An Indian cruise missile test was terminated March 12 after the missile failed to hit the target and deviated from its course during its first launch. But Nirbhay, India’s first indigenously developed subsonic cruise missile, did successfully meet its basic mission objectives, said India’s Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO), which developed the missile.
LONDON — The Airbus Military A400M military airlifter has achieved European Aviation Safety Agency certification, marking another milestone as the company pushes to get the first aircraft delivered to the French air force before June and the Paris air show. The European regulator granted the aircraft its type certificate on March 13. According to the company, Military initial operating clearance is ongoing.
LONDON — The first aircrew trained by the U.K. Military Flight Training System (MFTS) have begun graduating, but senior officials say they face a “voyage of discovery” as the service expands to cover other elements of training.
Unmanned aircraft could generate more than $13 billion in economic benefits within three years if the FAA develops regulations allowing their integration into U.S. national airspace by 2015, as directed by Congress, according to a new study by the industry’s trade body. The study by aviation economist Daryl Jenkins, commissioned by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI), forecasts a rapid adoption of small, unmanned aircraft systems (UASs) for precision agriculture and public safety.
The Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) — one of the Pentagon’s top contracting watchdogs – should consider rescinding or augmenting certain recent reports because of lapses in “professional judgment” used to construct them, a recent Defense Department Inspector General (IG) report says. The IG performed quality assurance reviews on 50 DCAA reports issued during the first half of fiscal 2010, evaluating assignments from all five DCAA regions and the Field Detachment to determine compliance with government auditing standards and DCAA policies and procedures.
Denmark will reopen its competition for a new fighter to replace its F-16s, the country’s government told the Joint Strike Fighter program office in a March 13 letter. Denmark is a Tier 3 JSF partner and was expected to order 48 F-35As The decision was taken after Eurofighter asked to rejoin the competition, the Danish defense ministry says, adding that it also expects Boeing and Saab to pitch the Super Hornet and JAS 39E Gripen. The JSF remains a candidate. Denmark expects to select a new fighter in mid-2015.
The U.S. military shift to the Asia-Pacific region will require continued investments in stealthy aircraft, submarines, reconnaissance platforms and ballistic missile defense (BMD), says Tom Donilon, the nation’s security advisor. The military will need to focus more on fifth-generation aircraft such as F-22 Raptors and F-35 Joint Strike Fighters as well as radars and other BMD-related equipment, Donilon said March 11 during a speech at the Asia Society in New York, according to the American Forces Press.
LONDON — Eurocopter and Kazakhstan Engineering have signed an agreement to explore the assembly of military helicopters in Kazakhstan. The two companies already have a 50/50 joint venture called Eurocopter Kazakhstan Engineering. It was established in 2011 to produce EC145 helicopters for Kazakh military and government agencies. The JV last year also agreed to assemble 20 EC725 heavy helicopters for the Kazakh armed forces.
Continuing the Pentagon’s penchant for UAV investment in the face of continuing resolutions and sequestration, the U.S. Navy announced the purchase of six more Northrop Grumman MQ-8C Fire Scouts. The MQ-8C is the extended-endurance version of the Fire Scout UAV, based on the Bell 407 helicopter rather than the smaller Schweizer 333 airframe used for the original Fire Scout. The 8C is being developed to meet special warfare requirements for more endurance and payload.
Combat systems, equipment and missiles related to ballistic missile defense (BMD) have proved particularly fruitful since the Missile Defense Agency (MDA)’s most recent Aegis flight test. Crewmembers of the guided missile cruiser USS Lake Erie conducted a test last June 26 with an SM-3 Block IB missile and the second-generation Aegis BMD 4.0.1 weapon system, marking the second such successful intercept using the system, which anchors the U.S. European Phased Adaptive Approach BMD concept.
SUB NEEDS: Gen. C. Robert Kehler, chief of U.S. Strategic Command, tells Senate lawmakers the Ohio-class replacement submarine remains important, even though the 2013 budget request slipped the acquisition two years. But there is a risk, he told the Armed Services Committee March 12. As his submariners remind him, Kehler says, it is the number of cycles that affects service life, as harsh environment and repeated stresses take their toll. Sliding the schedule two years puts deliveries in the zone when the first older submarines must be retired.
LONDON — The Italian Air Force (AMI) plans to upgrade its Panavia Tornado fighter bombers to carry two new weapons. Under the MET 27 deal, signed between Panavia Aircraft Gmbh and the NATO Eurofighter and Tornado Management Agency (NETMA), Italian Tornados will be made capable of firing the ATK-built AGM-88E Advanced Anti-Radiation-Guided-Missile (AARGM) and the Boeing Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) system.
Unmanned aircraft could generate more than $13 billion in economic benefits within three years if the FAA develops regulations allowing their integration into U.S. national airspace by 2015, as directed by Congress, according to a new study by the industry’s trade body. The study by aviation economist Daryl Jenkins, commissioned by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI), forecasts a rapid adoption of small, unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) for precision agriculture and public safety.
Lockheed Martin and Pratt & Whitney are improving production processes for the F-35 to the extent that they could manage to sell the anticipated 3,000 of the tri-service, multinational fighters, says Program Executive Officer U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan. “That number is starting to get back into the sweet spot on the curve,” he says of the contractors’ costs, adding that the per-unit price is heading to where the “partners want it to be,” in the range of $80 million to $90 million.
LONDON — Eurocopter CEO Lutz Bertling is leaving the EADS-owned company to head up the rail division of Bombardier. Bertling, who took the helm of Eurocopter from Fabrice Bregier in 2006, will take on the role of president and chief operating officer of Berlin-based Bombardier Transportation, effective June 3, 2013. He will be replaced at Eurocopter by the current head of research and development at French automotive company PSA, Guillaume Faury.
DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Raytheon Co., El Segundo, Calif., was awarded contract (SPRA1-11-G-003X). The award is a firm-fixed-price, sole-source contract against a basic ordering agreement for $24,608,501 for F/A-18 components. Location of performance is California with an April 30, 2016 completion date. Using military services are Navy and Foreign Military Sale customers. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2013 Navy Working Capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Aviation Strategic Acquisition, Philadelphia.
Even as the Pentagon struggles under continuing resolution spending caps and the nation tries to figure out the immediate and long-term effects of sequestration, the U.S. Navy is investing more funding into one of its most sacred programs — the aircraft carrier fleet. The Navy awarded NASSCO Earl Industries — a General Dynamics unit based in Portsmouth, Va. — a $10.4 million modification to a previously awarded contract for the CVN-65 USS Enterprise ship terminal operation program in support of the ship’s deactivation.
The current fiscal crisis could prevent the U.S. from cashing in on the opportunity to build two Virginia-class attack submarines per year at an affordable price in a timely manner, according to ship- and sub-builder Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII). “The industry has sized itself and invested to get to this point to build two per year,” says Michael Petters, CEO of HII, whose Newport News Shipbuilding unit shares submarine-building contracts with General Dynamics’ Electric Boat arm.
LONDON — Sweden has inked a contract to purchase the surface-launched IRIS-T missile as the basis for its new ground-launched air defense system. The country’s Defense Material Administration signed a SEK270 million ($42 million) contract with Germany’s Diehl Defense on Feb. 28 to deliver the IRIS-T SLS system as part of a program to upgrade Sweden’s air defense network. Diehl will deliver the IRIS-T missile, missile launching station and fire control systems, which will be operated by the Swedish army.
While the U.S. defense community remains focused on shaping budgets to deal with continuing resolutions and sequestration, officials also need to shift their attention more toward developing a better overall strategy to cope with the new financial realities, says Michael Petters, CEO of Huntington Ingalls Industries, the nation’s biggest military shipbuilder.
