China became the first export customer for Russia’s new S-400 long range air defense missile system, says Anatoly Isaikin, the head of government arms trade agency Rosoboronexport.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) Apr. 13-15 — Sea Air Space 50th Anniversary, “50 Years of Maritime Excellence & Innovation,” Gaylord Convention Center, National Harbor, Maryland. For more information go to www.seaairspace.org/
LOCKHEED MARTIN has $150.6m U.S. Navy contract to build, test, modify, and field F-35 Lightning II mission data files for Australia and the U.K. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, TX, and should finish by December 2018. BECHTEL NATIONAL INC. has $1.34b U.S. Army contract modification to destroy chemical weapons in Pueblo, CO. JAPAN ordered one H155 and one AS365 N3+ for delivery in 2017 for its National Police Agency.
The U.S. State Department has approved the $57 million Foreign Military Sale to Egypt of 356 Lockheed Martin AGM-114K/R3 Hellfire II Missiles and associated equipment, parts, training and logistical support. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) notified Congress of this possible deal on April 7.
A CDN$155 million ($123 million) deal with Bell Helicopter is the second contract for helicopters placed by the Canadian Department of Fisheries & Oceans—the umbrella agency for the Coast Guard—following a May 2014 order for 15 Bell 429s.
The government’s fiscal year closes at the end of September, leaving little time to resolve the question of how to level the playing field between dissimilar competitors United Launch Alliance and SpaceX as they compete for launch contracts.
India plans to purchase 36 Rafale jets in fly-away condition “as quickly as possible,” though both the Indian and French governments said further negotiations are still underway.
Canberra also has decided to add facilities at RAAF Amberley, the major Royal Australian Air Force base that accommodates the C-17 unit, 36 Squadron. The aircraft and new facilities will cost AUS$1 billion ($770 million), Defense Minister Kevin Andrews says, confirming the intention to order.
During his Asia-Pacific tour, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter showed continued U.S. support for Japan’s plans to revise its military stance and the U.S. ally’s importance in the region.
Additional instruments will be switched on in the coming week, but the agency says close flybys of the comet scheduled through the end of April will have to be reworked, in order to avoid a similar loss of navigational control.
Dassault Aviation stock was up almost 4% Friday morning on reports that New Delhi is pressing a compromise in a three-year-old deal to purchase Rafale combat jets, one that would see India spend several billion euros to purchase made-in-France fighters.
“With delivery of our second trainer, the unit will add the capability to provide in-depth avionics troubleshooting, along with test and check procedures,” says Chief Aviation Machinist’s Mate Dan Singer, CNATTU division chief.
U.S. defense contractors will have to notify and seek the endorsement of a Defense Department official regarding some of their self-funded research efforts under the latest implementation of the Pentagon’s Better Buying Power initiative.
The Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS) has received GPS signals at an altitude of 70,000 km, well above the GPS constellation’s 20,200-km operational altitude, and has generated navigation solutions there based on the GPS signals.
While the U.S. Marine Corps and Navy have been prepping their amphibious ships to accommodate the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), the services also are preparing to meet the C5I challenges—and potential—associated with the aircraft.
The U.S. Navy is using the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) 3 USS Fort Worth to help craft the concept of operations (Conops) for unmanned helicopter use for the fleet’s ships, says Rear Adm. Charlie Williams, commander of U.S. 7th Fleet’s Task Force 73 (CTF 73).
