LONDON — Swiss aircraft maker Pilatus delivered strong performance last year in both the military and civil sectors, with the United Arab Emirates’ order for 25 PC-21s — deliveries are due to begin this year — and the Swiss air force placing a supplemental order for two more of the turboprops. The company is also planning to introduce a new general aviation aircraft next year and add workers this year to support its development. The PC-24 would augment the PC-12, which itself recently underwent a major upgrade into the PC-12NG.
GRENADE LAUNCHERS: As part of its $1 billion infantry modernization program, the Indian army is seeking to equip its infantry units with new, semi-automatic 40-mm magazine grenade launchers (MGLs). “India’s Ministry of Defense has invited bids from global firms for the acquisition of these weapons. We are looking to purchase around 1,500 units to be supplied within 12-16 months of signing the contract,” an official of the Indian defense ministry says. The official declined to release financial details.
The murky deal between the U.S. Navy and Air Force over who provides airborne electronic attack and from where is beginning to take form. The arrangement answers the sticky question of why the Next Generation Jammer (NGJ) is being put in an underwing pod that a stealthy aircraft cannot carry without making itself vulnerable to radar.
RIO DE JANEIRO — U.S. Air Forces Southern (Afsouth) lists money for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) assets and exercises among its top unfunded needs. Speaking on the sidelines of the LAAD Defense & Security exhibition here April 12, Lt. Gen. Glenn Spears, Afsouth commander, says ISR assets — both manned and unmanned — are high on his priority list to support U.S. Southern Command requirements.
LOS ANGELES — Lockheed Martin is studying “good candidates” for initial airframe weight savings of 100 lb., plus an additional 100 lb. in added engine thrust as part of plans to increase vertical-lift bring-back margin on the F-35B short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing (Stovl) variant.
MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — Forget insourcing; “affordability” is preoccupying the U.S. military maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) mind-set, according to the sentiment at Aviation Week’s Military MRO conference this week. “What we’re after is moving toward judgments based on affordability,” says John Johns, assistant deputy undersecretary of defense for maintenance. “That is a huge change.”
RIO DE JANEIRO — Embraer and Elbit Systems’ AEL Sistemas are setting up a joint venture to develop unmanned aircraft for the Brazilian market. Embraer will have a 51% share in the yet-to-be-named business. As part of the deal, Embraer also could take a minority equity stake in AEL, although the size of the holding has not been set, says Luis Carlos Aguiar, president of Embraer Defense & Security. Also still to be defined is how the board of directors will be set up and who will choose the CEO of the new business.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Fresh from an inflight demonstration on the Prisma orbiting testbed, the Swedish Space Corp. group of companies — rebranded as SSC — is offering its non-toxic satellite propulsion technology worldwide as a way to simplify spacecraft ground handling.
RIO DE JANEIRO — The Brazilian army has begun flight trials using a small, tactical unmanned aircraft to develop its doctrine for operational use of the system. Flight trials began late last year near Sao Paulo, says a Brazilian army officer. The goal is to work out the doctrine to support artillery operations at the division level within the next year or two, he notes.
FORT WASHINGTON, Md. — The U.S. Navy will hold contractors to increasingly higher performance standards as it decides whether to grant or continue contracts, according to Sean Stackley, assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition. The Navy will grade performance “at the corporate level,” Stackley said April 13 during his luncheon speech at the 2011 Navy League Sea-Air-Space Symposium and Exhibition here.
SAN FRANCISCO — U.S. Air Force hypersonic test team members say the recent aborted attempt to launch the second X-51A WaveRider had to be scrubbed because the vehicle did not release from the B-52H mothership. The hang-up of the 25-ft.-long stack on March 24, comprising the X-51A and its rocket booster, caused “tense moments” on the ground and in the air, according to test observers.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The U.S. Air Force and Lockheed Martin have completed fueling the first Space-Based Infrared System (Sbirs) satellite, which is expected to launch May 6. About 5,000 lb. of fuel was added to the satellite, which is based on Lockheed Martin’s A2100 design. The process took place April 8-11, says Jeff Smith, who oversees the program for the company.
SAN FRANCISCO — First ground tests of a complete engine for a Franco-Russian Mach 8 hypersonic test vehicle are being planned following the resumption of funding.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) will not include a target-acquisition sensor in its forthcoming missile-tracking satellites, as part of an effort to streamline the system and control costs. The agency’s new design for its next space-based missile-tracking system will be simpler than the two Northrop Grumman Space Tracking and Surveillance System (STSS) satellites now conducting a demonstration in space, according to MDA and industry officials.
Northrop Grumman has proven the increased duration of gallium nitride-based high-power transmit/receive (T/R) modules — a development that could pay dividends in the company’s efforts to secure major military radar-related contracts, including the U.S. Navy’s Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR).
TOUGH ON DEFENSE: President Barack Obama has pledged to make $400 billion in future defense spending cuts as part of his plans to reduce the national deficit by $4 trillion over the next 12 years. “Just as we must find more savings in domestic programs, we must do the same in defense,” Obama says. According to the White House, the savings will be spread between now and 2023. Obama says he will provide specifics after a comprehensive review with Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
TORNADO STRIKE: The Royal Air Force (RAF) has completed the first air-to-ground strike with the Eurofighter Typhoon. The mission took place April 12 as part of combat operations in Libya. One Typhoon was flying with a Tornado GR4 when the two engaged ground targets near Misratah. The Typhoon employed an Enhanced Paveway II and the Tornado used a Paveway IV. It marks the first air-to-ground operational strike of any Typhoon operator.
GROWTH MARKETS: Governments around the world are increasingly looking for military sustainment solutions beyond traditional MRO, such as for total management of supply chains, according to speakers at Aviation Week’s MRO Military conference in Miami. Hal Chrisman, a principal at AeroStrategy, points to the deal between Japan’s Self-Defense Force and Sojitz Aerospace. The move comes as Western and allied nations face a combination of budget pressures and high-cost, complex weapons systems.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — United Launch Alliance (ULA) is due for a break in the price of its upper-stage engines, if rocket-engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne (PWR) is able to convert excess RL-10 engines designed for the Delta IV into a configuration that can fly on the Atlas V. Steven Bouley, vice president for launch vehicle and hypersonic systems, says the company is preparing to modify RL-10B2 variants into a new type dubbed the RL-10C1 that will fit the Atlas V. Currently the big Atlas uses the RL-10A4 variant.
The U.S. Air Force’s high-flying Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle has exceeded its cost projections by at least 25% in per-unit cost, triggering a notification to Congress that the program has breached the Nunn-McCurdy program monitoring statute for the second time.
The U.S. Congress this week will consider a spending bill negotiated by the White House and congressional leadership to fund the government for the rest of fiscal 2011 that ends funding for the Joint Strike Fighter’s F136 alternate engine made by General Electric/Rolls-Royce (GE/RR). In the bill, the Defense Department receives $513 billion plus $157.8 billion for war expenses, according to the Senate Appropriations Committee — $2 billion less than what the House had agreed to earlier in the year.
MIAMI BEACH, fla. — U.S. Navy “resource providers” are concerned about the financial constraints of the long-term performance-based logistics (PBL) arrangement for the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, says the one-star commander of the service’s Fleet Readiness Centers (FRC).
FORT WASHINGTON, Md. — A U.S. Naval Sea Systems team is reviewing possible design changes and requirements for the DDG-51 Arleigh Burke destroyer that would enhance its ability to perform ballistic missile defense (BMD) missions, according to an official with shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII).
