ABU DHABI — Italian business aircraft manufacturer Piaggio and Selex Electronic Systems are working together to produce an unmanned variant of the P-180 Avanti executive turboprop aircraft.
ABU DHABI — The South Korean armed forces are looking to broaden their use of UAVs to increase surveillance on their northern neighbors. New “heavy” (HUAV) and “medium” (MUAV) unmanned systems are planned for purchase before 2020. Officials are also exploring the potential of more sophisticated and specialized systems after 2020, including aircraft that could conduct electronic warfare missions, according to Maj. Gen. Hwang Jong Soo, deputy chief of staff for force planning in the Republic of Korea army.
CONTRACTOR SUPPORT: Congressional auditors have found that U.S. combatant commands (Cocoms) and their components are not planning for the potential use of contractors in overseas combat theaters for functions beyond logistics. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) report shows that, despite more than a decade of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that saw unprecedented reliance on contractor support to the military, the Cocoms have only just begun to incorporate operational contract support into their planning.
AIR FORCE Northrop Grumman Corp., Rolling Meadows, Ill., (FA8538-13-D-0001) is being awarded an $11,067,296 firm-fixed-price contract for testing and repair of the F-15 aircraft electronic systems test set interface test adapters. The location of performance is Rolling Meadows, Ill. The work is expected to be completed by Feb. 10, 2018. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2013 through fiscal 2018. The contracting activity is 638 AFSC/PZAAB, Robins AFB, Ga.
AIR FORCE ACENT Laboratories L.L.C., Long Island, N.Y., (FA8650-13-D-2331) is being awarded a $48,500,000 cost-plus-fixed-fee and firm-fixed-price contract for Enhanced Operability Scramjet Technology. The locations of the performance are Manorville, N.Y.; Sacramento, Calif.; Elkton, Md.; Laurel, Md.; West Palm Beach, Fla.; and Dayton, Ohio. The work is expected to be completed by Feb. 28, 2020. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2012. The contracting activity is Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio.
The U.S. Navy still has roughly 250 fix-it items left on the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS-1) USS Freedom to prepare it for its scheduled March deployment to Singapore, says a source aware of Freedom operations and maintenance. Most of the items are quarterly required contractor tasks for planned maintenance (PMS) work, the source says, and that work should be finished relatively quickly.
LONDON — Eurocopter is planning to retrofit the worldwide AS350B3e fleet with a modification to solve a tail rotor issue by August. The manufacturer, owned by EADS, says the retrofit, which involves the removal of chin weights fitted to the tail rotor assembly and the installation of a load compensator, will fix issues suffered by operators of the B3e variant of the Ecureuil single-engined light helicopter that was launched by the manufacturer at the 2011 Heli-Expo event.
BENGALURU — BAE Systems is busily working to restart the Hawk production line at Warton in the U.K., now that it has firm orders for 22 aircraft for Saudi Arabia and eight for Oman.
The FAA has issued a long-delayed solicitation for proposals to host six unmanned aircraft system (UAS) test sites across the U.S. , along with the agency’s proposed approach to addressing public concerns over privacy. Initially ignored by the FAA, concerns voiced by civil-liberties organizations that UAS operations at the sites could violate individuals’ privacy forced a lengthy delay in responding to the 2012 congressional mandate to establish the test centers.
Andrew Mellon Auditorium Washington, D.C. March 7, 2012 The Aviation Week Laureate Awards recognize individuals and teams for their extraordinary accomplishments. Their achievements embody the spirit of exploration, innovation and vision that inspire others to strive for significant broad-reaching progress in aviation and aerospace. Join us at this black tie dinner and celebrate the best of the industry’s best! www.aviationweek.com/events/current/lau/index.htm
With Congress preparing for a weeklong Presidents Day recess, lawmakers are predicting that come March 1, across-the-board budget cuts are going to take hold. “I think it’s going to happen,” Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, told reporters during a Feb. 15 Defense Writers Group breakfast. “Both sides are locked into positions that they can’t seem to get away from, and so I think we’re going to be forced into it.”
NEW DELHI — The Indian government has initiated actions to scrap its contract for AW101 helicopters with scandal-plagued Finmeccanica subsidiary AgustaWestland. “We have issued a formal show-cause notice to AgustaWestland seeking cancellation of contract and taking other actions as per the terms of the contract and the integrity pact, signed in 2010,” an Indian defense ministry official says.
MIND THE GAPS: Congressional auditors in Washington who have been keeping a running tally of the government’s highest-risk programs since 1990 have now added the need to mitigate gaps in federal weather satellite data to their list. “We and others ... have raised concerns that problems and delays on environmental satellite acquisition programs will result in gaps in the continuity of critical satellite data used in weather forecasts and warnings,” the Government Accountability Office said Feb. 14.
A three-year operational assessment of a tethered-aerostat cruise-missile detection and tracking system is to begin later this year at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland, in part to see how it would fit into the air-defense system around Washington. The operational exercise involving Raytheon’s Joint Land-Attack Cruise-Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor (JLENS) system “could inform a future decision for an enduring operational deployment,” says the Army.
Days after the White House issued a new directive on cybersecurity, House Intelligence Committee leaders are saying their bill to help secure the nation’s computer systems has a chance of passing this year. If so, it would represent a remarkable turnabout from last year, when three efforts to pass cybersecurity legislation through Congress failed. By the end of the year, lawmakers were skeptical about the future prospects of such legislation.
LONDON — Swedish aerospace company Saab and the country’s defense procurement agency, the FMV, have signed agreements to start development of the next-generation Gripen fighter.
The U.K.’s Royal Air Force (RAF) is publicly highlighting its need for a new trainer aircraft while the government continues to delay a decision. At last week’s Aero India airshow, Kevin Marsh, the RAF wing commander for the OC IV squadron, said the RAF’s Shorts Tucano trainer aircraft needs to be replaced because it does not “have a head-up display and mission system.”
In observance of the U.S. President’s Day Holiday, Aerospace Daily & Defense Report will not be published on Feb. 19. The next issue will be dated Feb. 20. Aviation Week Intelligence Network subscribers can visit www.aviationweek.com/awin at any time for news updates.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) Feb. 25 - 26 — Social Media Within the Military and the Defence Sector Europe, Movenpick City Centre Hotel, Amsterdam, Netherlands. For more information go to www.smi-online.co.uk Feb. 26 - Mar. 2 — Australian International Airshow and Aerospace and Defense Exposition, Avalon Greelong Airport. For more information go to www.airshow.com/au/airshow2013
India’s state-owned National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) soon will restart the flight test program for Saras, a 14-seat multirole military transport aircraft that has been beset by developmental problems. There will be a test flight in April for Saras test aircraft one (PT1), NAL Technology Director Shyman Chetty tells Aviation Week. The Saras had its first test flight in 2004. There were two test aircraft built, PT1 and PT2. But PT2 crashed in 2009, killing all three people on board. That prompted NAL to make major changes to the aircraft’s design.
