The Air Force has awarded Boeing two contracts—together totaling $4.2 million—to support the A-10 Thunderbolt Life-Cycle Program Support contract to sustain and modernize the service’s A-10 fleet. Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman are all participating in the $1.6 billion TLPS. For Boeing, that work already includes manufacturing up to 242 enhanced wing assemblies under a $2 billion wing replacement program. The new work Boeing acquired provides engineering services with Southwest Research Institute for the Aircraft Structural Integrity Program and trade study analysis and operational assessment/proof of concept work with partners Raytheon and BAE Systems to update the avionics architecture. (Boeing release)
A combined Navy and Air Force program is seeking to build a smaller version of a ubiquitous air-to-air missile that could give advanced aircraft, such as the Collaborative Combat Aircraft, greater magazine depth in a high-end fight.