Category Archives: Defense Department

Air Force, Contractors & Vendors, Defense Department

Boeing baffled by C-130 modernization program holdup

(UPDATE: The Air Force is reportedly considering C-130 AMP for cancellation. )

Jane’s reports that Boeing is chomping at the bit to move forward with Milestone C for its  C-130 Avionics Modernization Program. The Air Force cancelled the scheduled Defense Aquisition Board meeting on July 3o a few days in advance, and has not yet rescheduled.

Mark Angelo, program manager for C-130 AMP, told Jane’s that he and Boeing “have been given no idea as to … why it was postponed. With development complete, the risk is behind us, and the aircraft upgrade is ready.”

The C-130 AMP program is intended to “modernize, standardize, and reduce total ownership cost for the US Air Force C-130 fleet,” according to Boeing.  Its features include a “glass cockpit”, with the majority of instrumentation replaced by digital displays. Milestone C is the acquisition process decision point that approves the production and deployment of a system.

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Defense Department, Iran, Policy, Soutwest Asia

Iran’s Sejil missile ‘threatens Europe’

Iran’s Sejil missile ‘threatens Europe’ .

“Uzi Rubin, former head of Israel’s ballistic missile defense program, says Iran has made a “technological and strategic breakthrough” with its Sejil-2 intermediate-range ballistic missile, which will be able to hit a swathe of European states in three to four years.That assertion…intensified concerns that Iran has stepped up its drive to acquire ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads. He said that the two-stage Sejil-2 has an estimated range of 1,560 miles, not 1,250 miles as previously thought, and that the successful testing of a solid-fueled missile on May 20 was a major breakthrough for Iran.”

Watch for this being used as justification of additional work on the land-based ABM defense, and, as a result, further diplomatic tension with Russia over that system — either that, or the Obama administration is going to have to come to some sort of agreement with Russia over cooperative policies on Iran and on missile defense.

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