Bharat Electronics Ltd. (BEL) Chairman A.K. Datt says the company is confident of securing orders worth $15 billion in the growing vacuum electronics market. “This is a very critical technology, used in small numbers,” Datt said Feb. 21. “Once we meet the demands of our internal customers, we are sure of exporting high-power microwave vacuum electronic devices [VEDs].”
LONDON — U.K. Defense Secretary Liam Fox has vowed to establish quarterly reviews of major acquisition efforts in a bid to stem perpetual cost overruns. The Major Projects Board, to be headed by the state secretary, initially will scrutinize the top 20 projects and then expand that effort to the top 50. “Where projects are falling behind schedule or budget, we must take immediate remedial measures,” Fox says.
PARIS — Boeing Space & Intelligence Systems has created a new unit to market commercial satellite services to the U.S. government and other satellite users. The BSIS entity is intended to enable the company to take advantage of hot government demand around the world for satellite services, especially for communications, where demand is outstripping supply, says Craig Cooning, BSIS vice president and general manager. It will employ 30-40 people and eventually will be headquartered in Washington to be near its target customer base.
Lockheed Martin has taken the top spot away from BAE Systems in the list of top global arms providers, according to the latest list provided by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri). The data reflects business activities in 2009 and show both Lockheed Martin and BAE Systems recording more than $33 billion in sales. Overall, Sipri says arms sales were up in 2009 over the prior year, reaching $401 billion ($14.8 billion above the 2008 level).
SAO JOSE DOS CAMPOS, Brazil — Embraer has unveiled the first of three EMB-145s ordered by India’s Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) as testbeds for an indigenously developed airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) system. The first aircraft, equipped with the antenna structure for the phased-array radar under development by DRDO’s Bengalaru-based Center for Air Borne Systems (CABS), will be flight tested at Embraer before its scheduled delivery to India in August.
LONDON — Brazil is looking at a 26.5% cut in defense spending, with acquisition programs largely unaffected, the Brazilian government says. The projected reduction in defense outlays will not necessarily affect the F-X2 fighter competition pitting the Boeing F/A-18E/F against the Dassault Rafale and Saab Gripen.
ARMY LORD Corporation, Erie , Pa. , was awarded a $13,152,000 firm-fixed-price contract on Feb. 14, 2011. The award will provide for at least 2,400 UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters. The work will be performed in Erie , with an estimated completion date of Jan. 31, 2016. Two bids were solicited with two bids received. The U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal , Ala. , is the contracting activity (W58RGZ-11-D-0108).
LONDON — Continued unease about Defense Ministry program management and decisions made in its recent defense review is driving the U.K. parliament to ask the government to spell out, by the end of April, the full implications of last year’s Strategic Defense and Security Review (SDSR).
After trailing in the funding wake of aircraft programs for more than a decade, major U.S. Navy shipbuilding programs are picking up enough steam in the service’s fiscal 2012 budget request to keep them on a steady course through the rest of the decade.
ARMY Raytheon, Dallas, Texas, was awarded on Feb. 11 a $68,680,036 firm-fixed-price indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quality contract. The award will provide for the purchase of 9,001 thermal weapon systems. The work will be performed in Dallas , with an estimated completion date of June 30, 2012. Three bids were solicited with three bids received. The U.S. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md. , is the contracting activity (W91CRB-07-D-0029). AIR FORCE
A&D M&A: Aerospace and defense (A&D) sector merger and acquisition (M&A) activity is set to improve this year after the grueling global recession, according to the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) A&D practice group. “We believe that the overall level of aerospace and defense M&A activity will continue to grow for a number of reasons,” says Scott Thompson, PwC’s U.S. A&D leader.
SPACE WAR: The Obama administration’s new NASA budget request sets up a conflict with lawmakers who ordered faster work on government-built vehicles and less emphasis on commercial travel to low Earth orbit. The request does not keep the six-year pace set for a new heavy-lift launch vehicle in the three-year NASA authorization enacted in December, and Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) quickly threw down the gauntlet. “The president’s budget does not follow the bipartisan NASA law Congress passed late last year,” he says.
ORLANDO, Fla. — The U.S. Air Force is planning to announce a winner for its KC-X aerial replacement tanker competition as soon as this week, according to numerous industry and military officials. The service is expecting a protest from the losing bidder, and has prepared for this likely eventuality. The decade-long tanker replacement effort has been marred by scandal, bid protests, award reversal and, most recently, a data swap mishap that saw bidders receiving their competitor’s information. A decision could happen as soon as Friday, Feb. 25.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) feb. 23 - 24 — UBM Asia-Pacific Aerospace’s Aircraft and Engine Financing and leasing Conference, Goodwood Park hotel, Singapore. For more information go to www.asiaaircraftfinanceandleasing.com feb. 23 - 25 — AUSA Winter 2011, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. For more information go to www.ausa.org
ORBITAL BIRD: Orbital Sciences Corp. has been selected to supply a new communications satellite to SES World Skies. SES-8, equipped with 33 Ku-band transponders and intended to provide growth capacity to India and Southeast Asia, is expected to be lofted in the first quarter of 2013 to 95 deg. E. and could be followed by a larger spacecraft at a later date, according to SES Chairman/CEO Romain Bausch.
ORLANDO, Fla. — The U.S. Air Force is not seeking funding to push the technological edge in military space projects, setting the stage for potentially more fixed-price contracts with companies already struggling to make money in this business.
ORLANDO, Fla. — The U.S Air Force is proposing to use the Economy Act—which allows government to take unconventional actions to balance the federal budget—to bypass a competition and sole-source the Common Vertical Lift Support Program (CVLSP) helicopter in the fiscal 2012 budget request sent to Capitol Hill on Feb. 14.
In observance of the U.S. Presidents’ Day holiday, Aerospace Daily & Defense Report will not publish an issue on Feb. 22. The next issue will be dated Feb. 23.
HIGH RISK: With budget growth slowing or even falling flat in coming years, the Pentagon must get better value for its weapon system spending and find ways to deliver necessary capability to combat personnel for less than it has spent in the past, congressional auditors declare in the latest update of their high-risk assessment of federal spending initiatives.
NEW DELHI — As India gears up for its first human spaceflight mission in 2017, work is ongoing at the Bengaluru-based Institute of Aerospace Medicine to upgrade facilities and equipment for training astronauts, including simulators and environmental chambers. The institute has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), which is outsourcing the training to it.
DEPOT DILEMMA: Congress has not coordinated with the Pentagon to maintain a “ready and controlled source” of depot maintenance, and this lack of oversight combined with decreased war funding in the next few years will lead to a reduction in depot maintenance and possible reductions in funding for depot maintenance requirements, according to a new report from consulting firm LMI.
