NAVY The Boeing Co., St. Louis, is being awarded an $8,086,000 modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price, fixed-price-incentive-fee contract (N00019-09-C-0019) to procure aircraft armament equipment for the F/A-18 E/F and EA-18 G fighter aircraft including 57 SUU-78 A/A pylons and 40 ALE-50 well covers. The work will be performed in St. Louis and is expected to be completed in December 2014. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity.
NEWPORT, Wales — EADS is exploring airborne tasks for a new communications jammer that is used to protect ground troops and VIPs from attack by remotely controlled improvised explosive devices (IEDs). A possible airborne application would be to provide helicopters with a jammer to ensure they are not at risk from an IED attack in landing zones outside protected areas, suggests an official from EADS defense subsidiary Cassidian. Moreover, unmanned aircraft could be fitted with the jamming system for convoy escort duties, the official adds.
Piggyback government payloads on commercial spacecraft probably won’t win more than 1% of worldwide satellite-market revenue in the next few years, as bureaucratic inertia and a “not-invented-here” mentality work against the cost savings that might be gained, according to a new study.
LONDON — A possible U.K. decision to revert back to buying the F-35B rather than the C-model should not disrupt production flows, according to prime contractor Lockheed Martin. The capacity is available to build additional F-35Bs should London pursue that route, says Stephen O’Bryan, vice president for F-35 program integration. One reason is because the U.S. near-term requirement for the B model has been reduced.
The financial performance of top global aerospace and defense companies is expected to stay flat in 2012, a British consultancy firm says. Despite the challenging environment, the aerospace and defense industry is likely to continue to develop game-changing technology innovations, according to the report, “Global Aerospace and Defense Outlook: A Tale of Two Industries,” by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited’s (DTTL) Global Manufacturing Industry Group.
CHINESE CARRIER: China plans to formally introduce its aircraft carrier into service this year, the government says. Since last year, China has been putting the refurbished aircraft carrier, formerly called the Varyag, through its paces after a rebuilding phase. The government used the 11th National People’s Congress to affirm that fielding of the carrier is planned this year. That matches the expectation in the U.S., which notes, however, that it will be only the vessel that is fielded, not a full aircraft carrier capability.
The World Trade Organization released its appeal report on the EU’s case against the U.S. on illegal subsidies for large civil aircraft, and, as expected, the four parties involved—the EU, the U.S., Airbus and Boeing—have all claimed victory. The appellate body did rule that some U.S. tax credits and R&D support constituted non-compliant subsidies, but both sides claimed to have won on the amount of those subsidies.
April 2-3, 2012 Dallas, TX Dallas Convention Center Engine MRO comes to North America — the largest engine market! Co-located with MRO Americas -- Free access to the exhibition! Registertoday! www.aviationweek.com/events Click here to view the pdf
Denouncing Rosoboronexport for selling weapons to Syria, a bipartisan group of senators is calling on the Pentagon to end its relationship with the Russian arms export company and more specifically, to stop buying Mi-17 helicopters for the Afghan military.
The U.S. Navy frigate USS Ford transited from the ship’s homeport in Everett, Wash., to San Diego earlier this month, using 25,000 gal. of a 50/50 algae-derived, hydro-processed algal oil and petroleum F-76 blend in the ship’s LM 2500 gas turbines. USS Ford’s March 2 transit on the algal blend marks the first demonstration of the alternative fuel blend in an operational fleet ship. The demonstration highlights the Navy’s continued drive to cut down on use of traditional fossil-fuels by employing different types of technology to power its vessels.
GAG ORDER: NASA’s leadership challenges the logic of asking experts for their honest opinions when science chief John Grunsfeld reminds scientists on the NASA Advisory Council that they are “temporary” government employees when in formal session, and as such required to support — at least in theory — the fiscal 2013 NASA budget proposed by President Barack Obama. The budget would gut the joint Mars exploration program with the European Space Agency. Grunsfeld apparently is not keen on having his independent advisory body become too critical of the administration’s plans.
Israel continues upgrading its air defense missile systems and plans an accelerated test program to counter the increasingly numerous and sophisticated missiles in the inventories of its neighbors.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) Mar. 15 - 16 — Aviation Week Innovation Challenge Showcase, "Experience groundbreaking work being done within the A&D supply chain," Orlando, Fla. For more information go to www.aviationweek.com/events
Boeing is preparing to fly a wide-area surveillance sensor on the A160 Hummingbird unmanned helicopter for the first time, ahead of its planned deployment by the U.S. Army to Afghanistan in June.
TURKISH HELO: Turkey is launching a competition for medium helicopters for use by the country’s national police force. The move comes after last year’s contest for 15 light utility helicopters for the police. The new bidding is for seven rotorcraft, associated mission equipment and spares. Bidders have until March 21 to formally receive the request for proposals from the Turkish defense armaments agency, SSM, with bids due on April 24.
WINNING LOSS: When the Indian government named the Dassault Rafale as the low-cost bidder in the country’s Medium Multirole Combat Aircraft competition, beating out the Eurofighter Typhoon, it was seen as a setback for EADS, whose Cassidian unit led the Typhoon campaign. But how much of a loss did EADS really suffer in the MMRCA program? Perhaps less than many suspect. EADS holds a 46% share in the Eurofighter consortium, but also controls 46.3% of Dassault Aviation shares.
TAXING ISSUE: The U.S. aerospace and defense industry might have succeeded last year in helping to persuade Washington to reverse a looming tax withholding requirement on federal contractors, but two senators are not letting the original issue go away silently. Sens. Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), senior members of their chamber’s Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, are publicly pressing the Pentagon to explain what it is doing to help the government gain $4.5 million in unpaid taxes from one U.S.
LONDON — EADS is not ruling out the possibility that the NH Industries NH90 helicopter program could further impact earnings for the company. Development problems have, on numerous occasions, caused both EADS and Thales to take charges against their financial accounts to deal with unanticipated costs. In the 2011 results EADS released March 8, the NH90 was once again one of the main program-related one-off charges.
