Despite U.S. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus’s recent assertion that President Obama’s 2010 budget “gives us the funds we need to do the job,” the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has told Congress that ship purchases under the budget “would not be large enough to replace all of the Navy’s current ships as they reach the end of their service lives.”
RAMP UP: The United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) decision to buy 25 PC-21 trainers is alleviating work force pressures at Pilatus and allowing the Swiss-based aircraft maker to resume normal working hours. Moreover, CEO Oscar Schwenk has signaled that he is expecting an increase in global demand for business aircraft this year. As a result, PC-12NG production will gradually be increased, he said. The company had asked workers to reduce hours owing to a downturn in the business aviation sector last year and a lack of new orders for the PC-21.
Elbit Systems wants to completely take over Azimuth Technologies. The Israeli defense contractor in November 2008 took a 19 percent stake in the company, and on Jan. 24 spent about $46.5 million to buy the remaining stake. The purchase price may be adjusted depending on potential dividend payouts by Azimuth. The deal is only the latest in a string of acquisitions of technology companies Elbit has made both in Israel and outside. Anti-trust authorities in Israel still need to approve the transaction.
AFGHAN PRIORITIES: Coalition partners will meet this week in London “to focus the international community on a clear set of priorities” for Afghanistan. A stated intent of the conference, to be held Jan. 28, is to match the increase in military commitments with a coherent political strategy. The conference is being hosted by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, and United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.
SPACE SILENCE: Don’t look for full details on U.S. space policy in the Fiscal 2011 budget request due out Feb. 1. An eerie silence remains over the broad budget outlook, including big picture items like the funding trend for human spaceflight and the fate of the Ares I crew launch vehicle. That is leading to speculation in some quarters that those decisions haven’t been made, and that the budget will offer only a to-be-determined starting point for debate on the human spaceflight options developed over the summer by the Augustine panel.
Impending stringent requirements for U.S. cluster munitions could render their use impractical, according to a recent report by the Congressional Research Service (CRS).
TESTING MUOS: Environmental testing of the first Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) satellite is set for this quarter, following prime contractor Lockheed Martin’s mating of the satellite’s Boeing-built ultra-high frequency communications systems module with the spacecraft’s propulsion core at Lockheed’s Sunnyvale, Calif., facility. MUOS is a U.S. Navy program. The Sunnyvale facility has three MUOS spacecraft in construction and holds a long-lead procurement contract for a fourth. The Navy has options for a fifth. MUOS has suffered a one-year schedule slip.
JASSM PROGRESS: The U.S. Air Force is finalizing details of Lot 8 production of the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (Jassm) with Lockheed Martin, according to a senior Air Force official. This is progress for the stealthy cruise missile program; production was put on hold after a series of errant tests. However, after a batch of positive test results, the service recently got the nod from Pentagon leadership to restart the manufacturing line (Aerospace DAILY, Oct. 15, 2009).
LONDON The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has approved several upgrades to Diamond Airborne Sensing’s DA42 surveillance platform, including a nose pod that will permit the use of heavier cameras. The new nose pod allows operators to use the Microsoft UltraCamX large-format aerial camera weighing 188 pounds, Diamond says, whereas before users were limited to a 144-pound camera in the nose and a 177-pound camera in the belly pod.
Although the U.S. won’t be able to meet the Congressionally mandated goal of locating and cataloging most near-Earth objects 140 meters across or larger by 2020, it could come close to that deadline if a new space-based observatory is dedicated to the task in concert with a suitable ground-based telescope, according to a National Academies panel.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) Jan. 25 - 26 — International Quality Productivity Center’s Air Tankers and Aerial Refueling Conference, Le Meridien Piccadilly, London. For more information go to www.vtol.org
The stars are aligning for a pickup in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the aerospace and defense (A&D) sector. After a two-year slump, investment bankers are expecting better times in 2010, though the cumulative value of A&D deals is likely to remain well below the 2007 peak of $33 billion.
DYNAMIC COMPONENTS: Sikorsky Aircraft Corp.’s new Precision Components Technology Center will produce major dynamic components of the CH-53K helicopter such as rotating and stationary swashplates, main and tail rotor hubs and main rotor sleeves. The technical complexity and large size of the heavy-lift aircraft present what Sikorsky calls “unique production challenges.” Forgings to be machined at the center of the CH-53K are twice the size of the largest forging produced at Sikorsky’s facility.
SOYUZ SHUFFLE: International Space Station crew members are getting ready for the arrival of the space shuttle Endeavour next month with a new pressurized node and their long-anticipated cupola. Expedition 22 flight engineer T.J. Creamer and Expedition commander Jeff Williams were to use the station’s robotic arm over the weekend to move a pressurized mating adaptor from the Unity node’s port side to the top of the Harmony node to make room for the new Tranquility node, which will carry the seven-window cupola.
The Pentagon will provide RQ-7 Shadow unmanned aircraft to Pakistan to aid the country’s fight against the Taliban and other insurgents. The commitment to provide 12 Shadows to Pakistan was made as part of U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates’s visit to the region. Speaking to reporters during the trip, Gates said that “we are trying to do everything we can to assist Pakistan in the fight in the west.” The U.S. defense secretary took pains in public comments to paint the two countries as partners in confronting Taliban challenges.
LONDON — A400M Partner nations and industry will meet again Jan. 26 as the two sides continue to try to thrash out a revised funding deal for the delayed military airlifter. Talks were held in Berlin last week to try to resolve the cash impasse as to how the multibillion euro cost overrun on the Airbus Military A400M program will be handled. Airbus parent EADS is refusing to pick up all of the tab, while the partner nations’ public mantra has been to continue to support the program — though “not at any cost.”
PARIS — French aerospace contractors are developing an automated high-pressure forming technique they hope will make lightweight composites competitive with metals for small-sized aircraft and missile parts.
MISSION PLANNING: Sagem will supply an upgraded mission planning system (MPS) for the Rafale intended to make the system compatible with the Rafale F3 multirole standard, introduced last year. The upgrade, known as Version 5 and funded under a defense stimulus plan put together in 2008, also will be compatible with new-generation ordnance carried by the F3, including the ASMP-A nuclear strike missile, Scalp cruise missile, AASM guided bomb and ReconNG optronic reconnaissance pod.
CHOKEHOLD: Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) is continuing a hold on the nomination of two key officials at the Pentagon because of his concerns with a draft request for proposals (RFP) for a KC-135 tanker replacement released last September by the U.S. Air Force. They are Erin Conaton, the pick for the No. 2 Air Force civilian position, and Frank Kendall, the nominee for the deputy under secretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics. Sessions placed the hold Dec.
MATCHBOOK POWER: Mobile satellite specialist Iridium says it will have a matchbook-size data transceiver ready for production in June. The Iridium 9602 will include built-in GPS input/output ports. It is designed for portable tracking and monitoring devices and is 69 percent smaller and 74 percent lighter than the first-generation 9601 now in use.
SHAPING BOMBERS: With funding for a restructured Long-Range Strike (LRS) program to field a new penetrating bomber and intelligence collector for the U.S. Air Force expected in the Fiscal 2011 budget rollout planned for Feb. 1, attention is now turning to the question of what the aircraft will look like.
NEW CHIEF: India’s current army chief, Gen. Deepak Kapoor, retires from service on March 31, 2010. His successor, Lt. Gen. V.K. Singh, presently in charge of the Eastern Command, will be promoted and take over starting the same day. Singh was commissioned into the Rajput Regiment in 1970. During his career, he has served in a variety of command, staff and instructional appointments. Besides being an honors graduate of the U.S. Army Infantry School at Ft. Benning, Ga., Singh studied at the Defense Services Staff College at Wellington in Tamil Nadu, India, and the U.S.
Surrey Satellite Technologies Ltd. (SSTL) has split into two separate business units to facilitate management of its growing satellite operation. One unit, under John Paffett, will be responsible for the company’s telecom and navigation business; the other, run by Paul Brooks, will handle Earth observation and science activities. Paffett headed up the Galileo Satellite Navigation System’s Giove A test satellite project and SSTL’s geostationary telecom satellite program. Brooks is currently director of business development and sales.
