The U.S. Navy and other military services should rely on existing equipment, systems and weapons rather than trying to develop new ones to handle “surprise capabilities” of adversaries, says a recent National Research Council (NRC) study. Navy and other Pentagon acquisitions simply take too long and the process is too cumbersome to field or deploy new capabilities in time to meet unforeseen or other “surprise” threats, according to the interim report, “Capability Surprise for U.S. Naval Forces,” released this month.
I.T. FLATLINES: Federal information technology consultancy Deltek says the U.S. government IT services market should remain nearly unchanged through 2017. Washington’s spending on vendor-furnished IT services will decrease from $60.9 billion in 2012 to $60.4 billion in that time. “Agencies continue to consolidate their data centers and will require continued contractor support to converge their infrastructure,” says Deltek analyst Angie Petty.
While the U.S. Navy touts the benefits of “surrogate” testing for the survivability of its warships, the Pentagon’s Director of Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E) still wants more rigorous testing. The DOT&E’s latest annual report highlights concerns about the next-generation CVN-78 Gerald Ford aircraft carrier program, but the debate is much larger and touches most major developmental efforts. The services and contractors want to rely more on component or virtual testing while DOT&E wants more realistic testing scenarios.
NEW DELHI and LONDON — The Indian defense ministry has threatened to carry out the “strongest action” if Finmeccanica acted corruptly in the sale of helicopters to the Indian air force (IAF). The move follows the arrest in Italy of Finmeccanica chairman and CEO Giuseppe Orsi on Feb. 12 by investigators exploring whether AgustaWestland paid kickbacks worth around €50 million ($67 million) to secure the sale of 12 AW101 VIP helicopters to the IAF in 2010, when Orsi was in charge of the AgustaWestland division.
PARIS — U.K. Defense Minister Philip Hammond says Britain will continue its membership in the European Defense Agency (EDA) through 2013, when the ministry will again reconsider support for the Brussels-based military procurement organization.
LONDON — The French air force has conducted an urgent trial to ensure its combat aircraft are able to use Italian air force KC-767 aerial refueling tankers. The trials, set up in response to France’s Operation Serval in Mali, mean that French combat aircraft will be able to use the Boeing KC-767 tanker aircraft, which the Italian government has offered to France for the ongoing operation.
PARIS — Astrium, the space division of EADS, will begin development of Europe’s first digital military ultrafast broadband satellite communications network under a roughly €40 million ($52 million) contract awarded by French defense procurement agency DGA.
NEW DELHI — India is developing the sixth in its series of Agni ballistic missiles that will be capable of carrying multiple warheads. “While the Agni-V is [a] major strategic defense weapon, the Agni-VI will be a force multiplier as it will have multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicle [MIRV] capability,” says Defense and Research Development Organization (DRDO) chief V.K. Saraswat.
NEW DELHI — Europe’s MBDA is pitching its Meteor air-to-air missile to India as a weapon for its planned fleet of 126 Rafale fighters. “This is ideal for the Rafale,” an MBDA official tells Aviation Week. “It’s already part of the French fighter. India will just need to plug [it] in.”
It’s getting too late in the fiscal year for the Pentagon to ease the disruptive effects of sequestration, even if it is given flexibility in allocating cuts, according to top defense officials. “We need the cloud of sequester and uncertainty dispelled,” acquisition chief Ashton Carter told the House Armed Services Committee Feb. 13. If uncertainty is merely pushed back, “it’s still pretty harmful,” he says.
Government gridlock and myopic Wall Street horizons are hindering development of a new economic sector in low Earth orbit, because both make private financing for commercial space ventures hard to find, according to a panel of space-finance experts speaking in Washington this week.
After dropping out of the top spot at the start of this decade, fixed-wing-aircraft costs retook the lead among all non-construction-related Defense Department expenses for 2011, according to an exclusive Aviation Week Intelligence Network (AWIN) analysis.
A group of 16 U.S. lawmakers led by Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) are asking for an update by Feb. 22 from Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood on the FAA’s attempts to open the national airspace to unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). The legislators are hoping to prod the FAA to act faster in releasing rules for small UAS to fly, as well as in creating six test sites around the country to work out safety and operating guidelines.
HOUSTON — Recent NASA contracts awarded through the agency’s Johnson Space Center worth a potential $2 billion will equip the Orion program with an integration support contractor, while providing wider engineering, scientific and technical support through the Houston field center for the International Space Station (ISS), Orion, commercial crew/cargo initiatives and Mars science projects.
Hawker Beechcraft and BAE Systems have undertaken the first flight of a specially modified BAe 146 transport aircraft for the U.K. Royal Air Force. The U.K. defense ministry purchased two ex-TNT Airlines BAe 146-200QTs in early 2012 as part of an urgent operational requirement to support and boost passenger and cargo transport capability in Afghanistan. The aircraft were delivered and handed over to BAE and Hawker Beechcraft Global Customer Support under a £15.5 million ($24.3 million) deal.
In an effort to curb the counterfeit curse plaguing the military supply chain’s electronics and other goods, the Pentagon’s Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) is requiring an advanced type of DNA markings on high-reliability microcircuits, and offering to reimburse contractors that use the technology.
AWIN, National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting
Click here to view the pdf 2011 Leading Pentagon Expenses* 2011 Leading Pentagon Expenses* No. Type Of Expense Number Of Contracts Or Contract Modifications Total Amount Of All Transactions
With two weeks to go before $46 billion in cuts to the Pentagon’s fiscal 2013 budget take effect, the military’s top brass appealed to the Senate Armed Services Committee during a Feb. 12 hearing for a delay or replacement for the budget penalty known as sequestration. And while Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, acknowledged that he is running out of adjectives to describe the horror of sequestration, the hearing did unearth a couple of new details about its effects on investment accounts and fleet sizes.
NEW DELHI — India is developing the sixth in its series of Agni ballistic missiles that will be capable of carrying multiple warheads. “While the Agni-V is [a] major strategic defense weapon, the Agni-VI will be a force multiplier as it will have multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicle [MIRV] capability,” says Defense and Research Development Organization (DRDO) chief V.K. Saraswat.
