The French National Assembly has approved a €186-billion ($257-billion) five-year defense spending bill, ensuring France will have sustained funding for modernizing its armed forces. The bill includes €108 billion for procurement of new hardware, with a strong emphasis on force projection, space systems, reconnaissance and other capabilities needed to meet contemporary military threats. Cold War-era programs such as the Rafale fighter and Tiger attack helicopter are given lower priorities.
Japanese defense officials are beginning to grow wobbly about an early decision on the F-X because it appears the F-22 will stay in production, and studies are underway to determine what is needed for an export version of the Raptor. Japanese air force officials told Aviation Week & Space Technology they need F-22’s speed and altitude in order to cover the western approaches to Japan. Japan has only one runway capable of handling fighters and that is in Naha, Okinawa. Yet the country’s area of responsibility extends to within 125-150 mi. of China.
The European Space Agency has signed a €37-million ($51-million) authorization-to-proceed agreement with Thales Alenia Space to begin development of a 1.8-metric-ton experimental reentry vehicle for Europe’s Future Launcher Preparatory Program (FLPP). The vehicle, known as the IXV, is intended to test various reentry technologies that could help baseline, among other things, a European download capsule for the International Space Station and a future lunar lander.
Elbit Systems’ Hermes 450 unmanned aerial vehicle, the primary UAV system for the Israel Defense Forces and a part of the U.K.’s Watchkeeper program, has added some features to expand its mission effectiveness and operational capabilities. Its modified engine enables increased flight altitudes up to 20,000 ft., and the vehicle can now take off from higher altitudes and carry more payload weight. Also, its communication data-link range is extended to 250 km.
With the exception of the business aviation market and lower company valuations (who’s aren’t), the aerospace/defense industry today is doing pretty well. Production rates are robust, the outlook for many government contractors is bright, cash flow is strong, balance sheets are healthy, and everyone is making money. As one well-placed observer put it last week at the 48th Paris air show, “As a whole, the industry is in fantastic shape.”
Northrop Grumman is developing a vertical-takeoff-and-landing (VTOL) unmanned cargo aircraft concept called MUVR. The fan-in-wing vehicle is designed to operate from any aviation-capable U.S. Navy ship, carrying payloads up to 10,000 lb. The concept has been wind tunnel-tested and briefed to the Navy, but there is no formal requirement yet for such an unmanned air vehicle (UAV), according to Gene Fraser, vice president and deputy for strike and surveillance systems.
Astrium confirms it will build two medium/high-resolution wide-swath Spot satellites to replace Spot 5. Astrium Services head Eric Beranger says the spacecraft, to be launched in 2012-14, will be funded with a mix of cash flow, EADS corporate financing and debt. Astrium has also signed an agreement to build a satellite integration complex in Kazakhstan as the first step implementing an agreement made last month to supply a surveillance satellite system, including two spacecraft, to that country.
The U.S. Marine Corps is planning to flight-test a turreted gun on the Bell/Boeing MV-22 Osprey to increase its defensive firepower in preparation for deployment to Afghanistan. The BAE Systems remote turret mounts a 7.62-mm. minigun in the aircraft’s belly.
Pyongyang could be aiming at Hawaii or Guam or Okinawa—or not. A Tokyo Defense Ministry study says North Korea’s next Taepodong 2 test—or perhaps that of a slightly enlarged upgrade—may be launched as early as next month. U.S. intelligence officials say predictions are strictly conjecture. “It could be pointing anywhere, although we’re pretty sure the North Koreans won’t point them toward China or Russia,” says a military analyst.
U.S. and Indian aviation representatives plan to meet this fall in Washington under the umbrella of the two nations’ Aviation Cooperation Program (ACP), according to the U.S. Trade and Development Agency. The announcement follows the agency’s award of $371,000 aimed at helping the Indian aerospace industry develop more efficient engineering processes. The grant, the fourth given under the ACP, focuses on areas such as airworthiness, FAA requirement compliance and quality management. Florida-based Heico will lead the training program.
Saab has joined the Sesar (Single European Sky ATM Research) partnership program aimed at developing Europe’s new air traffic management system. One of Saab’s main contributions will be to develop the remotely operated tower concept that it launched this year. The concept allows for traffic management at small- and medium-size airports to be remotely controlled from a central site. Saab also will develop airport control tower systems and management systems to support the aircraft turnaround process at the gate.
While preparing for the initial flight of its first X-47B unmanned combat air system (UCAS), Northrop Grumman is also working this summer to refine the control technologies that allow the stealthy, tailless aircraft to operate in and around an aircraft carrier.
Russia’s Phazotron is beginning the next stage of development testing of an active, electronically scanned array (AESA) fighter radar, and Indian air force pilots are slated to fly with the system this year.
The U.K. Royal Air Force is preparing for what will likely be its longest Sentinel R1 deployment for operations in Afghanistan to support the country’s August national elections. The third deployment for the Raytheon-developed airborne stand-off radar system may last five months. The Sentinel R1 continues to be deployed in advance of the Defense Ministry declaring initial operational capability. Full operational capability is expected in 2011.
Bettina H. Chavanne (NAS Patuxent River, Md., and Washington)
The future newest, heaviest helicopter in the U.S. Navy arsenal is laboring under its own weight. The CH-53K squeaked through its preliminary design review recently, but it is facing disruptive cost and schedule delays.
Graham Warwick (Le Bourget), Robert Wall (Le Bourget)
Sensing an irreversible shift toward unmanned aircraft, aerospace companies are reshaping their businesses. The most dramatic move is the creation of an unmanned airborne system division within Boeing Military Aircraft, but manufacturers across the industry are focusing resources on autonomous systems.
The bulk of Eurofighter Typhoon Tranche 3A aircraft likely will initially be fitted with the Captor M mechanically scanned radar, as the four partner nations try to agree on a common road map for integrating radar technology. A Eurofighter executive suggests any plans for an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar are “unlikely to meet the Tranche 3A time scales.” Retrofitting AESA technology to T3A aircraft, he suggests, will be the probable approach. Tranche 2 aircraft also may receive an AESA upgrade.
Software for the TP400D turboprop engine on the A400M is about to be delivered, a key milestone as Airbus Military tries to fly the European airlifter by year-end. Software Load 1.2 for the TP400’s full-authority digital engine control is to undergo European Aviation Safety Agency certification in the fall, says Egon Behle, CEO of MTU, which is responsible for the system.
While Russia’s military elite have already seen the prototype—or perhaps prototypes—of the air force’s next–generation heavy fighter, the aircraft will likely only make its public debut after first flight, if tradition is followed.
While denying they are on a buying spree, Boeing officials admit to picking up six “cyber-related” companies in the last year. Those acquisitions include Raven Wing, specializing in classified hardware and software, Kestrel Enterprises, for intelligence analysis software, and Digital Receiver Technology. Digital’s assets are somewhat akin to those used by the RC-135 Rivet Joint signals intelligence aircraft to pluck key traffic out of a crowded radio spectrum.
Robert Wall (Le Bourget), Michael A. Taverna (Le Bourget)
There is a consensus emerging in France that Europe needs to build its own unmanned aircraft wherewithal to catch up with the U.S. and Israel. But companies remain divided over the path to achieving that goal. Europe is about 15-20 years behind its rivals in UAV efforts in part due to much lower spending levels; the U.S. spends about five times more than Europe on unmanned aircraft, argue EADS officials. Europe needs to work cooperatively to bridge that gap, says Bernhard Gerwert, chief executive for EADS’s Military Air Systems unit.
Alenia North America CEO Giuseppe Giordo says that despite a cut in the Pentagon’s planned purchase of C-27Js, he is hopeful the number will increase. The original plan was to buy 78 of the twin-engine tactical airlifters. “Thirty-eight does not justify a final assembly line,” at Cecil Field, Fla., he says. The company was planning to break ground on that facility last month. More important, Giordo says, is production rate. Together with international orders, Alenia hopes to achieve 12 per year.
Regarding your article “Ultimate Clean” (AW&ST Apr. 20, p. 39), I am a radio-frequency engineer who has been fried by his own product more times than he cares to admit.
As June comes to a close, Boeing is set to complete its final two pre-flight exercises on ZA001, setting up a first flight of the 787 that is likely to be about June 28. Meanwhile, Boeing has rolled out the second flight test article, ZA002, in All Nippon Airways (ANA) livery to the flight line and moved the first production aircraft and the seventh to be built, ZA100, into final assembly in Everett, Wash.
NASA hopes it can use untested commercial vehicles to fill a 60-metric-ton cargo shortfall in resupplying the International Space Station until 2016, when it plans to drop the $100-billion orbiting lab in the Pacific Ocean for lack of funding. The White House wants to know if that makes sense, and the panel set up to advise it on the future of the U.S. human spaceflight program already has received a clear signal on the subject.
