Pentagon acquisition chief Ashton Carter has sliced 11 Block 30 Global Hawks from the planned buy of 42, further reducing the total number of the aircraft in the project only months after the U.S. Air Force cut 11 from the Block 40 program.
LONDON — The U.K. Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has cleared the way for the West Wales unmanned aircraft center to begin overland operations in segregated airspace. It is the first time that permission has been granted by the U.K. regulator and could clear the way for the Qinetiq-run business to pursue commercial business from government and industry.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA tested the modified fuel tank for space shuttle Atlantis’s upcoming launch to the International Space Station (ISS) at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) on June 15, as preparations continued toward a July 8 liftoff for the 135th and final mission of NASA’s space shuttle program.
LONDON — BAE Systems has dropped plans to bid its Hawk advanced jet trainer in Poland’s training system competition after heavily courting the country. The decision was made after Poland formally released its request for proposals for 16 trainers. BAE Systems decided the high-end performance Poland was looking for did not suit its Hawk 128/T2 offering. Polish officials have indicated they also want the aircraft to have light-attack capabilities. The aircraft also is to serve as a lead-in trainer for Poland’s new F-16 fleet.
COMPETITION SENSITIVE: The U.S. Navy awarded a detail design and construction contract June 15 to Huntington Ingalls Industries for DDG-113, the first ship to be procured as part of the restarted DDG-51 Arleigh Burke-class acquisition program. But the contract amount was not released “because there is a forthcoming competitive solicitation for additional DDG-51-class ships” and the price “is considered source selection information,” the Navy contends.
NEW DELHI — India has signed its agreement with the U.S. government to acquire 10 Boeing C-17 Globemaster III airlifters, clearing the way for the contract to be signed in the next few months. The deal, under the government-to-government Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program, would establish India as the largest international customer of the C-17.
As the Defense Department refurbishes various ground vehicles battered by duty in Iraq while deploying more for the conflict in Afghanistan, the combined expenses for those programs continue to dominate Pentagon procurement.
NASA engineers at Stennis Space Center may conduct a brief hot-fire test of the first J-2X development upper-stage rocket engine next week, after installing it in historic Test Stand A2 at the Mississippi facility on June 11.
NEW DELHI — India successfully test-fired a short-range nuclear-capable Prithvi-II missile on June 9 from a testing range in Chandipur in the eastern state of Orissa. The indigenously developed surface-to-surface missile with a range of 350 km (220 mi.) was launched as part of a regular training exercise of the Indian armed forces, a senior defense ministry official says.
Top Pentagon Expenses in 2010 Top Pentagon Expenses in 2010 Type Of Expense Number Of Contracts Or Modifications Total Amount Obligated Amount Per Transaction Engineering And Technical Services 20,012 $8,344,735,741 $
Honeywell is acquiring EMS Technologies, an Atlanta-based network and satellite communications company, for $491 million, and the deal is expected to close in the third quarter of this year.
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Congress should soon consider a sixth national security cutter (NSC) for the U.S. Coast Guard, according to Rep. Candice Miller (R-Mich.), chair of the House Homeland Security subcommittee on border and maritime security. “It is something we may want to press in the [upcoming] authorization bill,” Miller said June 14 during a hearing on securing U.S. ports and maritime borders.
REDUCE USE: The Pentagon’s new energy strategy paper for the first time outlines a way to reduce the department’s $15 billion annual energy bill. Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn says the Pentagon is spending 225% more on fuel than it did a decade ago, and that given the coming federal budget crunch, it needs to both diversify its energy sources and reduce use.
Lockheed Martin plans to lay off 1,200 workers in its Space Systems division by the end of the year, with sites in Denver, Sunnyvale, Calif., and Pennsylvania’s Delaware Valley region to be hardest hit. The layoffs amount to 7.5% of the 16,000-strong Space Systems workforce, which is spread out over 12 states. “It is anticipated that middle management will be reduced by 25 percent, with significantly smaller percentage impacts in other levels and disciplines,” the company says in an announcement.
Pentagon spending is starting to reflect the strains of waging battles in one war zone, exiting another and refurbishing equipment used in both efforts, according to an Aerospace DAILY analysis of Defense Department contract transactions for 2010. The analysis shows that Pentagon expenses such as “engineering and technical services” and “logistics and support services” supplanted fixed-wing aircraft contracts as the leading defense expenditures last year. (See chart p. 6.)
LONDON and MESA, Ariz. — Thales and Boeing have begun to demonstrate the ability of the Unmanned Little Bird (ULB) rotorcraft to land on a moving platform, as part of a French government-funded technology demonstration effort.
The House Appropriations Committee on June 14 approved a $649 billion bill to fund the Defense Department and the war in Afghanistan for fiscal 2012, adding a vote of confidence for the nation’s most expensive weapon system – the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
NEW DELHI — The U.S. Ambassador to India is hailing India’s decision to buy 10 Boeing C-17 aircraft for $4.1 billion, saying the procurement will would boost ties between the countries and sustain 23,000 American jobs. “This sale captures the mutual benefits of the U.S.-India global partnership. For India, the sale adds strategic and humanitarian muscle to its defense needs,” outgoing U.S. Ambassador Timothy Roemer said in a statement last week.
ARMY AeroVironment Inc., Monrovia, Calif., was awarded on June 6 a $13,113,191 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract. The award will provide for the modification of an existing contract to confirm Puma unmanned aircraft systems training and contractor logistics support. The work will be performed in Simi Valley, Calif., and Kandahar, Afghanistan, with an estimated completion date of Oct. 14, 2011. One bid was solicited, with one bid received. The U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., is the contracting activity (W58RGZ-11-C-0004).
