The U.S. Navy is still pursuing approval to initiate a quick program to transform the Tomahawk cruise missile into an anti-ship weapon. Upon approval, the goal is to have a successful demonstration and fielded capability within 42 months, Rear Adm. Mathias Winter, commander of the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division, says in a recent blog.
There is no doubt where the top U.S. shipbuilder sees the U.S. Navy putting most of its investments: “Aircraft carriers,” says Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) CEO Michael Petters, whose Newport News Shipbuilding unit builds the behemoths. “They are the most complex and highest priority for the Navy.” Keeping an even pace, he says, is the Navy’s interest in submarines. “Submarines are not a lesser priority for the Navy,” Petters said during a recent presentation at a Credit Suisse Aerospace & Defense Conference.
After more than a year-long delay, the U.S. Air Force has begun training its F-35 instructor pilots at Eglin AFB, Fla. Gen. Edward Rice, who heads the Air Education and Training Center, gave the formal nod to begin pilot training Dec. 17 during a visit to the base, which is where the first F-35 schoolhouse has been established.
Industry has long recognized the value of collaborating with government on applied research projects, especially in the pursuit of breakthrough technologies. Access to specialized skills and state-of-the-art facilities, not to mention risk sharing, are just a few of the direct benefits. Such cooperation has been instrumental in helping companies validate and commercialize advanced capabilities sooner than if they had been working alone.
Chris Chadwick President, Boeing Military Aircraft Age: 52 Education: B.S. in electrical engineering, Iowa State University; M.B.A., Maryville University. Career: Chadwick served as vice president of the F/A-18 program and program manager of the MV-22 before being promoted to his current job.
The destroyer-building shipyards were expecting the U.S. Navy to award the next contract block for nine or 10 DDG vessels by the end of this year, but legislative continuing resolutions (CRs) will likely push that decision out to the first quarter of next year, says Michael Petters, CEO for shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls Industries.
Israel's new advanced missile defense systems—such as Iron Dome and David's Sling—are so sophisticated that they may mark the end of an era as the last large, kinetic interceptors to be developed to block threats lobbed from neighboring countries, according to Israeli designers.
LONDON — The U.K. Royal Air Force has carried out its last missions with the Eurocopter SA330 Puma Mk1. The last Mk.1 flew its final sortie on Dec. 14. The Mk.1s are being replaced by 24 Puma Mk.2s that are progressively being upgraded by Eurocopter at their facilities at Brasov in Romania under the Puma Life-Extension Program, launched in September 2009. The first aircraft entered the program in October 2009 and the upgrades should extend the life of the long-serving medium helicopter until around 2025.
The U.K. coalition government sees the manufacturing sector—and the aerospace industry in particular—as a means of lifting the country out of the economic doldrums and onto a path to growth. But industry leaders are concerned that a lack of skills and perhaps more critically, interest in engineering from the up-and-coming generation of workers could starve the U.K. of aerospace growth at a time when industry is finally getting government support it needs.
Of little surprise to anyone who follows federal procurement, the Pentagon is the hands-down leader when it comes to U.S. government sole-source contracting, accounting for nearly half of the bigger deals between fall 2008 and spring of this year.
In 2004, the Joint Strike Fighter's program manager, Lockheed Martin Vice President Tom Burbage, observed that if any one big defense program falters, the rippling effects impact all programs.
LONDON — The U.K. Ministry of Defense will award a contract to provide for its Military Flight Training System (MFTS) in 2015. Industry partner Ascent — a Lockheed Martin/Babcock International joint venture — has issued a request for proposals for a new fleet of fixed-wing training aircraft that will be used for elementary, basic, multi-engine and fixed-wing rear crew training for all three of the U.K. armed services until 2030.
SAN DIEGO — After relying for years on contractors to provide maintenance and other services, the U.S. Navy is looking to redevelop the expertise to do much of that work with its own personnel in-house. This course change could significantly alter maintenance and other related contracts in years to come.
After 14 years of trying, North Korea has finally joined the countries capable of launching a satellite into orbit. But the success was short-lived. The nation's space program is also experiencing the bitterness of the failure to keep its spacecraft stable. North Korea succeeded Dec. 11 on its six attempt to orbit what officials there call an Earth-observation satellite. The U.S. led a group of nations, including Russia and China, that warned North Korea not to proceed with the mission. China has since expressed “regret” over it.
BEIJING — China is referring to a southern military command as a “theater of operations,” warlike language evidently designed to increase pressure on rival claimants to the South China Sea. The term, unfamiliar in peacetime, has appeared in a report by the state’s Xinhua news agency covering a visit to the southern city of Guangzhou by the new chairman of the Communist Party, Xi Jinping. Xi has inspected the command and called on the Chinese armed forces to increase their “real combat” awareness through military training, Xinhua says.
The JF-17, a single-engine fighter Pakistan and China jointly developed, will be as ubiquitous as the Dassault Mirage once was in Pakistan, and possibly in other developing countries as well.
Lockheed Martin’s newest hit-to-kill air defense weapon achieved its first intercept this month in its production configuration, and full production is expected late next year. The Patriot Advanced Capability (PAC)-3 Missile Segment Enhancement (MSE) interceptor destroyed a tactical ballistic missile during a flight test at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., Dec. 6.
A probe into an upper-stage low-thrust anomaly during an October GPS launch has verified that a leak occurred in the RL10B-2 engine. But, a root cause continues to elude investigators, and satellite owners are proceeding with Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) missions only if they are willing to accept any extra risk resulting from the unknowns surrounding the incident.
Allen S. Novick, a former Rolls-Royce/ Allison executive who helped transform the fortunes of the Indianapolis-based aeroengine maker with a revolutionary development concept, died on Dec. 9. He was 70. Novick led Allison's efforts to design, develop and produce the world's first family of turboshaft, turboprop and turbofan engines for military and civil use based on a single common core.
Adding Denmark to its customer list for the MH-60R Seahawk has been a small but important victory for Sikorsky and its partners, and one which could leave European helicopter companies reeling.
The relationship between government contractors and their customers is badly strained. This may not be surprising, given the tension between the need for security and the growing scarcity of economic resources. In working toward increased [weapons systems] affordability, government must challenge a legacy of myriad regulations, acquisition processes and increased oversight that have had unintended consequences. They hinder innovation and affordability.
Australia, dropping its commitment to operate only Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightnings in its future air combat fleet, will ask the U.S. for the price of a second batch of 24 Boeing Super Hornets. Because of repeated delays in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, Lockheed Martin now looks increasingly likely to get only about half of the Australian requirement for 100 fighters previously earmarked for the company in full.
The U.S. Navy has underscored its growing interest in developing greater cyber warfare capabilities with the approval and release of key strategy documents meant to guide the service’s efforts in the field.
