Israel To Buy The F-35 If Their Conditions Met
Filed under: Business Line, Companies, Contract Awards, Countries, Department of Defense, Events, FMS, Israel, Lockheed Martin, Military Aviation, Services, U.S. Air Force, development program, production program
Israel would like to buy the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) to add modern, stealthy aircraft to its fleet of F-15 and F1-6 aircraft. As with the previous generation of United States aircraft they would also like the ability to integrate their own electronics and weapon systems on it. The Israelis have done this with all the weapons they have bought or captured over the years.
They rely on their own sophisticated defense industry to develop systems that they would like to put on the various platforms that they operate. The U.S. has resisted the Israeli requests in a bid to protect the technology and systems developed for the F-35. The Israelis have been negotiating this issue for several months and have won most of what they want but the desire to put their own electronic warfare system has things stymied. The U.S. will allow radar and weapons to be added but do not want to open the software at that level to Israel.
The contract could be for up to seventy-five aircraft total making Israel one of the largest purchasers and would certainly help the program facing budget issues and delays. The more that the U.S. is able to sell overseas the lower the average price of an aircraft will be. It behooves the U.S., Lockheed Martin and Israel to work out some sort of deal as the advanced capability of this aircraft will only help Israel in the future.
Northrop To Provide Laser Targeting Systems To The U.S. Army
Filed under: Business Line, Companies, Contract Awards, Events, IT, Northrop Grumman Corp., Services, U.S. Army, development program, production program
The U.S. Army awarded Northrop a contract to build lightweight laser targeting systems. These will be mounted on a variety of weapon systems. The initial contract is worth about $73 million but if all options are exercised it could generate over $600 million in revenue. The company has been making these types of systems since 2002.
The U.S. military has invested a great deal of money into these kind of systems providing a technical advantage over their adversaries. They not only provide the ability to detect and classify enemy in low or bad visibility but can be used to guide different weapons. These types of systems are fully integrated and are able to provide information to other Army systems and units via digital communications.
Algeria Struggles With Russian Arms
Filed under: Business Line, Companies, Contract Additions, Contract Awards, Countries, Events, MiG, Military Aviation, Russia, logistics, production program
The former Soviet Union used to provide weapons to its proxy states and allies across the world for almost nothing. They did this as a way to reward them and also to allow them to fight their wars for them. Many times the weapon systems were stripped down versions of their own aircraft with less capable engines, electronics and weapon systems. Some countries like North Vietnam did receive the best that the USSR could supply to help them in their wars.
Since the break up of the Soviet Union the new Russia has seen a huge decrease in the size of their military and industrial base. They have attempted to increase the overall technology level of their weapons but have had limited funds to invest. The Russian Government has attempted to sell modern systems overseas to help fund their procurements and provide R&D dollars. To this end the MiG and Sukhoi fighters have often been exported and are contenders in India’s new fighter programs.
It is now reported that Algeria is having problems with their advanced MiG-29 fighter aircraft ordered back in 2007. The thirty-four aircraft were part of a much larger arms deal signed as a way for Russia to forgive some of Algeria’s debt. Algeria supposedly returned the fifteen aircraft delivered and canceled the remaining ones due to poor performance and quality.
According to a Russian investigation the problem has been that one of the sub-contractors for the aircraft provided not new parts but ones that had been recycled from old aircraft. This has been an issue in the past in all countries with aircraft production and repair. It is a scam that may often happen with new part prices being paid for old, reconditioned parts. This problem led to the issues with Algeria ending their order.
The problem faced by Russia is that it needs the good will of its customers to keep the money flowing as without the foriegn funds it might not be able to keep sustaining parts of its arms industry. There is just not enough domestic business. Russia has been using some of its oil revenue to modernize their military but still needs to keep up its foriegn sales.
Scientist honored for superconducting work
ARLINGTON, Va., Aug. 20 (UPI) -- A U.S. Air Force scientist is being recognized for developments in superconducting materials that reduce the weight of aircraft and weapon systems.
Bush administration rushing to complete overseas sales
Filed under: Congress, Contract Awards, Department of Defense, FMS, Federal Budget Process, Military Aviation, Proposal, logistics
According to an article in the International Herald Tribune; the Bush administration is moving quickly to ok deals for foriegn partners on US weapon systems. The Pentagon plays a role in organizing and having Congress approve these deals. There has been a rash of equipment for Iraq and Afghanistan lately as well for former Soviet and Eastern Europe states. This is seen as building good will with them, as well as counteracting other nation’s attempts to sell weapons. The deals also help out US contractors.
See the article here.
Defense spending to continue in 2009
Lockheed Martin’s CFO, Bruce Tanner, gave an interview to CNNMoney.com. His key point is that with either the election of Senator Obama or McCain there will be no real downturn in defense spending. Many have felt that the Democrat might slash defense spending in order to pay for the other programs he has proposed. The last two Democratic administrations, Carter and Clinton, are not well remembered within the Department of Defense due to their reduction in funding. Both of these administrations cut back heavily on spending, especially in the area of investment for new weapon systems. Read more
Army awards iRobot FCS contract
Filed under: Boeing, Contract Awards, U.S. Army, development program, iRobot
Among the many parts of the Future Combat System (FCS) is a variety of ground and air unmanned vehicles. iRobot won a $60 M contract from the Army to provide parts of these systems. See the press release here. FCS will have a variety of vehicles, weapon systems, C4I systems and some unmanned systems to provide reconnaissance and intelligence collection. The Army has had success in Iraq and Afghanistan with small systems providing tactical intelligence to units, so this incorporation in FCS is a continued evolution of that effort.
BAE Systems Precision Targeting System Begins Final Testing; Company Declares System Ready for Production
Filed under: Syndicated Industry News
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