Wednesday, May 8, 2024
FARNBOROUGH, ENGLAND -- The Marine Corps obtained a waiver that would have allowed it to bypass the mandatory engine inspections imposed on the Navy and Air Force Joint Strike Fighter fleets and participate in the Farnborough International Air Show this week, but the service decided not to fly the planes across the Atlantic despite that waiver, according to multiple sources.
FARNBOROUGH, ENGLAND -- The Marine Corps F-35B aircraft will miss the Farnborough International Air Show here this week, the Pentagon announced.
FARNBOROUGH, ENGLAND -- Raytheon Missile Systems and Norway's Kongsberg Defense & Aerospace have teamed up to develop the Joint Strike Missile for air-launched offensive anti-surface warfare applications, the companies announced here on Tuesday.
FARNBOROUGH, ENGLAND -- The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter fleet has been approved to return to flight, although no final decision has been made on whether the Marine Corps' short-takeoff-and-landing version of the aircraft will make it to the Farnborough International Air Show here this week.
FARNBOROUGH, ENGLAND -- The engine failure that has left the entire Joint Strike Fighter fleet grounded for two weeks and counting was an isolated incident caused by excessive rubbing of fan blades in the aircraft's Pratt &Whitney F135 engine, officials said during a media briefing here at the Farnborough International Air Show.
The Navy is evaluating the capability of its V-22 tilt-rotor Osprey to expand into other potential mission areas such as aerial refueling and search and rescue, according to a Navy spokeswoman.
The Marine Corps will not fly an F-35B Joint Striker Fighter in support of the Queen Elizabeth Carrier Naming Ceremony on July 4, service officials said, noting that the aircraft's participation in the ceremony was never officially confirmed.
The Navy will move forward with the refueling of the aircraft carrier George Washington, reversing a previous plan to decide next year whether to retire the vessel.
The Marine Corps resumed F-35B flight operations on June 27 after a fire aboard an Air Force F-35A at a Florida training base led all three services that deploy the Joint Strike Fighter to temporarily suspend flights of the aircraft.
Lockheed Martin has submitted a proposal to the Navy for an option to upgrade its Freedom-class Littoral Combat Ship with already designed modifications, according to a company official.
The Senate Armed Services Committee, in its mark of the fiscal year 2015 defense authorization bill, is urging the Navy to reconsider its plan to stop procuring MH-60R Seahawk helicopters, according to the panel's report accompanying the bill.
A proposal to use the LPD-17 San Antonio-class amphibious vessel design as the basis for an LX(R) amphibious ship replacement program is "off the table" due to affordability concerns, according to the chief of Naval Sea Systems Command.
The Navy is in talks with foreign militaries to potentially boost by 50 percent the planned purchase of the Marine Corps' CH-53K heavy lift helicopter, a spokeswoman for Naval Air Systems Command confirmed last week.
The Senate Armed Services Committee has authorized the Navy secretary to reprogram up to $650 million from other areas of the Navy's budget to pay for the refueling and complex overhaul of the aircraft carrier George Washington, despite the service's wishes to do otherwise.
The chief of naval operations on Monday laid out the Navy's plan to increase its force presence in the Asia Pacific region over the next several years, noting that the Navy plans to increase the average number of ships in the area from 58 next year to 67 in 2020.
The Aircraft Carrier Industrial Base Coalition this week sent separate letters to House and Senate lawmakers urging their support for carrier funding at the level authorized by the House Armed Services Committee's mark of the fiscal year 2015 defense authorization bill.
As expected, the Navy awarded the VXX presidential helicopter replacement program contract to Sikorsky Aircraft on Wednesday.
WEST PALM BEACH, FL -- The Navy will announce the winner of the VXX presidential helicopter competition on Wednesday, a service official said May 5.
WEST PALM BEACH, FL -- The commandant of the Marine Corps said he is "optimistic" that the service's new CH-53K heavy-lift helicopter will be ready to begin operational service in 2019 despite a one-year procurement delay and potential sequestration cuts in fiscal year 2016.
The Navy and the Kingdom of Jordan have agreed to the first international sale of the Navy's Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System laser-guided rocket, the service announced on May 1.