28 November 2023
by Zach Rosenberg
Boeing MQ-25A Stingray test aircraft T1 refuels an F/A-18 Super Hornet in June 2021. The first engineering, manufacturing, and development aircraft is scheduled to be delivered to the US Navy in FY 2025. (US Navy)
A report by the US Department of Defense (DoD) Inspector General (IG) recommended a delay to the US Navy's (USN's) Boeing MQ-25A Stingray purchase.
The report, released on 20 November, found that the USN's schedule includes making a Milestone C decision or certifying that the programme can move from engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) into low-rate initial production (LRIP), before completing developmental testing, and declaring initial operational capability (IOC) before completing operational testing.
Though the USN wants to deploy the MQ-25A as soon as practical, “making critical production decisions without conducting sufficient testing introduces additional risk that the MQ‑25 program will not meet its operational capability requirements, which could require costly and time‑consuming engineering changes and may delay the MQ‑25A's deployment”, wrote the IG. “Therefore, Navy officials should either delay the [Milestone C] and IOC decisions until the program office can conduct sufficient tests and evaluations” or update its risk calculus accordingly.
29 April 2024
by Gareth Jennings
A full-scale mock-up of the New Generation Fighter that sits at the core of the FCAS/SCAF project of which Belgium is now an official observer. (Janes/Gareth Jennings)
Belgium has joined France, Germany, and Spain in the Future Combat Air System (FCAS)/Système de Combat Aérien du Futur (SCAF) programme, with the Belgian government saying the country now has observer status.
Defence Minister Ludivine Dedonder and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Labour Pierre-Yves Dermagne announced the news in a joint communiqué released on 26 April.
“On 24 April the government obtained observer country status for Belgium as part of the FCAS/SCAF development programme,” the communiqué said.
As detailed in the announcement, the observer country status will afford Belgium access to information on the programme and its development, and will be able to participate in strategic discussions. “This will allow Belgium to get a clear idea of the programme and its implications for the Belgian defence industry,” the ministers said.
26 April 2024
by Zach Rosenberg
A Kodiak-based MH-65 trains aboard the USCGC Healy in 2022. (Janes/Michael Fabey)
The last US Coast Guard (USCG) Airbus MH-65 Dolphin in Alaska retired from Air Station Kodiak on 23 April, ending the type's 36-year employment in the service's Alaska Patrol (ALPAT) role.
“For decades, the cutter and helicopter team were the core of the ALPAT mission,” said Commander James Kenshalo, a USCG MH-65 Dolphin pilot. “Together they projected force and protection to the most extreme remote regions of our nation's territories, operating beyond where help could reach.”
Air Station Kodiak operates six Sikorsky MH-60Ts and is scheduled to receive three more in 2025. The service intends to standardise its full rescue helicopter fleet on the MH-60T, which has a longer range, greater payload capacity, and commonality with other armed service fleets. Alaska is among the first regions to complete the transition because of the long ranges required to perform rescue and security missions in the region.
26 April 2024
by Olivia Savage
Flyeye is a multiple-optics telescope with a very wide field of view that will be capable of classifying objects in space as small as 15 cm in LEO and 35 cm in MEO. The 6.5 m high and 4 m wide telescope will be used by the Italian Space Agency and military for SSA. (OHB Italia)
The Italian National Armaments Directorate (NAD) is procuring three ground-based sensors to enhance the country's space situational awareness (SSA), Janes learnt at the Military Space Situational Awareness Conference 2024, held in London from 22 to 24 April.
In total, two optical telescopes and one high-performance radar are being procured as part of its national SSA plans, Lieutenant Colonel Ferdinando Dolce, the head of SSA at NAD, said at the conference.
The first sensor being procured is a high-performance optical surveillance telescope from OHB Italia called Flyeye, Lt Col Dolce said.
Flyeye will have the capacity to monitor objects in low Earth orbit (LEO), medium Earth orbit (MEO), and geostationary orbit (GEO), Commander of the Space Situational Awareness Centre at the Italian Air Force Colonel Dario Tarantino told Janes
A report by the US Department of Defense (DoD) Inspector General (IG) recommended a delay to the US ...
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