U.S. ARMY The Boeing Co., Mesa, Ariz., was awarded a $69,227,561 modification (P00008), to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price, foreign-military-sales (FMS) contract (W58RGZ-12-C-0089), for the procurement of Apache Block III aircraft and associated parts and services. This FMS contract is in support of Saudi Arabia. The total cumulative face value of this contract is $259,389,626. The Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., is the contracting activity.
Large aerospace and defense (A&D) companies are getting out in front of government budget cuts by cutting costs, shedding excess capacity and trimming their workforces, and the payoff has been higher profit margins, according to the new results from Aviation Week’s Top-Performing Companies study.
The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory’s (AFRL) plans for a High-Speed Strike Weapon (HSSW) demonstration program to follow on from hypersonic flights of the Boeing X-51A WaveRider scramjet demonstrator are in flux. A notice issued on May 21 announced that a planned solicitation for the HSSW demo program had been canceled. AFRL held an industry day for potential bidders in June 2012, at which time the program was expected to begin this year.
Lockheed Martin has begun to equip and test the Aegis Ashore development facility in Moorestown, N.J., company officials say. The company has built a ship deckhouse near the so-called “Cruiser in the Cornfields” ship superstructure facility, to test vessel-installed Aegis equipment systems to run Aegis Ashore components through their paces before global operational installation. Use of Aegis Ashore is part of theU.S.’s strategy for ballistic missile defense (BMD).
NEW DELHI — Russia has made a veiled threat that it may stop bidding for Indian military contracts, complaining that some procurements seem to have been engineered for predetermined outcomes. Undermined by fierce competition from U.S. and European defense companies on several deals in the Indian arms market in the past few years, Russia feels, “Sometimes, terms of tenders are crafted specifically to get the required results.”
SINGAPORE — The defense community needs to better employ technology to meet the long-term ebb and flow of military shipbuilding, says Chan Yeng Kit, the permanent secretary for defense development for Singapore.
HOUSTON — The European Space Agency’s (ESA) unpiloted Automated Transfer Vehicle-4 (ATV-4) the Albert Einstein, is expected to have no difficulty berthing with the International Space Station (ISS) in mid-June, but the station’s mission management team has approved a response strategy just in case Russia’s Progress 51 cargo capsule imparted damage as it docked with an undeployed navigation antenna early April 26.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) may 27 - 29 — 19th AIAA/CEAS Aeroacoustics Conference (34th AIAA Aeroacoustics Conference), Ramada Hotel Berlin-Alexanderplatz, Berlin, Germany. For more information go to www.aiaa.org/Aeroacoustics2013/ may 27 - 29 — Homeland Security Summit Middle East, Le Royal Meridien, Abu Dhabi, UAE. For more information go to http://www.idga.org/events/
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LONDON — Spain is preparing to make cuts to several aircraft procurement programs as it aims to post more savings in the face of the European economic downturn. Several Spanish news outlets are reporting that the country’s ministry of defense is planning substantial cuts to the Eurofighter, Airbus Military A400M transport aircraft, Tiger attack helicopter and NH90 utility helicopter procurements in a bid to save €4 billion ($5.2 billion) on major weapons programs.
TEL AVIV — Syria’s efforts to modernize its air defenses are increasing the threat of a conflict suddenly erupting between Israel and its enemies, according to Israel’s air force chief, Maj. Gen. Amir Eshel.
Recent international maritime countermine exercises highlight the benefits of unmanned vehicles for those types of missions, military naval officials say, but the underlying tactics for such work remain the same. Unmanned systems and their accompanying technology are making it possible for naval countermine operations to continue for much longer, continuous periods of time. “The biggest benefit [is] they’re much more persistent,” says Vice Adm. John Miller, commander of U.S. Navy Central Command, U.S. 5th Fleet and Combined Maritime Forces.
The U.S. Navy successfully completed tests of the Block 2 Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) earlier this month at the service’s Pacific Missile Test Range. Missiles were launched May 10 from a Self Defense Test Ship operated by the Naval Surface Warfare Center Port Hueneme and intercepted turbojet-powered targets emulating enemy anti-ship cruise missiles. The Navy completed another test May 12, successfully firing two more missiles.
In observance of the U.S. Memorial Day holiday, Aerospace Daily & Defense Report will not publish an issue dated May 28, 2013. The next issue will be dated May 29. Aviation Week Intelligence Network subscribers may visit www.aviationweek.com/awin at any time for news updates.
CYBERSPACE PROGRESS: At the House Armed Services intelligence and emerging threats subcommittee markup of the 2014 defense policy bill last week, Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) praised the military’s progress in protecting the U.S.
The Pentagon’s latest cost report on the stealthy F-35 shows no change in the high price of estimated flying hour usage or total lifetime sustainment, two areas of great interest to operators in the U.S. and abroad.
Much of the focus lately on shifting U.S. resources to the Asia-Pacific has been on how Chinese ballistic anti-ship missiles may affect U.S. Navy aircraft carrier plans for the region. But there also continues to be rising concern about what effect the growing Chinese submarine fleet could have on naval operations in those waters. Navy officials say they own the undersea domain. But a recent Pentagon report on the Chinese submarine fleet underscores the growing might those ships represent for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy.
The U.S. Air Force and launch provider United Launch Alliance (ULA) have once again scrubbed the launch of the fifth Wideband Global Satcom (WGS-5) spacecraft, this time due to an issue with a helium pressurization line that is part of the Delta IV rocket’s ground support equipment. Launch from Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla., which had been targeted for a 30-min. window opening at 8:27 p.m. EDT May 23, has now been pushed back 24 hr. to the same window on May 24. Weather forecasts predict an 80% chance of favorable conditions for liftoff, according to ULA.
Buoyed by greater-than-anticipated activity in the single-utility turboprop market, Honeywell is supporting a range of additional applications for its TPE331 family, as well as studying potential new engine developments to compete with Pratt & Whitney Canada’s ubiquitous PT6 and its planned successor.
DEEP SPACE COMMS: Maintenance, operations and engineering services for NASA’s Deep Space Network of spacecraft communications links will be provided for at least five years by ITT Exelis under a contract awarded by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. If the McLean, Va.-based company meets the requirements for incentive provisions, the contract can extend to a maximum of 10 years with a total value of $435 million.
