Turkey Sanctions Boeing For Delays

Turkey has imposed undisclosed penalties on Boeing for major delays in the US company’s spy plane program, a top Turkish official said. 

Turkish Defense Minister Ismet Yilmaz said major delays in Turkey’s multibillion-dollar program for the purchase of four airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft from Boeing were due to the company’s failure in developing the system as well as other uncontrolled events within the program.

Under a July 23, 2003, contract, priced at more than US $1.6 billion, Boeing was to develop and deliver four AEW&C aircraft to the Turkish Air Force in 2008. The program involved the delivery of the 737-700 airframe, ground radar and control systems, ground control segments for mission crew training, mission support and maintenance support.

Yilmaz said April 8 that Turkey has paid Boeing only for work completed and has imposed legal sanctions for the delays considered the company’s failure.

The Military's New Flying Gas Station Will Be Open 24/7 Worldwide

KC-135 Stratotanker planes have been refueling fighter craft in-flight for more than 60 years. While such longevity is commendable, the US military’s fleet of mid-air refuellers is in desperate need of an update. And that’s where this new flying gas station comes in.

The Boeing KC-46A is a derivative of the Boeing 767-200 built at Boeing’s Everett, WA facility and converted to military use at another Boeing facility in Puget Sound. The KC-46 program has been a long time coming. Congress and the military have wrangled over funding for the project for more than a decade, finally agreeing to an initial investment of $3.5 billion in 2011 for Boeing’s design. 

The aerospace company has until 2017 to deliver the first 18 tankers with the remaining 161 due in 2028. In all, explains Maj. Gen. John Thompson, program executive officer and program director for the KC-46, the deal is "worth about $32 billion in then-year dollars, goes from about two years ago out into the 2020s and is something that they will be able to leverage into a very important weapon system for the United States Air Force for decades to come. Absolutely, it is a win-win."

The KC-46A will offer greatly-improved performance and capabilities than its sexagenarian predecessor. The new plane measures 165 feet in length with a 157 foot wingspan. It’s powered by a pair of Pratt & Whitney PW4062 turbofan engines, each providing 63,300 lbf of thrust to get the plane—and the 212,299 pounds of fuel it carries—off the ground and keep it aloft for a range of more than 6,000 nautical miles.

 The plane’s crew of three (two pilots and a boom operator) operate within a large glass cockpit augmented with banks of monitors providing critical mission information. The pilots use a bank of 15-inch displays to check flight and weather data while the refueling operator will be afforded a set of 24-inch 3D displays giving him a panoramic 185 degree field of view.

 esigned to support and refuel any fixed-wing receiver capable aircraft for the Air Force, Navy, and Marines, the plane is typically equipped with either a 1,200 gallon-per-minute center-line boom or 400 gallon-per-minute Centerline Drogue System. It can also carry a pair of 400 gallon-per-minute Wing Air Refueling Pods to pull crazy stunts like this. What’s more, the KC-46A can itself receive in-flight refueling, allowing it to remain aloft practically indefinitely.

 In addition to fuel, the KC-46A can carry up to 114 people, 18 standard military cargo pallets, or 58 patients (24 litters, 34 ambulatory). Across the board—fuel, passengers, and cargo— the KC-46A carries more than the plane it will eventually recapitalize

Boeing to make flying torpedoes able to attack enemy submarines from 30,000 feet

Airborne weapons experts at the Boeing Co. got the go-ahead Wednesday to start building add-on kits for the U.S. Navy Mark 54 lightweight torpedo that will enable the weapon to glide through the air from altitudes as high as 30,000 feet and enable the Boeing P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol jet to attack enemy submarines from long ranges.

The Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington announced a $19.2 million contract Wednesday to the Boeing Co. Defense, Space & Security segment in St. Charles, Mo., to design and build the High Altitude Anti-Submarine Warfare Weapon Capability (HAAWC) Air Launch Accessory (ALA).

The HAAWC ALA turns the Raytheon Mark 54 torpedo into a glide weapon that the P-8A aircraft can release from high altitudes. As the flying torpedo reaches the water, it jettisons wings and other air-control surfaces and takes on its original role as a smart torpedo that detect, track, and attack enemy submarines autonomously.

The Mark 54 always has been able to be launched from aircraft, but before the HAAWC add-on kit air crews had to release the torpedo from altitudes no higher than about 100 feet.

The HAAWC will enable the P-8A aircraft -- a Boeing 737 passenger jetliner modified for maritime patrol -- to maintain optimum surveillance altitudes without wasting the time and fuel necessary to drop to low altitudes to attack targets and then climb back to high patrol altitudes.

ttacking from high altitudes also enables the P-8A to reduce the time between target acquisition and attack, as well as launch anti-submarine weapons outside the ranges of shore-based anti-aircraft defenses.

When launched from 30,000 feet the HAAWC-equipped Mark 54 torpedo will glide for seven to 10 minutes before entering the water.

While in flight the HAAWC will be completely self-contained. The HAAWC adaptor kit includes a flight control computer, a GPS-based navigation system, and power sources. When near the water the system sheds its wings and activates a parachute that lowers the torpedo to the water to begin its run toward the target.

HAAWC program requirements require Boeing to build an add-on kit that requires little or no modifications to the Mark 54 torpedo or to the P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft. Boeing's HAAWC contract includes options that could bring the value of the program to as much as $47 million.

Coincidentally, Boeing officials announced this week that they have handed over the seventh production P-8A Poseidon to the Navy on schedule March 29, marking the first delivery from the second low-rate initial production contract awarded in November 2011. The P-8 is scheduled to replace the ageing Lockheed Martin P-3 Orion four-engine turboprop maritime patrol plane.

he Mk 54 is an all-digital lightweight torpedo that has advanced software algorithms from the larger submarine-launched Mark 48 torpedo.

Boeing engineers reportedly will fit the Mark 54 torpedo with the wings designed for a Standoff Land-Attack Missile-Expanded Response cruise missile to enable to torpedo to glide to the ocean's surface. The HAAWC tail assembly is to include the guidance kit designed for the Joint Direct-Attack Munition (JDAM), which contains a GPS navigation system.

Boeing also could fit the HAAWC with a data link to transmit target position updates while in flight. Boeing will do the work on this contract in St. Charles, Mo., and should be finished by April 2016.

Boeing zaps PCs using CHAMP missile microwave attacks

Boeing has successfully conducted a test of a missile capable of blasting a building's electronics with an energy beam without harming the structure itself. The era of EMP weapons has arrived it seems.

The Counter-electronics High-powered Advanced Missile Project (CHAMP) is an air-launched device that uses a high-powered microwave pulse to disable electrical systems. On Oct. 16th the missile was tested at the Utah Test and Training Range and successfully toasted electrical systems in a two storey building.

"We hit every target we wanted to, we prosecuted every one. Today we made science fiction science fact," said Keith Coleman, CHAMP program manager for Boeing Phantom Works. "When that computer went out, when we fired, it actually took out the cameras as well. We took out everything on that, it was fantastic."

Boeing announced the plans for CHAMP back in 2009, as part of the US Army's continuing quest for a weapon that can knock out electronics easily. You can do this with the electromagnetic pulse (EMP) produced by a nuclear explosion, but those tend to be somewhat messy as they produce rather too much "collateral damage."

Based on the video the company has released of an earlier test the weapons system, developed by Sandia National Laboratories, does look somewhat effective. The on-screen PCs are shut down, although there's no way of telling if they are fried or just powered down, and one system still appears to be functioning. Hardened military systems might prove a tougher challenge.

There's no word on how many attacks a single missile can make; Boeing's saying multiple targets can be hit on a single run but isn’t specifying just how many. Boeing said last week's hour-long test hit seven targets, but didn’t specify how many missiles were used.

There's also the question of whether this is a reusable weapon, and if not how it destroys itself once exhausted. Leaving technology like this littered across the landscape would be a gift for those seeking to develop anti-electronic weapons and looking for kit to reverse engineer. The Iranian military was very happy to apparently get a US drone this way, although they seem unable to get any more.

Finally, and most worryingly of all from the perspective of an IT manager who could be targeted, there's no word on the effect on human beings. The US already uses microwaves as a crowd control device but CHAMP's kind of attack should last fractions of a second, and this may be something that causes brief discomfort but no fatalities.

The US Air Force predicted it would have this kind of weaponry this year back in 2007, but we're still awaiting word of those EMP hand grenades that are apparently in circulation.

Obsolete before deployment: Boeing up update P-8A electronic warfare components to stave-off obsolescence

U.S. Navy is asking the Boeing Co. in Seattle to upgrade electronic warfare (EW) subsystems in the P-8A Poseidon Multi-Mission Maritime aircraft to overcome obsolescence issues -- ever before the new maritime patrol jet is deployed to active-duty Navy flight squadrons.

Officials of U.S. Naval Air Systems Command at Patuxent River Naval Air Station Md., awarded Boeing an $8.5 million contract Thursday to update the electronic support measures (ESM) sensor digital measurement unit of the P-8A to ensure the EW components are not obsolete by the time the aircraft is widely fielded.

The P-8A, a military variant of the Boeing 737 jetliner, first flew in 2009, and was approved for low-rate production the following year. The first production version of the aircraft was handed over to the Navy last March. Initial operating capability of the P-8A is not expected until next year.

Obsolescence in new weapon systems is a common problem among U.S. Department of Defense major systems that can take years, if not decades, to design, manufacture, and deploy.

ESM involves search, interception, identification, and location of enemy radar or radio communications. Other onboard EW systems then can jam or avoid the enemy radio signals. The Northrop Grumman Corp. Electronic Systems segment in Linthicum, Md., is in charge of the P-8 EW systems.

Northrop Grumman is supplying the P-8's electronic warfare self-protection (EWSP) suite, which includes the Terma AN/ALQ-213(V) electronic warfare management system (EWMS), directional infrared countermeasures (DIRCM) set, radar warning system, and BAE Systems countermeasures dispenser. Just this month the Northrop Grumman ESM system for the P-8A was officially designated

Ultimately, the Navy plans to buy 108 P-8A aircraft from Boeing to replace the service’s fleet of 196 P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft, which are approaching the end of operational life. The P-3 is a version of the Lockheed Martin Electra four-engine turboprop aircraft.

The P-8A is a specially hardened and reinforced version of the Boeing 737 passenger jet, and is designed to operate at extremely low altitudes over the ocean during close-in searches for potentially hostile submarines. The P-8A is designed to withstand the rigors of low-altitude turbulence and exposure to salt spray.

The Boeing P-8A Poseidon, a Navy version of the 737 jetliner, will replace the P-3 Orion for long-range maritime patrol and anti-submarine warfare.

The Boeing P-8A Poseidon, a Navy version of the 737 jetliner, will replace the P-3 Orion for long-range maritime patrol and anti-submarine warfare.

Navy officials plan to use the P-8A in tandem with the Northrop Grumman RQ-4N Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) -- a maritime-patrol version of the Global Hawk long-range surveillance UAV. Plans call for using BAMS to detect potentially hostile submarines and surface ships, and upon detection, to call in the P-8A to take a closer look or to attack hostile vessels with torpedoes and missiles.

Boeing will build the Poseidon aircraft at its factory in Renton, Wash. The 737 fuselage and tail sections will be built by Spirit AeroSystems in Wichita, Kan., then transferred to Renton where all structural features will be incorporated in sequence during fabrication and assembly.

The P-8A’s flight management system and the stores management system have been developed by GE Aviation Systems in Grand Rapids, Mich. (formerly Smiths Aerospace). The cabin has as many as seven operator consoles.

The Poseidon’s MX-20HD digital electro-optical and infrared (EO/IR) multi-spectral sensor turrets come from L-3 Communications Wescam in Burlington, Ontario. The MX-20HD is gyro-stabilized and can have as many as seven sensors, including infrared, CCDTV, image intensifier, laser rangefinder, and laser illuminator.

The aircraft has the upgraded APS-137D(V)5 maritime surveillance radar and signals intelligence (SIGINT) system from the Raytheon Co. Space and Airborne Systems (SAS) segment in McKinney, Texas.

The APS-137D(V)5 radar, which is installed on the P-8’s enlarged nose fairing, provides synthetic aperture radar (SAR) for imaging stationary ships and small vessels, coastal and overland surveillance, and high-resolution imaging synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) for imaging surfaced submarines and fast surface vessels operating in coastal waters.

The P-8A will have the CAE Inc. advanced integrated magnetic anomaly detection (MAD) system. The Navy plans to arm the P-8A with the MK 54 torpedo.

Boeing will supervise most of the work under the current contract at Northrop Grumman in Linthicum, Md. Boeing will do other work on the contract in Seattle, and should be finished with the job in April 2015.

Boeing Phantom Works Uses 3-D Printer to Create Prototypes

Boeing engineers are using 3-D printing to aid in rapid prototyping efforts.

3-D printing is similar to that of a standard inkjet printer. A computer generated 3-D model is sent to the printer, which divides it into extremely thin cross sections. A powder is layered across each cross section at a rate of one vertical inch per hour. Teams across Boeing are using 3-D printing in a plethora of ways, including fit check models, shop aids, tool mock-ups and visualization models.

Source: Boeing

Navy orders 11 Boeing sub-hunters

The U.S. Department of Defense said it has ordered 11 new jets from Boeing Co. at a cost of $1.9 billion.

The contract is an extension of a previous contract, which produced 13 P-8A jets for the U.S. Navy that are designed to search for submarines, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.

The Navy has already said the contract is likely to extend to a total of 117 P-8A jets which would replace its aging fleet of P-3 Orion propeller planes.

The P-8A is a single-aisle jet that is a modified 737-800 jet, the Journal reported.

Boeing Knocks F-35's 'Delays and Delays,' Touts F-18

Boeing renewed its campaign to bash Lockheed Martin's F-35 and promote its F-18 fighters today, as the president of Boeing Military Aircraft slammed the Joint Strike Fighter while noting declining defense budgets here and abroad.

"The F-35 continues to delay and delay," Christopher Chadwick told a group of reporters at Boeing's defense headquarters here. "Yes, the F-35 has all-aspect stealth, but that is used in a relatively small part of the combat envelope."

In a clear signal to F-18 supporters in the Navy, Chadwick added this barb: "With the F-35 continuing to have technical difficulties and to continue slipping to the right, they have to make sure they have the right capability for the men and women who go in harms way."

Chadwick offered his critique of the Joint Strike Fighter in a larger context: "There is a rebalancing we are seeing of the balance between social and defense needs." And that means, quite simply, declining defense budgets both in the United States and in Europe.

One of the effects of that, especially as the US withdraws from Afghanistan, will be a decline in the unmanned systems market (or remotely piloted vehicles, for those Air Force devotees), Chadwick said. Boeing analysts are "already predicting a 20 percent reduction in the global UAS market."

So where will the cuts come? "With the drawdown what you're seeing is the customer starting to define where they really need capabilities. They need it on the carrier deck," he said, and they will need it on the low end of the market. There is also an "unmet need" for unmanned rotorcraft.

To meet those needs, Chadwick said, Boeing offers its version of the Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike System (UCLASS), the Unmanned Little Bird and the A-160.

Another reason for the decline in the market is the simple fact that no one has figured out how to manage the enormous amounts of data already being gathered by the existing fleet of UAVs (RPVs for Air Force folks), the head of Boeing Military Aircraft told us. "What's happened is, the men and women aren't flying, but they are on the ground processing data and no one has cracked the code on managing the data," he said. And the means the services just don't think they need to buy more platforms to collect data they couldn't usefully process.

In other news, Chadwick offered a broad hint that Boeing hopes to be being the prime integrator on the Air Force's next-generation bomber fleet, the Long Range Strike program. Most details of the program are highly classified so we don't know much about it, beyond repeated service declarations that it would probably include an unmanned or optionally manned capability and it would need to be able to operate in anti-denial, anti-access environments, which means it would boast stealth capabilities.

"We plan on being a big player on that," he said initially. I pressed him for more information, asking whether Boeing planned to be a prime on LSR and he went this far" "Our core competency, what differentiates us... is we are a platform builder and a platform integrator." So it would appear Northrop Grumman has some serious competition brewing here.

Finally, no defense story would be complete these days without at least one mention of sequestration. Chadwick said one of the biggest effects of the mandatory budget cuts that would be triggered Jan. 2 by the Budget Control Act is already being felt.

"What we're seeing is the lower-tier suppliers are starting to walk away from the defense business because of the uncertainty of the market and the onslaught of" acquisition process and oversight. I asked for some examples and he said he didn't have any close at hand. But when we hear some, we will let you know. Dear reader, if you know some, please let us know.

Chadwick added that Boeing began planning for the downturn two years ago and has reduced its executive ranks by 18 percent over last three years, its managers by 15 percent and his division, Boeing Military Aircraft, is down in overall numbers about 10 percent.