The U.S. “rebalance” toward Asia, including the military’s so-called pivot to the Asia-Pacific realm, is “durable” and will persist and grow regardless of automatic, widespread budget cuts this fiscal year and lower overall spending levels in future years, according to the Pentagon’s No. 2 official.
STAY TUNED: There will be “quite a bit” of information about the U.S.’s “limited” ballistic missile defenses in the fiscal 2014 budget request from the Obama administration on April 10, according to Rose Gottemoeller, acting undersecretary for arms control and international security at the U.S. State Department.
COLORADO SPRINGS — Boeing is developing a family of three small satellites ranging from 4 to 1,000 kg (9 to 2,200 lb.) in size to whet the growing appetite of commercial and government customers interested in pursuing lower-cost space platforms.
NEW DELHI — India’s ambitious Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) contract is facing hurdles at the negotiation table, as sources say Dassault it seeking to absolve itself of responsibility for the copies of its Rafale fighter to be assembled in India by state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL). Under an agreement, the Indian air force (IAF) is likely to get 18 Rafale aircraft from Dassault Aviation in fly-away condition.
LONDON — The Selex ES arm of Italian defense and aerospace giant Finmeccanica plans to lay off more than 2,500 employees as it attempts to restructure in a bid to help its struggling parent. Selex management presented its plans to the Finmeccanica board on March 26 to cut 2,529 staffers from across its Italian and U.K. workforce—1,940 in Italy. Furthermore, Selex says it will close 25 of its sites, the majority in Italy.
NEW DELHI — India is considering increasing the foreign direct investment (FDI) limit in its defense sector to at least 49% from the current 26%, according to a top government official. “I am in favor of raising [the] FDI limit in the defense sector to at least 49%, if not 74%,” Federal Trade Minister Anand Sharma says. The policy change is needed to help India “become a major defense producer” in the world, he says. “India needs to move on. Our industry is talking to major defense manufacturers in the U.S. and Europe.”
STUDY THIS: A trade group for the intelligence and defense sector is trying to drum up pressure for government officials to fund research in several key areas, including bio-inspired computing architectures, energy harvesting, advanced materials for computing, human-inspired “big data” and self-protecting data. The call comes from the Intelligence and National Security Alliance (INSA).
Pilatus Aircraft ended 2012 with its lowest sales total in at least five years, but a series of contracts for its military, trainer and special mission aircraft propelled the company to its strongest year ever in order intake and positions the Swiss airframer for growth.
SEOUL — South Korea sees an opportunity for a large local production run by Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) as it considers the three contenders for its F-X Phase 3 fighter requirement, industry officials say.
As the investigation continues into power outages associated with the diesel engines generators aboard the first Littoral Combat Ship (LCS-1), the U.S. Navy is tallying the cost of the vessel’s initial Asian deployment.
Noting the common operational elements shared between the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) and the Joint High Speed Vessel (JHSV), the U.S. Navy has decided to place oversight of the latter’s development under the LCS Council of admirals shepherding the program. Adm. Jonathan Greenert, the chief of naval operations, directed the expansion in a March 29 memo. There is no indication that the charter change is the result of any problems with the JHSV program; indeed, Navy officials have touted the development and acquisition effort to date as successful.
LONDON — Thales and missile manufacturer MBDA say they have extended their partnerships as they work together to develop the U.K.’s new short-range naval and ground-launched surface-to-air missile.
In the final fiscal 2013 spending bill for the Pentagon, lawmakers added $711 million to the U.S. Air Force’s aircraft procurement account, mostly so the service can have five more Lockheed Martin C-130s. The total for the additional C-130J, two more HC-130s and two more MC-130s, is a half-billion dollars. Advance procurement for the C-130J had a zero request from the Pentagon; lawmakers plussed that to $180 million. The total request for Air Force aircraft procurement was $11 billion, so the increase is 7%.
The Obama administration’s imminent fiscal 2014 budget request for the Pentagon will ignore limits set by the 2011 Budget Control Act (BCA), try to partially undo the law’s sequestration cuts this year, perpetuate a “fog bank” of illusory budget-making sweeping Washington and is likely to be declared dead on arrival by congressional Republicans who control the House.
REPROGRAM IT: The White House Office of Management and Budget is urging federal agencies to consider exploiting so-called reprogramming authority — i.e., the ability to ask Congress to allow internal money movement within its budget — to deal with the Budget Control Act’s sequestration cuts this fiscal year. Agencies and departments have varying degrees of reprogramming authority, according to the Congressional Research Service.
LANGKAWI, Malaysia — UAVs would be the Maldives’ best choice for surveillance of its vast exclusive economic zone compared with manned aircraft, and the tiny nation is eager to hear from companies looking to do trials or research, says Brig. Gen. Ahmed Shiyam, head of the Maldives National Defense Force. Internationally renowned for its pristine natural environment, the Maldives faces a mammoth task in protecting it—920,000 square kilometers of ocean, dotted with 1,192 coral islands.
With projected costs dropping significantly for the U.S. Navy’s proposed Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR), the focus is now on the destroyer line slated to host the AMDR suite — the DDG-51 Arleigh Burke class. There are still questions and concerns, not only about the advanced Flight III versions of the ship being designed with AMDR in mind, but also the Flight IIA versions that marked the beginning of the restarted Burke line to develop and deploy more advanced Aegis Combat Systems meant for improved ballistic missile defense (BMD).
Pilatus Aircraft ended 2012 with its lowest sales total in at least five years, but a series of contracts for its military, trainer and special mission aircraft propelled the company to its strongest year ever in order intake and positions the Swiss airframer for growth. The company reported 2012 at 593 million CHF ($625 million U.S.), down from 781 million a year earlier and 688 million CHF in 2010. At the same time, though, orders totaled 2.67 billion CHF on the year, more than six times the 416 million CHF taken in during 2011.
Despite congressional efforts to block the U.S. from purchasing equipment from a Russian-state owned weapons exporter, the Pentagon plans to purchase 30 Mi-17 helicopters from Rosoboronexport to equip the Afghan air force. The fiscal 2013 National Defense Authorization Act prohibits funding from being used to contract with Rosoboronexport. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) led efforts to pass the bill, citing that company’s involvement in selling weapons to Syria.
Recent Pentagon moves with aircraft in Asia are underscoring a heightened U.S. military focus on the region. The U.S. Defense Department sent a pair of F-22 Raptors to South Korea in late March to participate in military exercises there — a move that may be largely symbolic, defense analysts say. But it also carries operational importance that could help shape the electronic order of battle for the region, should the stakes reach that level.
LIVE FIRE: The guided-missile cruiser CG-62 USS Chancellorsville has completed its first Aegis Combat System live-fire test using the system’s newest Baseline 9 capability build, Aegis prime contractor Lockheed Martin said April 3. During the at-sea test scenario, Aegis successfully detected, tracked and engaged a medium-altitude subsonic target. Four additional live-fire exercises will be completed aboard the Chancellorsville before the ship’s Combat System Ship Qualification Trial events begin later this year.
TEL AVIV — Recent commercial satellite imagery provided by the Israeli satellite firm ImageSat International reveals that new construction activity has already begun at North Korea’s Light Water Nuclear Reactor at Yongbyon.
