NEW HORIZONS: U.S. National Guard leaders are about to brief state-level adjutants general on a strategic realignment in the guard’s unifying bureau near Washington that aims to raise its national-level staff’s strategic-planning capability, according to Army Gen. Frank Grass, National Guard Bureau chief and a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The move comes as the dual-purpose Guard races to catch up to the active armed services in planning force structure, command and control, and capabilities regarding large-scale events, like natural disasters.
PARIS — The U.S. Marine Corps is aggressively trying to lower the high estimated cost-per-flying-hour (CPFH) of the F-35B and the aircraft’s 50-year sustainment price. And in advance of operational capability (IOC) set for December 2015, the service is also using the system’s advanced simulators to develop tactics for capabilities not yet fielded owing to the sophistication of the F-35 simulators already in the field.
LE BOURGET — The newly formed Aerojet Rocketdyne is crafting a plan with the Russian Kuznetsov Design Bureau to restart production of the NK-33 rocket engine to assuage concerns from NASA that enough propulsion systems will be available for missions planned to resupply the International Space Station.
LE BOURGET — The Piaggio-Selex HammerHead unmanned air system unveiled at the Paris air show June 18 is the Italian air force’s choice to meet its requirement for a medium-altitude, long-endurance UAS, and the service plans to buy 10 of the systems, confirms Lt. Gen. Claudio Debertolis, Italy’s secretary general of defense and national armaments director. He said the HammerHead will be capable of carrying weapons, but the weapon payload will be limited to 500 kg (1,100 lb.) so that the system is not covered by the Missile Technology Control Regime.
LE BOURGET — A slowdown in French R&D spending halted several new missile programs last year. The 2013 defense white paper pledges support for all of them once more, but the money still has to be secured.
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AIR FORCE Raytheon Missile Systems, Tucson, Ariz., has been awarded a $534,795,962 firm-fixed-price contract for AMRAAM Production Lot 27. The work will be performed at Tucson and is expected to be completed by Jan. 31, 2016. Fifty one percent of the production effort is Foreign Military Sales (AIM-120 C7s for Oman and Saudi Arabia). This award is the result of a sole source acquisition. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center/EBA, Eglin AFB, Fla., is the contracting activity (FA8675-13-C-0003).
LE BOURGET — Boeing remains in protracted talks with Bombardier to provide a platform for its small Maritime Surveillance Aircraft (MSA) concept, which is being marketed outside the U.S. Boeing has repeatedly said since the Farnborough air show last July that it would select and announce its partner soon, a milestone that slipped repeatedly.
U.S. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus says that although costs ballooned out of control on the first two Littoral Combat Ships, the cost for follow-on vessels is coming down dramatically. Part of the cost problem on the initial ships, according to Navy officials and defense analysts, is that the service shifted building requirements to meet stiffer Navy standards during construction. LCS-1, the USS Freedom, was built by a contractor team led by Lockheed Martin. LCS-2, the USS Independence, was constructed by a team led by Austal USA and General Dynamics.
LE BOURGET — Executives from Boeing’s defense unit say they expect to have a productive air show this week in Paris despite a smaller turnout than usual from the Pentagon in terms of personnel and hardware dedicated toward international sales campaigns. By contrast, says Jeff Kohler, vice president of business development for Boeing Defense, Space and Security, more Pentagon support in those areas would be critical for the company’s plans for the upcoming Dubai and Singapore air shows.
LE BOURGET — Aircrews and air transport aircraft from eight nations have been training together in Spain, in a bid to boost interoperability across Europe. European Air Transport Training (EATT) is a European Defense Agency (EDA) project designed to harmonize and enhance airlift procedures and processes across the European member countries. The exercise, taking place now at Zaragoza AB, Spain, involves 350 personnel and 11 aircraft from the eight participating countries.
Pentagon procurement chief Frank Kendall expects to begin increasing production of the stealthy Lockheed Martin F-35 beginning in 2015, marking a shift forward in the $400 billion program. “Unless there is a major surprise, I think we will be able to ramp up production,” he told reporters June 13 after conducting a CEO conference of major suppliers for the single-engine fighter. Ideally, Kendall says he would like to increase production by half each year.
CYBER COMMAND: The U.S. Air Force intends to fully support requested forces to the joint Cyber Command, which in the last few months has issued its force model to the armed services, but the Air Force also must re-examine its training and organizing related personnel, according to the Air Force chief of staff. Gen. Mark Welsh told an Air Force Association breakfast symposium June 17 that roughly 95% of service personnel assigned to “cyber” are really more like communications specialists. “They are people who stand up architectures, they manage infrastructure.
LE BOURGET — The last few attempts to display the Airbus Military A400M in Parior at Farnborough have been thwarted by engine problems with the Europrop International (EPI) TP400 turboprop. But with just a few weeks to go before the official handover of the first example to the French air force, officials from Airbus Military and EPI are looking forward to finally being able to put the aircraft through its paces in front of a Paris crowd.
UAV HANDSHAKE: EADS Cassidian, Dassault Aviation and Finmeccanica finally buried the hatchet and announced they are ready to cooperate on a European medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) UAV program. For years, EADS and Dassault have each worked on their own MALE projects, with neither getting very far. In a joint statement issued June 16, the three European companies say: “Such a joint program would support the capability needs of European armed forces while optimizing the difficult budgetary situation through pooling of research and development funding.”
LE BOURGET — The Swedish air force is writing requirements to replace its aging fleet of Lockheed C-130H Hercules and Saab 105 jet trainers. Though it has firmed up its plans for the development of a new generation of Saab JAS 39 Gripen multirole combat aircraft, the air arm’s fleet of C-130s are among the oldest of their type operating in Europe, while the Saab 105s, known as Sk60s, need replacing by 2020 to be ready to support future generations of Gripen pilots.
LE BOURGET — The European Space Agency (ESA) and its industrial partners need to reduce the weight of a service module they are developing to fly on NASA’s Orion multipurpose crew exploration vehicle in 2017, a hurdle that will delay preliminary design review of the project by a little more than three months.
TEL AVIV — Israel Aerospace Industries soon will deliver its UAS Mission Trainer (UMT) to the Israeli Air Force (IAF), an operator of the IAI-made Heron UAS. IAI has already delivered various UMT versions to foreign customers. The system is not limited to supporting IAI systems; it can be configured to include any type of UAS and payload, and is based on international standards (such as HLA and Stanag 4586). “The system will become an important asset in the UAS squadron,” says Shaul Shahar, general manager of Malat Division.
LE BOURGET — Sikorsky says it has cleared many of the hurdles facing a deal to build more than 100 Black Hawk utility helicopters in Turkey. Sikorsky was selected by the Turkish government as the preferred bidder for the Turkish Utility Helicopter Program (TUHP) back in 2011. The company beat off competition from AgustaWestland to win the lucrative deal to produce 109 S-70T Black Hawks for the Turkish armed forces. But contractual issues between the company and Turkey’s Undersecretariat for Defense Industries (SSM) have delayed the signing of a contract.
ARMY Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., Stratford, Conn., was awarded a $244,863,014 modification (P00077), to a previously awarded, firm-fixed-price, multiyear contract (W58RGZ-12-C-0008) for the procurement of UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters. Fiscal 2013 procurement funds are being obligated on this award. The Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., is the contracting activity. NAVY
