ARMY EOIR Technologies Inc., Fredericksburg, Va., was awarded an $83,750,574 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract. The award will provide for the maintenance and logistics support for the Constant Hawk-Afghanistan and light detection and ranging aircraft. The work will be performed in Fredericksburg, with an estimated completion date of June 26, 2012. One bid was solicited, with one bid received. The U.S. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., is the contracting activity (W15P7T-11-C-H001).
OFF AND RUNNING: A former U.S. Marine and analyst with a K-Street think tank is heading outside the Beltway, hoping the citizens of Oklahoma will send him back to Washington as a Republican member of Congress in 2013. Sept. 30 was retired Lt. Col. Dakota Wood’s last day as a land and irregular warfare expert for the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. He formally kicks off his campaign Oct. 6. During his time in the Marine Corps, Wood conducted defense, policy and political analysis.
NEW DELHI — The Indian air force (IAF) soon will place a follow-on order for six C-130J medium-lift transport aircraft, says Air Chief Marshal Norman Anil Kumar Browne. “Talks with the U.S. government and Lockheed Martin for the new batch of aircraft are on, and the order is expected to be placed by January 2012,” Browne says. In January 2008, the IAF signed a deal for six C-130Js for about $1.1 billion. Deliveries started in December 2010; five have arrived so far.
LONDON — China has been one of Russia’s best export customers for weapons, but it is a relationship neither side feels entirely comfortable with. One example is that China bought Russian fighters — strengthening relations — then built copies of them, which created tensions between Beijing and Moscow.
THAI CONTRACT: Saab has secured a 104 million Swedish kronor ($15.2 million) contract from the Thai government to continue work on the country’s air command and control system. The deal is part of a larger agreement with the Royal Thai Air Force that has included the purchase of 12 Gripen fighters — six have been delivered — and one Saab 340-based airborne early warning system. The contract extension will see Saab continue to work on the air force’s command and control architecture through 2013.
LONDON — When defense ministers from NATO member states meet this week in Brussels, missile defense will be on the agenda. And while concrete decisions are not expected, Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen hopes to be ready to declare some meaningful progress next year.
NEW DELHI — The Indian navy is scouting for military helicopters to succeed its anti-submarine and troop-carrying Sea King and airborne early warning Kamov helicopters. The initial process began with a request for information that was released a couple of months back, Indian navy spokesman Commander P. Satish tells Aviation Week. The navy also is planning to refurbish its current fleet of Sea Kings and Kamovs. “The Indian navy’s fleet of helicopters is relatively old; hence it is due for [upgrading] and replacement,” Satish says.
Though the U.S. Marine Corps’ Harrier fleet is expected to last until 2024, the service is in talks with the U.K. to purchase its aircraft to provide parts to keep the AV-8B flying until the delayed Lockheed Martin F-35 enters service. Lt. Gen. Terry Robling, the Marine Corps commandant for aviation, says his main concern for the Harrier fleet is parts obsolescence, especially for the avionics and mission computers. The Harrier was originally built by McDonnell Douglas, which has since been bought by Boeing.
If and when U.S. House and Senate appropriators get around to finalizing fiscal 2012 defense appropriations, history shows the two chambers will have a lot to work out even if deficits and elections were not further complicating efforts. An Aviation Week Intelligence Network review of standing House and Senate defense spending bills shows that between them, appropriators changed one-third of the lines in the Pentagon’s research and procurement budgets, for instance. Yet the chambers agreed on the change only 5% of the time. (See chart below.)
United Space Alliance has received a $49.4 million, yearlong extension under its NASA Space Program Operations Contract at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., to maintain and upgrade launch facilities for future use by commercial and agency spacecraft. The agreement, in force through Sept. 30, 2012, also specifies modifications to the Vehicle Assembly Building, Launch Pad 39B and Crawler Transporter 2 as part of NASA’s 21st Century Ground Systems initiative.
LONDON — Thales’ Watchkeeper unmanned aircraft program and BAE Systems’ Falcon communications effort have made enough progress to avoid being among the first to be put on the U.K. defense ministry’s new Projects of Concern list, but the Valiant Jetty failed to dodge the political bullet.
LONDON — Brazil is starting to introduce upgraded P-3AM Orion anti-submarine warfare aircraft to its fleet after a 15-year gap in ASW capability. The first upgraded P-3 is being inducted into service on Sept. 30. The Brazilian government bought 12 aircraft and nine are being upgraded by Airbus Military, including installation of the Fully Integrated Tactical System and improved avionics. Two of the nine aircraft have completed the process, the Brazilian air force says. The three remaining aircraft acquired from the U.S. will serve as spares.
HOUSTON — In a corporate first, Lockheed Martin brought examples of its wide-ranging technology to Johnson Space Center this past week in an effort to promote its skills as NASA embarks upon a fiscally constrained but no less technically challenging new era of human space exploration.
With federal deficit-reduction efforts in full swing, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan drawing to a close, and a history as the U.S. military’s back bench, the National Guard could easily return to postwar oblivion. But in this post-9/11 austerity era, the hybrid military group’s supporters have a different, much stronger future in mind, and now they seem on the cusp of achieving it.
HELO TURBULENCE: Ongoing talks over what defense programs to delay or kill as U.S. leaders debate a debt-reduction plan are starting to take their toll. The Air Force is notifying contractors that its planned release of a draft request for proposals for the Common Vertical Lift Support Platform, which will replace aging nuclear support and executive transport Hueys, has been delayed indefinitely from its expected release in early September.
TURKISH WHEELS: The Turkish defense procurement agency, SSM, has formally begun the competition to procure 27 units for its amphibious assault vehicle (AAV) program. Potential bidders have until Oct. 7 to formally apply to receive the request for information protocols, and have until Nov. 28 to respond. SSM plans to buy, on behalf of the Turkish naval forces command, 27 armored amphibious assault vehicles. Of these, 21 will serve as AAV- personnel, three as AAV-recovery and three as AAV-command.
PARIS — NASA’s inability to commit to a two-pronged mission to Mars with the European Space Agency mid-decade has left ESA looking for a ride to the red planet in 2016.
MADRID — With the in-service date for the Airbus Military A400M now set for no later than March 2013 for lead customer France, the country is working to lock in its initial support agreement for the military transport. France and the U.K. have agreed to work together on supporting the airlifter, but because the French air force gets the aircraft about 18 months ahead of the Royal Air Force, a first increment contract will be signed to cover that period, according to Stephan Miegel, Airbus Military’s head of A400M customer services.
Production of aviation biofuels from grasses, crop residues and forest resources is the focus of $136 million in research and development grants awarded to five projects by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Funded under the USDA’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative, the university-led, five-year projects aim to develop regional renewable-energy supply chains, creating rural jobs while commercializing the production of sustainable biofuels.
LONDON — In a bid to foster the growth of its defense industrial base, the Brazilian government has authorized a new scheme aimed at reducing the tax burden on companies to foster accelerated technological advancement. On Sept. 29, President Dilma Rousseff signed the new policy, which was drafted by a number of government organizations, including the defense and industry ministries.
The U.S. is trying to strengthen its military ties with China, but stressed geopolitical relationships and related tensions are making it difficult to maintain bonds between the two countries, according to a Congressional Research Service (CRS) report.“U.S. officials have faced challenges in cooperation from the PLA [People’s Liberation Army],” the CRS says. The PLA has blamed “obstacles” including arms sales to Taiwan, legal restrictions on contacts, and the Pentagon’s reports to Congress on the PLA.
HARVEST HAWK: The U.S. Marine Corps Harvest Hawk quick-reaction weaponization kit for its C-130 refuelers has taken down 18 Taliban fighters, says Lt. Gen. Terry Robling, aviation commandant. This quick-reaction kit features wing-mounted Hellfires, a targeting pod and ramp-launched Griffin weapons. Marines have fired fewer Griffins than Hellfires because the former requires pilots to decrease altitude to depressurize the cabin. Fifty-two Griffins have been fired from the Harvest Hawk in Afghanistan, Robling says. Two kits have been delivered with a third in build.
PARIS — An International Launch Services (ILS) Proton M/Breeze M rocket launched the QuetzSat-1 telecommunications satellite from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, releasing the SES spacecraft into geostationary transfer orbit following a 9-hr. 13-min. mission, the companies announced Sept. 30.
