The estimated value of the new award is approximately $36m. It is valid for a period of more than 28 months.

The system will allow the Polish Air Force’s pilots to hone and enhance a wide range of operational skills.

It will offer both basic familiarity lessons with the aircraft as well as the advanced combat flight training in highly contested operational environments. 

Elbit Systems Aerospace general manager Yoram Shmuely said: “This award highlights Elbit Systems’ leading positions in the training and simulation markets.

“We remain committed to delivering high quality training solutions for military pilots, and we are proud to provide the Polish Armed Forces with advanced solutions to support their missions.”

The company’s simulation system is at the core of F-16 Mission Training Center that allows the pilots to train and hone their operational readiness and quality to undertake any combat missions. 

The FMS technology includes a 360-degree display system to provide a full mission training experience.

The interconnected simulator system also offers high fidelity along with an immersive and realistic flight training experience, without any safety issues.

Furthermore, the training system can also support future simulation infrastructure of the Polish Air Force by providing support and connectivity for additional training devices.

This will allow the Air Force personnel to conduct live, virtual and constructive training.

In 2018, Elbit Systems secured a contract to deliver M-346 FMS and training devices for the Polish Air Force.

The previously delivered system also offered the infrastructure to interconnect M-346 FMS with future PLAF F-16 mission centre to support combined training.

The post Polish Air Force contracts Elbit Systems for F-16 mission simulators appeared first on Airforce Technology.

The agreement was drafted by over 150 personnel from the USAF.

It was signed between the USAF and Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, seven State Historic Preservation Officers, Wyoming Attorney General’s office, the National Park Service Interior Region 6, 7 and 8, among others.

All the associated signatories virtually participated in the ceremony to sign the document and reinforce strong partnership between parties to support the agreement, critical for national security.

The programmatic agreement provides several processes and mitigation measures that USAF can adapt to adhere to the country’s cultural resources.

The process of development of this agreement has been underway since the last two years and will now ensure that the USAF’s LGM-35 programme is in accordance with National Historic Preservation Act.

The efforts to replace LGM-30G Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) with Sentinel system will require nearly 34,000-acres of land.

20th Air Force commander major general Michael Lutton said: “The agreement is designed to seek tribal input on the identification, documentation, evaluation and protection of sites and objects of tribal significance through all phases and areas of this project.”

The new LGM-35 Sentinel ICBM system will replace around 400 five-decade-old Minuteman III missiles across different USAF missile fields near F E Warren Air Force Base (AFB), Malmstrom AFB and Minot AFB.

The USAF said that some specific Sentinel maintenance, testing, training and support activities will also be conducted at Hill AFB, Utah; Camp Guernsey, Wyoming; Utah Test and Training Range and Camp Navajo, Arizona. 

The post USAF signs LGM-35 Sentinel programmatic agreement appeared first on Airforce Technology.

The sortie saw the service use a L-159E ‘Honey Badger’ aircraft to provide live threat replication against a Royal Air Force Typhoon jet.

The L-159E light multi-role combat training aircraft flew the training sortie over the North Sea. The RAF’s 41 Test and Evaluation Squadron provided the Typhoon.

RAF senior responsible owner for the capability air commodore ‘Cab’ Townsend said: “I am absolutely delighted to announce that the RAF’s exciting new ‘Red Air’ aggressor service has delivered its first training sortie to the Combat Air Force.

“This capability will truly challenge our Combat Air pilots, training them more effectively for future operations.”

The IRAATS is delivered by Draken Europe as part of a contract awarded by the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) earlier this year.

It is the MoD’s first-ever privately contracted medium to fast-speed agile aggressor training service.

Townsend added: “The contract was delivered through competition in a very short timescale, from inception to contract signature, and done so by a whole force team. It is timely, affordable, deliverable and provides Defence with excellent value for money.”

In July this year, Draken Europe reached a strategic partnership with AERO Vodochody AEROSPACE to support the contract.

Around eight Aero L-159Es will be based at Draken Europe’s Teesside base.

The civil-registered Czech-built AERO Vodochody AEROSPACE L-159E aircraft took over the role of an agile aggressor platform from BAE Systems Hawk T1.

The post RAF’s IRAATS delivers first training sortie to Combat Air Force appeared first on Airforce Technology.

In a call on 21 December with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said “The supply of weapons continues and the range of supplied weapons is expanding. All of this, of course, leads to an aggravation of the conflict. This does not bode well for Ukraine,” reported Reuters.

For months Russia has battered Ukraine’s internal infrastructure with waves of Iranian supplied drones and loitering munitions, in addition to the considerable array of missiles it has deployed to interdict Ukrainian water, heating and power supplies. “Russia’s unrelenting and brutal air attacks against critical infrastructure have only reinforced the need to provide Ukraine with sophisticated air defense capabilities,” read the US Department of Defense (DoD) press release announcing the package.

The addition of the Patriot missile system will offer a long-range capability for defending Ukraine from cruise and ballistic missiles, intercepting missiles within a 100-mile radius and at heights up to 79,000ft. Like the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), the Patriot is usually deployed from the flatbed of a lorry, offering similar mobility and the enhanced survivability of ‘shoot-and-scoot’ platforms.

Russia has already said that the Patriot system would be a “legitimate target” for attacks, and warned that the delivery of the system would be seen as an escalation. In strategic terms the addition of the system does not represent a game-changing move in the Ukrainian war, but it will preserve the status quo in terms of air superiority and prevent Russia from imposing more control over the airspace — a crucial objective of Ukrainian troops. Russia has made major efforts in recent weeks to degrade Ukrainian air defences, and although this system will go some way toward mitigating that, Ukraine will also need to make strategically critical decisions to optimise the system’s efficacy.

The delivery of the Patriot Missiles come as part of a $1.85bn package of military aide from the US to assist in the defence of Ukraine, one that includes additional HIMARS ammunition, High-speed Anti-Radiation Missiles, and Claymore anti-personnel munitions, all delivered from DoD stocks through a Presidential Drawdown facility valued at up to $1bn, while $850M in assistance from the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative will supply munitions, services and SATCOM terminal. “In total, the United States has now committed more than $21.9 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the beginning of the Biden Administration,” continued the DoD press release.

The Patriots in the context of Ukraine’s armory 

The appeal for superior air defences has been a consistent refrain for Zelensky across the duration of the war, with limited success. Donations of man-portable systems including Stingers have made a considerable impact in denying Russia air superiority, but against expendable autonomous systems these were not as effective a deterrent. More advanced contributions have been made recently, including two National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) delivered last month, an earlier delivery of Homing all the way Killers (HAWKS), and Iris-T systems amongst an array of other air-defence options. 

Compared to alternative systems like NASAMS, which the United States gave in August, Patriots provide a substantially greater range, reaching up to 160km versus the 50km capability of NASAMS. Enhanced range grants enhanced defensive capabilities and airspace control. The Patriot missile offers improvements over the S-300 system, another air defence system already employed by Ukraine by offering a substantially more powerful radar system, resulting in enhanced target recognition capabilities. However, Ukraine is expected to receive only one battery, despite the fact that these systems are generally operated in battalions of four, restricting the applications of the system. 

At $4m for each fire, the Patriot missile defence system is not cost-effective when used against the drones or loitering weapons – costing as little as $50,00 apiece – that have caused much of the recent devastation. Furthermore, the system necessitates up to 90 qualified personnel to maintain regular functioning. While Ukraine’s allies have been able to decrease training periods for other systems, training Ukrainian service members to operate these systems will come with a significant delay.

Though its employment against ballistic missiles and planes will be more cost-effective, the Ukrainians will need to deploy a number of other technologies currently in their control to better safeguard vital resources and battle a wide range of threats. The addition of the Patriot system to existing systems will equip Ukraine with a network of air defences with many layers to cover infrastructure and other civilian targets, but could still benefit from other air defence systems, including the Iron Dome technology that is effective against low altitude and low velocity targets, potentially including Iranian-made drones and loitering munitions. 

As air-launched cruise missiles played a major role in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Patriot system could be used to target long-range bombers, posing a new and serious threat to Russian aircraft. According to the Ukrainian Air Force (UAF), Tu-95 and Tu22M3 aircraft have undertaken strikes in recent offensives, launching from the Russian Engels airfield, the focus of Ukrainian drone attacks in recent weeks. According to Ukraine, the missiles employed in the latest strikes were the Kh-55 and the Kalibr, which have ranges of 2,500km and 1,500km respectively, allowing them to be fired from deep inside Russian territory to hit Ukrainian objectives.

Escalation dominance as a goal

Before this announcement, criticism of the US and Western European efforts to arming Ukraine has considered the measured approached governments have taken to avoid deepening the crisis. “Escalation has become a sort of four-letter word in North American and European strategic parlance,” said Dr John Chipman, director general of the International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS). 

“Avoiding escalation has been a principal goal. Insufficient attention is being paid to how one would make Mr. Putin fear escalation and in that way deter some of the more extreme elements of his activity,” added Chipman, speaking at the launch of the IISS 2022 Strategic Survey, in London on 5 December

Chipman believes western governments have struggled to have a flexible response strategy to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine: “Russia has more often than not been the one maintaining escalation dominance.”

“An element of the Cold War muscle memory has been unsatisfactorily recalled: ‘Don’t if you can avoid it, having a direct conflict with Moscow.’ But then Putin’s Russia is very different from Brezhnev’s Soviet Union. And another part of western Cold War muscle memory hasn’t been sufficiently recalled, which is how do you conduct political-military strategy?”

Following the reports on 9 December from the Times of London that the US DoD had reversed its policy on Ukrainian attacks within the official borders of Russia, it is possible that US administration attitudes to escalation have evolved. Without US condemnation, Ukraine has targeted military sites within Russia that are located further from the Ukrainian border than the city of Moscow itself, indicating tacit approval of a provocative demonstration of offensive capabilities.

One explanation for the change in US attitudes looks at the Iranian involvement in the war. The BBC reported on 17 December that Justin Bronk, senior fellow at the defence think-tank RUSI, links the US decision to supply Patriot batteries to “Western concerns that Iran may supply Russia with longer-range ballistic missiles”. On 21 December, the Financial Times has reported US and UK officials saying Moscow is attempting to procure hundreds of ballistic missiles from Iran in return for military support for Tehran.

A strictly tactical implication of this would be that the enhanced range of Iranian supplied missiles would require the increased capabilities of the Patriot missile system to offer effective defence. From a geopolitical standpoint, offering a counter to this offensive capability deters Iran from widening the conflict with its involvement, and narrow the reciprocal support for Iran from Russia.Any balanced consideration of US temperament to greater escalation in Ukraine should include a regard for the domestic political situation of the US pertaining to the shifting makeup of Congress and the Senate. Analysts have predicted enthusiasm from Washington for the defence of Ukraine will dampen after winter, and the shift in the balance of power in both houses will provide obstacles for further requisitions. The 2022 congress offers more certainty that it will deliver military aide than can be expected when government reconvenes after the holidays, and a shift to US escalation do

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The post Patriot missiles to Ukraine: US regaining escalation dominance? appeared first on Airforce Technology.

Our programme is designed to highlight excellence within the sector by looking at a range of corporate activities including deals, business projects and company initiatives, both internal and in the community.

You will also soon be able to download our full Awards & Rankings Report which includes all of this year’s rankings, as well as the awards winners, shortlists and company profiles.

Business Expansion

Business Expansion is one of our largest categories and looks at the core functions of business operations within the sector.

This consists of any projects that have expanded the company’s footprint in the sector, including: contract wins; launching in new territories; launching new product lines; the acquisition and expansion of facilities and real estate; acquisition of new machinery or other assets; improved logistics; partnerships; and significant staff increases.

BAE Systems wins the Business Expansion award this year through a combination of significant contract wins and delivery milestones related to both aircraft and related systems.

Shortlist

• Airbus
• BAE Systems
• Boeing
• Elbit Systems
• Lockheed Martin
• Northrop Grumman
• Saab

Environmental

The Environmental category aims to highlight companies that are undertaking projects that reduce their impact on the natural environment or contribute to its general health. With the effects of climate change becoming ever more obvious, corporations have a responsibility to update and change their practices to prevent further damage being caused.

This category includes any projects that have led or will lead to a significant reduction in a company’s environmental impact and carbon footprint. This can include changes to materials and manufacturing, supply chain reviews; reduction in energy use or switches to renewables; recycling initiatives; and carbon offsetting. The category also includes projects that contribute to the environment such as tree planting schemes and river cleaning.

Zero Petroleum wins our Environmental Award this year as a result of its work with the RAF in developing synthetic fuels.

This year has seen the company move to the next phase of its research looking at the scalability and efficiency of the technology and announce plans for a proposed manufacturing facility.

Shortlist

• Affinity Flying Training Services
• Airbus
• Pipistrel Aircraft
• QinetiQ
• Zero Petroleum

Financing

Financing recognises companies and institutions that have raised significant capital during the research period whether it be through corporate finance, the capital markets or fund raising.

This includes any significant raising of finance by a company within the sector, this can include corporate lending, funding rounds and equity and debt capital markets issues including share offers and bond issues. We will be specifically looking at high value deals; novel structures; and companies using (for them) new forms of financing such as high-yield bonds.

Shield AI wins the Financing award after it secured significant investment through a Series funding round. The financing sees the company join a select group of multi-billion dollar defense start-ups.

Shortlist

• Boeing
• Gastops
• Shield AI

Innovation

Innovation is the category with one of the widest scopes within the Excellence Rankings as it looks at novel new approaches in every area, from the fruits of research and development to novel new business practices. What all the ranked entities have in common is the demonstration of new concepts not just within their own business but in the sector as a whole.

The category includes any projects that demonstrate an innovative approach to the market. The category crosses over with many of our other categories and can include new products, novel product features, new business practices, new marketing and sales strategies and more.

The United States Air Force (USAF) wins our Innovation award this year following a number of significant developments including the first airman flight of an electric aircraft, the opening of a VR training lab and the first aerial demonstration of the beyond-line-of-sight (BLOS) communication system.

Shortlist

• Collins Aerospace
• Elbit Systems
• Ghost Robotics
• Northrop Grumman
• US Air Force
• ZeroEyes
• Zero Petroleum

Investments

The Investments category looks at any significant financial investments into a company or its assets, specifically those investments that facilitate expansion of a company’s operations. This can be an investment by the company itself into its operations or by an outside investor be that another company, financial institution, private equity or venture capital firm.

L&T Technology Services (LTTS) wins our award this year following a number of significant investments including opening an Engineering Design Centre in Toulouse, France.

Shortlist

• Collins Aerospace
• L&T Technology Services
• Northrop Grumman
• Raytheon Technologies
• Royal Canadian Air Force

M&A

This category includes organisations that have expanded their business operations by entering into significant mergers and acquisitions deals within the sector.

The category specifically looks at the acquisitions of whole businesses or stakes rather than asset transactions and deals must have been closed during the research period.

Parker-Hannifin Corporation, a company focused on motion and control technologies, wins the M&A award following its significant acquisition of UK headquartered Meggitt, a company focused on components and systems for the aerospace, energy and defense sectors. The deal sees Parker almost double the size of its aerospace division

Shortlist

• Aernnova Aerospace
• Parker Hannifin Corp
• TransDigm Group

Product Launches

The Product Launches category recognises companies that have launched notable new products or services into the market. This can include physical products, software as well as the launch of services and concepts.

We are specifically looking at novelty, including companies launching products into new areas or innovation in the product’s design, manufacture or marketing.

Red 6 wins the Product Launches award as it demonstrated a new AR training module. The company completed the first multi-aircraft training flight against various augmented reality (AR) assets. This was a technical milestone for the firm as it integrated various live aircraft into a single AR environment.

Shortlist

• Aerojet Rocketdyne
• Airrow
• BAE Systems
• Indra
• L3Harris Technologies
• QinetiQ
• Red 6
• Teledyne FLIR
• US Air Force

Research and Development

This category includes organisations that have demonstrated a commitment to the research and development of new products and/or new processes. This can include discovering or creating a unique material, transferring a research or technology development to practice, improving the performance of an existing product or creating a new simulation or design tools.

The category also includes companies that have made significant investments into their R&D processes.

Raytheon wins the Research and Development award this year following a number of notable breakthroughs and investments. This included demonstrating swarm technology in DARPA’s fifth OFFensive Swarm-Enabled Tactics (OFFSET) programme field exercise, where a single operator successfully controlled a swarm of 130 physical and 30 simulated drone platforms.

The company also won a contract to develop the USAF’s first hypersonic attack cruise missile (HACM) alongside Northrop Grumman.

Shortlist

• Arqit
• BAE Systems
• Boom Supersonic
• General Atomics
• General Electric
• Northrop Grumman
• Optomec
• Raytheon Technologies
• Reliable Robotics
• Saab
• Sarcos
• Turner Innovations
• US Air Force Life Cycle Management Center
• Wave Engine

Safety

The Safety category includes companies and institutions that have demonstrated best practice in health and safety including compliance to standards and any initiatives taken to improve workplace safety through the introduction of new guidelines, policies or equipment.

It also includes projects and initiatives by companies to improve health and safety in other public environments other than their own workspaces.

Airbus wins the Safety category this year for its work on a number of initiatives including carrying out a flight test campaign in Spain to evaluate a new removable firefighting demonstrator kit on A400M aircraft. The test saw the aircraft conduct drops involving up to 20t of water in less than ten seconds.

Shortlist

• Airbus
• BAE Systems
• Cubic
• General Dynamics

The post Excellence Awards 2022 – Winners Announced! appeared first on Airforce Technology.

The announcement comes after a US Air Force (USAF) B-2 aircraft experienced an in-flight malfunction on 10 December.

The aircraft was conducting its routine operations and was damaged on the Whiteman Air Force Base’s (AFB) runway in Missouri, US, soon after performing a successful emergency landing.

According to the USAF, the aircraft caught fire, which was later extinguished by the air base’s fire department upon landing.

The aircraft was not carrying any munitions onboard and none of the aircrew members were injured during the incident.

Following the latest AFGSC’s orders, Whiteman AFB has imposed a safety stand-down to carry out the investigation associated with the incident.

The USAF said that the B-2 fleet will resume its operations if the commander-in-chief requires the aircraft to fulfil any other missions.

The safety investigation boards have already started conducting an extensive inspection to assess and discover the root cause of the recent incident.

The board comprises of a team of specialists to provide the necessary technical expertise to prevent the repetition of any such accidents in future.

Once the safety checks and official investigation are complete, the B-2 fleet will return to operations.

Currently, the Whiteman AFB runway is closed, and the teams are working to clear the debris to re-open the runway for operations.

509th Bomb Wing commander colonel Daniel Diehl said: “We are exercising due diligence to ensure the continued safety of our airmen and our aircraft.

“Team Whiteman remains the cornerstone of national security. We are ready and prepared to answer our nation’s call.”

The post US AFGSC orders temporary safety stand-down of B-2 bomber fleet appeared first on Airforce Technology.

The test was carried out from the Yuma Proving Grounds, Arizona, US on 23 November.

Nato pod has been co-developed by GA-ASI and Spanish company Sener Aeroespacial.

It was built in Europe to obtain all the necessary Nato airworthiness standards for providing additional payload options and configurations for GA-ASI’s MQ-9A and MQ-9B SkyGuardian RPAs.

The pod has been designed to address the evolving mission requirements of the international customers. It allows them to rapidly integrate various payload capabilities to accomplish forces’ operational objectives.

GA-ASI Mission Payloads and Exploitation vice-president Satish Krishnan said: “Our successful test flight allows us to begin marketing this new capability to our international partner nations as a way to rapidly add sovereign payload capability.”

In the recent test, the pod also featured a payload, developed by France company Arpège.

The Nato pod’s interface is integrated with M1-9 RPA’s power and navigation interface, including datalink connection with Ground Control Station (GCS).

Currently, GA-ASI is working in collaboration with its European industry partners and Sener to combine its sensor capabilities within the Nato pod.

Sener Aeroespacial defence general director Rafael Orbe said: “This first flight is the fruit of a long collaboration between GA-ASI and Sener and we are proud to have contributed to the success of the project.”

Successful customer system integration, therefore, will depend on the utilisation of common sets of interfaces for aircraft and GCS, noted the company.

The post GA-ASI performs flight test of Nato pod on MQ-9A RPA appeared first on Airforce Technology.

The announcement was made by Nato Allied Air Command on 20 December.

The aircraft were delivered at Lielvārde Air Force Base (AFB) in Rembate Parish, Latvia, by the US Air Force’s (USAF) C-17 Globemaster III strategic transport aircraft.

Following the arrival at Lielvārde AFB, the technicians transported the two partially disassembled helicopters to the aircraft hangar to commence the necessary technical work and final assembling processes.

Once this work is complete, the aircraft will then undergo a series of flight tests before being finally handed over to the Latvian Air Force for operations.

The helicopters have been delivered as part of a cooperative agreement finalised between the US and Latvia in late 2018 to acquire a total of four UH-60M helicopters.

The remaining two aircraft are expected to be handed over by the end of next year.

Set to replace the existing Soviet-built Mi-17 helicopters, Black Hawks will support Latvian Air Force in conducting various search and rescue and other missions.

The Latvian Air Force’s pilots and technicians have already received associated training to operate and maintain the newly delivered helicopters.

Latvian Air Force commander colonel Viesturs Masulis said: “This is a long-awaited addition to our military inventory, allowing Air Force to reach new level of capability with new and modern Black Hawk helicopters and to strengthen interoperability with our allies.

“Five helicopter crews have already been trained and currently former Mi-17 crews are undergoing conversion training in US; the initial training phase has ended, and we will start using the new helicopters as soon as the first ones are ready for flight.”

The post Latvia receives first UH-60M helicopters from US appeared first on Airforce Technology.

The company said it is the first significant Land Sector contract that it won in France, which is ‘a focus country’ for Babcock.

Under the multi-million contract, the company will provide air transit and aircraft operation equipment support over a ten-year period.

It will oversee management, fleet management, rationalisation and renewal, and equipment maintenance.

Babcock France CEO Pierre Basquin said: “This first GSE contract is an important and strategic step for Babcock in France, and we are proud that the Aeronautical Maintenance Department has trusted us to provide this essential service.

“This new contract places us in a good position for future opportunities in the land sector and with the French armed forces. We are looking forward to this new challenge.”

Babcock will provide capability transfer from its UK operations in support of the contract.

The company said that it will collaborate with AES and TLD (part of Alvest Group) in the first half of next year to establish five military bases in France.

It will also build a customer-focused support coordination centre in Bordeaux-Beauséjour.   

The partnership will see AES offer logistical support and provision of spare parts and TLD provide ‘specific high value-added equipment’.

Work will be delivered by teams of technicians on 26 Air Force, Navy and Army bases in France and overseas.

The post Babcock wins Land Sector contract to support French Armed Forces appeared first on Airforce Technology.

The First Air Defense Group (1st GDA) will begin using the aircraft which is referred to as Gripen F-39 in Brazil.

The milestone was marked by a ceremony held on 19 December and a presentation flight by the aircraft.

During the ceremony, FAB pilots 1st GDA commander lieutenant colonel Gustavo Pascotto, and lieutenant colonel Ramon Lincoln Santos Fórneas flew two Gripen fighters.

Saab president and CEO Micael Johansson said: “The start of operational activities with Gripen E by the Brazilian Air Force (FAB) is an extremely important day.

“It marks the beginning of a new operational era for FAB but also is the result of years of hard work done in partnership with the Air Force and with our Brazilian industry partners: Embraer, AEL Sistemas, Akaer, Atech, and our own subsidiaries in Brazil.”

In September 2020, Brazil started the flight test phase with the test aircraft at the Gripen Flight Test Center (GFTC), the Embraer plant in Gavião Peixoto.

Last year, Saab commenced the Gripen E serial delivery phase and transferred four aircraft to the FAB.

The FAB pilots underwent training with Gripen E in Sweden as well as on the mission trainers installed at the BAAN.

Saab, the manufacturer of the aircraft, obtained certification for the aircraft’s airworthiness and flight safety requirements last month.

The Swedish Military Aviation Safety Inspectorate (FLYGI) and the Industrial Fostering and Coordination Institute (IFI) in Brazil granted the certification.  

Johansson added: “Brazil now has one of the most advanced fighters in the world. This is currently the most extensive ongoing technology transfer programme in Brazil, and it is definitely the largest one ever done by any Swedish company, bringing to the Brazilian defence industry the knowledge to develop, produce, test and maintain an advanced supersonic fighter.”

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