Current Events in the Americas

From Aviation Week GD Keeps EFV, But Program Redrawn Jun 8, 2007 Michael Bruno/Aerospace Daily & Defense Report The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps will allow General Dynamics to keep the troubled Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV) program, but the Corps will dramatically scale back its future orders and restructure the contract to address award fees among other concerns, officials told reporters June 7 at the Pentagon. The program now will seek only 573 EFVs, almost halved from 1,013 units previously, and officials have built in a delay of four to five years in the schedule. Milestone C approval is slated for mid-2011, instead of last January, and full…

Seems JASSM is back from the brink and is proving itself ... maybe? From ARES Blog Sue Payton's "Kick Ass Missile" Posted by Amy Butler at 8/1/2008 10:49 AM CDT Take a look at the slick new video made by Lockheed Martin and showing its new cruise missile's recent successes. Company officials say the video has not been doctored in any way, and the images were captured from test video. After dipping to an all-time low reliability last year of 58% and experiencing a major cost overrun, the Air Force now reports the fixes to the stealthy cruise missile have boosted reliability to 88%. Good thing, since the weapon costs nearly $1 million per copy. Sue Paty…

From Defense Aerospace Government of Canada Frigate Modernization Contract Benefits Forces and Economy (Source: Public Works and Government Services Canada; issued Nov. 8, 2008) (N.B.: All monetary amounts are in Canadian dollars) GATINEAU --- The Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada, the Honourable Christian Paradis, and the Honourable Peter Gordon MacKay, Minister of National Defence and Minister for the Atlantic Gateway, today announced that the Government of Canada awarded two long-term contracts to Lockheed Martin Canada for the Combat Systems Integration (CSI) Design and Build and In-Service Support elements of the modernization of Ca…

Aircraft Procurement Plan, FY 2012-2041 (PDF, 25 pp)

From Flight Global DATE: 02/02/09 SOURCE: Flight International US Navy starts next-gen jammer bidding war By Stephen Trimble The US Navy has selected four companies to participate in a four-year, $430 million competition to design the next generation jammer (NGJ) pod for the Boeing EA-18G Growler and Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). BAE Systems, ITT Corp, Northrop Grumman Systems Corp and Raytheon have each received a $6 million deal to begin developing their concepts for replacing the 38-year-old ALQ-99 pod. The USN favours a solution based on an active electronic array, but is not constraining any approach the bidders might take to …

DefenseNews.com December 21, 2005 First U.S. Navy SSGN Sub Completes Trials By Christopher P. Cavas The first of the U.S. Navy’s ballistic missile submarines to be converted so it can launch cruise missiles and carry teams of special operations forces completed its sea trials Dec. 19, the Navy said in a statement released Dec. 21. The USS Ohio is one of four former SSBN submarines to undergo the SSGN conversion. The ships — the largest submarines ever built for the United States — have traded in their Trident ballistic missiles for Tomahawk cruise missiles. Twenty-two of the submarine’s 24 missile tubes have been converted to each carry seven Tomahaw…

From RIA Novosti Venezuela mulls purchase of Russian submarines - source 13:14 | 14/ 06/ 2007 MOSCOW, June 14 (RIA Novosti) - Venezuela is close to striking a deal with Russia on the procurement of several diesel submarines for its Navy, a source in the Russian shipbuilding industry said Thursday. The South American country has been vigorously pursuing modernization of its naval fleet to counter a possible U.S. blockade of its oil fields and prepare for direct military confrontation with Washington. "At present, military experts from Venezuela are conducting active consultations with Russian colleagues on the purchase of a large number of submarines," t…

Arizona Daily Star (Tucson) June 12, 2007 Raytheon Tomahawk Might Replace Errant Lockheed Missile By Tony Capaccio, Bloomberg News Raytheon Co.'s Tomahawk cruise missile is being eyed as a possible replacement for a Lockheed Martin Corp. missile program that was given 30 days to demonstrate it has a plan to improve reliability, said Diane Wright, the Pentagon's deputy director for air warfare. The Lockheed missile costs about $649,000 and is launched from planes. The latest Tomahawk, made at Tucson-based Raytheon Missile Systems, costs $972,000 on average and can be launched only from ships and submarines. Wright said the Pentagon might explore wheth…

Collection of photos of US Navy radar ships over the years, including the newest, USNS Howard O. Lorenzen, here.

Improved AIM-9X Achieves IOC (Seapower)

From AviationWeek Navy Details New Super Hornet Capabilities By David A. Fulghum With Douglas Barrie in London. The U.S. Navy's "Advanced Super Hornet" will tie together an electronic attack system with a powerful new radar that would allow the aircraft to find, deceive and, perhaps, disable sophisticated, radar-guided air-to-air, surface-to-air and cruise missiles. Moreover, it could do so at ranges greater than that of new U.S. air-to-air and air-to-ground weapons. Silence about these key features of the Super Hornet's advanced radar and integrated sensor package is being broken by U.S. Navy and aerospace industry officials just as the President's budget f…

From DefenseNews The Congressional Electronic Warfare (EW) Working Group says U.S. Air Force plans to use the B-52 as a stand-off jammer — the B-52 SOJ — may be dropped to save money, a move the organization calls a major mistake. “Given the clear need for a robust airborne electronic attack capability, it’s alarming to hear that the B-52 SOJ may be given the ax in the forthcoming Quadrennial Defense Review, especially without a clear alternative to substitute the capability that the B-52 SOJ would bring to the table,” the working group said in a late December briefing statement. The working group was established by Rep. Joseph Pitts, R-Pa., to study U.S. military…

From Marine Corps Times Navy: Super Hornet rep for problems untrue Corps may be responsible for bad rap By Christopher P. Cavas - Staff writer Posted : Sunday Jun 17, 2007 9:09:10 EDT NAVAL AIR STATION PATUXENT RIVER, Md. — Inside Naval Air Systems Command headquarters at this southern Maryland base, Navy program officials for the F/A-18 Super Hornet strike fighter program have heard the stories circulating in the Pentagon. Their aircraft, the stories go, can’t carry certain weapons, can’t fly high enough, can’t go fast enough. Design problems such as wing flutter plague the plane and — perhaps worst of all — parts that will wear out fast enough to severely…

From Air Force Times Deputy SecDef: No more Raptors needed By John T. Bennett - Staff writer Posted : Tuesday Jan 29, 2008 11:35:26 EST PASCAGOULA, Miss. — Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England defended his position that the Air Force needs no more than 187 F-22 Raptors, saying Saturday that several Pentagon studies have concluded that number is sufficient to tackle future threats. In recent months, senior Air Force officials have intensified their public campaign for 381 of the Lockheed Martin-made fighters. Senior Pentagon officials recently approved an Air Force plan to purchase four more Raptors, a move that will bring the planned buy to 191 warplanes.…

Defence Minister Kicks Off Phase II of CF-18 Upgrades NR-05.016 - February 18, 2005 OTTAWA — The second phase of the CF-18 Modernization Project kicked off today during a ceremony that saw the Boeing Company sign a contract with the Department of National Defence for $117 million. Defence Minister Bill Graham and Lieutenant-General Ken Pennie, Chief of the Air Staff, attended the ceremony held by Boeing in Mirabel, Québec. “The CF-18 is Canada’s primary aircraft for maintaining air defence and air superiority,” said Minister Graham. “The $2.1-billion CF-18 modernization program will ensure that the CF-18s continue to provide security to Canadians and defend …

From Defense Aerospace Pentagon Contract Announcement (Source; US Department of Defense; issued Jan. 30, 2008) McDonnell Douglas Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Mo., is being awarded a $73,707,908 cost-plus-incentive-fee contract (N00019-08-C-0021) for the system development and demonstration of the Harpoon Block III Missile Program. Work will be performed in St. Charles, Mo. (92.12 percent); Lititz, Penn. (1.93 percent); Cedar Rapids, Iowa (.84 percent); Chatsworth, Calif. (.76 percent); Galena, Kan. (.49 percent); Lowell, Mass. (.42 percent); and various locations across the United States (3.44 percent), and work is expected…

From Jane's Weight loss regime beckons for LCS 1 By Casandra Newell 10 February 2009 The US Navy is mulling over the removal of several redundant and non-critical parts from Littoral Combat Ship 1 (LCS 1) USS Freedom in order to decrease the vessel's displacement. Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) told Jane's that officials are considering taking out components "that have become unused on the finished ship". The proposed list includes engine removal rails for the twin Rolls-Royce MT-30 gas turbines. Senior crew members assigned to the Lockheed Martin/Marinette Marine-built frigate said in December 2008 that the prototype vessel was three to five tons ov…

USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) Commissioning Publication (Faircount Media)

From NOSINT The San Juan Islands are such a lovely place ... great scenery, good food, whale-watching and last but not least - liberals. They don't like the sound the US Navy's jets at neighboring Whidbey Island Naval Air Station makes (want some cheese with that whine?) It's obvious, they don't realize that throaty roar is the sound of freedom. Every day they take for granted the freedoms they enjoy, all because of the distinctive sound of those Prowler and Hornet engines and the men an women who drive those aircraft, along with others like them on the ground and sea, who serve in the other branches of our armed forces.

From ARES JSF Secrets to Stay Secret Posted by David A. Fulghum at 2/10/2009 4:09 PM CST Nobody is going to be allowed to play around with the software that controls the F-35’s electronic warfare package. After a long period of obtuse answers about whether foreign customers would be able to put their own systems in F-35 or customize the software themselves, the issue has been clarified. “No,” says Maj. Gen. Charles Davis, program executive officers of the Joint Strike Fighter program. The super-classified software allows electronic surveillance, detection, identification, self-defense and attack. A software-run techniques generator also will be able to se…