Israel Set to Get F-35As
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The first F-35A Lightning II of an order of 33 headed for Israel has come off the assembly line at Lockheed Martin’s Fort Worth, TX, plant. Cnsnews.com reports, Israel is the first country outside of the US to have the fighter jets. Each plane will cost between $110 million to $120 million. Israel has nicknamed the plane “Adir,” Hebrew for mighty or glorious.
The F-35 Lightning II is expected to grab a lot of attention at the Farnborough Air Show in the UK next month. The US Defense Department and Lockheed Martin want to make up for the jet’s no-show in 2014, which was caused by engine troubles, with as many as five jets to display at the back-to-back aviation shows, Defense News reports.
Boeing’s subsidiary, Insit, won another low-rate initial production contract, for $71m, to deliver RQ-21A Blackjack unmanned aerial systems, naval-technology.com reports. Last year, NAVAIR awarded a $78m LRIP ntract to Insitu to supply six RQ-21A Blackjack UASs.
Reaction is mixed to Rep. Martha McSally (R-AZ) suggesting a limit on military band performances, Air Force Times reports. “For every dollar that is spent on our bands to entertain at social functions, that’s a dollar we’re not spending on national security and our troops and families,” said Rep. McSally, a retired Air Force colonel.
IHS Jane’s 360 reports that China and Russia have signed an agreement to jointly develop a new heavy-lift helicopter. The advanced heavy lift helicopter will be developed by Russian Helicopters and Avicopter, a subsidiary of the Aviation Industry Corp. of China.
India’s Ministry of Defence will buy 145 BAE Systems 155 mm/39-caliber lightweight howitzers from the US for about $750 million, IHS Jane’s 360 reports.
The military is looking at ways to beef up its training of Syrian fighters, The Washington Post reports. Officials say fewer than 110 fighters have been trained since last year. Repeated setbacks to initial plans to create an army of Syrian fighters from scratch, moved officials to instead train only small numbers of key personnel from local units to liaise with US and allied forces attacking the Islamic State.
Some new gender-neutral titles for 19 occupational specialties will be adopted by the US Marine Corps, Military Times reports. The word “man” will be kept in some of the occupations such as “rifleman” and “mortarman.”
A Government Accounting Office report released Monday finds that almost 30 percent of text messages sent as a test to a crisis hotline for suicidal veterans went unanswered, The Hill reports. The report follows a scathing inspector general report issued in February that found some calls to the hotline were going to voicemail or didn’t receive immediate attention.
Contracts:
AC First LLC, Germantown, MD, was awarded a $24,117,967 cost-plus-fixed-fee, incrementally funded contract with options for logistics support. One bid was solicited with one received. Work will be performed in Afghanistan, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 22, 2016. Fiscal 2016 operations and maintenance (Army) funds in the amount of $4,000,000 were obligated at the time of the award. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island Arsenal, IL, is the contracting activity (W52P1J-16-C-0033).
URS Federal Services, Germantown, MD, was awarded a $17,792,619 modification (0002) to contractW52P1J-12-G-0028 for Enhanced Army Global Logistics Enterprise (EAGLE) Army Prepositioned Stock (APS)-2 European Activity Set (EAS). Work will be performed in Germany, with an estimated completion date of July 16, 2017. Fiscal 2016 operations and maintenance (Army) funds in the amount of $7,321,999 were obligated at the time of the award. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island Arsenal, IL, is the contracting activity.
