Alliant Techsystems has won a $35.8 million contract from the Air Force for engineering and manufacturing development of the Hard Target Void Sensing Fuze. During the next 37 months, the company will refine the HTVSF design and perform all qualification testing necessary to move the fuze into production, anticipated in April 2014. “We will deliver a fuze with unprecedented survivability and precision into the hands of our warfighters to allow destruction of high-value, deeply buried targets not reachable with today’s fuzing options,” stated Dave Fine, ATK’s vice president for fuzing and warheads, in the company’s release. The HTVSF is an all-electronic, cockpit-programmable fuze designed for use with 2,000-pound and 5,000-pound air-delivered, bunker-buster munitions. The Air Force wants a fuze capable of surviving penetration through multiple soil layers and/or reinforced concrete and detonating within a specific void inside the target or at a specified delay time.
Secretary of Defense Austin Lloyd III met with his counterparts from Australia, Japan and the Philippines to discuss bolstering defense ties on May 2. The discussion included plans for joint F-35 exercises with Japan and Australia in the coming years.