An AARGM-ER is fired from a US Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet during a test. (US Navy)
The US Navy (USN) and Northrop Grumman are negotiating the third low-rate initial production (LRIP) contract for the air-launched AGM-88G Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile-Extended Range (AARGM-ER), according to a service official.
The USN awarded contracts to Northrop Grumman for the first two LRIP lots in September 2021 and December 2021, respectively. A total of four LRIP lots are planned. The USN expects to award the first full-rate production contract in fiscal year (FY) 2025.
Author: Michael
The US Air Force is working with Atlanta-based Hermeus to develop what has been called “the world’s fastest plane. “
It wouldn’t be the first time the US military has taken this route, or rather taken to the skies, to develop such a speed demon.
However, the new hypersonic Quarterhorse will be very different from planes like the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, which took years to create and relied on space-age materials like hard-to-find titanium.
This aircraft is designed to run short distances, mainly to validate the Hermeus Chimera engine in flight and break the records of the SR-71.
The JGSDF operated a relatively small force of 40 UH-60JA helicopters. The crash of a UH-60JA off Miyakojima on 6 April is the first recorded by the army. (Japan Ground Self-Defense Force)
A Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) helicopter has crashed north of Miyako Island while conducting a patrol.
In a press conference in Tokyo on 6 April, General Yasunori Morishita, chief of staff of the JGSDF, said that the Sikorsky (Mitsubishi Heavy Industries) UH-60JA Black Hawk vanished from radar screens on Thursday afternoon.
According to critics of the U.S. military, its civilian and military leaders are overly fixated on diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives at the expense of the military’s warfighting mission and organizational well-being. These commentators and politicians accuse the military of everything from making servicemembers uncomfortable in the ranks by requiring their participation in diversity training to wasting time and money and damaging […]
The post How the Anti-Woke Campaign Against the U.S. Military Damages National Security appeared first on War on the Rocks.
The US Navy’s TH-73A Thrasher training helicopter. (US Navy)
Leonardo has delivered almost a third of the TH-73A Thrasher training helicopters that the US Navy plans to buy, according to an official at the Italy-based defence and aerospace company.
Leonardo is building three or four TH-73As a month in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the US, and delivered the 41st on 4 April, said Jeffrey Ketcham, director of navy programmes for Leonardo Helicopters. The navy intends to buy 130 Thrashers, with deliveries expected to end in 2025.
The Australian subsidiary of the UK-headquartered QinetiQ has secured an AUD12.9 million (USD8.68 million) contract from the Australian Department of Defence (DoD) to co-develop and manufacture a high-energy laser system prototype.The laser system prototype is expected to improve the Australian Defence Force’s (ADF’s) defensive capabilities in a “wide range of operational environments”, the DoD said on 4 April.Janes understands that the laser system prototype will be developed and built by QinetiQ under a two-year contract in South Australia.
The Indian Air Force has been forced to cut its FY2023 budget forecasts due to Russia’s delayed delivery of a major air defense system. A parliamentary group has been told.
The media have reported that the report of the parliamentary group, presented in Parliament at the end of March 2023, claimed that the large air defense system was nothing more than the S-400 missiles purchased from the Russian Federation.
S-400 for India
According to an earlier report by EurAsian Times from October 2018, India secured a $5.5 billion deal with Russia to purchase five S-400 missile systems.
Many people believe that the enigmatic SR-91 spy plane exists, and if it does, the Mach 6 hypersonic reconnaissance plane would surely usher in new strategies and methods of operation.
Hypersonic
When it comes to weapons and missiles, hypersonic speeds have previously been accomplished with substantial dependability.
DEFIANT X helicopter. Honeywell
Bell’s V-280 Valor-based win for the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft — a high-speed replacement for many U.S. Army Black Hawks and possibly more — was a massive loss for the competing Sikorsky-Boeing team. A protest of that award was all but certain and one was indeed put forth. Now that protest has been resolved unfavorably for Sikorsky and Boeing and their SB>1 Defiant-based design.
Make sure to read our complete analysis of the Army’s decision to push forward with the V-280 Valor-based design over the SB>1 Defiant-based design here.
M1A1 Abrams Tank Firing
On Wednesday, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov accused the U.S. of “playing with fire” and engaging in a hot “hybrid war” with Russia and blamed Washington for increasing nuclear tensions.
Ryabkov’s comments came hours after Russia declared that it had deployed nuclear-capable missiles in Belarus along NATO’s border. Moscow also announced that it had refitted Belarussian jets with the capability to carry and drop nuclear bombs. The Kremlin spokesman then went on to blame the U.S.