ASAP AM Spares Blog

Lockheed Martin has been awarded a contract from the United States Missile Defense Agency for a Long Range Discrimination Radar (LRDR).The contract is for nine years, plus options, with the highest potential total being around $784 million. Under the terms of the deal, Lockheed will develop and build the LRDR in order to support a layered ballistic missile defense strategy that will protect the U.S. homeland from ballistic missile attacks. The need for these sort of defense systems is growing rapidly. Potential threats from hostile countries continue to grow as places like North Korea and Iran become more advanced with their missile systems.

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems has been award a contract by the United States Army for full-rate production and supply of the Improved Gray Eagle (IGE) unmanned aircraft system (UAS). Details of the contract were not immediately available, but what is known is the defense company will provide a quantity of nineteen IGEs. Deliveries are scheduled to be completed by September of 2018.

Thales Group was able to successfully fly their Watchkeeper unmanned aircraft system for the first time in controlled civil airspace.The test was conducted in the UK, and was part of Project Claire - a joint initiative featuring Thales, NATS, the Dutch National Aerospace Laboratory NLR, the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) and the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). It is funded by the SESAR joint undertaking. The test itself involved the UAS flying side-by-side with a manned aircraft. The remote controlled aircraft flew around for approximately one hour. It was piloted by Thales staff based at West Wales Airport, with NATS controlling it path.

The Boeing Company is planning to assemble either their Chinook heavy-lift helicopters or Apache attack choppers in India, as they also explore the possibility to manufacture a fighter jet in the country.India already plays a part in the construction of these, as the fuselage is manufactured in the country. They have already signed a contract worth approximately $3 billion for 15 Chinooks and 22 Apaches, and discussions continue with Indian suppliers to make Apache parts.

American rocket manufacturer Aerojet Rocketdyne has completed two major subsystem reviews of the Orion spacecraft for Lockheed Martin and NASA. Orion is being developed to ensure mission success and astronaut safety, and its subsystems require a critical design review (CDR) of the jettison motor and the crew module reaction control system (RCS).