The U.K. Defense Ministry is spending ₤400 million ($630 million) to buy 100 Foxhound armored vehicles and additional counter-improvised explosive device (C-IED) equipment to better protect British forces in Afghanistan. “IEDs are the single greatest threat to our forces in Afghanistan,” the ministry said in a statement. “Improving the protection of our forces on the front line is the military’s number one priority, and these investments mark another major step forward in the battle against the Taliban.”
PARIS — French space agency CNES and European launch consortium Arianespace have signed more than a dozen contracts worth a combined €700 million ($916 million) during the next five years to reorganize and streamline operations at the newly expanded Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana, Arianespace announced Dec. 21. The contracts, slated to enter into force Jan. 1, will account for 900 jobs at the South American spaceport, which facilitates launches of Russian Soyuz and Italian Vega launch vehicles in addition to Europe’s Ariane 5.
In observance of the year-end holiday season, Aerospace Daily & Defense Report will not publish issues dated Dec. 27 through Jan. 3. Following the Dec. 26 issue, the next issue will be dated Jan. 4. During the interim, Aviation Week Intelligence Network subscribers can visit www.aviationweek.com/awin for continuous news updates.
The U.S. Navy awarded Raytheon a contract modification this month for up to $254 million for development, test, and delivery of DDG-1000 Total Ship Computing Environment software for the Self Defense Test Ship, post-delivery availability, post-shakedown availability, SPY-3 volume search software and firmware development, as well as software maintenance on the DDG-1000.
March 7, 2012 Andrew Mellon Auditorium Washington, D.C. Aviation Week’s 54th annual Laureate Awards recognize individuals and teams for extraordinary accomplishments that embody the spirit of exploration, innovation and vision. Join us to celebrate their significant contributions and the inspiration they provide. The 2012 Awards will be presented in each of the following categories: -- Aeronautics/Propulsion -- Business/General Aviation
An exclusive Aviation Week Intelligence Network investigation into the U.S. Navy destroyer fleet and its accompanying combat systems strongly suggests the service will have to upend some $121.8 billion worth of plans for their development, effectively solidifying the grip of incumbent contractors on the work at the very time Navy brass say they’re trying to break such monopolies.
Russia’s United Aircraft Corp. (UAC) has reported assembly of the first Il-476 flight prototype, a modernized version of the Ilyushin Il-76MD heavy transport aircraft. The prototype was shown publicly for the first time during the unofficial ceremony at the Aviastar-SP production facility in Ulyanovsk in mid-December. A UAC representative told Aviation Week that the official rollout ceremony will be in early 2012, while the first flight is expected in the spring.
In a new partnership between the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Defense Department, the National Guard will reduce the number of troops it has on the ground along the U.S./Mexican Border from 1,200 to 300 next year, while deploying more aerial assets to assist in surveillance.
While the Pentagon and the rest of the defense community prepare for a budget-slashing ax that some say could swipe into future aircraft carrier programs, the U.S. Navy continues to keep its next-generation carrier plans right on course. The service recently awarded the Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS) division of Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) a $113 million contract to continue ship and propulsion-plant design and engineering services for the aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy (CVN 79).
HOUSTON — A Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying a three-man, multinational crew is speeding toward a Dec. 23 rendezvous with the International Space Station, following the start of a two-day transit with a successful Dec. 21 liftoff from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, the Soyuz commander, flight engineers Don Pettit, of NASA, and Andre Kuipers, of the European Space Agency, were on course to dock with the orbiting science laboratory on Dec. 23 at 10:22 a.m. EST.
BEIJING — The Japanese defense ministry says the Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning’s performance beat that of the other two contenders in the competition for Japan’s F-X fighter requirement. The ministry says the F-35A also was the cheapest, because the competing Eurofighter Typhoon and Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet would have needed modification for flying-boom inflight refueling.
Congress has given a thumbs down to the next-generation SM-3 Block IIB interceptor, part of the Aegis ballistic missile defense system, but the Obama administration may be aiming to keep it alive. The defense spending bill for fiscal 2012 pares back funding to $13.5 million from a request of $123.5 million. Congressional aides, however, say the administration is planning to transfer money to keep development of the system alive.
NEW DELHI — India’s defense forces have failed to purchase even a single artillery gun to replace its obsolete inventory for more than 25 years, Indian government auditing agencies say. In a report on defense acquisitions introduced in Parliament Dec. 20, India’s Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) slammed the country’s armed forces and defense ministry for causing “inordinate delays” in procuring artillery guns for more than a decade, leaving troops to use obsolete varieties of 1970s vintage.
VEHICLE DEAL: The U.S. Army has awarded a $126 million contract modification to General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada for 73 more Light Armored Vehicles (LAVs) for a Foreign Military Sale to an undisclosed customer. The modification of the original contract announced in January 2011 brings the contract total to $264 million for 155 LAVs. The LAV — a cousin of the eight-wheeled Stryker infantry carrier used by the U.S. Army — has been the workhorse of the Canadian army in operations in Afghanistan.
Click here to view the pdf Defense Appropriations: Conferees Roll Back The Senate's OCO Shift Defense Appropriations: Conferees Roll Back The Senate's OCO Shift Description Request Conferees Account: Line
PARIS — French companies Thales and Safran have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to create an equal joint venture covering technical, commercial and program aspects for optronics systems and equipment.
The U.S. Office of Naval Research (ONR) recently demonstrated a new suite of information technology tools to improve fleet communications and operations. The centerpiece of the effort is a so-called “universal gateway” system designed to pass data securely and swiftly between a ship’s combat system network of weapons and sensors and the vessel’s command-and-control (C2) network, which connects to warfighting systems located beyond the ship.
Goodrich Corp.’s five-year campaign to get its ACES 5 ejection seat onto the F-35A is likely to meet the same fate as General Electric/Rolls-Royce’s push to keep an alternate engine in the Joint Strike Fighter program — failure. This month, the engine manufacturer finally gave up on its years-long attempts to keep the F136 engine alive after consistent and stiff opposition from the Pentagon leadership.
The program isn’t terminated, but the U.S. Navy’s Small Tactical Unmanned Aerial System effort won’t see any aircraft purchased in 2012 after House-Senate conferees zeroed the funding. The Small Tactical UAS Light (Stuas Light) program isn’t getting its $12.7 million request, the conference report says, because of a “low-rate initial production contract award slip.”
Last time, NASA’s Kepler planet-finding mission found a planet in the right orbital location to support life, but it was the wrong size. This time, Kepler has found two planets of the right size but in the wrong location. The Kepler team reported Dec. 20 that it has located an Earth-like star called Kepler-20 orbited by five planets, including two — Kepler-20E and -20F — that are the closest in size to Earth of any planets yet discovered outside our own Solar System. But they are so close to their own star that they are too hot to support life.
