Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

By Jay Menon
India’s plan to acquire 16 S-70B Seahawk helicopters from Sikorsky is likely to slip further as the U.S. company lobbies to raise the price of the long-delayed deal.

China’s reef development may be part of an Asian trend, but the country’s activities have considerable military potential, according to a recent Rand Corp. analysis.

Research sponsored by the U.S. Office of Naval Research (ONR) could yield a more effective way to utilize bandwidth to accommodate large numbers of simultaneous users.

While opportunity exists for U.S. Navy shipbuilding programs, there is still doubt about the availability of resources, says Michael Petters, CEO for Huntington Ingalls Shipbuilding, the nation’s leading naval shipbuilder. Petters cites opportunity in undersea unmanned systems and points to the recent new LPD acquisition as examples of the potential for U.S. Navy work, but also calls attention to funding questions.

While opportunity exists for U.S. Navy shipbuilding programs, there is still doubt about the availability of resources, says Michael Petters, CEO for Huntington Ingalls Shipbuilding, the nation’s leading naval shipbuilder. Petters cites opportunity in undersea unmanned systems and points to the recent new LPD acquisition as examples of the potential for U.S. Navy work, but also calls attention to funding questions.

U.S. AIR FORCE completed first F-35A aerial-refueling certification flight with an Italian air force KC-767A tanker July 29 over California, completing 25 boom contacts and transferring 16,000 lb. of fuel. LOCKHEED MARTIN delivered another C-5M airlifter to the U.S. Air Force at Travis, AFB, CA, on Aug. 5, six weeks ahead of contracted delivery date.

Aerospace and defense (A&D) companies are continuing to divest lower-margin businesses such as IT services, according to an analysis of second-quarter global A&D merger & acquisition (M&A) activity by PwC. During the quarter, there were eleven deals worth more than $50 million, with a total value of $3.9 billion, including six divestitures. Deals were down but total value increased compared to the first quarter, which recorded eight deals worth $8.5 billion.

To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) Aug. 31-Sept. 2—AIAA Space and Astronautics Forum and Exposition (Space 2015), Pasadena Convention Center, Pasadena, California. For more information go to www.aiaa-space.org

The U.S. Air Force is taking a major step forward in its long-desired plan to begin replacing the E-8C Joint Stars air-to-ground surveillance fleet with the release of three competitive contracts to develop next-generation concepts.

By Jay Menon
India finally has scrapped its long-delayed, contentious effort to buy 126 Rafale aircraft from Dassault.

By Graham Warwick
Airbus Group thinks industry should put aside its rivalries and work together to advance the technologies required for a hybrid-electric 100-seat airliner.

By Mark Carreau
Little by little spacecraft are becoming a little more "livable" with useful technologies and amenities that may help to bring future months-to-years long explorations of deep space destinations possible.

By Bradley Perrett
Since BAE has performed overhauls on the 33 aircraft since delivering them to the RAAF between 1999 and 2001, the new contract with the defense department means it will be responsible for all maintenance of the aircraft.

By Bradley Perrett
Japanese defense technologists are working on an anti-aircraft missile guidance system that would better handle stealthy targets by predicting their movements. By calculating where a maneuvering target will be, the system can detect low-radar-cross-section aircraft at longer ranges and optimize the flight path of the missile, says the defense ministry’s Technology Research and Development Institute (TRDI). The work is part of a TRDI technology-acquisition program for future Japanese air-to-air and surface-to-air missiles.

NORTHROP GRUMMAN reorganized Aerospace Systems business, appointing Chris Hernandez vice president of new research, technology and advanced design organization; Mary Petryszyn vice president of new global business development organization; Tom Pieronek vice president of basic research, reporting to Hernandez. Hernandez and Petryszyn will report to Aerospace Systems head Tom Vice.

On Aug. 1, Russian Air Force, Air Defense and Space troops were merged into a new service called Aerospace Forces. The single command will have responsibility for aviation, air and anti-ballistic missile defense, space-tracking systems, and launching and operating Russia’s military spacecraft. The Russian defense ministry says the creation of the Aerospace Forces reflects the fact that the center of gravity for military action is shifting to aerospace.

By Maksim Pyadushkin
The Kremlin announced Aug. 5 that the presidents of both countries made a joint decision to terminate the deal over the phone. “The dispute over the Mistrals is considered to be fully settled in Moscow,” reported the Kremlin press service.

By Graham Warwick
Proposals by Internet giants Amazon and Google on how low-altitude airspace could be redesigned and managed to enable large-scale operations by small unmanned aircraft systems have met a cautious response from the organizations likely to be most affected.

By Tony Osborne
RAF sources told Aviation Week the Typhoons were not using the full capability of their weapon systems and that in the “realistic operational” scenarios conducted during the exercise, the Typhoon performance was superior.

By Mark Carreau
Kirk Shireman, an 11-year NASA International Space Station (ISS) executive and former ISS deputy program manager, will succeed the agency’s Mike Suffredini as manager of the six-person orbiting science laboratory.

Islands and outcroppings in the South China Sea have become the center of territorial disputes for China and its neighbors, who have started staking claims through reclamation projects that U.S. officials say threaten the peace and security of the region

The U.S. Navy re-certified its deep-sea submarine rescue capability last month in an operational evaluation of crewmembers from the service’s Undersea Rescue Command (URC).

The remote, idyllic atmosphere of this tiny resort hamlet on the southern tip of Hainan Island belies its growing military importance in the South China Sea, especially for the Chinese submarines force, which continues to give U.S. Navy planners fits.

The U.S. Navy has targeted pirates, digestive trouble and disaster-relief-tracking satellites in a portfolio of government-leading patents.

U.S. Chief of Naval Research (ONR) Rear Adm. Mat Winter officially opened the new Office of Naval Research Global (ONR Global) office in Sao Paulo, Brazil last month.