NEW DELHI — Controversy continues to surround India’s delayed effort to purchase Hawk Mk. 132 trainer aircraft. Charges and countercharges have been made over the past year between vendor BAE Systems and Indian government defense manufacturer Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL), which had promised to manufacture a certain share of the Advanced Jet Trainer after BAE delivered the initial batch.
LONDON — Nuclear deterrence and broader defense are being pushed as areas of concern as the three British party leaders have the second of three broadcast debates, Defense and aerospace lobbyist ADS worries that the “U.K. is sleepwalking to second-division status,” while setting out key issues it wants to see addressed. Meanwhile, the Conservative Party is trying to leverage vagueness surrounding Liberal Democrat policy on the nuclear deterrent.
U.S. Air Force officials are eyeing another low-yield weapon in their strategy to field a family of munitions with limited collateral damage potential. They are using a composite case for the 500-lb. MK 82 bomb with the goal of reducing the weapon’s blast fragmentation effects and shifting to an overpressure kill mechanism, says Col. Mike Fantini, Air Force headquarters division chief for combat force application requirements. The MK 82 can be coupled with a Boeing Joint Direct Attack Munition kit to form a precision-guided weapon.
L-3 Communications will not participate in the EADS-led team to deliver a new U.S. Air Force tanker, CEO Michael Strianese told analysts April 22. “The scope of work is not something we would typically do,” Strianese says. But he added, “The door is not closed, and we wish EADS well in the competition.”
BAE Systems’ Advanced Threat Infrared Countermeasures (Atricm) system has taken some hits on reliability in the past, but the company is attempting to change that perception following the recent positive performance of the system on CH-47 Chinooks in-theater.
TEL AVIV – Following failed attempts to produce indigenous unmanned aircraft, Russia will launch an assembly line for Israel Aerospace Industries’ (IAI’s) Searcher Mk II long-endurance reconnaissance UAVs.
May 19 - 21, 2010 Renaissance Washington D.C. Washington D.C. NEXTGEN AHEAD Air Transportation Modernization Conference Register now for this groundbreaking conference designed to produce actionable strategies for moving NextGen forward! Discover proven success tactics and innovations aimed at speeding NextGen development. www.aviationweek.com/events REGISTER NOW!
MEDIUM UPGRADE: U.S. Marine Corps Systems Command awarded Oshkosh Defense a $44 million award for more than 5,750 upgrade kits for the Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement (MTVR), with a cap on the contract of $89 million. Work is expected to be completed in September 2010. Oshkosh will deliver more than 950 weapons-mount kits, 2,000 door-upgrade kits, and MTVR Troop Carrier upgrades that include new dual ladders, seatbelts and lift-point kits for improved transportability.
The Non-Line of Sight Launch System (NLOS-LS) industry team has unveiled a plan to offer a family of missiles that would provide the U.S. Army a more flexible set of capabilities, according to Raytheon Missile Systems.
U.S. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus says he’s confident that the three agencies involved in the presidential helicopter program — the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), the U.S. Navy and the White House Military Office (WMHO) — will work well together on the second attempt to produce a new helicopter. “They have similar expectations and aspirations in terms of what they’re looking for,” Mabus said of the three government entities.
The first full flight of India’s 5.5-ton Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) is expected in May after unspecified modifications are made. Developed by government defense manufacturer Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL), the two-seat variant of the Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) made a 20-min. initial flight on March 29 that allowed pilots to carry out low-speed and low-altitude systems checks using hover, clockwise and counter-clockwise maneuvers, and four circles of HAL’s home base at Bengaluru.
Higher military aircraft and services revenues at Boeing offset most of a double-digit decline in the company’s Network & Space Systems business during the first quarter of 2010. Network and space revenues declined 13% from the same period a year earlier, to $2.3 billion, due to “expected” lower volumes in network and tactical systems and strategic missile and defense systems, the company said April 21.
Iran has packed its “Army Day” parade displays with new equipment, fantasy forces and some worrying hints at the development of advanced capabilities. “Both the surface-to-air missile equipment and stealth aircraft mock-ups [in the parade] are judged to be bogus,” a senior Pentagon official says. “During the parade they displayed two stealth aircraft mock-ups, one manned and one remotely piloted aircraft. They are likely [variants of] the Safreh Mahi (Flatfish or Stingray) [design], which Iran announced it was testing last February.
It is only a matter of time, according to experts in U.S. military parts procurement, before a fake component in a major piece of Pentagon equipment leads to catastrophe because the Pentagon lacks the ability to track or identify the counterfeits. “One of these days, we’ll have a real problem,” says Mark Snider, founder and president of ERAI, formerly known as the Electronic Resellers Association, which operates a global database of counterfeit parts and vendors. “Something is going to cost lives that’s going to be traced back to a counterfeit component.”
Lockheed Martin’s first-quarter results raised few surprises, as the company reported modest sales growth of 3% for the period, compared with the same period in 2009. The company was encouraged by President Barack Obama’s Fiscal 2011 defense budget request, and CEO Bob Stevens notes that the Quadrennial Defense Review showed a “solid level of support” for Lockheed Martin programs, particularly the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and the Littoral Combat Ship.
May 19 - 21, 2010 Renaissance Washington D.C. Washington D.C. NEXTGEN AHEAD Air Transportation Modernization Conference Register now for this groundbreaking conference designed to produce actionable strategies for moving NextGen forward! Discover proven success tactics and innovations aimed at speeding NextGen development. www.aviationweek.com/events REGISTER NOW!
The Austrian government is about to kick off an extensive modernization program for its fleet of AB-212 utility helicopters to extend their service life another 25 years. The government expects the €63 million ($84 million) project to be completed within four years. The fleet, based at Linz-Hoersching, consists of 23 helicopters, which are the backbone of Austria’s military rotorcraft fleet.
PALMDALE, Calif. — NASA is moving closer to the start of science missions using the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (Sofia) airborne telescope upon the imminent completion of envelope expansion flights with the aircraft’s telescope cavity door open.
NEW DELHI — India’s Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) is evaluating Indian air force requirements for the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA). The weight of the AMCA will not exceed 25 tons. The twin-engine configured aircraft will have a higher thrust being in the bigger weight category than the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), with an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar.
The high-profile Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer particle physics experiment to be mounted on the International Space Station will be outfitted with a magnet flown in 1998 on the STS-91 prototype AMS.
The name of Jeff Zweber, the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory’s Pathfinder program manager, was incorrectly spelled in an April 12 story on plans to mature technology for the Reusable Booster System.
