SINGAPORE and BEIJING — Japan is planning to issue a request for proposals (RFP) in March for new fighter aircraft under its F-X program. The country plans to order about 50 aircraft to replace its fleet of McDonnell Douglas F-4EJs. Industry executives say the defense ministry is working to get the RFP out next month so there will be enough time to evaluate proposals from vendors and come to a decision this calendar year.
Amid a heated debate about federal deficits, national security and domestic employment, the U.S. House of Representatives voted against continuing the General Electric/Rolls-Royce F136 alternate engine for the Joint Strike Fighter midday Feb. 16.
The Russian military will deploy advanced air defenses and other reinforcements to the Kuril Islands just north of Japan’s northernmost main island of Hokkaido, according to a new report out of Russia. The weaponry will include the S-400 Triumf, according to RIA Novosti (the Russian International News Agency), quoting an unnamed high-ranking Russian General Staff official.
BENGALURU, India — BrahMos Aerospace chief A. Sivathanu Pillai says the joint Indian-Russian BrahMos supersonic cruise missile has “a firm order book of $10 billion for the next 10 years,” including weapons for both India and Russia.
Alternative ways of providing night-vision capability in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, at least initially, are being considered because of performance issues with the aircraft’s helmet-mounted display (HMD). Developed by Rockwell Collins and Elbit Systems’ joint venture, Vision Systems International (VSI), the visor-projected HMD is performing adequately in daylight flights but falling short of requirements in night-vision mode, says U.S. Navy Vice Adm. David Venlet, head of the JSF Joint Program Office (JPO).
BOTTOM LINE: U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is warning lawmakers that the Pentagon needs at least $540 billion in baseline funding for the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30, but that he knows it is unlikely the Defense Department will receive the full $549 billion it requested for fiscal 2011. The federal government, including the Defense Department, has been funded by an extension of 2010 appropriations since fiscal 2011 began Oct. 1, 2010.
Restructuring of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program dominates the U.S. Defense Department’s fiscal 2012 aircraft procurement plans, but disguises several adjustments as the Pentagon tries to reinvest savings in modernization. The U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps all see cuts following the Pentagon’s decision to reduce F-35 procurement by 124 aircraft over the fiscal 2012-16 future years defense plan (FYDP), in part to pay for a $4.6 billion increase in development costs.
PARIS — Additional charges and provisions for overruns on several big programs, including the Airbus Military A400M airlifter, drove down profits at Thales last year. However, orders were better than expected and the company now feels it has removed the uncertainties on the affected projects, positioning the company for a return to profitability.
CAPE CANAVERAL — Efforts to update infrastructure at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., to accommodate a mix of commercial and government rockets is off to a slow start under the Obama administration’s $18.7 billion spending plan for NASA for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1. The Florida spaceport would receive $128 million to kick off its 21st Century Launch Complex program and a total of $470 million over five years, the president’s new budget shows. Obama last year requested $500 million in 2012 and $1.9 billion over five years for the project.
The U.S. Defense Department has increased its baseline fiscal 2012 operations and maintenance (O&M) request by about $1 billion, as well as shifted $19 billion from the shrinking overseas contingency operations (OCO) account into the baseline account. According to budget documents released Feb. 14, the $295.2 billion requested in O&M funding for 2012 includes a baseline budget request of $204.4 billion and an OCO request of $90.8 billion.
The U.S. Navy sees its SSBN(X) ballistic missile submarine replacement fleet basically as an improved model of the current SSBN boats leveraging Virginia-class sub advancements and refined construction methods. “The initial plan is for 16 tubes, a new-design reactor plant, [and] similar antennas and design to the Trident- and Virginia-class submarine,” Rear Adm. Joe Mulloy, deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for budget, said Feb. 14 during his briefing on the service’s fiscal 2012 budget proposal.
BENGALURU, India — The Indian air force (IAF) has begun preparations to form the first Tejas Light Combat Aircraft squadron here. The No. 45 Sqdn. will be known as the Flying Daggers (the same as MiG-21/MiG-21BIS squadron). Air Cmdr. B.R. Krishna, chief test pilot at the Aircraft Systems Testing Establishment (ASTE), tells Aviation Week that ASTE has identified two pilots to fly the Tejas as part of the IAF’s user evaluation, following the initial operational clearance (IOC) granted on Jan. 10.
HOUSTON — An installation-by-installation look at the proposed 2012 NASA budget reveals that Johnson Space Center in Houston is perched high atop the financial pyramid, where it can expect to manage nearly $5 billion, or just more than 25%, of the agency’s spending. Most of the Texas funding, nearly $3.3 billion, will go for space operations to sustain the International Space Station, the human activity that seems to have the greatest domestic bipartisan as well as global backing; the tail end of shuttle operations; and some commercial support.
PARIS — EchoStar Corp. has agreed to acquire Hughes Communications in a move that will recast the battle for control of the fast-growing broadband satellite service sector. The transaction for around $2 billion — including the refinancing of Hughes debt — was announced Feb. 14. It will give EchoStar control of Hughes’s main operating company, Hughes Network Systems (HNS), as well as its manufacturing unit, which is a leader in broadband and high-speed mobile satellite service (MSS) technologies.
The U.S. Navy plans to use multiyear contracts and other contracting strategies to refocus on a core mission set — building and operating the ships that move above and beneath the oceans. The Navy’s fiscal 2012 budget request and planned budget priorities over the coming five years show the service’s strong interest in its surface and submarine fleets — the service plans to buy another 55 ships by fiscal 2016, five more than initially planned during that time.
Electronic warfare (EW) and cyber operations remain the bright spots in planning for the 2012 U.S. defense budget, even though there were no major increases compared to the 2011 request — which has still not cleared Congress.
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency is requesting $8.6 billion in fiscal 2012, just slightly more than the $8.4 billion requested in fiscal 2011, to continue developing and fielding area, medium-range and long-range defenses against ballistic missile attack. This budget reflects about $2.4 billion that was removed from the MDA’s profile from fiscal 2012-2016 as the Pentagon trimmed its overall topline and sought efficiencies.
The U.S. Air Force’s new bomber program is intended to field a new aircraft in the mid-2020s, according to Pentagon Comptroller Robert Hale. Maj. Gen. Alfred Flowers, Air Force deputy assistant secretary for the budget, says the service also plans to buy between 80-100 aircraft. Roughly $197 million is requested in fiscal 2012 to move forward with a program. The timing of a request for proposals or downselect has not been determined.
The U.S. Department of Defense fiscal 2012 research, development test & evaluation (RDT&E) funding request for at least two programs is more than eight times fiscal 2011 funding. The U.S. Navy is seeking $108.2 million in its RDT&E budget for the MQ-8 Fire Scout rotary-wing UAV, nine times more than fiscal 2011’s $10.7 million request, according to data released Feb. 14 by the Defense Department.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says he will continue funding the General Electric-Rolls Royce F136 alternate engine for the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program for now, but hopes tea party lawmakers and budget hawks in the House this week will help cancel the unrequested program congressionally.
May 24-25, 2011 Washington Marriott - Washington, D.C. Managing Cybersecurity, from Policy to Protocol Find out where opportunities exist for the industry and how to effectively thwart potential cyber threats. www.aviationweek.com/events Click here to view the pdf
