Table of contents
Bell-Boeing Tapped For Osprey Upgrade | Egypt Signals Private Investment in Military Companies | Armenia To Take Delivery Of Su-30SMs by February 2020
Americas
The Naval Air System Command awarded Bell-Boeing Joint Project Office a $146 million contract modification, which exercises the option to upgrade nine MV-22 aircraft from the Block B to the Block C configuration, as well as planned maintenance intervals for eight MV-22 aircraft, in support of the Common Configuration-Readiness and Modernization (CC-RAM) program. The MV-22 Osprey is the primary assault support aircraft for the US Marine Corps. It was fielded to replace the CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter and has been deployed to support troops in combat since 2007. The new Block C variant of the aircraft features a new weather radar system that improves navigation in poor weather conditions and a redesigned environmental conditioning system to enhance aircrew comfort. More than 160 Osprey tiltrotors are currently in operation and the worldwide fleet has amassed more than 130,000 flight hours, with nearly half of those hours logged in the past two years. Work will take place in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania and Fort Worth, Texas, and is expected to be finished by March 2022.
Lockheed Martin Space won a $40.3 million modification for TRIDENT II (D5) missile production and deployed systems support. The Trident II (D5) is the latest generation of the US Navy’s submarine-launched fleet ballistic missiles, following the highly successful Polaris, Poseidon, and Trident I C4 programs. Each generation has been continuously deployed at sea as a survivable retaliatory force and has been routinely operationally tested and evaluated to maintain confidence and credibility in the deterrent. Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company is the Navy’s Trident missile prime contractor. Lockheed Martin employees, principally in California, Georgia, Florida, Washington, Utah, Virginia and Scotland, support the design, development, production, test, and operation and sustainment of the Trident Strategic Weapon System. The company also supplies technical and logistical support at sites where the missiles are deployed. Estimated completion date for work under the contract modification will be September 30, 2024.
Middle East & Africa
Egyptian President Abd al-Fattah as-Sisi has said that military-owned industrial organizations could be included in the country’s privatization program, according to Reuters. Last year, the government said it planned to sell minority stakes in 23 state-owned companies in an initial phase of privatization, part of a plan to raise up to $4.97 billion. Speaking on October 31 while opening two military-owned chemical plants in Abu Rawash, el-Sisi remarked that military companies should be listed on the Egyptian Exchange or opened to foreign investment. “The offerings being prepared by the Egyptian state should include a chance (for) the Armed Forces companies. In this way we will have opened a door for the Egyptian people and society to these companies,” Sisi said at the ceremony.
Europe
Hesco Bastion Inc. won a $24 million contract for the Expeditionary Barrier System. This is a 10-month, 300-day bridge contract. Hesco’s earth-filled barriers are designed to form compartmentalized areas to keep soldiers safe from indirect and direct fire. The units are lined with a heavy-duty polypropylene geotextile and filled with available material using commonly available equipment. Location of performance are South Carolina as well as the United Kingdom. Estimated completion will be on September 1, 2020.
Asia-Pacific
Boeing won a $34.2 million delivery order, which provides for the non-recurring engineering, logistics product data, 28 Group A-1 retrofit kits, 28 Group A-2 retrofit kits, and 28 Group B retrofit kits for incorporation of the Distributed Targeting Processor-Network into the F/A-18 aircraft for the Navy and the Government of Australia. The F/A-18 “Hornet” is a single- and two-seat, twin engine, multi-mission fighter/attack aircraft that can operate from either aircraft carriers or land bases. Boeing will perform work in St. Louis, Missouri, China Lake, California, and Whidbey Island, Washington. Expected completion is in June 2022.
Armenia will take delivery of its Su-30SM fighters by February 2020, Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan has disclosed. The jets will either be handed over next month or in January and February of 2020, local media reports. The Sukhoi Su-30 is a Russian-made twin-engine, two-seat supermaneuverable fighter aircraft. It is a multirole fighter for all-weather, air-to-air and air-to-surface deep interdiction missions. The Su-30SM is considered a 4+ generation fighter jet. The aircraft has been upgraded for radar, radio communications systems, friend-or-foe identification system, ejection seats, weapons, and other aircraft systems. SM stands for „Serial, Modernized“.
Today’s Video
Watch: US Navy aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford completes Post-Shakedown Availability sea trials
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