5 août 2024 | International, Aérospatial
Watch: AC-130J gunship pummels Navy vessel during Rim of the Pacific
A decommissioned Navy vessel was pounded by cannon fire from an AC-130J gunship as part of the 2024 RIMPAC exercise.
1 octobre 2018 | International, Aérospatial
US military posture in Asia could change if China declares another Air Defense Identification Zone
By: Kyle Rempfer
If China goes forward with plans to establish another Air Defense Identification Zone in the region, the U.S. could be forced to change its military posture in Asia, a senior national security official said this week.
“We oppose China's establishment of an ADIZ in other areas, including the South China Sea,” Evan Medeiros, the senior director for Asian affairs at the National Security Council, said in an interview with Japan Times. “We have been very clear with the Chinese that we would see that [setting of another ADIZ] as a provocative and destabilizing development that would result in changes in our presence and military posture in the region."
An ADIZ is airspace over land or water in which the identification, location and control of aircraft is jointly performed by civilian air traffic control and military authorities in the interest of a country's national security.
China set up one ADIZ over the East China Sea in 2013, which many viewed as an attempt to try and bolster its claims over disputed territories, like the uninhabited Senkaku islands.
China began to elevate its claims to the Japan-controlled Senkaku Islands in the 1970s after studies indicated there may be vast oil reserves in the surrounding sea bed, according to Japan Times.
The United States is obligated to defend aggression against territories under Japanese administration under Article 5 of the U.S.-Japan Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security.
Defense Secretary James Mattis reaffirmed in 2017 that the defense obligation extends to the Senkakus.
“I made clear that our longstanding policy on the Senkaku Islands stands,” Mattis said, according to a Pentagon transcript. “The United States will continue to recognize Japanese administration of the islands.”
U.S. officials have also criticized China for setting up an ADIZ that overlaps with similar zones operated by Japan, South Korea and Taiwan without prior consultation.
The Chinese have labeled recent missions by nuclear-capable U.S. Air Force B-52 bombers over the South China Sea as “provocative."
Two separate B-52s also flew over the East China Sea this week. The Pentagon called all of these flights routine.
“If it was 20 years ago and had they not militarized those features there, it would have been just another bomber on its way to [Naval Support Facility] Diego Garcia or wherever,” Mattis told the press, according to a Pentagon transcript. “So there's nothing out of the ordinary about it."
China has also been accused of militarizing the South China Sea — which includes important shipping routes, fisheries and hydrocarbons. The Chinese military has built islands on existing reefs and placed airstrips, radars, missiles and other military equipment on them.
Multiple other countries in the region, to include Vietnam and the Philippines, claim portions of the South China Sea as well.
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12 février 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité
Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - February 11, 2019
U.S. SPECIAL OPERATIONS COMMAND Institute of Applied Engineering Inc. (IAE), University of South Florida (USF), Tampa, Florida, was awarded an $85,000,000 maximum indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (H92405-20-D-0001) in support of U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) for access to applied research and advanced technology development. USSOCOM will collaborate with IAE to conduct research, hardware and software development, test and evaluation, demonstration, prototyping, and limited system production. Additionally, IAE will facilitate access to USF education and training resources. The work will be performed in Tampa and is expected to be completed by Feb. 9, 2025. The contract was awarded through other than full and open competition. USSOCOM headquarters, Tampa, Florida, is the contracting activity. (Awarded Feb. 10, 2020) L3Harris Technologies Inc., Clifton, New Jersey, was awarded a $48,715,001 modification on an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-incentive-fee, and cost reimbursable contract (H9224120D0001) for the Suite of Integrated Radio Frequency Countermeasures program for U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM). This modification for program management, contractor logistics support, field service representatives and travel raises the contract ceiling to $50,000,000. The majority of the work will be performed in Clifton, New Jersey. This contract is a non-competitive award in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302.1. USSOCOM headquarters, Tampa, Florida, is the contracting activity. NAVY Tekla Research Inc.,* Fredericksburg, Virginia, is awarded an $82,999,168 cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost reimbursable, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. This contract provides test and evaluation engineering, prototyping, and integration of warfare systems into Navy aircraft and aviation systems. In addition, this contract provides developmental test and evaluation of lab, ground, and flight-testing of newly installed or developmental systems and/or modifications to fleet-deployed systems as well as data gathering to support potentially new systems, improve existing systems, and experimentation and testing of prototypes. Work will be performed in Patuxent River, Maryland (96.5%); China Lake, California (1%); Point Mugu, California (1%); Norfolk, Virginia (1%); and Lakehurst, New Jersey (0.5%), and is expected to be completed in March 2025. No funds will be obligated at the time of award. Funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. This contract was a small business set-aside, competitively procured via an electronic request for proposal; two offers were received. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N00421-20-D-0024). The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Missouri is awarded $19,271,301 for a firm-fixed-priced delivery order N00383-20-F-0AY0 under a previously awarded basic ordering agreement (N00383-18-G-AY01) for the repair of various avionics equipment used on the F/A-18 aircraft. Work will be performed in Lemoore, California (99%); and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1%). Work will be completed by December 2022. Annual working capital funds (Navy) in the full amount of $19,271,301 will be obligated at the time of award and funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. One source was solicited for this sole-source requirement pursuant to the authority set forth in 10 U.S. Code 2304 (c)(1) and one offer was received. Naval Supply Systems Command Weapon Systems Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the contracting activity. AIR FORCE Lockheed Martin Corp., Fort Worth, Texas, has been awarded a $67,584,243 firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee modification (PZ0010) to contract FA8615-16-C-6048 for upgrading F-16s for the government of Singapore. Work will be performed at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, Fort Worth, Texas; and in Singapore. This contract is expected to be completed by June 30, 2023, and is a Foreign Military Sales acquisition for the government of Singapore. This contract was a sole-source acquisition, and the total cumulative face value of the contract is $1,008,584,243. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity. Cyber Systems & Services Solutions, Bellevue, Nebraska, has been awarded a $17,590,503 firm-fixed-price and cost-plus-fixed-fee modification (P0009) to contract FA8773-18-D-0002 to exercise Option II for Defensive Cyber Realization, Integration, and Operational Support (DCRIOS) services. Work will be performed at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas, and is expected to be completed Feb. 28, 2021. This modification is the result of a competitive acquisition and seven offers were received. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $10,934,344.00 are being obligated at the time of award. The 38th Contracting Squadron, Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas, is the contracting activity. ARMY Great Lakes Dredge & Deck Co. LLC, Old Brook, Illinois, was awarded a $17,573,575 firm-fixed-price contract for maintenance dredging of Baltimore Harbor and York Spit Channel, Chesapeake. Bids were solicited via the internet with four received. Work will be performed in Chesapeake, Virginia, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 9, 2020. Fiscal 2020 cost-share and civil operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $17,573,575 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore, Maryland, is the contracting activity (W912DR-20-C-0006). Safariland LLC, Casper, Wyoming, was awarded an $8,944,506 firm-fixed-price contract for a 12-gauge, direct-fire, low-hazard, non-shrapnel producing shell. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 11, 2025. U.S. Army Contracting Command, New Jersey, is the contracting activity (W15QKN-20-F-0161). Midwest Construction Co.,* Nebraska City, Nebraska, was awarded a $7,310,007 firm-fixed-price contract for levee rehabilitation. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work will be performed in Papillion, Nebraska, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 30, 2020. Fiscal 2019 civil flood control and coastal emergencies funds in the amount of $7,310,007 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha, Nebraska is the contracting activity (W9128F-20-C-0012). *Small business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2081595/source/GovDelivery/
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1 mars 2019 | International, Aérospatial
What does Australia think of the F-35? One Air Force commander details his experience
By: Nigel Pittaway MELBOURNE, Australia — The commander of the Royal Australian Air Force's Air Combat Group has provided insight into his experience with the Lockheed Martin F-35A Joint Strike Fighter, during the 2019 Avalon Airshow this week. Australia has 72 F-35As on order to replace the F/A-18A/B “Classic” Hornet fleet, as it's known Down Under; the country has received 10 aircraft to date. Two aircraft were delivered to RAAF Base Williamtown, north of Sydney, in December 2018, and a further eight are based in the United States at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona, in support of international F-35 pilot training with the U.S. Air Force's 61st Fighter Squadron. Air Commodore Mike Kitcher said two more aircraft will be delivered to Australia in early April and eight will have arrived by the end of 2019. “Those two jets at Williamtown are flying five to six sorties a week, largely for aircrew training at the moment. We'll add another two aircraft to that fleet in early April, and we'll have another four by the end of this year and eight aircraft in Australia by the end of the year,” he said. Kitcher also described a sortie he flew in the Red Flag 19-1 exercise held in Nevada in February, in which RAAF Hornets flew with U.S. Air Force F-35As as part of an international strike package. “One of the key strike missions I did that day was to watch an eight-ship [formation] of F-35s kick open a door, which was a fairly hard door to open. Some F-22s came in after that to hold the door open, and the F-35s went back and picked up a strike train that consisted of [RAAF] Hornets, Super Hornets from the U.S. Navy, Typhoons from the [British] Royal Air Force and U.S. Air Force F-16s, supported by U.S. Navy [EA-18G] Growlers and U.S. Air Force F-16s,” Kitcher said. “That was the first time I've been in a high-end exercise, involving a significant air threat, a significant surface-to-air threat and even a cyberthreat. You could see the way the F-35 was working with Classic Hornets, Super Hornets, Typhoons and Growlers to solve a very difficult problem. I'm confident that we'll be doing that in Australia with our F-35s and our Super Hornets and Growlers within the next couple of years.” Two RAAF F-35As from No. 3 Squadron were present at Avalon, and one of them participated in the daily flying display. https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/avalon/2019/02/28/what-does-australia-think-of-the-f-35-one-air-force-commander-details-his-experience/