BUILD INDIA: A U.S.-India joint study group cosponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington and the Aspen Institute India in New Delhi says the U.S. should train and provide expertise to the Indian military in areas such as space and cyberspace operations, “where India’s defense establishment is currently weak, but its civil and private sector has strengths.” The U.S. also should help strengthen India’s indigenous defense industry, the think tanks assert. “The United States should treat India as equivalent to a U.S.
November 2–3, 2011 Renaissance Polat Istanbul Hotel Istanbul, Turkey Case-studies, new technology and best practices presented by the industry’s foremost operators, manufacturers and technologists: Register Now! www.aviationweek.com/events -- +1.212.904.4483 Click here to view the pdf
PARIS — France’s defense procurement chief does not consider the notion that the U.K. eventually may opt to buy the Rafale fighter for its new aircraft carriers to be completely ridiculous. The naval version of the French fighter is “the only naval aircraft [on the market], together with the F-18, which is today at the end of its life,” Laurent Collet-Billon told the National Assembly’s Defense and Armed Forces Commission earlier this month.
Raytheon has one of the most eye-catching pieces of lawn art in all of New England — a full-scale mockup of a U.S. Navy DDG-51 Arleigh Burke destroyer mast with an Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR) array neatly sealed in its face. “This is so our customer can see how everything can fit into the current ship,” said James Bennett, Raytheon’s AMDR program manager, during a recent tour. “We’re doing a lot more than just drawings.”
The new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff cast doubt on the future of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter during testimony to lawmakers Oct. 13. During a House Armed Services Committee hearing, Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) asked the new chairman, Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, to commit to making certain the Pentagon moves forward with the Marine Corps’ JSF variant, the F-35B. But Dempsey did not provide any such assurance.
The U.S. Army is waiting to hear whether its long-held plans for a family of small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) will survive the budget cutting now under way within the Defense Department. A capability production document (CPD) that would establish programs of record for three sizes of small UAS has been complete for some time, but has yet to be formally approved.
The U.S. Army’s Rapid Equipping Force (REF) has approved funding to purchase and deploy six wireless recharging systems for robots used to disarm roadside bombs. The REF has turned to a product developed by WiTricity Inc. that “will enable drive on/drive off charging” of the batteries that power Qinetiq’s Talon robots without requiring human intervention, according to the REF.
EADS North America confirms that a U.S. promotional tour for its A400M airlifter is being seriously considered, and that a 2012 date has not been ruled out. In a preview of its intentions, the company displayed a model of an A400M with a U.S. Air Force logo at the Association of the U.S. Army symposium in Washington this week. Civil certification, due around the end of this year, would make such a tour possible. The key question might be timing. Any demonstration tour would have to be arranged without affecting preparations for service entry.
Top Aerospace & Defense Programs 2011-2020, Top 25 Aerospace & Defense Programs in terms of Total Value of Production,2011-2020, (in 2011 Dollars) Top Aerospace & Defense Programs 2011-2020, Top 25 Aerospace & Defense Programs in terms of Total Value of Production, 2011-2020, (in 2011 Dollars) Manufacturer Program 2011-2020
The most near-term threat to Boeing’s KC-46 tanker program could be a significant funding shortfall if the government operates through the end of the year with a continuing resolution, in which fiscal 2012 moves forward with only fiscal 2011 funding levels approved.
Top Aerospace & Defense Programs 2011-2020: Military Spacecraft Top Aerospace & Defense Programs 2011-2020: Military Spacecraft Military Spacecraft Top 10 Programs Per Category In Terms Of Total Value Of Production -- 2011-2020 (In 2011 Dollars) Manufacturer
LONDON — Northrop Grumman has decided to forego exhibiting at next year’s Farnborough air show in the U.K. The move comes as the company tries to control costs in light of anticipated defense spending cuts in the U.S., the company’s largest market. U.S. manufacturers have curtailed their show presence at Farnborough and its French counterpart event at Le Bourget in recent years, citing the high costs linked to attending those events. Boeing’s defense operation, for instance, limited the executives attending the Paris air show this year to a minimum.
While big-bucks programs may get the headlines, daily U.S. Navy operations are also coming under scrutiny, says Adm. Jonathan Greenert, chief of naval operations. “We’ve got to get a culture of judiciousness,” Greenert said Oct. 13 during opening remarks at the 2011 Naval Energy Forum in Washington. “We need judiciousness in everything we do.” The Navy, he says, has lost that culture over the past decade and can no longer afford to squander its resources. “There’s no new money coming,” he warns.
HOUSTON — Appearing before a House oversight panel this week, NASA’s chief human spaceflight official and two of the agency’s independent safety experts endorsed Russian efforts to investigate and recover from the Aug. 24 loss of a Soyuz rocket without forcing an evacuation of the six-person International Space Station.
CHINOOK PROBE: U.S. Central Command’s investigation into the Aug. 6 CH-47 Chinook crash in Wardak Province, Afghanistan, confirms the primary cause of the accident was an insurgent-fired rocket-propelled grenade strike to the aft rotor blade as the helicopter approached its combat landing zone.
HOUSTON — Virgin Galactic has named Michael Moses, NASA’s final shuttle launch integration manager, as vice president of operations at the company’s Spaceport America headquarters and launch site in New Mexico for commercial suborbital flights of SpaceShipTwo. In his new post, Moses will develop and lead the team responsible for Virgin Galactic spaceship operations and logistics, flight crew operations, customer training and spaceport ground operations. The former NASA flight director also will oversee operational safety and risk management.
Top Aerospace & Defense Programs 2011-2020: Expendable Launch Vehicles Top Aerospace & Defense Programs 2011-2020: Expendable Launch Vehicles Worldwide Expendable Launch Vehicles Top 10 Programs Per Category In Terms Of Total Value Of Production -- 2011-2020 (In 2011 Dollars)
It appears that defense budget pressures in the U.S. and Europe are starting to bite into profits — a reality reflected in midyear declines in the Aviation Week Top-Performing Companies (TPC) scores of several major defense contractors. Halfway through 2011, defense contractor Lockheed Martin maintained the top spot in the TPC study rankings for companies with annual revenues of more than $20 billion, but its TPC score dropped to 85 from 88 at the end of 2010. Raytheon and Northrop Grumman saw even bigger declines.
U.S. budget woes have claimed another victim — the required integration of the U.S. Navy’s proposed Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR) with its next planned Aegis combat system upgrade. The Navy is removing the engineering requirements to include its proposed AMDR as a “price competition line item” in the request for proposals (RFP) for the next round of Aegis capability upgrades, known as Advanced Capabilities Build (ACB) 16.
Ten years ago, the notion of transformation meant chasing new technological capabilities. But today, change for the military generally means preparing for cutbacks. On the verge of recommending more than $400 billion in budget reductions to the Pentagon over the next 10 years, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta tells the Association of the U.S. Army conference in Washington that he sees a smaller military in the future, facing a nontraditional battlespace.
LONDON — BAE Systems hopes to conclude by year’s end talks with Saudi Arabia on its purchase of Eurofighter Typhoons. In a trading update, BAE notes that the first batch of 24 Typhoons has now been delivered as part of Project Salam, finalized in 2007. At the time, plans called for final assembly to transition from Warton to Saudi Arabia. That is no longer on the agenda, although how exactly the rest of the program will unfold remains uncertain.
DEEPWATER: Despite recent comments by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) to the contrary, U.S. Coast Guard acquisition and recapitalization programs are being well-managed, says Rear Adm. John Korn, assistant commandant for acquisition. In recent congressional testimony, GAO has warned that “additional cost growth is looming” for the Coast Guard’s Deepwater modernization program because the service has yet to develop revised baselines for all assets. During an Oct.
Predictions from Capitol Hill on the possibility of a massive electronic attack on the U.S. and its allies are becoming dire, and include a claim that the military and Republican Guard forces of Iran have been practicing for the low-space detonation of a nuclear weapon.
NEW DELHI — India has successfully launched a new satellite, Megha-Tropiques, to study climatic and atmospheric changes in tropical regions. Produced jointly by India and France, the one-ton satellite was one of four spacecraft placed into orbit on Oct. 12 by the Indian Space Research Organization’s (ISRO) Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) from the launch pad near Sriharikota at the Satish Dhawan Space Center in southern India. The PSLV stood 44 meters (145 ft.) tall and weighed 230 tons at launch.
