PARIS — Even as it looks to boost order intake this year, European missile maker MBDA is focused on securing key programs in the coming months that should help shore up its long-term financial prospects. In particular, MBDA CEO Antoine Bouvier hopes European governments will start focusing on ballistic missile defense, Germany and Italy will consider joining the U.K. and France in pursuing a common path on deep strike, and France will move forward with the development of the MMP program aimed at fielding a replacement for the Milan missile.
A revision of the 2004 U.S. space transportation policy is likely to include “directive language” designed to boost the commercial space industry, according to a former official who helped draft the broad policy that the revision will illuminate.
LONDON — Russian Helicopters is looking to further strengthen its grip on the country’s rotorcraft industry by taking full control of the Ulan-Ude Aviation Plant (UUAP) production business.
HOUSTON — NASA’s planetary science program, faced with a steep cut in President Barack Obama’s proposed 2013 budget, is counting on a successful landing of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) and closer ties to the better-funded human space exploration initiative to support a timely rebound, top agency science officials said during the opening session of the 43rd annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC) here.
HOUSTON — Thanks to a final shuttle mission in July 2011, the International Space Station is well provisioned to sustain a six-person crew and a full research agenda well into 2013, NASA Program Manager Mike Suffredini said March 20. The outlook as Atlantis touched down after the 13-day STS-135 mission on July 21 was that the station had enough supplies for a year.
MISSILE DECISIONS: The French military is still exploring whether to acquire the MBDA Dual-Mode Brimstone (DMB) used heavily by the Royal Air Force during last year’s Libya air war. DMB is only one of several options being considered. The interest is driven mainly by the low-collateral-damage nature of the weapon, says MBDA CEO Antoine Bouvier. A French program would be developed for the air force, with the service undertaking a study examining other options. The French navy so far has not shown interest. If France goes ahead with the program, the U.K.
House Republicans unveiled a budget proposal for fiscal 2013 that would reduce the federal deficit by $5 trillion, while sparing the Pentagon’s budget from steep cuts. It would provide $554 billion in defense spending and $88 billion for the war effort in fiscal 2013 along with $6.2 trillion for defense over the decade.
Northrop Grumman and Quest Aircraft Co. of Sands Point, Idaho, are teaming to explore civil, military and government applications of the Quest Kodiak aircraft integrated with a modular, reconfigurable C4ISR [command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] system.
ARMY Lockheed Martin, Mission System and Sensors, Liverpool, N.Y., was awarded a $166,044,028 firm-fixed-price contract. The award will provide for the procurement of enhanced AN/TPQ-36 radars, including spares, testing, and training materials. The work will be performed in Liverpool, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 28, 2017. The bid was solicited through the Internet, with one bid received. The U.S. Army Contracting Command, Fort Monmouth, N.J., is the contracting activity (W15P7T-12-C-C015).
A dozen NASA software patents are scheduled to go on the auction block next week, covering potential applications in software development, telecommunications, smart grids, robotics, wireless sensor networks and cybersecurity. Goddard Space Flight Center’s Innovative Partnerships Program Office will offer the software at auction in three lots at the 15th ICAP Ocean Tomo IP Auction in Palos Verdes, Calif. Successful bidders will receive exclusive licensing rights and time with the technologies’ NASA inventors.
NEW DELHI — India is likely to induct the first squadron of 18 Medium-Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) into its air force by 2016, Defense Minister A.K. Antony told the lower house of Parliament on March 19.
SUB LIFE: The government of Norway is debating whether to extend the life of its current fleet of submarines or pursue a new program. The goal is to lock in a strategy to preserve Norway’s submarine capability after 2020. The country currently operates six Ula-class submarines, with the first one commissioned in 1989. As part of its analysis, the Norwegian Defense Logistics Organization is reaching out to industry to conduct a market survey. That process is aimed at establishing what options may exist for a new submarine procurement.
ARMY The Boeing Co., Mesa, Ariz., was awarded a $187,041,395 cost-plus-incentive-fee contract. The award will provide for the development, integration and testing requirements on the Apache Block III Program. The work will be performed in Mesa., with an estimated completion date of July 31, 2014. One bid was solicited, with one bid received. The U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., is the contracting activity (W58RGZ-05-C-0001).
AIR FORCE Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems, Linthicum Heights, Md. is being awarded an $87.8 million dollar firm fixed price contract a Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program which will provide an AN/APG- 68 (V) 9 radar systems for the Royal Thai Air Force (6), the Republic of Iraq (22) and the Royal Air Force of Oman (15) for a total of 43 radar systems. The location of the performance is Linthicum Heights. The work is expected to be completed by March 31, 2015. ASC/WWMK, Wright Patterson AFB, Ohio is the contracting activity (FA8615-12-C-6047).
NEW DELHI — India expects to induct its first Scorpene submarine beginning in 2015, three years behind the original schedule. All six submarines will be in service by 2018 at a revised cost of 235.62 billion rupees ($4.7 billion), nearly a 50-billion-rupee increase from the originally approved cost of 187.98 billion rupees, Defense Minister A.K. Antony tells the lower house of the Indian Parliament.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) new plan for acquiring border surveillance technology looks strikingly like the U.S. Army’s new acquisition plan: define capability gaps and then put the word out to industry to see what mature technologies exist that might fit the bill.
LONDON — The Australian government expects its plans to field a sixth Boeing C-17 will double the number of operational airlifters available for overseas duty to four from two.
While the U.S. Marine Corps and Special Operations Forces (SOF) are touting the operational performance thus far of the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor, recent upgrades are making the aircraft even better, according to a recent report from the Pentagon’s Director of Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E). Marine and SOF brass told Congress the Ospreys were performing at least as well as advertised in recent budget testimony meant to persuade lawmakers to keep or augment modernization and procurement funding as multiyear contracting draws to a close.
