DefenseNews

Raytheon wins $2B contract for new nuclear cruise missile

WASHINGTON — Raytheon Technologies will get up to $2 billion to develop the U.S. Air Force’s Long Range Standoff Weapon system, a new nuclear-capable, air-launched cruise missile that will be carried by B-52 and B-21 bombers. The service on July 1 awarded Raytheon a cost-plus-fixed-fee deal for the engineering and manufacturing development stage of the LRSO program, with contract options…
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DefenseNews

House appropriators want more cargo helos for US Army in FY22

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army continued its yearslong tradition of not funding the procurement of the latest variant of the CH-47F Chinook cargo helicopter in favor of future programs in its fiscal 2022 budget request, but House appropriators are pushing back. Some lawmakers are again calling for enough funding to buy the aircraft for the active force. The House Appropriations Committee’s FY22…
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DefenseNews

Bell V-280 Valor tech demonstrator retires from flight

WASHINGTON — Bell’s future vertical lift technology demonstrator, the V-280 Valor tiltrotor, has finished its flying career, according to a June 24 company announcement. The demonstrator was built for the U.S. Army Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstrator program and…
DefenseNews

Two reasons Britain could slow its purchase of the F-35

LONDON — The high costs of supporting F-35s and a failure to quickly integrate the MBDA Meteor missile to the aircraft could slow British plans to buy more of the jets, defence secretary Ben Wallace warned June 23. Wallace told Britain’s Parliamentary defence select…
DefenseNews

Time Is Running Out for the Army to Save the Chinook Program

A U.S. Army CH-47 Chinook departs from Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, Dec. 27, 2009. (Francisco V. Govea II/U.S. Air Force) Clear, concise decision-making. That’s what American citizens — and U.S. allies — expect from our government leaders. Unfortunately, that isn’t what we’re getting, specifically regarding defense programs and the future of global military…
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DefenseNews

More cost overruns are coming for Boeing as the KC-46 program logs another two technical deficiencies

WASHINGTON — Boeing will have to pay to fix two new technical problems afflicting the KC-46 refueling tanker, which the U.S. Air Force has designated as “category 1” deficiencies that rank among the program’s most critical issues. The Air Force has discovered that drain tubes in the KC-46′s air refueling receptacle — which are used to remove water from the aircraft — can become…
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