After a rocky start to 2010, when the office of the Joint Strike Fighter program was shaken up with a three-star Navy admiral replacing the incumbent two-star Marine Corps general, things settled down and naval aviation went about its business of fighting wars on the other side of the globe, providing humanitarian aid in Haiti, shuffling strike-fighter squadrons between air wings to provide enough aircraft to deploy, and fighting budget wars on Capitol Hill.
To try to mitigate the dependence on foreign petroleum, an F/A-18F Super Hornet from the Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 23 Salty Dogs and MH-60S Seahawks from the HX-21 Blackjacks, both stationed at Naval Air Station (NAS) Patuxent River, Maryland, flew using a 50/50 blend of jet fuel mixed with an extract of the camelina seed. The program has a high priority and is part of Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus’ “Green Initiatives” to cut in half the Navy’s use of oil before 2020 by using alternative fuels.
Fixed-Wing Aircraft
F-35 Lightning II: After the shakeup of the Joint Strike Fighter office, the push began to get the flight-test program back on schedule. The more complex Marine Corps short-takeoff and vertical-landing (STOVL) test aircraft encountered reliability problems with the lift-fan system and associated components, which, in some cases, required a redesign and remanufacture of those parts. With only one airframe instrumented for vertical flight-envelope expansion, delays in testing of the vertical-lift components led to a domino effect that has pushed back the at-sea testing of the F-35B from early 2011 to later in the year.
Testing for the Air Force F-35A and Navy F-35C is expected to be extended by 10 months until the first quarter of 2016, while 20 months will be added to the development of the F-35B. The initial operational capability for the F-35B will be delayed at least two years, to 2014.
F-35B: The F-35B Lightning II engaged its STOVL propulsion system in flight for the first time on 7 January 2010. After incremental testing of the STOVL system, the F-35B accomplished its first vertical landing on 18 March and reached supersonic speeds on 10 June. The first mission-systems-equipped F-35B, BF-4, was delivered to NAS Patuxent River on 7 June.
In October, Britain released its strategic review, which canceled its F-35B purchase. Instead of operating helicopter/STOVL aircraft ships, the United Kingdom plans to construct a conventional carrier and populate the flight deck with the conventional-takeoff and -landing F-35C. If this happens, it would appear that the British will buy 50 F-35Cs instead of 138 F-35B STOVL versions. The impact on the unit cost is still under review, but other countries expressing interest in the STOVL model appear to be reconsidering and restructuring their planned buys.
Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron (VMFAT) 501 came into existence as the Marine Corps’ first F-35B Lightning II training squadron on 2 April, in ceremonies at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, assigned to the joint 33rd Fighter Wing. This followed a reactivation ceremony of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 451 at the Naval Aviation Museum, NAS Pensacola, Florida, on 1 April. Following a 13-year deactivation, VMFA-451 was reactivated and redesignated as VMFAT-501.
F-35C: The Navy’s carrier-based version, the F-35C, made its first flight on 7 June 2010. After testing at Lockheed Martin’s Fort Worth, Texas, assembly facility, the aircraft was flown to NAS Patuxent River on 6 November. While there, the first F-35C will conduct air-to-air refueling and performance testing.
Due to program restructuring, operational testing has been extended through April 2016, with the first deployment for the carrier-based version to be in be December 2016 and the second deployment in February 2017.
EA-18G Growler: In 2009 the Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 132 Scorpions were the first squadron to transition from the EA-6B Prowler to the EA-18G Growler. At the time they were attached to Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 17 and were scheduled to deploy on board the USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) in late 2010. In mid-2010, the Scorpions swapped places with a land-based EA-6B expeditionary squadron, the VAQ-134 Garudas. The Scorpions became a land-based expeditionary squadron and deployed to Afghanistan to support Operation Enduring Freedom. The second squadron to transition, the VAQ-142 Shadowhawks, at year’s end were working up with CVW-8 on board the USS George H. W. Bush (CVN-77) and will become the first seagoing squadron to deploy, scheduled to make a cruise in 2011. The VAQ-138 Yellow Jackets also transitioned to Growlers as an expeditionary squadron and were training for deployment at the end of 2010 to replace VAQ-132 overseas sometime in mid-2011.
F/A-18E/F Super Hornet: Two years ago, the words on everyone’s lips were “fighter gap.” This was the perceived disparity between the number of strike fighters needed to populate the Navy’s flight decks in the late 2010s and the number actually on hand. Because the airframe life spans of the F/A-18A through D-model Hornets were being expended at a faster rate than anticipated due to wartime commitments and the delays in getting the F-35B and C into operational service, analysts were predicting an insufficient number of airframes to properly equip the Navy’s air wings. To help close the fighter gap, the Navy signed a new production-extending contract with Boeing on 28 September 2010 to provide additional Super Hornets through 2015. The multi-year arrangement allows for 46 additional single-seat F/A-18Es, 20 two-seat F/A-18Fs, and 58 EA-18Gs—at a savings of 10 percent over conventional year-to-year contracts. With multi-year procurement, the Navy will have acquired 515 Super Hornets and 114 Growlers by the end of Fiscal Year 2013.
Lessons learned from the legacy Hornets’ life-fatigue problems have made the Navy look at similar replenishment programs for the Super Hornets. Already, Fleet Readiness Center Southeast (FRCSE) at Jacksonville, Florida, (one of the Navy’s depot-level maintenance facilities) is making plans and acquiring the proper engineering data to rework the Super Hornets in much the same ways as they have done on the legacy Hornets.
F/A-18A through D Hornets: As these airframes age and the Navy’s F/A-18C fleet reaches carrier arrested-landing limits, the work of the Navy’s Fleet Readiness Centers in replacing fuselage and wing components has become a top priority. With the delay in fielding the F-35, keeping the older legacy Hornets flying, in addition to fielding new-procurement Super Hornets, is increasingly important.
E-2D Advanced Hawkeye: The Navy marked the 50th anniversary of the E-2 Hawkeye on 21 October 2010. The first flight of an E-2A (then known as the W2F-1) took place in October 1960, and the aircraft entered squadron service in 1964. The first seagoing deployment was on board the USS Kitty Hawk (CVA-63) in 1966.
With two E-2Ds in testing at NAS Patuxent River, the Navy took delivery of the first production E-2D Advanced Hawkeye at VAW-120 in Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, on 29 July 2010. The aircraft, along with other early-production airframes delivered later in the year, will serve to train instructor aircrew and maintainers of the new plane as they develop the training syllabus for the E-2D.
The new model of the Hawkeye includes completely redesigned internal systems, including APY-9 radar and upgraded computers. Also installed is a glass cockpit that, among other things, provides the co-pilot with the ability to become a fourth tactical operator (when not actively engaged in flying the aircraft) and gives the crew more flexibility in performing its mission.
P-8A Poseidon: The Navy plans to purchase 117 P-8A Poseidon antisubmarine warfare, antisurface warfare, and intelligence/surveillance/reconnaissance aircraft to replace its P-3 Orion fleet. The aircraft is a derivative of the Boeing Next-Generation 737-800.
The P-8 test program at NAS Patuxent River is in full swing with three aircraft at the station. The program is meeting all performance criteria and, as such, was approved for low-rate production on 11 August, thereby keeping the program on track for initial operational capability in 2013. The first P-8A was delivered to VX-20 at Patuxent River on 10 April.
Full-scale static testing of a P-8A airframe (designated S1) was completed on 7 January 2011. The series of tests, which began in May 2009, confirmed the airframe’s structural integrity. In September 2011, Boeing will refurbish S1 and deliver it for live-fire testing to the Naval Air Warfare Center, China Lake, California. Boeing also will begin fatigue tests on the second ground-test airframe, S2, in 2011.
P-3C Orion: The Navy’s efforts to extend the life of the P-3C Orion are paying off with the largest number of P-3s in service since 2007. Currently, 80 mission-capable P-3s are flying, and the number is increasing, in contrast to the Fleet’s low point in 2009 when only 49 aircraft were available. The Navy’s Fleet Readiness Centers and associated civilian contractors have designed innovative procedures to streamline the repairs necessary to return the grounded airplanes to service. In 2010, FRCSE in Jacksonville scheduled 12 aircraft for rework, but actually completed 15—a 25-percent increase over planned deliveries.
To help smooth the transition from the P-3 to the P-8, the Navy is refitting current P-3s with an upgraded acoustic system, the Acoustic Receiver Technology Refresh. The new systems will enhance the ability to receive and analyze sonobuoy data and are similar to systems to be fitted in the P-8. Improvements over the existing P-3C acoustic system were demonstrated during exercises that showed a tenfold increase in reliability.
EP-X: After several years of on-again, off-again attempts at fielding a replacement for the EP-3E Aries signals-intelligence aircraft, the Navy office in charge of the program was shuttered as a result of budget cuts. The Navy is leaving open the possibility of revisiting the program in the future, but for now the mission will be gradually taken over by the new P-8A Poseidon and RQ-4 Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) version of the Global Hawk unmanned vehicle. The EP-3 community is expected to be operational until at least 2025.
KC-130J Harvest Hawk: A few years ago, in an effort to increase support for troops on the ground, the Marine Corps began a search for an affordable platform to provide longer loiter times than those provided by AV-8 or F/A-18 aircraft. Procuring new AC-130 gunships seemed to be an attractive plan, but a fully missionized Hercules, similar to the Air Force AC-130, would cost several times the price of a new cargo-only aircraft. With typical Marine Corps flair, a plan was formulated to install an infrared targeting system in place of the KC-130J’s left refueling pod and replacement of the left external fuel tank with an M299 missile rack. That rack is capable of carrying four AGM-114 Hellfires and/or up to 16 DAGR laser-guided 70-mm rockets, Griffin missiles, or laser/GPS-guided GBU-44 Viper Strike standoff precision-guided munitions. The right wing retains its fuel tank and refueling capabilities. For additional firepower, future plans call for the mounting of a 30-mm Bushmaster cannon, to be fired from the left troop door. The sensors and weapons are controlled from a modular roll-on/roll-off console mounted on a standard pallet and strapped down in the cargo compartment of the KC-130J. The aircraft, called Harvest Hawk, made its first deployment to Afghanistan as Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 352 Raiders in October and recorded its first engagement on 4 November.
A-29B: A secret program called Imminent Fury came to a close in 2010. Beginning in May 2008, an Embraer EMB 314 Super Tucano was leased to the Navy at the request of the U.S. Special Operations Command to test a light aircraft for use in special operations close-air support. Operating from NAS Fallon, Nevada, the aircraft, designated the A-29B, met or exceeded expectations in this arena, but the program was terminated 30 June for lack of follow-on funding.
UC-12W Huron: The Marine Corps took delivery of its first UC-12W (the military version of the civilian King Air 350) on 18 May 2010. The contract for six modified King Air 350 turboprops was let in July 2008 to replace the current UC-12 Operational Support Airlift aircraft. Included in the contract are options to replace the remaining six UC-12 aircraft in the Fleet. The current UC-12B and UC-12F aircraft are military transport versions of the Beechcraft King Air 200 and have been providing urgent intra-theater transport of high-priority cargo/passengers to the Marines for the past 20 years. The UC-12W provides advanced technology and greater reliability in addition to being faster with more range and the ability to carry more useful cargo, including two additional passengers.
Tilt-Rotor Aircraft
MV-22B Osprey: While the Marines Corps’ MV-22Bs have successfully flown combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, the aircraft have suffered from grit blown into the engines by the tiltrotors when the aircraft are operating at low altitudes or while on the ground. To solve the problem, Boeing and the Navy Department are studying a redesign of the V-22 engine’s air-particle separator system, which offers protection from sand and dust ingestion. It’s not the first time that this has been a problem, as several engine failures over the years that have been traced to the air-particle separator system.
In combat, the Osprey has been doing well overall, and has demonstrated the ability to carry two loads in the same time it would take an older CH-53 to do one.
To provide a measure of self-protection, some Ospreys have deployed with a BAE Systems GAU-17 7.62-mm turreted mini-gun. Initially there were five guns in theater for ten V-22s, with more on the way. The system was rushed into service and fitted in the under-fuselage hatch (the “hell hole”). Early reports indicate that the gun has had mixed success. The 800-pound turret has been described as heavy and hard to use, with a negative effect on troop-carrying capability. The MV-22B can also mount a .50-caliber MA-2 or 7.62-mm M240 on the rear ramp for aft-firing protection.
Rotary-Wing Aircraft
MH-60 Seahawk: The transition to the MH-60R (Romeo) and MH-60S (Sierra) continued, as did the Navy’s integration of both types of helos into carrier air wings.
In general, the MH-60R is used primarily for surface-surveillance, surface-attack, and antisubmarine-warfare missions. Squadrons operating the Romeo are either formed as new units or are redesignated Helicopter Antisubmarine Squadron, Light (HSL) squadrons that previously had flown the SH-60B.
MH-60S squadrons are primarily used for logistics and resupply missions, with additional tasking as search-and-rescue and special-operations aircraft. The first squadrons to transition to the airframe in the early 2000s were the vertical-replenishment Helicopter Combat Support Squadrons (HC), previously flying the CH-46. These units generally deploy on Military Sealift Command ships in detachments to provide a vertical-replenishment capability. The Navy’s Helicopter Anti-Submarine (HS) Squadrons (aircraft carrier–based antisubmarine and utility helos) joined in the transition to the Sierra a few years later with those squadrons assigned to a carrier air wing.
Within the past four years, the air wing HS squadrons have been turning in their SH-60F and HH-60H helicopters and receiving MH-60S airframes. The new air-wing configuration consists of one Sierra squadron and one Romeo squadron. The Romeos deploy with a core unit on board the aircraft carrier, and other helos spread out in detachments among the cruisers and destroyers of the battle group. The West Coast made the first deployment with this configuration in 2009 with CVW-9, followed by CVW-2 in 2010. CVW-8 on the East Coast was working up for deployment at year’s end to be the first in Air Forces, Atlantic Fleet to operate with the new air-wing composition.
CH-53K Super Stallion: The CH-53K program received a boost in August, as the Critical Design Review was passed and the program moved into the assembly, test, and evaluation phase. The new helicopter is slated to replace the current CH-53E in Marine Corps service.
Sikorsky continued to award subcontracts for portions of the upgraded heavy-lift helicopter. Spirit AeroSystems, a major player in commercial airframe and component fabrication, rolled out the first developmental test vehicle fuselage in December. The newly designed fuselage includes composite sections for a lighter and stronger structure. The cabin section is composed of five composite skins, a composite floor and roof beams, aluminum framework, and a titanium transmission structure. The cockpit section is mostly made of a composite structure including the canopy framework, skins, bulkheads, and floors. Spirit will join the cockpit and cabin sections with aft-section parts made by other subcontractors, and will deliver a complete CH-53K helicopter fuselage to Sikorsky’s Florida Assembly & Flight Operations facility in West Palm Beach, Florida. The CH-53K experimental-aircraft assembly and test activities will take place there.
The helo is designed to fit into the same footprint as the CH-53E it replaces, but it has more powerful engines that will nearly triple the payload to 27,000 pounds over 110 nautical miles under “hot/high” ambient conditions. It also has a wider fuselage that will allow for standard cargo pallets from a U.S. Air Force C-17 to be loaded directly into the cabin instead of having to be unloaded and repacked on smaller pallets, as is currently done.
The first flight for the CH-53K is scheduled for 2014 and an initial operational capability in 2018.
CH-53E Super Stallion Upgrades: As the Marine Corps awaits delivery of the CH-53K later in this decade, work has continued on cockpit upgrades for the CH-53E. The first flight of a Marine Corps CH-53E modified with a glass cockpit and avionics upgrade took place on 10 November 2010 at NAS Patuxent River. The upgraded CH-53E Super Sea Stallion then began flight tests that will continue until summer 2011. Some of the upgrades include Communication Navigation Surveillance/Air Traffic Management with Required Navigation Performance Area Navigation, Mode S transponder, 8.33 kHz radio channel spacing, Mode 5 IFF, Integrated Blue Force Tracker, Integrated Moving Map, Integrated Degraded Visual Environment/Brown-Out Hover Cueing, Engine Indicating and Crew Alerting System, Joint Mission Planning, and others.
UH-1Y Venom: Having completed three combat deployments, the UH-1Y is well on its way to replacing the older UH-1N in the Marine Corps’ inventory. With improved avionics and engines, the “Yankee” (officially the Venom) has proven that it can perform the originally intended missions of command-and-control, escort, reconnaissance, troop transport, medical evacuation, and close-air support. The UH-1Y also made the first overseas deployment of the .50-caliber GAU-21s in September. Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron (HMLA) 169 from Camp Pendleton, California, was the first UH-1Y squadron to deploy with the new gun system. The UH-1Y has done so well in combat that the Marine Corps has made plans to buy more of them and cut down on the AH-1Z buy. The Marines expect to procure 160 UH-1Ys.
AH-1Z Viper: The Marine Corps’ AH-1Z Viper (also known as the Zulu) was approved for full-rate production on 28 November after successful completion of the operational evaluation in September. The AH-1Z Cobra helicopters are part of the Marines’ upgrade program replacing AH-1W helicopters with both new and remanufactured airframes to provide significantly greater performance, supportability, and growth potential. A total of 189 new and remanufactured AH-1Z helicopters are scheduled to serve with the Corps, with deliveries completed by 2022. The AH-1Z is expected to achieve initial operating capability and embark on its first deployment in 2011. Plans are to procure 58 new builds and the rest upgrades from the existing AH-1Ws now in service. The new airframes will be delivered first to minimize the impact on operating squadrons as old ones are pulled out of the squadrons and reworked to Zulu standards.
Presidential Helicopter: After the cancellation of the VH-71 program in 2009, the Navy entered into a complicated and turbulent phase of getting the program ready for accepting bids on a new contract. During 2010 Boeing bought the design rights and engineering data outright for the Westland Augusta US 101, the design that had won the presidential-helicopter bid before the program was canceled. The rationale for the purchase is that the helicopter would be made in the United States, and any engineering changes would be made domestically without having to be approved by a foreign company. Boeing is also considering the tilt-rotor V-22 Osprey and H-47 Chinook as candidates for the bid. Sikorsky and Lockheed Martin have teamed to offer the S-92, a commercial helicopter, already in service. There also was some buzz around Capitol Hill when it was revealed that a state-run Chinese company, Aviation Industry Corporation, was in talks with a small California company, U.S. Aerospace, to produce a Chinese-designed AC-313 helo in the United States and compete with the large U.S. companies for the contract.
Going into 2011, the Navy was still fine-tuning the specifications for a request for proposal, and a contract-bid process is possible later this year. Even with program-expediting, new presidential helicopters will not be fielded until 2017 at the earliest, and maybe not until 2023.
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV)
MQ-8B Fire Scout: Testing of the MQ-8B Fire Scout in an operational environment on board the USS McInerney (FFG-8) began in 2009 and continued into 2010. On 3 April 2010, an MQ-8 from the McInerney detected a “go-fast” speedboat and a support vessel engaged in smuggling cocaine in the Eastern Pacific. Subsequent surveillance using the Fire Scout resulted in the interception of the speedboat, the detention of a number of suspects, and the confiscation of 60 kilograms of cocaine.
In a public-relations black eye for the program, on 2 August 2010 an MQ-8 from Patuxent River became unresponsive to commands during a test flight and entered restricted airspace near Washington, D.C., before control was re-established. All Fire Scouts were grounded for a time until the cause of the software problem was located and fixed.
Fire-X: Being assessed as a follow-on to the MQ-8B Fire Scout is an unmanned version of the commercial Bell 407 helicopter. Combining the proven flight-control systems of the Fire Scout, the Fire-X will provide the same reconnaissance, surveillance, and target-acquisition capabilities as the current Fire Scout, but with extended range, payload, and cargo-hauling capabilities. The Northrop Grumman/Bell Helicopter Fire-X demonstrator made its first flight on 10 December at the Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona.
X-47B: Serving as a demonstrator for an unmanned carrier-based tactical aircraft, the X-47B, made by Northrop Grumman, is in development and is scheduled to participate in carrier-operation tests in 2013. The first prototype performed taxi tests at Palmdale, California, on 29 December 2010 and made its first flight in early 2011. A second prototype is under construction.
The X-47B program’s software development is actually a larger developmental program than the hardware. For early software development tests a piloted F/A-18 will act as a surrogate airframe for shipboard software verification/validation tests and for aerial-refueling testing.
RQ-4 Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) UAS: The Navy’s BAMS, a maritime version of the RQ-4 Global Hawk Unmanned Aerial System (UAS), completed its preliminary design review in February 2010 and is set for system design-and-development aircraft delivery in 2012 and initial operating capability in 2015. BAMS is designed to provide a long-range and long loiter-time platform to gather intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) data as well as providing communication-relay capability. BAMS UAS will work in conjunction with the P-8A Poseidon to provide more maritime ISR options than current aircraft can provide.
The Navy procured two Air Force Global Hawk Block 10s in 2003 for demonstration purposes and for risk-reduction operations for the BAMS UAS Program, known as the BAMS-Demonstrator (BAMS-D) program. One of the two BAMS-D UASs has been deployed to the Central Command theater of operations for more than a year.
Aircraft Carriers
Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78): Construction continued on the new class of aircraft carrier at Northrop Grumman’s Newport News shipbuilding facility. Improvements over the older Nimitz-class ships include a redesigned flight deck and island structure, increased power-generation capability, electromagnetic aircraft-launch and -recovery equipment, decreased manpower requirements, and improved radar and electronic systems. The keel was laid on 14 November 2009 with a projected delivery to the Navy in 2015.
USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71): The Theodore Roosevelt entered her planned Refueling Complex Overhaul (RCOH) at Northrop Grumman Newport News in late August 2009. After refueling and other major improvements, she is scheduled to rejoin the Fleet in 2013, at which time the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) will enter RCOH.
Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS): The replacement of steam catapults on the Gerald Ford–class carriers is a major step forward in aircraft launching capabilities for the Navy. A huge plus is the reduced stress on airframes as a result of more gradual acceleration, and the system will use less freshwater, reducing the desalination requirements on a carrier’s engineering plant. The system is being developed by General Atomics under a Navy contract. A full-scale land-based test facility has been built at Naval Air Engineering Station Lakehurst, New Jersey, and the first aircraft was successfully launched on 18 December 2010, as a VX-23 F/A-18E Super Hornet was catapulted from the site.
Advanced Arresting Gear: The Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG) system replaces the current MK 7 arresting gear’s hydraulic machinery with an electric motor-based system. The AAG, designed by General Atomics, allows for carrier recovery of a broader range of aircraft, reduces ship manning and maintenance, and provides a higher reliability and safety margin. The current hydraulic-ram and rotary-engine design is replaced by simple energy-absorbing water turbines coupled to a large induction motor, providing better control of the arresting forces. It is currently slated to be installed in the Gerald R. Ford and subsequent members of the class, in addition to retrofit in the Abraham Lincoln when she enters RCOH in 2013, as well as newer Nimitz-class carriers as they are brought to Northrop Grumman’s Newport News facility for refueling and overhaul.
Weapons
Next-Generation Jammer: By year’s end, the Navy had completed an analysis of alternatives to determine the best path forward for the Next-Generation Jammer (NGJ). The NGJ will replace the ALQ-99 external jamming pods currently flown on the EA-6B Prowlers and EA-18G Growlers. It also is being considered as a integral part of bringing the electronic-attack mission to all variants of the F-35. Originally, four industry teams were awarded contracts to study the technology required for a next-generation jammer—BAE Systems/Cobham, ITT/Boeing, Northrop Grumman, and Raytheon. The projected initial operating capability is 2018 (for the Growler).
Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile (AARGM): The AG-88E AARGM missile, produced by Alliant Techsystems, is an upgrade to the legacy AGM-88 High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missile (HARM) that adds multi-targeting capability to destroy enemy air-defense radars. The program began its formal test program in 2007 and was approved for low-rate production in 2008. Independent operational test and evaluation was accomplished in 2010 with a projected initial operating capability of 2011.
Joint Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM): The precision-guided JAGM is a multi-service weapon to replace the Hellfire and Maverick missiles. It can be launched from Navy and Marine Corps fixed-wing, rotary-wing, and unmanned platforms. The Navy, in conjunction with the Army, received formal approval for its development in January 2008. In September 2008, fixed-price incentive contracts were awarded to two industry teams, Raytheon-Boeing and Lockheed Martin. During the 27-month technology development phase, those two competitors are fielding test missiles on the road to getting the contract, scheduled for awarding in mid-2011.