Boeing vs. Lockheed Martin: Who Will Win the T-X Advanced Jet Trainer Competition?

June 5, 2017, 5:19 pm

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Who will this big contract? 

Dave Majumdar

Boeing believes that it has an advantage over rival Lockheed Martin in the battle to secure the U.S. Air Force’s T-X advanced jet trainer contract.

While the Lockheed’s T-50A offering is a based on an existing South Korean aircraft that was designed using technology from the F-16 Fighting Falcon, Boeing’s concept is custom-designed for the U.S. Air Force’s specific requirements. Because the Boeing T-X was designed specifically for the U.S. Air Force, the company believes it has an edge in the competition.

“I believe what we have is a tailor-made, tailored-designed airplane for the requirement to customers that's for T-X,” Boeing chief executive officer Dennis Muilenburg said at the Sanford C. Bernstein’s Strategic Decision Brokers Conference on June 1.  

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Does Boeing Have a Plan to Replace the Joint Surveillance and Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS)?

June 6, 2017, 6:06 pm

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It looks the real deal. 

Dave Majumdar

Boeing believes that its 737-based proposal to replace the U.S. Air Force’s aging Northrop Grumman E-8 Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System will not only perform better but will be cheaper than rival machines. The reason is that the aircraft is larger and more power—but at the same time—is built on a high production volume airliner platform.

“We have taken again a different approach on that when we were using a 737 based platform,” Boeing chief executive officer Dennis Muilenburg said at the Sanford C. Bernstein’s Strategic Decision Brokers Conference on June 1.

“We believe that provides the size, weight, power, cooling growth that our customers will need for the future.”

More Proof America's Boeing F-15E Strike Eagle Is a Beast—And Overkill

June 12, 2017, 6:24 pm

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We don't need them to kill drones. Period. 

Dave Majumdar

Last week, a Boeing F-15E Strike Eagle belonging to the United States Air Force shot down what appears to have been an Iranian-made Shahed-129 unmanned aerial vehicle that was threatening American-backed rebel forces in Syria.

The drone—operated by pro-Syrian regime forces—attacked targets near where coalition troops were stationed with bombs before being dispatched by the Strike Eagle according to U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM).

Leonardo: A Strong Contender for the U.S. Air Force's Big T-X Program Contract?

June 13, 2017, 6:10 pm

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We spoke to the CEO himself to get a sense of the company's chances. 

Dave Majumdar

Italian aerospace conglomerate Leonardo submitted its bid for the United States Air Force’s T-X advanced jet trainer program in March. The company will submit its flight data for its T-100 aircraft—a derivative of the M-346 Master advanced jet trainer—by the end of this month. Leonardo is going head-to-head against Lockheed Martin’s T-50A and a new Boeing design that was custom designed for the Air Force contest.

“We feel good about the proposal,” Bill Lynn, chief executive officer for Leonardo DRS—the American subsidiary of the Italian giant—told me in his office in Arlington, Virginia.

“We have been the most successful internationally.”

Lynn noted that the M-346 is already training future F-35 pilots in Israel and it is also in service with the Italian air force, which will use it to train its future Joint Strike Fighter pilots.

Why Boeing’s Block III F/A-18E/F Super Hornet Is About to Become a Reality

June 22, 2017, 5:45 pm

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With the Navy officially requesting funding this year for the Block III, an advanced Super Hornet is no longer a notional project.

Dave Majumdar

With the United States Navy struggling to make up a shortfall in its strike fighter inventory, the future looks bright for Boeing’s F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and EA-18G Growler.

The Navy plans to order at least 80 additional Super Hornets over the next five years including 14 jets in the fiscal year 18 budget request—and there could be more to come.

Moreover, as it is becoming increasingly apparent that the F/A-18E/F will be serving in the fleet until at least 2040, the Navy has requested funding for an advanced Block III version of the venerable Super Hornet in the 2018 budget. Many of those modifications are also likely to be used onboard the EA-18G Growler variant too.

The Navy needs enough aircraft in its inventory to have the capacity to fill out its air wings—particularly if the size of the fleet is increased.

Northrop Grumman vs. Boeing: Who Will Build the U.S. Military's New ICBMs?

August 21, 2017, 7:53 pm

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A big contract is up for grabs. 

Dave Majumdar

The United States Air Force has whittled down the number of would be contractors for its Ground Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD) intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) to two. Northrop Grumman and Boeing will move forward into the Technology Maturation and Risk Reduction (TMRR) phase.

As such, the Air Force has awarded Northrop Grumman a $329 million contract and Boeing a $349 million contract for the TMRR phase. Under the contracts, the two companies will mature the GBSD technology and develop a “low technical risk, affordable total system replacement of Minuteman III” ICBM.

"We are moving forward with modernization of the ground-based leg of the nuclear triad," Air Force secretary Heather Wilson said.

"Our missiles were built in the 1970s. Things just wear out, and it becomes more expensive to maintain them than to replace them. We need to cost-effectively modernize."

How Boeing's X-32 Could Have Replaced the F-35 (And Why It Never Happened)

September 1, 2017, 6:41 am

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What if DoD had gone with Boeing’s X-32 instead, or with some combination of the two aircraft?

Robert Farley

Chosen in 2001, the F-35 went on to become the largest Pentagon procurement project of all time, and one of the most beset by trouble. The X-32 escaped all of the most significant challenges to the F-35. The X-32 never faced decades of testing and redesign; it never saw massive cost overruns; it was never subjected to an endless series of articles about how it couldn’t out-dogfight an F-16A. Nostalgia for what might have been is common in aircraft competitions, and it’s impossible to say whether the X-32 would have run into the same difficulties of the F-35.  Given the complex nature of advanced fighter projects, the answer is almost certainly “yes.”

The U.S. Air Force Is Moving Forward on a New Air Force One

September 13, 2017, 5:10 pm

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The current phase of the Air Force One replacement program is focused on finalizing the design of the aircraft without compromising on the its essential features. 

Dave Majumdar

The United States Air Force has awarded Boeing a contract modification for slightly less than $600 million to start work on a new presidential transport aircraft.

Based on Boeing’s 747-8, the two new modified airliners will replace a pair of VC-25A (747-200) aircraft as the new “Air Force One” jets.

"Following the award of the contract to purchase two commercial 747-8 aircraft, this contract award is the next major step forward toward ensuring an overall affordable program," Maj. Gen. Duke Richardson, the Presidential Airlift Recapitalization (PAR) program executive officer, said in a statement issued by the Air Force.

Under the terms of the Sept. 12, 2017, contract modification, Boeing will start work on designs to incorporate a mission communication system, electrical power upgrades, a medical facility, an executive interior, a self-defense system and autonomous ground operations capabilities into the two commercial 747-8s.

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Northrop Grumman and Boeing Have Plans to Turbocharge America's Nuclear ICBMs

December 7, 2017, 4:50 pm

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Northrop Grumman and Boeing teams were recently awarded Technology Maturation and Risk Reduction deals from the Air Force as part of a longer-term developmental trajectory aimed at developing new ICBMs.

Kris Osborn

The new ICBMs will be deployed roughly within the same geographical expanse in which the current weapons are stationed. In total, dispersed areas across three different sites span 33,600 miles, including missiles in Cheyenne, Wyoming, Minot, North Dakota and Great Falls, Montana. The Air Force plans to award the single EMD contract in late fiscal year 2020.

The Air Force plans to fire off new prototype ICBMs in the early 2020s as part of a long-range plan to engineer and deploy next-generation, high-tech intercontinental ballistic missiles with improved range, durability, targeting technology and overall lethality, service officials said.

The service is already making initial technological progress on design work and “systems engineering” for a new arsenal of ICBMs to serve well into the 2070s – called Ground Based Strategic Deterrent, or GBSD.

X-32: The Fighter Plane That Almost Replaced the F-35

December 12, 2017, 7:36 am

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So what happenned? 

Robert Farley

Built to the same specifications, the X-32 and the F-35 had relatively similar performance parameters. Deciding to compete on cost, Boeing designed the X-32 around a single-piece delta wing that would fit all three variants. The X-32 lacked the shaft-driven turbofan lift of the F-35, instead using the same thrust vectoring system as the AV-8 Harrier. The X-32’s system was less advanced than the F-35’s, but also less comple

The Department of Defense (DoD) didn’t have to opt for the F-35. In the 1990s, both Boeing and Lockheed Martin bid for the next big fighter contract, a plane that would serve in each of the Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps, as well as grace the air forces of many US allies. Boeing served up the X-32; Lockheed the X-35.

Boeing Is Working on a Mach-5 Spy Plane

February 12, 2018, 7:35 am

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The Valkyerie II could compete with Lockheed's SR-72.

David Axe

In early January 2018, Boeing announced it’s developing a concept for a hypersonic reconnaissance and strike drone that could compete with Lockheed’s own SR-72. Both Boeing’s “Valkyrie II”concept and Lockheed’s “Son of Blackbird” could be capable of cruising at speeds exceeding Mach 5, potentially allowing them to evade all but the most sophisticated enemy defenses.

Forget the F-35: The (Ugly) X-32 Could Have Replaced It

April 24, 2018, 4:23 am

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But would it have been a better plane? 

Robert Farley

One thing is for certain; the X-32 was a ridiculously ugly aircraft. It looked like nothing so much as the spawn of an A-7 Corsair and a hideously deformed manatee. The F-35 is no prize from an aesthetic point of view, lacking the sleek, dangerous lines of the F-22, but the X-32 made the F-35 look positively sexy by comparison. How much should this matter? Not a bit. How much did it matter? Good question. Fighter pilots don’t like to fly aircraft that look like they could be run over by Florida speed boat.

The Department of Defense (DoD) didn’t have to opt for the F-35. In the 1990s, both Boeing and Lockheed Martin bid for the next big fighter contract, a plane that would serve in each of the Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps, as well as grace the air forces of many US allies. Boeing served up the X-32; Lockheed the X-35.

Did Donald Trump Save the F-15 and F/A-18 (and Boeing)?

April 28, 2018, 4:31 pm

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Perhaps. 

Dave Majumdar

The Trump Administration’s rise to power has proven to be a boon for Boeing’s fighter programs.

In previous years, both the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and F-15 Eagle production lines were expected to shut down as Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter looked set to dominate the fighter market both domestically and internationally. However, with domestic defense funding boosted and new overseas sales, the future looks brighter for both jets.

“I think after several years of having to endure the damage of sequestration and a challenging defense budget, we're now seeing reemerging strength of that budget supported by both parties, and we're encouraged by the future year plans that we've seen,” Dennis Muilenburg, Boeing's chairman, president and Chief Executive Officer, told investors. “And that is something that has bolstered our expectations for our defense business going forward.”

Boeing Will Manage the Supply Chain for the Bronco II Counterinsurgency Plane

May 6, 2018, 6:01 am

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Here is what we know.

Dave Majumdar

Boeing will manage the supply chain for the Paramount Group’s Advanced High-Performance Reconnaissance Light Aircraft (AHRLAC) counterinsurgency plane—called the Bronco II in the United States—through its subsidiary Aviall.

The U.S. defense giant had previously agreed to market the South African-developed aircraft in the United States as the Bronco II. Meanwhile, the international version of the single-engine turboprop is being marketed as the Mwari. Aviall will support supply chain procurement and management for AHRLAC production for all versions of the aircraft including both military variants. Meanwhile, Boeing’s Global Services unit will provide software-based solutions that enable centralized command and control of flight operations and produce total lifecycle support that reduces sustainment costs, the company said.

How the Navy's New Block III Super Hornet Could Crush China's J-20 or Russia's Su-57

May 25, 2018, 4:04 am

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A big leap forward? 

Dave Majumdar

As new adversary fifth-generation stealth fighters such as the Russian Sukhoi Su-57 PAK-FA and the Chengdu J-20 emerge from development, the United States Navy is working on developing and fielding new capabilities that will allow naval aviators to defeat the threat.

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