Mar 24, 2016 00:50 UTC
Latest updates[?]: The Defense Contract Management Agency has
expressed its "low confidence" in Boeing's ability to deliver the
KC-46A on time. Delivery of the tanker to the USAF is expected by August 2017 and is currently in the process of undergoing its Milestone C Demonstrations. Despite this, the agency now believes Boeing can only deliver the 18 KC-46As by March 2018, and there is a possibility that the new date might not be achievable either.
KC-135: Old as the hills…
DID’s FOCUS articles cover major weapons acquisition programs – and no program is more important to the USAF than its aerial tanker fleet renewal. In January 2007, the big question was whether there would be a competition for the USA’s KC-X proposal, covering 175 production aircraft and 4 test platforms. The total cost is now estimated at $52 billion, but America’s aerial tanker fleet demands new planes to replace its KC-135s, whose most recent new delivery was in 1965. Otherwise, unpredictable age or fatigue issues, like the ones that grounded its F-15A-D fighters in 2008, could ground its aerial tankers – and with them, a substantial slice of the USA’s total airpower.
KC-Y and KC-Z buys are supposed to follow in subsequent decades, in order to replace 530 (195 active; ANG 251; Reserve 84) active tankers, as well as the USAF’s 59 heavy KC-10 tankers that were delivered from 1979-1987. Then again, fiscal and demographic realities may mean that the 179 plane KC-X buy is “it” for the USAF. Either way, the KC-X stakes were huge for all concerned.
In the end, it was Team Boeing’s KC-767 NexGen/ KC-46A (767 derivative) vs. EADS North America’s KC-45A (Airbus KC-30/A330-200 derivative), both within the Pentagon and in the halls of Congress. The financial and employment stakes guaranteed a huge political fight no matter which side won. After Airbus won in 2008, that fight ended up sinking and restarting the entire program. Three years later, Boeing won the recompete. Now, they have to deliver their KC-46A.
Continue Reading… »
Mar 24, 2016 00:45 UTC
Active electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radars offer a number of important benefits. By focusing individual elements very quickly and precisely without having to move them physically, and with little signal “leakage” outside of its focused beam, AESA radars gain improved reliability, power, and the ability to “timeshare” by switching from mode to mode fast enough to operate different modes at once. They also have potential applications in electronic warfare, and recent research indicates significant potential for secure, high-bandwidth communications. At present, the USA is the only country that has AESA radars operating on fighter aircraft, though projects are underway in Britain, and in other areas, European battlefield surveillance radars and NATO’s AGS project aim to field such radars shortly.
European countries continue to work to close the gap…
Continue Reading… »