Singapore is expected to issue a request for proposals next year for new logistics vehicles — trucks that can be readily adapted to unmanned operation. “It’s the first time we have seen that in an official bid document,” says Ron Ziebell, vice president for international programs at Oshkosh Defense.
SEVILLE, Spain — Airbus Military expects the remaining test flights for the Royal Australian Air Force’s A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) aircraft will be completed by early November, clearing the way for deliveries to begin before year’s end.
CAPE CANAVERAL — Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) is awaiting an FAA license to fly its Dragon capsule through the atmosphere, following launch on a Falcon 9 rocket targeted for Nov. 18 from Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla. The launch license was granted Oct. 15. The pending re-entry license will be the first ever issued by FAA, according to George Nield, FAA’s associate administrator for Commercial Space Transportation.
BETTER 2012: Nervous defense contractors may be heartened by a better-than-once-expected Fiscal 2012 defense budget request, according to Wall Street analysts at RBC Capital Markets, who say there may not be much in the way of immediate “savings” from Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ five-year, $101 billion cost-saving campaign. “Based on our conversations, we think the core budget request for FY12 will likely be roughly $550 billion, below the $560 billion expected in last year’s [five-year defense budget plan].
General Dynamics and Israel Military Industries are close to an agreement under which GD will market IMI’s Bright Arrow active protection system for armored vehicles, according to GD officials, and the system has just completed a round of tests in the U.S.
BRUSSELS — The European Commission (EC) has tapped a German-Italian team to operate the Galileo satellite navigation constellation. The €194 million ($268 million) award — the fourth for the deployment phase of Galileo, known as the full operating capability (FOC) — will ensure operation of Galileo space and ground assets through initial deployment, which starts in 2014. The initial operating capability will include 14 FOC satellites and four in-orbit validation (IOV) spacecraft currently in development.
Crews will have lived on board the International Space Station (ISS) continuously for 10 years as of Nov. 2, just barely surpassing the record set by Russia’s Mir orbital station.
General Dynamics reported $649 million in third-quarter earnings, up 12.9% from the same period in 2009, on the strength of its aerospace and defense businesses. The Aerospace and Combat Systems units drove margins growth up 12.1% for the quarter. “Margins remain strong across the corporation, and the quality of earnings was underscored by strong free cash flow,” CEO Jay Johnson says. Free cash flow for the quarter was $784 million, and the company has been repurchasing shares.
PARIS — EADS units Astrium and Eurocopter have struck two strategic agreements with Kazakhstan that will give them an industrial and engineering footprint in the big Central Asian country while allowing the Kazakhs to develop an indigenous aerospace capability. The agreements, part of a broad cooperation accord concluded by the two countries last year, were signed Oct. 26 during an official visit by President Nursultan Nazarbayev to Paris.
PARIS — Although the U.K. has not made missile defense a major topic of discussion in its strategic thinking, the government is throwing its support behind an expanded role in this field for the NATO alliance.
PARIS — The French defense ministry is aiming to award a contract by the end of the year to a team of Thales and Dassault to define the strategy for upgrading Atlantique 2 maritime patrol aircraft. The goal is to extend service life well past 2030, which will require airframe and systems improvements. The program is about two years behind schedule, as it has taken longer to define the plans and there has been a shortage of funding.
BRUSSELS — Italy’s Avio is urging Europe to develop a new variant of the Vega light launch vehicle that could provide a cheaper alternative for exploration missions beyond low Earth orbit. Pier Giuliano Lasagni, who heads Avio’s space division, told a European Union space conference here today that the rocket would carry a new upper stage equipped with Hall-effect electric thrusters, instead of the liquid propulsion upper stage that currently sits atop the vehicle.
PARIS — The Canadian defense ministry poorly projected the cost and complexity of two of its main helicopter modernization projects, leading to a large underestimation of project costs, Canada’s auditor general says in an Oct. 26 report.
With the U.S. Army poised this week to release the revamped request for proposals (RFP) for its $40 billion Ground Combat Vehicle (GCV) replacement program for the Bradley Fighting Vehicle, BAE Systems is still counting on its hybrid-drive design to win over buyers despite its perceived risks. The biggest risk factor, BAE officials say, will be the company’s success or failure in persuading the Army that the hybrid-drive system is proven technology that powers vehicles across a spectrum of industries.
The U.S. Marine Corps is looking into arming the small RQ-7 Shadow UAV, currently in use in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to Col. Gregory Gonzalez, Army program manager for unmanned aircraft systems. At the Association of the U.S. Army convention in Washington Oct. 26, Gonzalez said that while the Marines are still in the very early stages of obtaining the necessary permissions, if and when they move forward on the idea, his Army UAV shop will take the lead in development.
LONDON — The German navy is expected to receive the first telemetry versions of RBS15 Mk. 3 anti-ship missiles, with industry hoping the program will start to receive new orders. Germany and Poland are the lead customers for the missile, with Germany to operate the weapon from the K130 Corvette. But development problems with the ship mean the timing for the integration test shots remains in doubt, industry officials say. The Polish navy also will receive the missile for its Orkan-class corvettes.
NEW DELHI — Information technology services company Mahindra Satyam is scouting for partners to round out its capabilities in battle management systems, network-centric warfare, data fusion and electronic warfare.
HOUSTON — The International Space Station maneuvered early Oct. 26 to avoid a close pass from orbital debris identified as a piece of NASA’s decommissioned Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS). Station commander Doug Wheelock and the rest of the six-member U.S. and Russian crew carried on with normal activities during the 3-min. avoidance maneuver at 6:25 a.m. EDT. Ground-tracking radar indicated the debris could pass within 3,300 ft. of the station at about 8:41 a.m. EDT without the maneuver.
Senior Virginia Sen. Jim Webb (D) announced late Oct. 25 that he would hold up “all” Defense Department civilian and flag/general officer nominations until his request for data regarding defense staff levels has been satisfied. Webb and other members of the commonwealth’s delegation to Washington have been pressing the Pentagon for more justification behind its move to shut down U.S. Joint Forces Command, which besides being a combatant command is also a significant federal business provider in southeast Virginia.
LAKOTA FMS: U.S. Army officials are in “preliminary” discussions with some Middle East and Caribbean countries interested in the UH-72A Lakota light utility helicopter, although there are no active foreign military sales cases open, according to Col. L. Neil Thurgood, utility helo project manager, speaking Oct. 26 at the Association of the U.S. Army conference in Washington. EADS North America has delivered at least 133 of 345 planned Lakotas, and the program is on or possibly ahead of schedule, the colonel said.
