FlightGlobal
• Greg Waldron
India’s Defence Acquisition Council has approved proposals worth ₹1.1 lakh crore, taking approvals this year to ₹1.6 lakh crore and those since 2025 to ₹13 lakh crore. The package includes long-range hypersonic weapons, Sukhoi-30 upgrades, mine-laying systems, indigenous warship engines and continued AMCA development.
Defense Budgets & Spending
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India’s Defence Acquisition Council has approved proposals worth ₹1.1 lakh crore, taking approvals this year to ₹1.6 lakh crore and those since 2025 to ₹13 lakh crore. The package includes long-range hypersonic weapons, Sukhoi-30 upgrades, mine-laying systems, indigenous warship engines and continued AMCA development.
The average flyaway cost of the F-35A and F-35B increased by more than 11% compared with recent contracts, while the F-35C’s price rose by more than 8%, according to figures provided by the F-35 Joint Program Office. The increases affect the program’s latest production lots.
Congress is considering funding for Boeing’s E-7 Wedgetail, the airborne early warning and control aircraft slated to replace the aging E-3 Sentry. The effort places the program’s future in the legislative process as lawmakers weigh resources for a next-generation command-and-control capability.
The Space Force estimates Boeing’s seven-satellite Evolved Strategic SATCOM program at $11.6 billion while preparing to add launch providers to National Security Space Launch and steer SBIR awards toward operational needs. Separately, the Air Force awarded about $766 million for B-52H radar and modernization work.
High activity
The Pentagon has signed seven-year framework agreements with General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems and Lockheed Martin to expand the industrial base for air-defense interceptors. The deals target a tripling of Patriot PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement production capacity and a fourfold increase in THAAD missile output.
Greece is moving ahead with a €3.1 billion program to establish an integrated nationwide air defense network using Israeli systems. The architecture is intended to protect against aircraft, drones and missiles, representing a major expansion of Greece’s layered air defense capabilities.
The Pentagon’s latest assessment increases the F-35 program’s estimated acquisition cost from $485.2 billion in 2023 to $536.2 billion. Development costs account for roughly $19 billion of the increase, while procurement costs add $32 billion; unit costs are projected to rise across all three variants.
High activity
The sole-source agreement covers F-15 production, modernization and sustainment for U.S. and foreign customers, extending Boeing’s fighter work through 2037. The defense-industrial activity also includes Raytheon’s $50 million Mississippi expansion and Lockheed Martin’s proposed $1.8 billion industrial package tied to Peru’s F-16 purchase.
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