NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Slower-than-expected fielding of unmanned aircraft systems using high-capacity Ku-band data links is leading the U.S. Army to look at broadening the capability of the latest Block 3 version of the Boeing AH-64D Apache. Now wrapping up initial operational test and evaluation, the Block 3 can be equipped with the UAV tactical common data link (TCDL) assembly (UTA), which allows the Apache crew to take control of an unmanned aircraft’s sensors and flight path: so-called Level 3 and 4 control.
LONDON — The U.K. is projecting that the Paveway IV guided bomb will be fielded on the Eurofighter Typhoon in 2013. The new date was released as the Defense Ministry awarded Raytheon a £60 million ($96 million) contract to replenish Paveway IVs expended from Tornado GR4s during last year’s Libya operation. The number of weapons being acquired is not being released.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — EADS North America is bidding to dominate any potential competition for a U.S. Army Armed Aerial Scout (AAS) helicopter by offering not one, but two versions of its AAS-72X. In addition to the baseline aircraft built on the Army’s UH-72A light utility helicopter, a version of the commercial Eurocopter EC145, the company has unveiled a higher-performance AAS-72X+ based on the improved EC145T2 now in development.
NEW DELHI — India has revised its defense offsets policy to allow foreign vendors to use technology transfers to fulfill their offset obligations for Indian defense contracts.
LOS ANGELES — Northrop Grumman’s new Integrated Assembly Line (IAL) is now producing F-35 Joint Strike Fighter center fuselages at a rate of one every five days as the company continues to work toward meeting a target of one per day.
While the Pentagon’s rebalancing of its efforts toward the Asia-Pacific realm, to deal more directly with China, represents an expansion of Defense Department policies, the strategy could pose risk for other areas of concern to the U.S., according to the Congressional Research Service (CRS).
LONDON — Bidders for Poland’s Advanced Jet Trainer competition will have to wait longer than expected for a restart of the program. The government last year scrapped an ongoing light-fighter/trainer competition, deciding to focus less on the combat aspects and more on the training element of the program. The new competition was due to start this spring.
COST GROWTH: Procurement cost growth in the portfolio of nearly 100 weapons programs analyzed by the U.S. Government Accountability Office in its recently released assessment amounts to nearly $61 billion; half of that is from quantity changes. There were 59 programs with no quantity change; 22 increased and 14 decreased. Four programs are new to the 2011 portfolio: Apache Block IIIB New Build; HC/MC-130 Recap; KC-130J and Small Diameter Bomb II (Aerospace DAILY, March 30, April 3).
Now armed with additional information, the Obama administration and Congress are revisiting whether LightSquared should be able to build its 4G broadband communications network.
NEW DELHI — India’s engineering and construction conglomerate Larsen & Toubro Ltd. (L&T) signed an agreement with French defense products company Nexter Systems March 30 to collaborate on the Indian army’s key artillery gun programs. Under the deal, Nexter Systems will transfer technology for its 155mm 52-caliber Towed Gun System and Mounted Gun System to Larsen. The two companies will work together on subsystem manufacturing, integration and support. Larsen also plans to assemble Nexter’s Caesar and Trajan guns in India.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Rolls-Royce is working on further upgrades to its long-running Model 250 small turboshaft engine series aimed at the U.S. Army Armed Aerial Scout and Navy unmanned aircraft system requirements. The company has provided an upgraded engine to Bell Helicopter to power a company-funded OH-58D Block 2 demonstrator.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Rockwell Collins has demonstrated a synthetic-vision display for improved crew situational awareness in military helicopter cockpits. Generated from an onboard digital terrain and obstacle database, the three-dimensional head-down display was incorporated into the company’s Common Avionics Architecture System (CAAS) for flight tests on a U.S. Army Sikorsky UH-60L Black Hawk. The tests were conducted under a cooperative R&D agreement between the avionics manufacturer and the Army’s Aviation Applied Technology Directorate.
Boeing’s decision to close down its Wichita facility, which was slated to handle military modifications for the KC-46A aerial refueler, has added some uncertainty and risk into the development effort, according to Maj. Gen. Christopher Bogdan, who oversees the U.S. Air Force program.
Click here to view the pdf Cost Growth In Major U.S. Defense Acquisition Programs, 2011 Portfolio (Fiscal 2012 $ in millions) Cost Growth In Major U.S.
NEW DELHI — India’s defense minister has directed the country’s army to restructure its acquisition procedures to improve oversight and speed purchases. On April 2, Defense Minister A.K. Antony met with top army officials led by service chief V.K. Singh to complete various proposals related to acquisition and procurement of equipment for the service.
Airborne electronic attack in the U.S. is being overtaken by a new generation of threats including cyberattack, according to a new report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO).
The overall CVN-78 Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier program price tag is increasing roughly $2.2 billion — or about 5.5% — to $42.5 billion, the Pentagon estimates in its recent Selected Acquisition Report (SAR). The increase includes an additional $951 million for the application of revised escalation indices and another $811 million for revised estimates on non-recurring engineering, Dual-Band Radar (DBR), and construction performance variance for the Ford carrier, the SAR states.
