HIT HARD: Sales declines in Moog’s commercial and military programs led to a 96 percent drop in year-over-year profits. The company reported fiscal third-quarter sales of $445 million, down 10 percent from the same period a year ago. Aircraft sales in the quarter were $162 million, or 8 percent lower than last year. Military sales were up, the company said, but much of the work on the F-35 has been completed. Sales in Moog’s space and defense division were up 2 percent in the fiscal third quarter, to $65 million.
APACHE ARROWHEAD: The U.S. Army recently awarded Lockheed Martin a $142 million follow-on production contract for the Arrowhead Modernized Target Acquisition Designation Sight/Pilot Night Vision Sensor (M-TADS/PNVS) for the AH-64D Apache attack helicopter. The Lot 6 contract includes 55 Arrowhead kits for U.S. Army Apaches and kits for several international customers. More than 850 systems will have been delivered with the completion of the Lot 6 contract, which extends production through December 2011.
Saudi Arabia has become the second largest customer for Airbus Military A330-based multirole tanker transports with a decision to double its order for the refuelers. EADS announced July 27 that Saudi Arabia will buy three more of the aircraft. The deal comes on top of a commitment for three A330s that the country signed last year. The first of the Saudi refuelers is to be delivered in 2011. Saudi Arabia will use both hose-and-drogue pods and the refueling boom system that Airbus developed.
NEW DELHI India’s first indigenously built nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine was launched on July 26 at the Naval Dockyard in Visakhapatnam. The 6,000-ton sub INS Arihant, which means “Destroyer of Enemies,” features a single 80 MW pressurized nuclear reactor and carries six 533 mm torpedoes, Klub land attack and anti-ship cruise missiles.
EDWARDS AFB, Calif. Scientists from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., and Dryden Flight Research Center here have conducted an aerial radar survey of volcanos in Alaska, the Aleutians and Cascade Mountain Range using a Gulfstream III equipped with a synthetic aperture radar (SAR).
Aurora Flight Sciences is developing technology demonstration plans for the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) with the target of identifying ways to reduce air mobility fleet fuel usage 90 percent by 2030-2035. The study is being conducted under the Revolutionary Configurations for Energy Efficiency (RCEE) program, which is being funded with Recovery Act stimulus money. In June, Boeing and Lockheed Martin were awarded RCEE contracts to study aft-body drag reduction.
ARMY Raytheon Company, Integrated Defense Company, Andover, Mass., was awarded on July 23, 2009, a $8,926,847 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for FY ’09 Patriot engineering services contract option award for 37,822 man-hours of effort. The work is to be performed in Andover, Mass. (1.39%), and Tewksbury, Mass. (98.61%) with an estimated completion date of Jan. 31, 2014. One bid was solicited with one bid received. U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala. is the contracting activity (W31P4Q-09-C-0057).
Classified intelligence community satellites have yielded a treasure trove of imagery on Arctic Sea changes, but a National Academies panel wants even more access. The panel’s report especially wants more dissemination of Literal Imagery Derived Products (LIDPs), which would provide detailed data for scientists about changes in the seascape. The committee recommends that the intelligence community release and disseminate all Arctic sea ice LIDPs that have been produced to date as soon as possible.
NEW DELHI Rolls-Royce Defense Aerospace is exploring further opportunities in India as it awaits decisions in numerous pending bids in the military engine and civil nuclear arenas. “We wish to take advantage of India’s competitive edge [by] extending our relationship with Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) and in newer areas of value-added components,” said Anil Shrikhande, president of Rolls-Royce India.
PARIS The European Space Agency and Eumetsat have inked a framework agreement that will enable the two agencies to work together on the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) initiative as they currently do in Europe’s weather satellite efforts.
PARIS Government stakeholders in the Airbus Military A400M transport have agreed to formally start talks with industry to renegotiate the contract and keep the program alive. During a meeting in southern France, defense ministers from the seven core A400M customer countries have said they will remain committed to the program, rather than exercising the option to cancel the deal owing to program delays.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) Aug. 5 - 6 — AVIATION WEEK Management Forums, RNP & NextGen, Sheraton Grand Hotel, DFW Airport. For more information go to http://www.aviationweek.com/events
SBIRS CERTIFICATION: U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM) is expected to formally certify the second Highly Elliptical Orbit (HEO-2) payload and ground system modifications for the Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) in August after they were accepted for operations by the U.S. Air Force last week. Orbited as a payload on a classified mission, HEO-2 has been undergoing in-orbit checkout. The HEO-1 payload was accepted last November and certified in December by STRATCOM. Lockheed Martin is under contract to build a third HEO; its launch date is classified.
TANKER RFP: The Pentagon has notified prospective bidders that the long-awaited draft request for proposals for the U.s. Air Force’s KC-135 replacement competition is now planned for release in mid-September — with a formal draft likely to follow in October. If this schedule holds, selection of the winning replacement refueling tanker design could be in mid-2010. That is roughly a six-month slip from earlier plans for the program. A previous Air Force attempt at a KC-X competition included a purchase of 179 tankers worth an estimated $35 billion.
BATTERY SWAP: Spacewalkers Chris Cassidy and Tom Marshburn were able to finish replacing the oldest set of batteries on the International Space Station July 24, catching up on a task that was halted abruptly on July 22 with the carbon dioxide level in Cassidy’s spacesuit started rising during the third extravehicular activity (EVA) of the STS-127 mission. The two NASA astronauts replaced four more batteries in an EVA that lasted 7 hours, 12 minutes, leaving the station’s P6 truss element with a total of six new batteries.
LOWERING EXPECTATIONS: Flir Systems is revising downward its full-year earnings outlook due to financial results from the first half of the year. The company revised its outlook down by $100 million to between $1.1 billion and $1.15 billion, and expects net earnings to be between $1.40 and $1.44 per share, down from the previous outlook of $1.40 to $1.47 per share. Flir reported second-quarter revenues of $278 million, up 7 percent from the same quarter last year. Net income was also up, to $55.7 million, compared with $44.6 million in 2008.
Estonia is looking at upgrading its air defense capabilities in the coming years, but is shying away from developing an air defense capability through at least 2018. The near-term priorities are on ground-to-air systems. For instance, a limited mobile, medium-range anti-aircraft system is included in the 10-year development plan. Estonia also plans to upgrade its close-in air defenses.
TOKYO In Japan there has always been the discussion of whether to focus on an expeditionary military or one that is focused on the defense of Japan and what the budget could afford. That discussion could be swayed by political and policy decisions concerning anti-piracy operations that require the Japanese military to deploy to the Indian Ocean. It also would provide justification for aerial tankers, maritime patrol aircraft and long-range transports.
Industry is concerned about the Future Vertical Lift Initiative (FVLI) in light of recent changes inside the Pentagon resulting from the Weapons Systems Acquisition Reform Act. A letter signed by the leaders of six helicopter manufacturers — Boeing Rotorcraft, Sikorsky, Bell Helicopter Textron, AgustaWestland, American Eurocopter (EADS) and Lockheed Martin — is being sent to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, reiterating the importance of the FVLI.
U.K. IS GO: The U.K. intends to drop its traditional opposition to involvement in manned spaceflight activities, says Paul Drayson, Britain’s minister in charge of space. Though he gives no indication of whether additional funding will be forthcoming, European Space Agency head Jean-Jacques Dordain welcomes the move. “At least now there’s a clear interest, and that [in itself] is already a change,” Dordain says. ESA will wait to see what emerges from the Augustine committee in the U.S. before deciding on a manned exploration strategy, according to Dordain.
