Raw Intel

Americas Sikorsky won a $99.3 million deal, which provides products and support required to rapidly integrate and field VH-92A aircraft simulators and trainers in support of the Presidential Helicopter Program. The products include delivery of technical analysis, technical reports, trade studies, and retrofit kits for ground support equipment modifications that support deficiency resolution, capability/technology insertions, obsolescence redesigns, and reliability/sustainability improvements. The support includes program management, engineering, integrated logistics support, configuration management, system integration lab operation and maintenance, testing support, and F…

Americas Huntington Ingalls won an $18 million contract modification for the advance planning requirements to support the refueling complex overhaul of the USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75). The USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) is the eighth Nimitz class aircraft carrier in service with the United States Navy. She was launched on September 7, 1996 by Newport News Shipbuilding, Newport News, Virginia, and commissioned on July 25, 1998. Work will take place in Virginia. Estimated completion is in November 2022. Sikorsky won a $31.2 million modification, which exercises an option to provide non-recurring engineering to include, investigation, systems engineering support, risk analys…

Americas General Dynamics won an $18.1 million deal to provide US Trident II Strategic Weapon System Kings Bay Trident Trainer Facility kit and engineering support services. The Trident II Strategic Weapons System is an improved SLBM with greater accuracy, payload, and range than the earlier Trident C-4. It is a key element of the US strategic nuclear triad and strengthens US strategic deterrence.Work will take place in Connecticut, Georgia and Florida.Estimated completion date is December 31, 2025 The last three remaining RQ-4A BAMS-D unmanned air vehicles that belonged to the US Navy have been transferred to NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center. The ground control e…

Americas The first low-rate initial production MQ-4C in the B8 configuration, with multi-intelligence capabilities, has been delivered to NAS Patuxent River on February 1. The B8 is the first production Triton to be upgraded to the multi-intelligence configuration to meet the Navy’s critical maritime intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting needs. Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company, said it is building nine additional CH-53K aircraft for the USMarine Corps. The CH-53K will support the military in its mission to conduct expeditionary heavy-lift assault transport of armored vehicles, equipment and personnel to support distributed operations deep inland fro…

Another sad week for those who wish New Zealand was a better partner for the West ... but she has a history here. What is even more sad is that it appears this time it is for little more than money over human rights. Not much more. Details over at USNIBlog. Come on by and give it a ponder. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?d=yIl2AUoC8zA http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?d=qj6IDK7rITs http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=a5orce93csQ:-LXibg_aIWc:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=a5orce93csQ:-LXibg_aIWc:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=a5orce93csQ:-LXibg_aIWc:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds…

Americas Boeing won a $191.8 million delivery order for the repair of multiple flight control surfaces used on the F/A-18E/F and E/A-18G aircrafts. The delivery order does not include an option period. Work will be performed in Jacksonville, Florida; various other locations within the continental US that cannot be determined at this time and St. Louis, Missouri, and work is expected to be completed by July 2025. Mood Inc. won a $8.6 million deal for the spare of the Planetary Blade Fol used on the V-22 aircraft. The V-22 Osprey is a joint-service, medium-lift, multimission tilt-rotor aircraft developed by Boeing and Bell Helicopters. Boeing is responsible for the fuselag…

To see where we are and where we need to go, it is always helpful to remind ourselves how we got here. First let's look where we are; the Navy telling Congress to bugger-off; Via Caitlin Kenny at DefenseOne; The Navy is proposing to drop its amphibious fleet below 31 ships, despite an agreement with the Marine Corps and a potential violation of last year’s defense policy law. Sent to Congress on Monday, the Navy’s proposed $255.8 billion 2024 budget aims to retire eight warships before the end of their intended service life, including three Whidbey Island-class dock landing ships, or LSDs, that it proposed to scrap last year but which were saved by the 2023 National Def…

Americas Northrop Grumman won a $3.6 billion deal for Battlefield Airborne Communications Node (BACN) operations, sustainment and support. The contract provides for research, development, test, and evaluation, integration and operations and sustainment for existing and future payloads contained in or connected to the BACN system and associated ground stations or controls, ancillary equipment, support equipment and system integration laboratories. BACN is a US Air Force airborne communications relay and gateway system housed in the unmanned RQ-4 Global Hawk, another Northrop Grumman product, to receive and distribute battlefield communications. It is designed to increase …

...we have better start planning to fight the marathon. Now that we are contested at sea, we are setting ourselves up to be unable to return ships to the fight. Details from the GAO's latest over at USNIBlog. Give it a read and wake up. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?d=yIl2AUoC8zA http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?d=qj6IDK7rITs http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=ljcXeWKB1UY:EKgL8FL2X5o:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=ljcXeWKB1UY:EKgL8FL2X5o:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=ljcXeWKB1UY:EKgL8FL2X5o:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=ljcXeWKB1UY:EKg…

Americas Raytheon won a $136.4 million deal for MK 15 close-in weapon system upgrades and conversions, system overhauls and associated hardware. MK 15 Phalanx CIWS provides ships of the US Navy with an inner layer point defense capability against anti-ship missiles, aircraft and littoral warfare threats that have penetrated other fleet defenses. Phalanx automatically detects, evaluates, tracks, engages and performs kill assessment against ASM and high-speed aircraft threats. This contract combines purchases for the Navy (85%); and the government of South Korea (15%), under the foreign military sales program. If all options are exercised, work will continue through Septemb…

What ever happened to Colonel Yuli Mamchor, Ukrainian Air Force? I've thought of him a few times since the war started and all my google fu tells me is that he dropped off after a short sting in politics. If you find anything, let us know in comments ... but until then, let's look back at a FbF from 2014. What does a leader do? When are you willing to put yourself and your troops on the line to make a point? How do you, unarmed, give the presence of leadership among your armed opponents? I give you a leader who simply, is. In another word; stud. I may quibble a bit about their historical regimental flag, but that would be a quibble. The point I was making about presence?…

Americas Tyonek Global Services won an $11 million deal for the B?1B Advanced Digital Test Station. The B-1B Lancer, also known as “The Bone”, is the US Air Force long-range strategic bomber developed by Rockwell International, now Boeing Defense And Space Group. The deal provides contractor logistics support services. Work will be performed in Warner Robins, Georgia, and is expected to be completed by August 7, 2027. Sierra Nevada won a $9.6 million contract modification, which provides for the integration of a temporary Line of Sight Data Link-16 capability on HC-130J aircraft using portions of the Airborne Mission Networking. Work will take place in Colorado, Arizona,…

Americas The US Coast Guard has taken delivery of its 57th Sentinel-class fast response cutter from Bollinger Shipyards in Key West, Florida. The USCGC Florence Finch (WPC-1157) is part of a US Department of Defense effort begun in 2008 to replace the service’s Island class commissioned in the 1980s. WPC-1157 will sail as the second of three Sentinel ships to be homeported in Sector Columbia River, a coast guard division responsible for security, maritime law enforcement, environmental protection, and rescue along the Oregon Coast. Top Aces Inc., a leading provider of advanced adversary air (ADAIR) training, has successfully completed its first training mission in Canada …

Unless you have kids of college age like I do, you may not be up to speed with just how far things have gone. Some of you were a little shocked with what we covered back in September about the goings on at the US Naval Academy. They're playing catch up, really. There is a lot worse going on at USNA that I am not at liberty to share (sources and methods, etc) - but trust me, it is getting worse as the faculty and leadership there chase the latest trends at other government and private universities. Shall we check in on what is going on in larger academia? Why, yes, we should. It is coming your way sooner more than later. Here's a little pull quote from an extensive report …

Civilization, we are being reminded in Ukraine, is paper thin. Because so much of war in Europe that we have seen is in black and white of very grainy color, in the last few decades – even with the collapse of Yugoslavia as a reminder – we have forgotten how fast all can fall apart. Heck, few under 30 even have memories of the Yugoslavian collapse, so two generations have no memory that, in a week – you are living in a history you did not ask for. You are the young girl, dog under one arm and cat under another, escaping from an advancing army on foot through ruins just a bit ago were just part of your neighborhood. In Ukraine, we see objectively poorer, but normal modern…

Americas Hamilton won a $23.6 million deal with a firm-fixed-price pricing arrangement for C-130 repair. The total estimated value of all options is $116,760,189. The maximum ceiling value of the contract is $140,383,922. This contract provides repair in support of the NP2000 eight blade propeller and electronic propeller control system of the C-130 for the […]View the full article

British E-3 Sentry (click to view full) Britain’s E-3D Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) is based on Boeing’s 707 family, and its ability to see and direct air operations within hundreds of miles provides vital strategic support. Since its introduction in 1992, the RAF’s fleet of 7 E-3s has been used in every major UK military operation, including Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya. That availability depends on effective maintenance, and the UK MoD has a new approach. It’s meant to give them more flyable planes, while costing less money. The new Sentry Whole Life Support Program (WLSP) began in August 2005, when Northrop Grumman won a 20-year…

We haven’t really discussed the imbroglio presently roiling USMC-world around General Berger, USMC and “USMC Force Design 2030.” Well, today we’re going to step in – second hand. The document itself isn’t as interesting to me per se as the reaction to it. Berger is trying to look at where we are today, what challenges the nation faces, what the USMC’s role in addressing that challenge is, what resources provided to do it, and has come up with a path he and his staff believes best addresses the challenge. No plan of vision is perfect. There are always weaknesses and imperfections, but decisions do need to be made. The old guard, or as Bob Work - Former Deputy Secretary of …

Americas Bell Boeing Joint Project Office won a $61.1 million contract modification, which adds scope to provide additional non-recurring engineering to support the production line incorporation of nacelle improvements for the CV-22 aircraft. Additionally, this modification exercises an option to procure 14 nacelle improvements kits in order to accelerate the CV-22 installation schedule, as well as procure an additional six brackets to support the kit installation. Work will take place in Texas and Pennsylvania. Estimated completion is in December 2025. L3Harris Technologies has been chosen by Tactical Air Support to upgrade the F-5AT. L3Harris will provide GH-4001 Elect…

If there was any concern that Russia might turn Germany as winter sets in cold and expensive, you can put that concern to the side;European leaders said Tuesday they believed dual explosions that damaged pipelines built to carry Russian natural gas to Europe were deliberate, and some officials blamed the Kremlin, suggesting the blasts were intended as a threat to the continent. The damage did not have an immediate impact on Europe’s energy supplies. Russia cut off flows earlier this month, and European countries had scrambled to build up stockpiles and secure alternative energy sources before that.With both Nordstream 1 and 2 now offline due to - well - "things," Russian …