AgustaWestland is testing a fan-in-wing, tilt-rotor demonstrator as a technology incubator for advanced rotorcraft concepts. Measuring several meters in wingspan, the “Project Zero” subscale demonstrator has been developed and flown in secret since 2011 at AgustaWestland’s Cascina Costa facility in Italy. Revealing the initiative at Heli-Expo, newly-installed CEO Daniele Romiti says the unconventional vehicle represents how the manufacturer is “thinking today of how we could fly tomorrow.”
A Colorado congressman has asked the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) to explain why it might furlough civilian employees. Rep. Douglas Lamborn (R), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, says he has received a “disturbing report” that the furloughs could be avoided even as the Pentagon seeks to comply with the $85 billion across-the-board reduction in government spending that started March 1.
EXPORT CONTROL: The Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) is lauding news of the White House’s first round of proposed revisions to the U.S. Munitions List, calling it “a critical step toward enhancing American competitiveness in the export market.” Congress was formally notified of the coming changes March 8. “The inflexible application of export control restrictions coupled with their lack of clarity has long been a burden to the U.S.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office is questioning the methodology used by the U.S. Air Force in its decision to eschew competitive prototyping for its Combat Rescue Helicopter (CRH) program, although the GAO acknowledges the decision may still be sound. The Air Force sought a waiver from competitive prototyping for the CRH program — formerly called the HH-60 Recapitalization — an effort to replace aging HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters in the wake of the 2009 cancellation of the Combat Search and Rescue replacement (CSAR-X) program.
While the Obama administration and federal lawmakers continue to parry and thrust over sequestration, a continuing resolution and other budgetary battles, the U.S. Navy is ponying up more investments for key programs — this time for ballistic missile submarine and next-generation aircraft carrier work worth about $329 million.
The MH-60R Seahawk (Romeo) helicopter program is seeing growing interest and solid bookings in foreign markets, according to prime contractor Lockheed Martin. Thirty-three of the planned total 289-aircraft Romeo buy is now secured, with recent sales of 24 to Australia and another nine to Denmark, notes Tom Kane, director of naval helicopter programs for Lockheed Martin Missions Systems and Training, which is partnered with Sikorsky on Seahawk helicopter production.
The U.S. Army has yet to quantify or qualify how continuing resolutions (CRs) and sequestration will affect the service’s plans to cut its force size as the nation pulls back from overseas military conflicts, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) says in a recent report.
LAS VEGAS — Sergei Mikheyev, general designer of the Kamov Design Bureau, has revealed that the Russian helicopter company secretly designed the baseline version of the Z-10 attack helicopter for China in the mid-1990s.
TEL AVIV — The radar used by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) during the first Gulf War has undergone renovation in the U.S. for nearly 30 technical modifications that improve its performance, safety and maintenance. A ceremony held last week introduced the “Radar 120” of the Patriot system in the IDF air defense — a radar that had been refurbished in a specially dedicated U.S. military program. The radar will now enter operational service in Israel in the PAC-2 missile batteries of the air defense wing.
EADS CEO Tom Enders believes certification of new aircraft programs likely will become more difficult following the recent troubles surrounding the Boeing 787 program.
The U.S. Air Force’s decision to move away from the Northrop Grumman Global Hawk program has not swayed the Navy’s allegiance to its $11.4 billion Triton unmanned aircraft program, which is based on the Global Hawk platform, says Vice Adm. Mark Skinner, military deputy to the Navy acquisition secretary.
LOWER CLEARANCE: The downturn in U.S. defense-related spending has finally hit a key niche of the government’s extended workforce: compensation for professionals with federal security clearances dipped 3% year over year to $88,447 in 2012, according to ClearanceJobs.com. The online career networking site for those with the heavily sought credential says the latest results of its survey mark the first time both average earnings and average salaries ($75,208, down 1%) fell in the same year. U.S.
FUTURE HELO: EADS North America has submitted a proposal for the U.S. Army’s Joint Multi-Role (JMR) advanced rotorcraft technology demonstration. EADS will not divulge what configuration it has proposed, but the Army Aviation Applied Technology Directorate’s requirement for a 230 kt. cruise speed could be met by an aircraft based on Eurocopter’s X3 high-speed compound helicopter demonstrator. Boeing and Sikorsky have teamed to offer a compound helicopter based on Sikorsky’s X2 coaxial-rotor, pusher-propeller configuration, and Bell Helicopter is proposing a tiltrotor.
LAS VEGAS — BAE Systems is planning to conduct firings of its Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) laser-guided rockets from U.S. Army Apache and Kiowa Warrior helicopters later this year. The U.S. Army has a notional requirement for a low-cost, laser-guided rocket system, and BAE Systems is confident that the U.S. Marine Corps’ recent success with the weapon in Afghanistan might pique the Army’s interest. Furthermore, the company believes an Army order might also boost international opportunities through the Foreign Military Sales system.
As the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS-1) USS Freedom makes its way across the Pacific for its first Asian deployment in Singapore, the U.S. Navy is further anchoring its LCS program by picking up options worth about $1.4 billion to buy four more ships. The contract options fund construction of four ships in fiscal 2013 in the dual 20-ship block-buy award made to a shipbuilder team lead by Austal USA and General Dynamics, and another team led by Lockheed Martin, in December 2010.
The U.S. Air Force is considering seeking more flexibility in payment schedules on future fixed-price development contracts, to mitigate the growing risk that budget uncertainty could force the government to default on such deals and lose their favorable terms.
INDIAN PARTNERSHIPS: Indian Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai, speaking in Washington last month, has called for joint design and coproduction of weapons and defense capabilities with the U.S. During an event at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Mathai told an audience that the two countries should enter into joint defense projects — a sign that New Delhi is increasingly interested in more than just utilizing traditional “offsets,” i.e., local spending by Western defense companies, to build up its own industry.
NEW DELHI — India says it will go ahead with its program to buy 197 Light Utility Helicopters for its defense forces, contrary to speculation that the AgustaWestland bribery scandal had forced the government to put the much-awaited deal on hold. “The proposal for acquisition of 197 Light Utility Helicopters is due for consideration of the Defense Acquisition Council [DAC]. The procurement procedure has been conducted in accordance with the Defense Procurement Procedure,” Defense Minister A.K. Antony says.
LAS VEGAS — Pratt & Whitney says oil starvation tests have been conducted on the F135 to clear the engine in advance for the extreme phases of ongoing high angle-of-attack flight tests of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
The Department of Defense has been slowing down its contract obligations in both the domestic and foreign arenas, underscoring the U.S. shift away from combat operations, according to figures released in a recent Congressional Research Service (CRS) report. The report highlights the overall increase in military spending since the terrorist attacks of 2001, but notes the slowdown in the past half-decade.
NEW DELHI — Delivery of Sukhoi Su-30MKI fighters from state-owned licensed manufacturer Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) to the Indian air force (IAF) is likely to be delayed due to development issues. HAL is currently undertaking the production of 222 Su-30 aircraft. HAL was supposed to start delivery of the all-weather air-dominance fighters to the country’s defense forces by 2015. But now this may not happen “as per schedule,” according to India’s junior defense minister, Jitendra Singh.
