LONDON — Chinese interests continue to build up their aerospace portfolios, this time in the U.S. helicopter market with the purchase of light helicopter manufacturer Enstrom. The Michigan-based helicopter manufacturer, which has been producing helicopters since the late 1950s, was acquired by the Chongqing Helicopter Investment Co. (CQHIC).
LONDON — Cassidian and Northrop Grumman have completed the first flight of the Euro Hawk UAS since its delivery flight to Germany in July 2011. The Euro Hawk, now fitted out with its Cassidian-developed ISIS integrated signals intelligence payload, departed Manching airbase in Bavaria at 10:36 a.m. on Jan. 11 and returned six hours and two minutes later.
Boeing is considering lessons from giant retailers such as Walmart or Amazon, starting with a new approach to dealing with suppliers aimed at simplifying contract negotiations and lowering pricing for parts, according to company executives.
LONDON — Rising costs have pushed the U.K.’s A400M transport buy and its aerial refueling tanker to the top of a list of overspending military programs compiled by the National Audit Office (NAO).
NEW DELHI — India is on track to launch its first Mars orbiter in November of this year, a senior scientist in charge of the mission says. The unmanned satellite, christened “Maangalyaan,” will study the thin Martian atmosphere to determine the existence and sustainability of life and focus on climate, geology, origin and evolution of the planet, the scientist at the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) said Jan. 10.
LONDON — The U.K. Ministry of Defense is deciding on the future of a loitering munition that it has spent more than £200 million ($320 million) developing. According to the U.K. National Audit Office (NAO), the Fire Shadow, being developed by the U.K. Team Complex Weapons initiative and led by MBDA, has successfully completed a series of trial firings at a test range in Sweden. But the defense ministry halted a plan to send the weapon to Afghanistan in March because of what the NAO described as “system maturity.”
HOMELAND SECURITY: U.S. congressional researchers say that as deficit-reduction efforts push down federal spending, Congress may pay more critical attention to homeland security funding. In fiscal 2012 appropriations and the 2013 budget request, 30 federal departments, agencies and entities received annual homeland security funding outside of the Homeland Security Department, amounting to 48% of annual homeland security funding. Recipient departments included not-so-obvious choices like NASA and Housing and Urban Development.
TEL AVIV — Huge cost increases are looming over the widely publicized Israel-Italian M-346 jet trainer deal. In the purchase of new military aircraft, overall life cycle costs are often overshadowed by the more immediate price per unit, as customers and governments focus on the tangible dollars going out the door now. But such a myopic focus has a way of haunting governments later. The trainer deal is the latest example.
FORT WORTH — The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is preparing for a three-day flight of its Ion Tiger experimental fuel-cell-powered unmanned aircraft. In 2009, the 37-lb. Ion Tiger flew for just more than 26 hr., powered by a compressed-hydrogen fuel cell and carrying a 5-lb. electro-optical/infrared payload.
The convergence of three U.S. budget showdowns in March is not the apocalypse, says a defense analyst, but it is a mess, will produce bad decisions, and carries the risks of creating costly contract problems for major programs and disruption and hardship on the Pentagon’s civilian employees for years to come.
FORT WORTH — NASA has selected eight technology demonstrations for Phase 2 of its Environmentally Responsible Aviation (ERA) project to reduce the fuel burn, noise and emissions of commercial aircraft that could enter service by 2025. The eight integrated technology demonstrations (ITDs) include active flow control to cut drag, stitched composites to save weight, ultra-high-bypass engines to save fuel, fuel-flexible combustors to minimize emissions and redesigned flaps and landing gear to reduce noise.
MUOS DELIVERY: Lockheed Martin has finally delivered the waveform needed to fully utilize the Wideband Code Division Multiple Access capabilities offered by the new Mobile User Objective System narrowband communications satellites. The waveform, which is roughly one year late, is needed to allow soldiers, including those on the move, to access voice, data and video communications from various terminals. Though the waveform has been delivered, the capability will not be deployed until the terminals, which are late, are approved for use by the National Security Agency.
Hawker Beechcraft is proposing to pay Swiss plane-maker Pilatus Aircraft $7.5 million to settle a dispute over Hawker Beechcraft’s production of the T-6/AT-6 military trainer. Hawker Beechcraft says the move is neither an admission that it is using the “protectable intellectual property” of Pilatus, nor an acknowledgement that it owes royalty payments. But Hawker Beechcraft says the proposed payment would be in its best interest because it would avoid a public dispute and prolonged lawsuit at a critical juncture of the company’s bankruptcy proceedings.
With enough money, NASA plans to begin flying its astronauts to the International Space Station before the end of 2017, but nongovernment test pilots may make the trip in one or more of the commercial crew vehicles in development before then. Those private pilots could wind up training their NASA customers to operate the orbital spaceflight vehicles now in development with government backing, as the U.S. space agency moves to hand over post-shuttle access to low Earth orbit to commercial operators.
Foreign military sales are unlikely to bridge the gap of declining U.S. defense budget cuts, but investment in emerging technologies eventually could offset investments in more traditional military hardware, a leading U.S. aerospace and defense (A&D) industry consultant says.
TANKER SHORT LIST: After intense lobbying by lawmakers, the U.S. Air Force released its short list of bases for the KC-46A tanker program. Contenders for the main base, which will begin receiving tankers in 2016, are Altus AFB, Okla.; Fairchild AFB, Wash.; Grand Forks AFB, N.D.; and McConnell AFB, Kan. The candidates for the first Air National Guard tanker base include Forbes Air Guard Station, Kan.; Joint-Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J.; Pease Air Guard Station, N.H.; Pittsburgh International Airport Air Guard Station, Pa.; and Rickenbacker Air Guard Station, Ohio.
A long-awaited draft request for proposals (RFP) for the U.S. Navy’s Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (Uclass) competition has been delayed. Most recently planned for release to industry this month, the draft RFP is now expected in the spring, according to Navy spokeswoman Jamie Cosgrove.
Eclipse Aerospace is hoping to secure a potential contract to replace the fleet of T-1A Jayhawks (Beechjet 400s) flown for the U.S. Air Force Specialized Undergraduate Pilot Training (SUPT) program. The company responded Jan. 7 to an Air Force request for information (RFI) for a potential large fleet of very light jets (VLJs) to support the SUPT Multi-place Training Track.
