LCS 3: The U.S. Navy is scheduled to commission the Freedom-variant Littoral Combat Ship Fort Worth (LCS-3) Sept. 22, in Galveston, Texas. Fort Worth is the third LCS delivered to the Navy and the second of the steel, semi-planing monohull Freedom variant, which is produced by a Lockheed Martin-led team. LCS-3 is capable of speeds in excess of 40 kt. and can operate in water less than 20 ft. deep. The ship will be a platform for launch and recovery of manned and unmanned vehicles, according to the Navy.
Northrop Grumman and AgustaWestland, a Finmeccanica company, recently signed a comprehensive teaming agreement to compete for the proposed U.S. Navy’s Marine One presidential helicopter. The companies will offer a U.S.-built helicopter based on AgustaWestland’s 101 platform for the so-called VXX program, Northrop says. AgustaWestland and then-partner Lockheed Martin won an earlier iteration of the VXX competition with another 101 variant. That program was canceled earlier this decade after cost overruns and schedule slips.
New Delhi – India is considering buying 20 additional Hawk advanced jet trainers (AJTs) from BAE Systems to equip the Indian air force’s aerobatics team. The aircraft, to be built by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) in Bengaluru, are expected to cost more than 20 billion rupees ($340 million). “Upon successful conclusion, this would be [our] third contract for the supply of materials and equipment for the Hawk Mk. 132, building upon previous orders of 66 aircraft in 2004 and a further 57 aircraft in 2010,” says a senior BAE official. .
The U.S. and Japan have reached a deal for the Marine Corps to start flight operations with the V-22 Ospreys deployed to the Asian nation. The Corps had delayed operating the aircraft until the U.S. allayed fears about the tiltrotor’s safety because of recent accidents, including a fatal one earlier this year.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is failing to get the support he wants from fellow Republicans in his quest to cut off U.S. assistance to the governments of Pakistan, Egypt and Libya, with a key member of his own party calling the idea “ill-conceived.”
Despite earlier government reports questioning the speed and quality of some components of the latest Aegis upgrade efforts, the newest rendition — Baseline 9 — is moving along just fine, says one of the key U.S. Navy officers overseeing the program. In a report released earlier this year, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) said recent Aegis upgrades were proving more costly and time-consuming than the Navy had initially planned or hoped.
The U.S. Navy and elements of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) participated earlier this month in the first bilateral counter-piracy exercise ever conducted between the two global giants. The guided-missile destroyer USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG-81) and “other U.S. Navy assets” practiced fighting pirates with the Chinese frigate Yi Yang (FF 548) in waters near the Horn of Africa on Sept. 17, Navy officials say. During the exercise, the two naval forces combined for visit, board, search and seizure (VBSS) operations.
LIMITED CONFIDENCE: Financial analysts at Lazard Capital Markets have “limited confidence” that Congress will be able to avoid the budget penalty known as sequestration, which is due to be triggered Jan. 2. “Investors should view the sequestration threat as real,” the analysts say in a research note. But they think sequestration is unlikely to be the law of the land for very long.
JUST SAY NO: Negotiators for the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (Speea) are recommending that the union’s 23,000 members reject Boeing’s contract offer before the company has made its “best and final” proposal. The engineers’ contract expires Oct. 6 and negotiations on a 4-year contract are under way. “There is nothing in this offer worth accepting,” says Speea Executive Director Ray Goforth.
Australia is starting to show interest in the U.S. Navy’s Next Generation Jammer (NGJ) program after deciding to upgrade 12 of its 24 Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornets to the EA-18G Growler electronic-attack configuration. The NGJ is planned to replace the ALQ-99 jamming pods now carried by the Growler. Four teams are competing for the next phase of the program, with a single technology-development (TD) contract planned to be awarded in June 2013. Initial operational capability is scheduled for 2020.
As the chatter level rises on a possible restart of the F-22 Raptor production line, the U.S. Air Force says it is continuing its investigation of pilot-oxygen problems in the fighter’s cockpit. The F-22 regained some altitude earlier this month with recent comments by Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney that restarting the line could be considered.
The U.S. Defense Department’s procurement of wheeled tactical vehicles (WTVs) has dropped sharply since fiscal 2008, leaving U.S. companies to seek international sales, which so far have not come close to filling the gap.
Boeing is exhausting its management reserve on the U.S. Air Force KC-46A aerial refueler program faster than expected, and the program management team is investigating the cause as it assembles a revised cost estimate for Congress, a senior Air Force official says.
While Pentagon procurement of unmanned systems is likely to shrink as the U.S. pulls back from overseas military conflicts, those programs still should be one of the few solid acquisition bets in the coming years, says Christopher Chadwick, Boeing Military Aircraft president. At the same time, the development of those systems will present some of the most difficult challenges in military acquisition, according to a recent Defense Science Board (DSB) report.
NEW DELHI — The launch of India’s GSAT-10 communications satellite has been delayed by a week due to a minor error in the European Ariane 5 rocket meant to place it on orbit, the country’s top scientist says. “While reviewing the launch preparation, Arianespace found a hole in one of the hoses connecting the spaceport and launch vehicle. It is suspected one gram of dust particles might have entered the launch vehicle through the small hole,” says K. Radhakrishnan, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).
AIR FORCE Schafer Corp., Chelmsford, Mass. (FA7022-11-C-0009, P00012), is being awarded an $8,468,294 contract modification for particle analysis services. The contract modification provides for the exercise of the second contract option period. The location of the performance is Sunol, Calif. Work is expected to be completed by Sept. 30, 2013. The contracting activity is AF ISR Agency/A7KRB, Patrick Air Force Base, Fla.
BEIJING — South Korea’s program to indigenously develop a stealth fighter is facing severe political obstacles, with the finance ministry seeking to delay development and an influential think tank casting doubt on the project’s viability. In addition, a key program opponent may become defense minister in the next presidential term, which will begin in February.
