hypersonic Glide Vehicle

  Steve Trimble The U.S. Air Force agency that manages the service's nuclear arsenal has started researching enabling technology for an intercontinental-range, hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV), according to a document that was published briefly in error on a public website. Although the document shows a U.S. nuclear weapons agency is researching HGV technology, senior Pentagon officials say there has been no change to a policy that “strictly” limits the emerging class of hypersonic gliders and cruise missiles to non-nuclear warheads. A request for information (RFI) published on Aug. 12 by the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center asks companies to submit ideas across seven categories of potential upgrades for intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) designed with a “modular open architecture.” The Air Force often describes the future Ground Based Strategic Deterrent ICBM as featuring a “modular systems architecture,” in contrast with the aging Minuteman III, which does not. Among the seven items on the upgrade list, the Air Force called for a new “thermal protection system that can support [a] hypersonic glide to ICBM ranges,” according to the RFI, which is no longer publicly available on the government's procurement website. The RFI appears to have disclosed information that was not meant by the Air Force's nuclear weapons buyers to be made public. Each of the seven items listed in the RFI's “scope of effort” for ICBM upgrades included a prefix designation of “U/FOUO,” a military marking for information that is unclassified, but for official-use only. Although not technically a classified secret, information marked as “FOUO” usually is withheld from the public. The RFI was removed from beta.sam.gov on Aug. 17 after Aviation Week inquired about the document with the Air Force and the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD). The Defense Department (DOD) has three different operational prototypes for HGVs in development now: the Air Force's AGM-183A Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon, the Army's Long Range Hypersonic Weapon and the Navy's Intermediate Range Conventional Prompt Strike. Once fired from an aircraft, ground-launcher or submarine, all three are designed to strike targets with conventional warheads at intermediate range, which is defined as 1,500-3,000 nm by the official DOD Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms. But the Pentagon has no acknowledged plan to develop an HGV with a range beyond 3,000 nm and maintains a policy that “strictly” prohibits arming any such weapon—regardless of range—with nuclear warheads. The two-most senior staffers leading the hypersonic weapons portfolio reiterated that policy during a press conference on March 2. “Our entire hypersonic portfolio is based on delivering conventional warheads,” said Mike White, assistant director of defense research and engineering for hypersonic weapons. “Right,” agreed Mark Lewis, the director of defense research and engineering for modernization programs. “Strictly conventional.” The Pentagon has not changed the policy since March 2, said Lt. Col. Robert Carver, a spokesman for Lewis' office. “DOD is not developing nuclear-capable hypersonic weapons,” Carver said in an email. “There are common technology needs between the nuclear enterprise and hypersonic systems. Particularly in the area of high-temperature materials, we typically collaborate on the development of advanced dual-use materials technology. I will reiterate that our entire hypersonic program portfolio continues to be based on delivering conventional effects only.” Although the DOD upholds the conventional-only policy for hypersonic gliders and scramjet-powered cruise missiles, the source of the RFI raises questions, said James Acton, co-director of the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “The fact that [this RFI] is coming from the nuclear weapons center, it makes it sound an awful lot like this would at least be nuclear-armed or conceivably dual-capable,” Acton said. Although the RFI confirms research is underway, the DOD still has no acknowledged plan to proceed from basic research into the acquisition phase of an ICBM-range hypersonic glider, whether carrying a conventional or nuclear warhead. If the thermal-protection system technology is limited to research only, the RFI by the Air Force's nuclear weapons organization may not violate the DOD policy, which may apply only to fielded weapons. “DOD does a lot of research on a lot of different things and the vast majority of these programs never turn into an acquisition,” Acton said. “It could turn into something, but sophisticated observers recognize that it may not.” The DOD's conventional-only policy for maneuvering hypersonic weapons stands apart from other countries in the field. Russia, for example, has deployed the nuclear-armed Avangard HGV on the SS-19 ICBM. In February, the head of U.S. Northern Command, Gen. Terrence O'Shaughnessy, said in written testimony submitted to Congress that “China is testing a [nuclear-armed] intercontinental-range hypersonic glide vehicle, which is designed to fly at high speeds and low altitudes, complicating our ability to provide precise warning.” The DOD never has had an announced weapons development program for a conventional- or nuclear-armed, intercontinental-range HGV, but has experimented with air-launched gliders. The Hypersonic Test Vehicle-2 program by the DARPA attempted to demonstrate a range of 4,170 nm, but each experimental glider in two tests staged in 2010 and 2011 failed about 9 min. into a planned 30-min. hypersonic glide. The leading edges of an intercontinental-range HGV could be exposed to temperatures as high as 7,000K (6,726C) on reentry, then endure a prolonged glide phase compared to an intermediate-range system, said Christopher Combs, who researches hypersonic aerodynamics as an assistant professor at the University of Texas-San Antonio. “The bottom line is it's just crazy temperatures,” Combs said. “They're still not dealing with space shuttle or Apollo [capsule] temperatures, but it's still really hot.” The rescinded RFI, meanwhile, also may provide a rare glimpse into the Air Force's plans for the new ICBM developed under the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD) program. Apart from the thermal-protection system for a hypersonic glider, the scope of effort in the RFI sought industry input on a variety of topics, including: • Fusing data from lower-fidelity, onboard sensors to improve guidance, navigation and control. • New navigation aids to correct inertial measurement unit drift on long-time-of-flight missions. • A lighter, smaller and more efficient “future fuze,” which also could “accept inputs from external subsystems.” • Radiation-hardening techniques for advanced microelectronics, such as a system on a chip or system in a package. • Improved computer hardware and software, including artificial intelligence algorithms. • A more secure architecture and better security sensors for ICBM ground facilities. The Air Force plans to award the contract to Northrop Grumman by the end of the month to launch the engineering and manufacturing development contract for the GBSD program. Northrop remained the sole bidder for the program to deliver more than 600 new ICBMs to the Air Force after a Boeing-led team withdrew from the competition last year. https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/missile-defense-weapons/usaf-errantly-reveals-research-icbm-range-hypersonic-glide

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  24 janvier 2023 | International, Aérospatial

  Greece builds first locally made combat drone

  The Grypas will serve as a multipurpose system equipped for combat assignments.