MV-22C Source: U.S. Marine Corps MV-22C Source: U.S. Marine Corps Close

In addition, this modification provides for the procurement of 12 APR-39D(V)2 A-Kits to install the AN/APR-39D (V)2 system on any of the 48 previously Integrated Aircraft Survivability Equipment retrofitted aircraft, upgrading the MV-22 from Configuration B to Configuration C.

Work will be performed in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania (65 percent); Miramar, California (14 percent); New River, North Carolina (13 percent); Fort Worth, Texas (6 percent); St. Louis, Missouri (1 percent); and various locations within the continental U.S. (1 percent), and is expected to be completed in September 2023. Fiscal 2019 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $10.7 million will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

Source: CIA Source: CIA Close

The NGF is to operate in conjunction with a swarm of drones that will serve both as weapons platforms and advanced sensors. These two systems which are to function together are collectively referred to as the Next-Generation Weapon System (NGWS).

Spain's initial contribution to the NGF entails €25 million ($28 million) over the next two years. Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles stressed in her public announcement of the LOI signing that Spain entered the project on equal terms with its French and German partners.

While the long-term NGF project entails a successor to the Spanish Air Force' Typhoon fleet, the service also operates older "classic" EF-18A Hornets and a small stock of U.S. Navy surplus FA-18A/Bs that will require replacement in the nearer-term. Another batch-order of Typhoons is the likely medium-term bridge solution here, though the Air Force has in the past indicated interest in the land-based variant of the Lockheed Martin Joint Strike Fighter, the F-35A. Joining the U.K. "Team Tempest" future fighter initiative has also been considered.

In addition, the Spanish Navy also operates a small number of 1980s-vintage AV-8B Harrier II jump-jets onboard its ski jump-equipped multipurpose amphibious assault vessel, the Juan Carlos I. This fleet is expected to operate through 2025 following a Harrier life-cycle support agreement announced by the Spanish government on May 23, 2014. The Navy is eyeing the only alternative to fill the short takeoff/vertical-landing (STOVL) fighter aircraft requirement on the market: the Lockheed Martin F-35B.

HC-130J Source: Lockheed Martin HC-130J Source: Lockheed Martin Close

The aircraft was originally delivered to the Coast Guard in its baseline configuration in 2017. CGNR 2011 was outfitted with Minotaur software as well as Coast Guard-specific integrated radar, sensors and communication systems in a process called missionization, after which the aircraft was redesignated an HC-130J.

The Coast Guard currently has 15 HC-130J aircraft in either operational use or active production. In addition to continued Minotaur missionization efforts on new aircraft, the service has plans to do a block upgrade for all its HC-130J aircraft.

The Coast Guard’s fleet of HC-130Js is the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) largest airlift asset, providing critical support to DHS partners as well as carrying out many Coast Guard missions, including search and rescue, drug and migrant interdiction, cargo and personnel transport, and maritime stewardship. The aircraft is capable of serving as an on-scene command and control platform or as a surveillance platform with the means to detect, classify and identify objects and share that information with operational forces.

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