A május 26-i európai parlamenti választások végleges eredményei alapján a Nemzeti Liberális Pártnak 10 mandátuma lesz az EP-ben, a Szociáldemokrata Pártnak 9, az USR–PLUS 2020 Szövetségnek 8 – jelentette be tegnap Marian Muhuleţ, a Központi Választási Iroda szóvivője. A Romániai Magyar Demokrata Szövetség, a Pro Románia Párt és a Népi Mozgalom Pártja két-két képviselőt küld az Európai Parlamentbe. A PNL 2 millió 449 ezer 068 szavazatot kapott, a PSD 2 millió 040 ezer 765-öt, az USR–PLUS 2020 Szövetség 2 millió 028 ezer 336-ot, RMDSZ pedig 476 ezer 777-et (ez az érvényes voksok 5,26 százaléka). A többi résztvevő nem érte el a bejutáshoz szükséges küszöböt, így a PSD koalíciós partnere, a Liberálisok és Demokraták Szövetsége sem. A PNL képviselői listáján a szerepel többek között Rareş Bogdan, Mircea Hava, Siegfried Mureşan. A PSD listáján: Rovana Plumb, Carmen Avram, Claudiu Manda. Az USR–PLUS 2020 Szövetség részéről mandátumot szerzett többek között: Dacian Cioloş, Cristian Ghinea, Dragoş Nicolae Pîslaru. Az RMDSZ-t Winkler Gyula és Vincze Loránt fogja képviselni az EP-ben, a Pro Románia pártot Victor Ponta és Corina Creţu, a PMP-t Traian Băsescu és Eugen Tomac. Winkler a harmadik mandátumát kezdi meg a magyar érdekképviselet színeiben az EP-ben, míg a töredékvoksok újraosztása nyomán az RMDSZ-lista második helyén szereplő Vincze Lóránt, a FUEN elnöke első mandátumához jutott.
Viorica Dăncilă kormányfő leváltotta tisztségéből Mihaela Triculescut, az Országos Adóhatóság elnökét, és Mirela Călugăreanut nevezte ki a helyére. A leváltásról, illetve kinevezésről szóló határozatok tegnap jelentek meg a Hivatalos Közlönyben. Mihaela Triculescu idén januárban vette át az ANAF vezetését, Ionuţ Mişát váltva a tisztségben. Mirela Călugăreanu új ANAF elnök, korábban, 2017 júliusától 2018 márciusáig, Ionuţ Mişa kinevezéséig még vezette az Országos Adóhatóságot.
A Nemzeti Liberális Párt elvben már elfogadta a bizalmatlansági indítvány tervezetét, és megkezdte a tárgyalásokat, hogy az célba is érjen – jelentette ki Ludovic Orban, az alakulat elnöke a parlamentben. Orban közölte: a beadvány szövegét ‘elvben’ már jóváhagyta a párt, és a továbbiakban ismertetik azt az ellenzéki pártokkal, amelyek megfogalmazhatják esetleges módosító javaslataikat. A PNL elnöke szerint pártja kész bármely pillanatban felvállalni a kormányzás felelősségét. Orbant arról is megkérdezték a sajtó munkatársai, hogyan fog az RMDSZ-szel alkudozni. A PNL elnök úgy felelt, hogy a bizalmatlansági indítvány a kormány támogatására vagy annak megvonására vonatkozik. Kijelentette: ‘A dolog egyszerű, aki nem ért már egyet azzal, hogy továbbra is ez a kormány vezessen, az megszavazza a bizalmatlansági indítványt. Aki pedig nem szavazza meg a bizalmatlansági indítványt, az a kormányt támogatja.
Victor Pont tegnap közölte, hogy a párt szeptember első hetében ülésezik és akkor jelölik majd ki az alakulat államelnök-jelöltjét. Az alakulat elnöke azt is elmondta, hogy a párt képviselői az egész ország területéről összegyűlnek vasárnap délelőtt, hogy kielemezzék a május 26-i szavazás eredményeit.
Lockheed Martin won a $29.3 million contract modification to produce TB-37 Multi-Function Towed Array production units, accessories, shipping products, and spare modules for anti-submarine warfare (ASW) operations aboard surface warships. The TB-37, part of the AN/SQQ-89(V) Undersea Warfare/Anti-Submarine Warfare Combat System, is a next-generation passive and active sonar receiver configured as a long 3-inch-diameter array that can be towed behind surface ships. It is for Arleigh Burke Class destroyers, Ticonderoga Class cruisers, the Littoral Combat Ships, and Zumwalt Class land-attack destroyer. It is able to operate at a variety of depths to enable surface warships to detect and localize enemy submarines attempting to hide in different ocean layers of varying temperatures and salinity. Lockheed will perform work in New York, Maryland, and Massachusetts. Scheduled completion date is in June 2021.
The US Navy awarded Sierra Nevada Corp. a $9.8 million task order for the AN/SPN-46(V) landing system upgrade program. The deal addresses obsolescence issues, system degraders, deficiency correction and cybersecurity implementation. The AN/SPN-46(V) is a Precision Approach and Landing System. It is capable of controlling up to two aircraft simultaneously in a “leapfrog” pattern because of two dual-band radar antennas. As each approaching aircraft being assisted by the system lands, another can be “acquired”. Work will take place in St. Inigoes, Maryland and is scheduled to be finished by May next year.
Lockheed Marin won a $9.3 million order for post shakedown availability on the Navy’s future USS Billings or LCS-15. The Billings is a Littoral Combat Ship currently undergoing sea trials. It is the 17th littoral combat ship delivered to the Navy and eighth of the Freedom variant to join the fleet. She will be commissioned on August 3 in Key West, Florida and will be tasked with near-shore multi-purpose missions that utilize her ability to deploy and recover landing craft and helicopter. A vessel is typically not committed to any timetables or tasks until it completes its shakedown cruise. While the ship is assigned to the industrial activity for this purpose, this period is known as an “availability”. The awarded deal provides advance planning, accomplishment and emergent availabilities. Work will take place within the US and is expected to be completed by January 2021.
Middle East & AfricaRussia’s Ministry of Defense will soon be able to establish permanent missions within its counterparts in the Central African Republic and Sudan. Jane’s reports that the country has signed agreements with the African States that will run for seven years and will automatically renew if they are not terminated. The aim is to resolve military issues, provide training, and support the acquisition and maintenance of equipment.
EuropeThe Belarusian company AGAT Control Systems will soon finish the Berkut-3, a Group 1-class drone. The UAV reportedly has a wingspan of 3 meters and a maximum take-off weight of 11 kg, and has the ability to carry a 2 kg payload. It can be assembled within 10 minutes and launched and recovered via a catapult and a parachute respectively. It is equipped with a combined inertial navigation system (INS) and GPS/GLONASS satellite navigation receiver. The system also includes a digital still camera, infrared camera, or TV camera – ground control station (GCS), datalink, and a ruggedized storage container.
Asia-PacificInsitu won $47.9 million to deliver ScanEagle drones to four US allies in Asia. The company will deliver 34 ScanEagles to Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam. The order also provides for spare payloads, spare and repair parts, support equipment, tools, training, technical services and field service representatives for each nation. The drone delivers high-quality imagery for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR). The UAV is based on Insitu’s SeaScan miniature robotic aircraft and draws on Boeing’s systems integration, communications and payload technologies. It carries either an electro-optical or an infrared camera. Both are inertially stabilized. Insitu will perform 70 percent of the work under the new contract in Bingen, Washington as well as at multiple shore and at sea locations, including nine percent in Malaysia, five percent each in Philippines and Vietnam, and four percent in Indonesia. Expected completion is in March 2022.
Indonesia could get Su-35 supplies as soon as the end of the year, according to Russian reports. Indonesian Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu stated that Jakarta would not cancel the contract on jet supplies despite the US sanctions against Russia. The sanctions aim to punish Russian President Vladimir Putin for the 2014 annexation of the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine, involvement in the Syrian war, and interference in the 2016 US presidential election. In February last year Indonesia signed contracts for the purchase of 11 SU-35s. The Defense Ministry has already signed all the necessary paperwork. However, the Trade Ministry and Finance Ministry are still in the process of approval. Indonesia is the second country after China to buy Su-35 aircraft from Russia. The Asian nation wants the fighter jets to replace its ageing fleet of F-5 Tigers.
An AN-32 transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force with 13 people on board reportedly went missing on Monday afternoon around 33 minutes after taking off from Jorhat in Assam for Arunachal’s Menchuka close to the border with China. According to the IAF the aircraft took off from Jorhat 12:27 pm, and its last contact with the ground control was at 1 pm. The IAF has deployed C-130J and AN-32 aircraft next to two Mi-17 choppers while the Indian Army has pressed into service advance light helicopters to locate the missing Antonov AN-32 aircraft. The AN-32 is a Soviet Union-origin twin-engine turboprop transport aircraft. The IAF was the aircraft’s launch customer.
Today’s VideoWatch: High Alert : U.S. Air Force deploys F-16C Fighting Falcon aircraft to Poland
Naval technologies have advanced on many fronts, but one of the most significant is the growing roster of diesel-electric submarines that boast exceptional quietness. Some of the newer AIP (Air-Independent Propulsion) models even have the ability to operate without surfacing for a week or two at a time. In exercises against the US Navy, diesel-electric submarines have successfully ‘killed’ their nuclear counterparts, and in 2006, a Chinese submarine reportedly surprised a US carrier battlegroup by surfacing within it.
The US Navy is slowly moving to beef up anti-submarine capabilities that had been neglected since the end of the Cold War, and other navies are also beginning to adjust. One of the first areas that requires attention is improved detection. That means wider coverage areas, longer baselines, better sonar and other detection systems, and greater use of small unmanned platforms on the surface and underwater. With UUV/USV platforms still maturing, and almost every advanced navy except the Chinese getting smaller due to the cost of new warships, towed systems are a natural place to start.
In the USA, towed array systems are made by a number of manufacturers: EDO/ITT, L-3, Lockheed Martin Undersea Systems, and the small specialist firm Chesapeake Science Corp. are a few of the firms involved.
Unlike a ship’s main bow-mounted sonar, towed arrays can quickly be fitted to any ship with a minimum of yard work. Towed arrays will also be necessary adjuncts to future unmanned anti-submarine vehicles, as their low weight and streamlined shape makes them usable by smaller platforms. Hence MFTA (Multi-Function Towed Array) production contracts since 2008, which are replacing America’s existing set of AN/SQR-19 TACTAS arrays.
The new AN/SQR-20 (now TB-37U) MFTA is the first new surface ship array to be built for the U.S. Navy in 25 years, and is configured as a long 3″ diameter array that can be towed behind surface ships. It is an active and passive sonar sensor, meaning it can listen silently for enemy submarines, or can send out a an active sonar ping and listen for the echoes. MFTA provides several enhancements over the existing AN/SQR-19 TACTAS, including better coverage, better detection capability, and better reliability.
The new towed array will be integrated with AN/SQQ-89Av15 underwater combat systems that are being installed aboard Arleigh Burke Class guided missile destroyers and Ticonderoga Class missile cruisers as part of their planned upgrades. It’s also slated for use on DDG-1000 Zumwalt Class “destroyers” as part of the AN/SQQ-90 dual-and sonar, and aboard the Littoral Combat Ships as part of their Anti-Submarine Warfare mission package.
WLD-1 USVWhile the array is described as “towed”, it can still be helpful for the array to have some attached movement capability. One of the key technical issues faced by towed arrays is the fact that knowing the shape of the array in the water is critical to interpreting its results. Unfortunately, currents, maneuvers by the towing vessel, and a myriad of other factors can change the array’s shape in the water. Self-monitoring via a pinging device and listening “birds” clipped along the array (birds because they measure “time of flight”) is a commonly used approach to calculating the array’s shape, and some kind of monitoring approach will continue to be necessary.
Having a streamlined node on the end with some maneuvering ability of its own – a UUV, for instance – can still be quite helpful, allowing operators to adjust the array line’s shape so it remains more useful more often. The US Navy specifically declined to discuss any aspect along these lines, saying that towing characteristics and features were not for public release.
The other unmanned mobility option would be to expand coverage by attaching the relatively small arrays to unmanned vehicles, allowing a warship to cover a much larger area, and to use unmanned vehicles as quiet advance scouts.
Lockheed Martin has confirmed to DID that part of the MFTA contract included an option involving the Remote Multi-Mission Vehicle (RMMV) snorkeling unmanned surface vehicle (USV). RMMV was expected to have a significant role to play in anti-submarine warfare (as the WLD-1), but the US Navy decided to restrict it to LCS’ counter-mine warfare package. That still leaves possibilities aboard USN cruisers and destroyers, but unless the USV improves significantly, WLD-1 probably would be more of a position adjustment aid than a towing platform. Overall USV technology, on the other hand, is expected to improve significantly in the coming decades. It’s very likely that some kind of USV or UUV system will eventually be deployed with MFTA as an independent sensor set.
Contracts and Key Events CG-47 modernizationUnless otherwise noted, contracts are issued by US Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington, DC, to Lockheed Martin Mission in Liverpool, NY. The division’s name changes, but it’s the same maritime sensor group.
June 4/19: Production Units and Accessories Lockheed Martin won a $29.3 million contract modification to produce TB-37 Multi-Function Towed Array production units, accessories, shipping products, and spare modules for anti-submarine warfare (ASW) operations aboard surface warships. The TB-37, part of the AN/SQQ-89(V) Undersea Warfare/Anti-Submarine Warfare Combat System, is a next-generation passive and active sonar receiver configured as a long 3-inch-diameter array that can be towed behind surface ships. It is for Arleigh Burke Class destroyers, Ticonderoga Class cruisers, the Littoral Combat Ships, and Zumwalt Class land-attack destroyer. It is able to operate at a variety of depths to enable surface warships to detect and localize enemy submarines attempting to hide in different ocean layers of varying temperatures and salinity. Lockheed will perform work in New York, Maryland, and Massachusetts. Scheduled completion date is in June 2021.
May 25/15: Lockheed Martin has been handed a $27.3 million option for seven TB-37 multi-function towed array (MFTA) production units, as well as auxiliary equipment and support services. The work and production will be split between the US Navy and Japan under a previous Foreign Military Sale. The TB-37 is a potent anti-submarine warfare sensor, with the system offering several enhancements to the AN/SQR-19 Tactical Towed Array System which it replaces. The TB-37 Multi-Function Towed Array is the first new surface ship array to be built for the US Navy in 25 years and is configured as a long array that can be towed behind surface ships for ASW mission sets.
May 19/14: +9. Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Training, Liverpool, NY, is being awarded a $31.8 million contract modification, exercising options for 9 TB-37/U Multi-Function Towed Array (MFTA) production units, tow cables, electro-optical slip rings, drogues, and engineering services.
$30.1 million is committed immediately, using various FY 2014 US Navy budgets. Work will be performed in Liverpool, NY (66%), Millersville, MD (33%), and Marion, Massachusetts (1%), and is expected to be complete by July 2016 (N00024-13-C-6292).
Sept 30/13: A $44.7 million fixed-price-incentive, firm-fixed-price, and cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for TB-37/U MFTAs and associated support. They’ll act as part of the AN/SQQ-89A(V)15 Antisubmarine Warfare Combat Systems on board USN DDG-51 and CG-47 cruisers.
$28.2 of the $44.7 million is committed immediately, and the contract includes options which could bring its cumulative value to $199.1 million.
Lockheed Martin confirmed that the designation has changed, but it’s the same product. TB-37/U = SQR-20. Presumably, TB-37/U systems for the DDG-1000’s SQQ-90 dual-band sonar, and the Littoral Combat Ship’s forthcoming ASW module, are all handled under separate contracts.
Work will be performed in Syracuse, NY (60%), and Millersville, MD (40%), and is expected to be complete by April 2015. This contract was competitively procured via FBO.gov, with 2 offers received by US Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington, DC (N00024-13-C-6292). Sources: FBO.gov | Pentagon DefenseLINK, Sept 30/13.
Multi-year contract & Designation changed
March 15/12: A $14.95 million contract modification to produce and support of AN/SQR-20 MFTAs. The Pentagon release specifically mentions production for the AN/SQQ-89Av15 antisubmarine warfare combat systems on board modernized US Navy cruisers and destroyers.
Work will be performed in Syracuse, NY (60%); Baltimore, MD (20%); Cleveland, OH (14%); and Phoenix, AZ (6%). Work is expected to be complete by January 2014. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year (N00024-08-C-6282).
March 25/11: A $7.9 million firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract modification exercises an option to produce more AN/SQR-20 MFTAs. Work will be performed in Syracuse, NY (60%); Baltimore, MD (20%); Cleveland, OH (14%); and Phoenix, AZ (6%), and is expected to be complete by January 2013 (N00024-08-C-6282). See also Military & Aerospace Electronics.
March 24/10: A $12.2 million firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract modification exercises an option to produce more AN/SQR-20 MFTAs. Work will be performed in Syracuse, NY (60%); Baltimore, MD (20%); Cleveland, OH (14%); and Phoenix, AZ (6%), and is expected to be complete by December 2012 (N00024-08-C-6282).
Dec 17/08: Lockheed Martin-MS2 in Liverpool, NY received a $15.1 million firm-fixed-price, cost plus fixed fee option under an existing contract (N00024-08-C-6282) to produce and support MFTAs for the AN/SQQ-89Av15 antisubmarine warfare (ASW) combat systems.
Work will be performed in Syracuse, NY (60%), Baltimore, MD (20%), Cleveland, OH (14%), and Phoenix, AZ (6%) and is expected to be complete by December 2012. The Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington, DC manages the contract.
June 23/08: MFTA appears to be ready to begin production. Lockheed Martin announces a $10 million contract to produce and support MFTAs for the U.S. Navy’s AN/SQQ-89 Antisubmarine Warfare Combat System. Work will be performed at Lockheed Martin’s Syracuse, NY facility, in collaboration with Chesapeake Science Corporation in Millersville, MD. Lockheed Martin release.
Nov 21/07: A 3rd revision [PDF format] is made to the RFP. Several sections clarify the structure of the production options, and restate the government’s option not to exercise them if it so chooses. With respect to the issue of the drawings raised in the Nov 5/07 amendment, it adds this language:
“1. The Government may have some of the drawings available to it in a modifiable format and to the extent such drawings are available the Government will make them available after award, as a courtesy, upon request by the successful offeror. The Government, however, will be under no obligation to provide any such drawings at all or in a given time frame, nor will the Government be under an obligation to convert any drawings into a modifiable format.”
Nov 5/07: A revised RFP (Amendment 0002), includes questions and answers that indicate a serious controversy with one of the [unnamed] bidders, who believes the competition is not level:
“We have some serious concerns with respect to the referenced competition:
a. The competition is for a “winner take all” FFP contract [rest relates to numbers produced, Navy clarified]…
b. Our competitor, Lockheed Martin contributed to the design of the Engineering Development Model and the drawing package (their CAGE code appears on some drawings). The RFP states that the drawing package is being provided for information only, but also says that if a contractor uses a drawing package or design other than provided by the Navy it will be viewed as a risk. Hence, the Government is mandating a baseline system engineered by Lockheed Martin and allowing them to bid as a supplier…
c. The Navy has provided the drawing package, with some drawings missing, in PDF format. The selected contractor will have to re-deliver a production data package… We asked for the drawing package in CAD/CAM, i.e. modifiable format, but RFP Amendment 1 denied our request. We will be at a substantial cost disadvantage in that we will have to re-develop the entire data package, whereas Lockheed can proceed with the modifiable format they already have available.
[Complaints are also raised re: incomplete test data and drawing information]
It seems to us that we are at a disadvantage with respect to our competitor who constructed the original drawing package, has built and tested an array [for which limited data was provided to others], and has insight into the revised “informational” drawing package that is the only recognized low risk approach…”
The Navy’s response involved changes in only one area – that the drawing package information was provided for information only, and that contractors had to meet the government’s requirements. Which included either using the existing MFTA design, or providing an “in-depth comparison” with the Navy’s “informational design.” RFP, incl. amendment and Q&A.
Sept 15/07: The US Navy issues a Request for Proposal for the production of up to 75 Multi-Function Towed Arrays for the AN/SQQ-89A(V) 15 Antisubmarine Warfare (ASW) Combat System. This RFP and related files listed under solicitation number N00024-07-R-6217 are issued electronically, and some controversy ensues re: the way the competition was set up. FBO advance notice.
Additional ReadingsÀ l’aube du dernier jour du ramadan, ce lundi, la dispersion par l’armée des manifestants réunis à Khartoum au Soudan, pour réclamer le transfert du pouvoir aux civils, a fait au moins 30 morts et des centaines de blessés en plus de ça le bilan devrait s’alourdir car beaucoup de victimes n’ont pas encore été […]
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Le chef de l’Etat, M. Abdelkader Bensalah a reçu, lundi au siège de la présidence de la République, le Premier ministre, Noureddine Bedoui avec lequel il a procédé à « l’évaluation de la situation politique, à la lumière de l’annonce faite par le Conseil Constitutionnel concernant l’opération électorale », a indiqué lundi un communiqué de la présidence […]
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Le chef de l’État devra intervenir à la suite du Conseil constitutionnel pour préciser de quelle manière il compte engager de nouveau le processus électoral. Le Conseil constitutionnel a statué hier sur la validité des deux dossiers de candidature à la présidentielle qu’il a eu à traiter. Il a prononcé l’impossibilité de tenir l’élection présidentielle […]
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Le général à la retraite Hocine Benhadid, transféré depuis jeudi dernier au pavillon pénitentiaire du CHU Mustapha-Pacha d’Alger après une chute à la prison d’El-Harrach et qui lui a provoqué une fracture du bassin, a subi, hier, avec succès une intervention chirurgicale au service Bichat, spécialisé en orthopédie et traumatologie. “J’ai été contacté la veille […]
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