According to the U.S. Congressional Budget Office, Capitol Hill’s nonpartisan scorekeepers, the U.S. Navy Department’s latest long-term shipbuilding outline remains underfunded and incapable of actually growing the naval fleet. CBO’s assessment follows similar conclusions ever since the Navy first issued its so-called 313-ship plan four years ago, as well as intense scrutiny from Pentagon leadership and general Washington concerns about federal spending and proper budgeting.
The General Electric/Rolls-Royce F136 engine for the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter appears increasingly likely to survive at least one more year after a slew of Capitol Hill developments created a scenario where the Obama administration’s veto threat may fall victim to other priorities.
NO THANKS: Safran Chairman and CEO Jean-Paul Herteman says his company will look elsewhere for partners to shore up onboard computer and other defense electronics businesses that it had considered merging with units of Thales, according to Paris press reports. Talks with Thales broke off earlier this month and Herteman says he does not know if they can restart, despite threats by French defense officials – who favor such a tie-up – that they may withhold research and development money to force a marriage.
BEIJING – Kawasaki Heavy Industries is considering a joint venture with a foreign aerospace company to build and support a minimum-change civil version of its XC-2 airlifter, the YCX. The partner would share the cost of increasing the production rate of two to four aircraft a year that Kawasaki would handle on its own, in addition to an intended Ministry of Defense order for possibly 40 aircraft of the military version.
The U.S. Marines continue to navigate the embattled Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV) through the second phase of system design and development, anticipating moving into low-rate initial production (LRIP) in January 2012. “That’s halfway through the six-month window for the date I was given,” program manager Col. Keith Moore told bloggers at a Pentagon roundtable May 27. Initial operational capability is anticipated at the end of 2015, which is the result of a one-year shift in procurement money, Moore says.
Deliveries of F/A-18F Super Hornets to Australia could be stepped up to 14 by year’s end under plans now being studied by the Royal Australian Air Force. The move will save costs by cutting down the number of trans-Pacific ferry flights needed in 2011 when the balance of the RAAF’s force of 24 Super Hornets is due to be delivered. It will also give the force “more flexibility” as it stands up the operational training squadron, says Group Capt. Steve Roberton, commander of 82 Wing.
L-3 Communications and New Zealand’s Pacific Aerospace (PAC) are demonstrating the P-750 XSTOL utility aircraft in the U.S. as the Air Force here finalizes plans to acquire a fleet of basic trainers and light airlifters to be operated by the Afghan National Army Air Corps. The team has shown the 10-seat, single-turboprop P-750 to Air Mobility Command at Scott AFB, Ill., and will visit Naval Air Systems Command at NAS Patuxent River, Md., later this week. On May 24 the aircraft was on show at Tipton Airport near Fort Meade, Md.
Australian and New Zealand defense officials are studying a range of potential funding options that could lead to joint operations of a single C-17. The deal revives earlier proposals shelved for cost reasons in 2009, and would allow the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) to use a new-build C-17 for airlift and humanitarian missions. The revised plan hinges on development of a successful financing package, Boeing program sources say.
Kennedy Space Center, Fla. - With the completion of the STS-132 mission aboard shuttle Atlantis, the shutdown of the space shuttle program spreads from manufacturing facilities to the vehicle processing hub here. There are no more flights planned for Atlantis, although the ship will be prepared as a launch-on-need vehicle for the STS-134 mission – the program’s planned finale – currently targeted for launch in November.
Oshkosh Corp. received four delivery orders valued at more than $234.8 million from the TACOM Life Cycle Management Command (LCMC) to supply more than 4,300 Mine Resistant Ambush All Terrain Vehicle (M-ATV) protection kits. Oshkosh will deliver more than 3,800 rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) protection kits, as well as more than 500 explosively formed penetrator (EFP) add-on armor kits and in-field service and parts. Work under the orders is expected to be completed in April 2011.
The Russian Air Force has received the first, full training device for its Sukhoi Su-34 fighter-bomber aircraft. The simulator is in use with the air force’s 4th Combat Employment and Training Center at Lipetsk.
The U.S. Navy added one more piece to its operational puzzle today with the unveiling of its Naval Operations Concept 2010 (NOC 10), a defining document meant to support the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR), 30-year shipbuilding plan and the three-year-old maritime strategy.
In a new submission to Congress, Airbus is trying to defend itself and its pending offering in the U.S. Air Force KC-X tanker competition against charges it has benefitted unfairly from illegal subsidies, and the European company argues that Chicago-based Boeing, too, has been on the receiving end of such funding.
NASA’s new technology and commercially themed exploration strategy promises to dispatch new waves of robotic spacecraft on rapidly paced missions to pave the way for human exploration, rather than carry out scientific agendas. Agency officials outlined the strategy at a two-day NASA Exploration Enterprise Workshop in Galveston, Texas. The workshop wrapped up March 26 after fleshing out President Barack Obama’s strategy for canceling the back-to-the-Moon Constellation program in favor of a longer-term road map for human exploration of Mars.
The manager of NASA’s embattled Constellation program, Jeff Hanley, was reassigned on May 26. Hanley, who had held the manager’s position since 2005, was named the Johnson Space Center’s associate director for strategic capabilities. Lawrence “Dale” Thomas, Constellation’s deputy manager, will fill the manager’s position on an acting basis, effective immediately.
Last year’s acquisition of Airbus manufacturing facilities in Filton, U.K., have not damped GKN Aerospace’s acquisition appetite, with the company still looking for opportunities. One of the business areas the company is looking at is a deal that could strengthen its activities in engine-related components, signals Marcus Bryson, who runs the GKN Aerospace operations. However, he adds, deals in other sectors are not being ruled out.
GRIPEN AVIONICS: The Swedish defense establishment has awarded Saab a 450 million Swedish kronor ($56.3 million) contract to develop an enhanced avionics suite for the Gripen fighter. The funding will span two years and is aimed at jump-starting work on the avionics package that would not enter service on Gripen for another decade. The package would provide for the installation of new displays, as well as a new processing backbone to handle more data and process it more quickly.
Problems on a large systems integration program have driven Danish aerospace and defense company Terma to a full-year loss. The writedown that has led to a 25 million ($4 million) Danish kronor pretax loss is linked to contractual changes with the Danish government for the control room of the country’s emergency preparedness center. Government and industry “have commenced negotiations on reductions of the content and scope of work,” with a resolution expected soon, the company says in announcing its results.
First flight of the Boeing X-51A Waverider hypersonic demonstrator is being hailed as a success, although the scramjet-powered vehicle did not achieve the planned flight duration.
Bengaluru, India – Initial trials for the air-launch version of the BrahMos supersonic missile will be carried out in the first half of 2011, and flight trials will take place in India in 2012, the missile maker says. The development of the air-launch version is expected to be completed in 2012, and its maker hopes to begin production and induction the same year. This version is for the Indian Air Force (IAF) and will be fitted with special launchers onto Su-30 MKI aircraft.
The space shuttle Atlantis’ landing-gear wheels stopped rolling for what is probably the last time early May 26 after the workhorse orbiter returned from a productive 12-day mission to the International Space Station. With commander Ken Ham at the controls, Atlantis touched down on Kennedy Space Center’s shuttle landing strip runway 33 at 8:48 p.m. EDT, following a three-minute, five-second deorbit burn at 7:41 a.m. EDT that slowed the spacecraft by 228 mph – enough to drop it back into the atmosphere for the fiery glide down to Earth.
INDIAN ICBM: India’s Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) Chief VK Saraswat said that the 5,000-km.-range Agni-5 intercontinental ballistic missile will be ready by 2011. “Work is progressing satisfactorily in the development of Agni-5,” he said. The missile will play into perceived defenses from neighboring China and Pakistan within its strike range. The Agni-1 (700 km.), Agni-2 (2,000 km.) and Agni-3 (3,500 km.) were all successfully tested by India’s Strategic Forces Command.
