Pentagon acquisition chief John Young has approved the use of $50 million in fiscal 2009 for up to four F-22 Raptor aircraft, extending the production line a bit beyond the earlier freeze at 183 of the stealthy fighter jets.
U.S. Army aviation accidents and incidents have cost the service about $16.2 billion over the past dozen years, according to an exclusive Aerospace DAILY analysis of data provided by the Army Combat Readiness/Safety Center (USACRC). The average cost per an accident or incident for the more than 30,000 events was $539,281, the analysis shows, with a maximum single-event cost of about $62.4 million. (See charts pp. 6-9.) The mishaps have lead to 2,856 deaths.
NEW DELHI – India’s Defense Research Development Organization (DRDO) has flight-tested a 600-kilometer (370-mile) range surface-to-surface missile system named Shourya from a 30-40 foot deep pit. The missile was fired from the Integrated Test Range Balasore in the East Indian state of Orissa on Nov. 12. The test was performed on behalf of the Indian army.
CSAR REPORT: According to Bloomberg news service, the Pentagon Inspector General’s draft report on the U.S. Air Force’s Combat, Search and Rescue helicopter (CSAR-X) replacement program says the service didn’t break rules when it changed key requirements for the $15 billion effort. The nine-page draft report says the Air Force stayed within acquisition guidelines when it changed the aircraft’s payload, cabin space, fuel range and mission readiness requirements, Bloomberg says.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is recommending government agencies that interact with Federally Funded Research Centers (FFRDC) address potential conflicts of interest through stronger policies and improved management.
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Three Aerospace DAILY stories filed from the Helicopter Military Operations Technology Specialists’ Meeting, or HELMOT, misidentified the event’s sponsor. The American Helicopter Society sponsored the conference, with the Army Aviation Association of America (Quad-A) as co-sponsor.
Israel’s Elbit Systems has been awarded a contract to supply avionics for Brazil’s long-delayed AMX attack aircraft upgrade. Embraer is prime contractor for the midlife update of 53 aircraft, designated A-1As in Brazilian air force service. The company originally was awarded the $400 million upgrade program in 2004, but the air force withheld funding until 2007. Flight-testing of three modernized A-1M prototypes is to begin in 2009, with the first production delivery planned for 2010.
ORION PATCHED: The U.S. Navy’s Fleet Readiness Center Southeast in Jacksonville, Fla., completed repairs on the first “red-striped” P-3C and delivered the aircraft to its squadron in Brunswick, Maine. The term “red-stripe” comes from the diagonal red stripe on the Airworthiness Bulletin that grounded 39 P-3C aircraft in December 2007 for structural fatigue concerns on a portion of the lower outer wing, called Zone 5. These 39 aircraft comprise about one quarter of the P-3C fleet, many of which have been flying for more than 25 years.
LIMITED ROLE: President-elect Barack Obama is limiting the role of lobbyists who want to work on his transition team — but has not banned their participation outright. Federally-registered lobbyists can’t contribute financially to the transition and can’t do any lobbying while working on the team, John Podesta, a co-chair of the transition team, said Nov. 11.
CLEAR FORECAST: An estimated $8.4 billion will be spent on 28 major land- and sea-based electro-optical systems over the next 10 years, according to Forecast International. More than 915,400 units will be produced, including 618,006 units by the end of 2012 alone. Andrew Dardine, senior aerospace/defense analyst, says the market will continue to be largely driven by the procurement needs of “very” active military forces.
PARIS — The European Space Agency (ESA) has found a solution to a quandary that has prevented approval of funding for the Jason-3 altimetry satellite, which is 46 million euros ($58 million) short of the amount needed for construction and launch.
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Australia will have to replace or upgrade 80 percent of its military equipment in the next 10-15 years, a top defense official has said in recent speeches. The number represents more than $100 billion Australian ($65 billion U.S.) in defense business, according to Greg Combet, the parliamentary secretary for defense procurement. Around 60 percent of that expenditure would go to local companies, with the rest available for companies overseas.
U.S. Air Force senior leadership will be returning soon to Congress to propose a new requirement for F-22 Raptors of between 250-275 aircraft, a cut of more than 100 F-22s in the service’s current baseline.
The U.S. Homeland Security Department still hasn’t satisfied congressional auditors that its controversial program to share classified satellite imagery with nonfederal law enforcement agencies complies with all legal requirements. DHS last year delayed its planned launch of the new National Applications Office (NAO) following complaints from the House Homeland Security Committee about a lack of written guidelines to ensure privacy and civil liberties would be maintained (Aerospace DAILY, Oct. 3, 2007).
A Boeing-led team has demonstrated a common software to serve the space and ground segments of the U.S. Air Force’s Transformational Satellite Communications System (TSAT). TSAT is a major element of the Defense Department’s next-generation secure, global communications network, particularly because of its ability to provide Internet protocol (IP) connections for airborne, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance communities.
SURGE GAP: Defense demands for unmanned aerial system (UAS) coverage have resulted in “skyrocketing” flying hour statistics by the U.S. Defense Department alone, with 60,000 flight hours in 2004 soaring to more than 250,000 hours last year, a consultancy shop says. “UAS capabilities and concepts of operation are ahead of a defense acquisition curve, meaning ‘rapid’ fielding of new persistent ISR UAS will still result in UAV shortages from an end-user standpoint,” according to G2 Solutions’ Research Director Ron Stearns.
PRECISION KILL: BAE Systems said Nov. 4 that its Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) contract was transferred from the U.S. Army to the Department of the Navy. With full funding in place, the Navy and Marine Corps recently assumed the APKWS development contract with BAE Systems to complete system development and demonstration of the rocket-guidance capability. BAE’s Nashua, N.H., facility plans to begin producing the rockets at the end of 2009. The company has been the prime contractor for APKWS since April 2006.
After being damaged in a crane accident at its launch site in August, Malaysia’s Measat 3A satellite arrived for repair back at manufacturer Orbital Sciences Corp.’s Dulles, Va., facility on Nov. 7. The satellite’s journey back from Baikonur, Kazakhstan was delayed because of the availability of a facility there that was needed for the removal of toxic hydrazine propellant prior to shipment, according to Orbital spokesman Barry Beneski. Cleanup
BRUSSELS, Belgium – European Union defense ministers have asked the European Defense Agency (EDA) to improve the military aviation safety certification system and eliminate overlap that is driving up program costs and slowing the fielding of new hardware.
Avionics manufacturer Rockwell Collins is cutting 400 jobs, mainly in manufacturing operations, as the cancellation or delay of several U.S. military programs adds to the impact of the global economic downturn on its commercial business. The cuts total 1.5 percent of the company’s work force, and include reducing the number of contract workers by about 100, mainly in engineering functions. The majority of cuts will affect the Cedar Rapids headquarters and the company’s other plants in Iowa.
