JSF PM: The Pentagon has officially nominated Vice Adm. David J. Venlet, head of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps’ air systems acquisition command, to take over the U.S.-based program office for the Joint Strike Fighter. The March 16 announcement, which was expected, makes good on dramatic restructuring and disciplinary actions Defense Secretary Robert Gates unveiled Feb. 1. Venlet currently heads Naval Air Systems Command (Aerospace DAILY, Feb. 3).
UNRAVELLING: U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced new programming moves under the beleaguered Secure Border Initiative’s networking effort (SBINet) March 16.
The first International Black Hawk, the S-70i, rolled off Sikorsky Aircraft Corp.’s Polish production line at PZL Mielec on March 15. The helicopter is not just new for Sikorsky, but new for PZL Mielec, which had been producing fixed-wing aircraft for many years. The helicopter will be sent to Sikorsky’s West Palm Beach Development Flight Center, where it will be tested and qualified. Production flight tests are planned at PZL Mielec later this year as that facility continues to undergo modernization.
The U.S. Army’s recently scrapped plan to buy light tactical wheeled vehicles skirted Defense Department procurement requirements and the service needs to revamp those acquisition procedures, the Pentagon Inspector General (IG) says.
PRIMARY POWERPLANT: Pratt & Whitney has reached another milestone on its F135 engine, achieving an initial service release for the conventional takeoff and landing/carrier version, which clears it for operational use in the Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth fighter. This variant of the F135 has been certified for low-rate initial production and flight operations.
With the second drug seizure in as many weeks under its belt, the USS Freedom has cause to celebrate. Only 10 days after the U.S. Navy’s first Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) recovered more than a quarter of a ton of cocaine, the ship conducted another counter-illicit trafficking operation that resulted in the capture of one and one-half tons of cocaine. This time, five suspected drug smugglers were caught as well.
MOSCOW — Russia is boosting defense cooperation with India, signing several contracts during the visit of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to New Delhi. The two sides finally settled the price increase for modernization of the Vikramaditya aircraft carrier. Russian officials would not reveal the revised price for the ex-Admiral Gorshkov, but Indian press reports quote a figure of $2.33 billion. In 2004 India agreed to take the 44,500-ton carrier for free, paying only $800 million for modernization at Russia’s Severodvinsk-based Sevmash facility.
LONDON — Although the U.S. and Russia retain their top rankings in terms of conventional arms trades, the latest data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) also reveals that France and Germany have done much better in the past five years than the U.K. During the period from 2005-2009, Germany saw a jump of more than 100 percent in defense sales, with France’s figure up 30 percent over the prior period of 2000-2004. The U.K., by contrast, saw a 13 percent drop. The big German jump largely comes from armored vehicle sales.
The Aviation Week Intelligence Network (AWIN) includes data on more than 4,000 systems and subsystems. A March 12 DAILY item listed an incorrect estimate.
FALCON DEAL: SpaceX has concluded an agreement to launch an undetermined satellite for Space Systems/Loral aboard its new Falcon 9 booster. The agreement, similar to one inked earlier with Israel’s Spacecom, provides for a launch opportunity as early as 2012 and brings the total number of missions on the Falcon 9’s roster to 24. The Falcon 9 moved closer to a scheduled April maiden launch March 13 with the first firing of its nine Merlin engines (See story p. 5).
Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) performed an engine test of its first Falcon 9 launch vehicle on its pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., March 13, successfully igniting all nine Merlin first-stage engines for 3.5 seconds. The test also validated the pad water deluge system at Space Launch Complex 40, launch pad propellant and pneumatic systems as well as the ground and flight control software that controls pad and launch vehicle configurations, according to SpaceX.
Fresh redesigns of active electronically scanned array (AESA) antennas are expected to play a key role in tying together the U.S. Navy’s advanced radar and Next Generation Jammer. Northrop Grumman is the latest company to offer a look into its planning for the service’s NGJ competition. The first phase will be completed this June with a downselect from among the competing teams, which also include ITT/Boeing, Raytheon and BAE Systems, which discussed NGJ earlier.
Boeing has begun company-funded production of a batch of A160T Hummingbirds, anticipating demand for the unmanned helicopter for cargo resupply and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions. “We loaded the first part into the jig today,” Program Manager Ernie Wattam said March 15. An initial batch of five A160Ts is being produced, the first to be delivered by year’s end, and Boeing plans to fund production of another 16 over the next 18 months.
Gen. Walter Natynczyk, Canada’s Chief of the Defense Staff, told an audience in Ottawa earlier this month that he wants his country to be able to put to sea a fleet of 50 ships over the next 30 years – Canada currently has 33 warships – and that building new ships is his “number one equipment priority.” Canada hasn’t built a major warship since 1996, and the country’s three destroyers were all launched in 1972. Vice Adm. Dean McFadden, chief of the Maritime Staff, followed his boss with a pitch for a national shipbuilding program.
AIR FORCE Boeing Co., St. Louis, Mo., was awarded a $148,668,470 contract which will provide for 6,565 Lot 14 guided vehicle kits procured for Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) purposes. At this time, the entire amount has been obligated. 678 ARSS/PK, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity (FA8681-10-C-0072, P00003).
MOVE ALONG: Once expected to conclude in a newly signed treaty by December, Russian and U.S. talks over another Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (Start) continue and now Obama administration officials are sounding even more patient. “They are ongoing in Geneva and we are committed to concluding negotiations,” State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said March 12. “What is important is we arrive at a quality agreement.” That echoed comments from White House spokesman Robert Gibbs days earlier.
ASIAN ACQUISITION: A new forecast from consultancy Frost & Sullivan on the Asian-Pacific land defense systems market predicts the market will reach revenues of $9.4 billion in 2016. Aging equipment and increased awareness of smuggling, piracy and terrorism will drive growth, and cyber-era capabilities will lead acquisitions, analysts predict. “Network-centric warfare is one of the factors triggering military modernization and a more network-oriented military defense structure,” says research analyst Chern Wai Cheong.
The U.S. Air Force has yet to iron out some of the development problems for the C-130J program, according to the Pentagon’s Director of Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E). The Block Upgrade 6.0 did not correct the Station Keeping Equipment (SKE) anomalies previously observed during a prior phase of operational testing, the DOT&E said in its recently released annual report.
