The Electric Boat unit of General Dynamics this week started building the yet-unnamed SSS-787 Virginia-class attack submarine — the 13th vessel of the class and the second to begin construction this year. This is the first time in 22 years the Navy is building two same-class subs in the same year, the service notes. The Navy pursued the two-per-year sub-building contracts to help curb costs and cut construction times. Electric Boat won the $1.2 billion construction contract in April.
The U.S. Navy is to award Northrop Grumman a contract to supply 28 MQ-8C Fire Scout “rapid deployment capability” (RDC) vertical-takeoff-and-landing unmanned aircraft using the larger Bell 407 helicopter airframe to increase endurance and payload. The notice of intent says the RDC aircraft are to be fielded by the first quarter of 2014 to meet an urgent operational requirement. The Navy has said the “endurance upgrade” Fire Scout is needed to support special operations.
ROCKETDYNE M&A: United Technologies has received potential buyer interest for its rocket engine business, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, and is considering a range of strategic options including a sale of the business, says the president of Pratt & Whitney. David Hess, head of the United Technologies subsidiary, told the Reuters Aerospace and Defense Summit in Washington this week that the end of the U.S.
With the focus on Capitol Hill sharply pointed at deficit reduction, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) is staking out turf as a defender of the Pentagon’s billions. Rep. Buck McKeon’s (R-Calif.) recommendation to the so-called “super committee” tasked with wringing $1.2 trillion from government spending is: “Leave us alone.” Rather than outline a figure of what defense hawks can live with, the armed services committee will be providing information about the effects of possible reductions.
HOUSTON — NASA’s dwindling astronaut ranks may leave the agency unable to adequately live up to its staffing commitments aboard the International Space Station and put a half-century of U.S. human spaceflight experience in jeopardy, according a former NASA associate administrator and chairman of a new National Research Council report on the astronaut corps in the post-shuttle era.
In the wake of taking delivery of its third National Security Cutter (NSC)—the WMSL-752 Stratton—the U.S. Coast Guard saw the Senate Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee approve fiscal year 2012 legislation that includes $1.4 billion for more cutter spending and additional acquisitions, but calls for greater financial oversight by lawmakers.
PARIS — Hispasat will launch its Amazonas-3 telecommunications satellite atop an Ariane 5 rocket in late 2012 or early 2013, the Spanish commercial satellite fleet operator announced Sept. 7. Built by Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) of Palo Alto, Calif., Amazonas-3 is designed to provide 14 kw of power through the end of its 15-year design life. Arianespace will launch the satellite from Europe’s space center in Kourou, French Guiana, into Hispasat’s orbital slot at 61 deg. W. Long. for broadcasts in the Americas and Europe.
While the U.S. Coast Guard is becoming more adept at its missions, the service still can do a better job of buying its ships and other equipment, a recent U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report says. The Coast Guard suffers from the same “limited strategic and program planning” approaches for assessment and evaluation as other parts of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), GAO says in its report, released this week.
LONDON — The U.K. defense industry will gain at least 15% of the value of F-35 Joint Strike Fighter production work, even as the country’s own plans for how many of the stealth fighters to buy remain ill defined.
LOCKHEED M&A: Faced with worries about shrinking U.S. military spending and weak share prices as a result, the world’s largest defense contractor, Lockheed Martin, will host a board meeting later this month to discuss improving investor returns — including share buybacks, dividends and acquisitions — CEO Robert Stevens told the Reuters Aerospace and Defense Summit in Washington this week. Acquisitions will play a part, but the company is cautious about overpaying for assets, Stevens told Reuters.
LONDON — Turkey is making good on its commitment to explore the feasibility of developing its own fighter aircraft, with the government signing off on a two-year study contract. Government-owned Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) also is looking at potential jet trainer conceptual designs. The deal was signed by TAI and procurement and industrial agency SSM.
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The U.S. Navy Program Executive Office for Integrated Warfare Systems (PEO IWS) will now acquire MK 41 Vertical Launching System (VLS) launcher module mechanical structures for fiscal 2010-12 directly from the subcontractor and assume the role of major systems integrator, the Navy acknowledged Sept. 1. The PEO IWS is making the change to “gain efficiencies” with the program, the Navy said in a statement.
SINGAPORE — Cambodia’s government plans to buy the Harbin Z-9, a military utility helicopter from China. The contract between China and Cambodia has been signed, but it is “an open contract because there are some terms and conditions” that have to be fulfilled before the sale is completed, says a senior official from China’s Avic, who is familiar with the situation. Avic is the parent company of Harbin Aircraft, which manufactures the Z-9.
ARMY Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., Stratford, Conn., was awarded a $265,646,071 firm-fixed-price contract. The award will provide for the procurement of 22 UH-60M aircraft and one HH-60M aircraft. The work will be performed in Stratford, with an estimated completion date of March 31, 2013. One bid was solicited, with one bid received. The U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., is the contracting activity (W58RGZ-08-C-0003).
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Virgin Galactic’s chief test pilot has flown the WhiteKnightTwo (WK2) carrier aircraft for the first time as part of the buildup to the start of rocket-powered test flights for the SpaceShipTwo suborbital passenger vehicle.
NEW DELHI — The Indian Air Force (IAF) lost yet another MiG-21 fighter jet in a crash Sept. 6, nearly a week after the chief of the service announced that only experienced pilots will be allowed to fly the Soviet-era aircraft starting next year. The combat aircraft crashed when the rookie pilot was on a routine training sortie in northern India’s Punjab province. The pilot bailed out safely.
LONDON — With the U.K. government still debating its defense industrial white paper, there are increasing calls from industry for clarity, particularly when it comes to the science and technology (S&T) program. Without that planning guidance, “the biggest issue today is you don’t know what is on and what is off,” making it hard to make workforce decisions, says Qinetiq CEO Leo Quinn. He urges the government to devise “a coherent S&T policy,” warning that “you can’t just take a capability holiday.”
HOUSTON — Soyuz missions to the International Space Station with new crewmembers, stalled by the Aug. 24 loss of the Russian 44 Progress resupply mission, are tentatively scheduled to resume in late October and early November, according to NASA.
