MISSILE DEFENSE AGENCY The Air Force is modifying a contract with Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co., Sunnyvale, Calif., for $175,000,000. This action is to procure the congressionally mandated advance procurement of long-lead parts in FY ’08 and FY ’09 for the Advanced Extremely High Frequency Satellite Vehicle four. At this time $104,450,000 has been obligated. MCSW/PK, El Segundo, Calif., is the contracting activity (F04701-02-C-0002 POO347).
The Royal Australian Air Force could be the first non-U.S. military service to operate EA-18 Growler electronic attack aircraft under a deal announced in Australia Feb. 27. The deal also is noteworthy for the fact that it indicates the U.S. is willing to share some of its most advanced technology with close allies — neither the EA-6B nor EF-111 jammers were exported. The EA-18G deal comes not long after the Pentagon agreed to let Britain buy RC-135 Rivet Joints, the highly sensitive signals intelligence system.
HELO TECH: Bell Helicopter, Boeing and Sikorsky will share a five-year, $40 million cost plus fixed-fee contract for subsonic rotary wing technology development awarded by NASA Ames Research Center. The three will compete on task orders for research and development support of a variety of rotorcraft needs, including a next-generation air traffic management system, prognostics and health management, advanced rotorcraft configurations, drive systems, avionic processors and wind tunnel test stands.
HERCULEAN BOOST: Lockheed Martin is planning to increase its annual output of C-130Js from its Marietta, Ga., facility beginning this year, says Jim Grant, a senior company executive. In recent years, 12 of the new Hercules aircraft rolled off the line annually. This year, it will increase to 16 and again to 27 in 2010. The ultimate goal is an annual production of more than 30 aircraft, Grant says. The boost comes after strong support from the U.S. Air Force and from foreign orders, including a recently announced deal from the United Arab Emirates.
SHARPER KIOWA: The U.S. Army’s Aviation Applied Technology Directorate plans a quick, minimum-integration demonstration of small guided munitions on the Bell OH-58D Kiowa Warrior armed scout helicopter. Flight tests are planned for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009. The Army is in discussions with five weapon manufacturers, three of them offering laser-guided 2.75-in rockets: Alliant Techsystems with GATR, BAE Systems with APKWS and Lockheed Martin with DAGR.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicated new calendar listing.) Mar. 3 — AVIATION WEEK Laureate Awards, Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium, Washington, D.C., http://www.aviationweek.com/conferences Mar. 10 - 11 — Precision Strike Annual Review, Emerald Coast Conference Center, Fort Walton Beach, Fla. For more information call 703-247-2590 or go to www.precisionstrike.org
LONDON — The British Defense Ministry has been forced to delay deploying the Tornado GR4 to Afghanistan, slipping the move from its early April target to a new date during “summer.” Completing the integration of several urgent operational requirements to bring the GR4 to theater entry standard, and adding infrastructure at Kandahar air base have resulted in the date being shifted. The Tornado GR4 will replace the Harrier GR9 in Afghanistan.
NEW ROOST: After successfully rotating MV-22 units in Iraq, military officials are now exploring when the Bell-Boeing tiltrotor will be sent to Afghanistan. And it’s likely to be soon, according to a military official. The aircraft’s ability to both hover and fly quickly point-to-point is ideally suited to the support the influx of troops going into Afghanistan as President Barack Obama turns the Pentagon’s focus toward fighting al Qaeda and Taliban forces on the border with Pakistan.
NASA has slipped the launch of the Kepler observatory for finding Earth-like planets by one day to March 6 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. The space agency said it needed additional time to review all common hardware between the Delta II rocket carrying the Kepler telescope and the Taurus XL launch vehicle, which had an apparent fairing separation problem that led to the loss of NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory shortly after liftoff Feb. 24 (Aerospace DAILY, Feb. 25).
ATV NAMED: Workers at EADS Astrium in Bremen, Germany, and elsewhere are hard at work preparing the second Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) for its launch to the International Space Station in mid-2010. Now the vehicle has a name — the Johannes Kepler. Born in 1571, the German astronomer is best known for working out the laws of planetary motion.
SLOWER BUT STEADY: Thales management this year expects to see a slowdown in organic revenue growth from last year’s 8 percent, but still believes that despite the economic troubles it can achieve a 3-5 percent increase through December. The goal is to maintain an order book worth around two years of production, management said late last week in announcing full-year 2008 financial results. The company also hopes to improve its earnings margin in 2009. Thales closed 2008 with a 10 percent increase in orders and a 1 percent hike in revenue.
The Defense Department needs to better manage the reporting of its costs for war research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E) supplemental spending, the Pentagon Inspector General (IG) says.
NEW DELHI India’s Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) — the research and development arm of the Indian defense ministry — is moving toward commercializing its technologies for civilian use. DRDO is partnering with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) on the Accelerated Technology Assessment and Commercialization, ATAC, program. ATAC is the first program of its kind to try to spin out several DRDO technologies for national and international commercial markets.
THIN SKIN: Regardless of whether the Pentagon opts to buy a single tanker or split the purchase between Boeing and Northrop Grumman/EADS North America, the U.S. Air Force is expecting a hearty bill ahead to keep the KC-135 flying. Air Mobility Command chief Gem. Arthur Lichte said last week that the venerable KC-135 would require new skins beginning in 2018.
USAF HOLDOVER: The Barack Obama White House is retaining another senior political appointee at the Pentagon, along with Defense Secretary Gates, who was held over from the Bush days. Air Force Secretary Michael Donley will stay onboard overseeing the service, which is beset with acquisition problems and nuclear weapon management issues.
Pentagon planners are looking at alternatives to overland routes through Pakistan to supply U.S. troops in Afghanistan, the head of the U.S. Transportation Command told defense authorizers last week. U.S. Air Force Gen. Duncan McNabb was grilled about DOD alternative plans in the wake of recent attacks on convoys passing through Pakistan, as well as Kyrgyzstan’s plans to close an airbase vital to U.S. flights.
LONDON Britain’s defense industry is preparing for what it sees as an unavoidable defense review in the wake of national elections, to be held no later than 2010. Mike Turner, chairman of the Defense Industries Council (DIC), says a strategic defense review is “inevitable” following a general election, irrespective of which political party is elected.
SANDY RAPTOR: U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen Gary North, combined air operations center commander in the Middle East, says he wants to get the F-22 there for an exercise “soon.” This was attempted last year, but dashed over concerns the stealthy, twin-engine fighter’s presence in the region would cause tensions. Meanwhile, Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz has proposed a plan to Defense Secretary Robert Gates regarding whether to continue producing the Lockheed Martin jet.
HELP WANTED: Chinese aerospace conglomerate Avic is seeking foreign executives as its next step toward becoming a top-tier global aircraft builder. Foreigners are being sought even for the company’s Defense Division, as well as the specialist subsidiaries it is setting up to address civilian markets. The foreigners will be among 13 vice presidents to be hired for such responsibilities as marketing, research and asset management.
PLANNING ASSUMPTIONS: The unclassified version of the British Defense Ministry’s new Defense Technology Plan (DTP) — intended to provide industry with a guide to where the ministry intends to focus its future research & development (R&D) spending — features top-level R&D objectives for air platforms and weapons systems, including development of manned and unmanned systems. It also identifies broad interest in research into high-endurance long-range unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and strike UAV concepts.
OBAMA DILEMMA: So far there are no clues in the fiscal 2010 defense budget about the F-22 program, a senior U.S. Air Force official says. Planning is afoot but Obama faces a dilemma, the official says. “He’s under pressure to retain high-tech manufacturing jobs, but he also needs to cancel high-cost programs to get Pentagon spending under control.” The Air Force chief of staff wants 60 more F-22s, but can live with a total of 243 Raptors if the F-35 ramps up to high-rate production of 110 per year, according to the official.
LONDON The British Defense Ministry is aiming to introduce a key early element of its Dabinett intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance (ISTAR) program within three years of the development contract award, with an assessment phase for this part of the program about to get under way. The ministry has recently “re-profiled” the Dabinett project, of which previous elements have been delayed as the result of budget pressure on earlier equipment program planning rounds.
