LONDON — Italian aerospace and defense conglomerate Finmeccanica is continuing to negotiate the sale of non-core businesses in a bid to cut its burgeoning debt. The company is increasing its focus on its aerospace and defense businesses, which have had a relatively comfortable first half of 2013, compared to its struggling transport and energy businesses that have, according to CEO Alessandro Pansa, frustrated investors and resulted in the downgrade of the company’s credit rating.
An unnamed U.S. customer has contracted Australian engine company Orbital to develop a powerplant for a small UAV. The customer is evidently military, since the company says its engine-management, fuel and combustion technology will allow the engine to burn heavy fuels such as JP5 and JP8, “thus satisfying a U.S. Department of Defense initiative to eliminate gasoline fuels for safety and logistic reasons.”
Despite NASA being an early pioneer in the field of cloud computing, the agency’s cloud-based systems and data could be at risk due to weaknesses in its IT oversight, according to the agency’s Inspector General (IG).
LONDON — Eurocopter Spain has completed the first flight of a Spanish-assembled EC665 Tiger attack helicopter. The aircraft, which will be known as the Tiger HAD/E (Support and Attack Helicopter) (E for Espana) when it enters service, took to the air for the first time on July 29 at the company’s facility at Albacete. The aircraft is the second of 18 Tiger HAD/E helicopters being purchased for the Spanish army. Delivery of the aircraft to the Spanish armed forces is due to take place at the end of the year.
LONDON — Airbus Military has said that it will deliver the first A400M military airlifter in the “coming days” after the aircraft was awarded its military operating clearances by Occar.
In announcing the results of the Pentagon’s long-awaited budget review, U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel outlined a choose-your-own-adventure challenge to the government: stick with the President’s budget request, trade force size for a high-end military or embark on a 10-year procurement holiday.
BEIJING — The Chinese air force appears to have had enough of being held responsible for the country’s notorious flight delays, or is at least trying to shift the blame. The largest cause of flight delays is poor airline management, not the air force, according to statistics issued through official media by “relevant departments.” And, contrary to common belief, civil aviation gets plenty of air space, says a report by the China News Service, a state news agency.
FRANKFURT — EADS has decided to make significant changes to its corporate structure and put the entire company under the Airbus brand. The board of directors followed a proposal put forward by CEO Tom Enders to change the company’s name to Airbus Group. Defense and space units Cassidian and Astrium will be merged and called Airbus Defense and Space. Eurocopter also will lose its current brand and be re-launched as Airbus Helicopters.
SCMR TAKEAWAY: House Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Adam Smith (D-Wash.) says the “single biggest take away” from the Pentagon’s Strategic Choices and Management Review (SCMR) is that “Congress, by allowing sequestration to exist, is abdicating its constitutional responsibility to responsibly fund the military and to provide for the common defense.
NEW DELHI — India will test the air-launched variant of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile by the end of this year, a top scientist says. The missile, developed in cooperation with Russia, will be fitted onto an Indian air force (IAF) Su-30MKI aircraft for its “first flight trial,” according to A. Sivathanu Pillai, missile scientist and chief executive officer at BrahMos Aerospace. Presently, various fitness tests are being undertaken for integrating the air-launched BrahMos with the Sukhoi fighter.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) wants to slow purchases of the U.S. Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship program, in accordance with recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) recommendations concerning the troubled effort. LCS is envisioned as comprising more than one third of the Navy’s future surface combatant fleet. The Navy plans to spend $40 billion on 52 LCS seaframes and 64 “plug and play” mission modules designed to be easily swapped on and off the ship, McCain said during a July 30 speech on the floor of the Senate.
Aurora Flight Sciences is making improvements to its Skate small unmanned aircraft system (UAS) for operations in Afghanistan, where it is being used by dismounted patrols to provide surveillance with a 1-km. range. Several Skate systems have been deployed since March, and more are being delivered, making it the first Aurora unmanned aircraft to be used operationally in theater, says Carl Schaefer, director of small UAS products.
One-third of the way through its KC-46 development contract, and with the program’s comprehensive critical design review (CDR) now under way, Boeing has spent about 45% of the program’s funding. Company officials recently began the CDR with the U.S. Air Force, which selected Boeing’s 767-200ER-based design over an EADS A330-based option in 2011. The government has capped the contract at $4.9 billion, and government auditors predict Boeing might have to put as much as $400 million into the program in order to deliver the first 18 KC-46s in 2017 as required.
The Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee approved a $594.4 billion bill to fund the Pentagon and its wartime operations in fiscal 2014 that guts the administration’s request to purchase 20 Embraer Super Tucanos for the Afghan Air Force under the Light Air Support (LAS) program. The draft of the defense spending bill would slice $416.8 million for LAS and also remove all funding for the purchase of Mi-17 helicopters for Afghanistan.
Unmanned aircraft makers and their big-league lobby group, the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA), continue to try to raise awareness in Washington about what they say are limitations put on the technology and its future benefits by the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR).
While U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) officials acknowledge it is common for first-of-class ships to experience ship-service diesel generator (SSDG) faults like the first Littoral Combat Ship (LCS-1) is suffering now, the LCS-1’s issues are of greater concern because the U.S. Navy has already started a production-rate buy of those vessels.
DMON FOLLOW ON: The U.S. Air Force has awarded Northrop Grumman a contract worth up to $490 million to continue providing network and integration services under the Distributed Mission Operations Network (DMON) 2.0 service contract. “The DMON enables dissimilar aircraft platforms located across the globe to seamlessly interoperate and train together in a realistic virtual environment,” the company says. The five-year contract could be extended through June 2023, if all options are exercised. Most of the work will be performed in Orlando, Fla.
The Pentagon and Lockheed Martin have agreed to a handshake deal for the latest two lots of F-35 airframes, and based on cost projections the program for the first time is targeting a unit price under $100 million, excluding engines and retrofits. The deal covers 36 aircraft in low-rate, initial production (LRIP) lot 6 and another 35 in LRIP 7. Mandatory cuts handed down by sequestration in the fiscal 2013 budget did not ultimately affect the number of aircraft in LRIP 6, as once thought.
PARIS — With no objection from U.S. lawmakers, France can proceed to negotiate the purchase of up to 16 U.S. medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aerial systems (UAS), the first two of which are expected to be delivered this year. France has requested the General Atomics-built MQ-9 Reapers, mobile ground stations and associated parts, training and logistics support to fill a gaping shortage in the nation’s intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance coverage as it continues military operations against Islamic rebels in Mali.
