India imports nearly three times as many arms as China and Pakistan, a Swedish-based research institute says, firming the country's position as the world's leading buyer of military weapons: 65% of its hardware. India increased its arms imports by 111% over the past five years, compared with 2004-08, and now accounts for 14% of the world's weapons imports, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) says in a new report last week. The second-highest importers, China and Pakistan, each account for 5% of international defense imports.
NEW DELHI — The Indian air force (IAF) has decided to “urgently” buy 106 PC-7 Mk. 2 Basic Trainer Aircraft (BTA) from Pilatus, pulling the plug yet again on state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), which is also making an aircraft for training junior pilots. The BTAs will be acquired from the Swiss company under the “Buy & Make (Indian)” category, in accordance with India’s defense procurement policy. India is already taking delivery of PC-7 Mk. 2 aircraft from Pilatus under a contract for 75 such aircraft signed in 2012.
LONDON — AleniaAermacchi has rolled out the first of 30 M-346 jet trainers destined for the Israeli air force. The aircraft, which made its first flight on March 15, was rolled out in Israeli air force colors during a special ceremony at the company’s facility in Venegono, Italy, on March 20. AleniaAermacchi will deliver nine M-346Is to Israel this year, with the first pair due to be formally handed over in the country on July 10.
LONDON — Saab officials say they are confident Swiss voters will approve a May 18 referendum to buy JAS-39E Gripen combat aircraft. Speaking March 19 during the company’s annual Gripen seminar in Stockholm, Richard Smith, Saab’s campaign lead for Switzerland, said he was optimistic about the vote despite recent polling conducted by the Institute Leger and published in the Swiss newspaper SonntagsBlick, which suggested that around 60% of Swiss voters are against the purchase.
Justifying its decision to award Lockheed Martin follow-on work on the Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (Lrasm) without a competition, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) says changing contractors would incur a 60-month delay in a program seen as responding to an urgent requirement.
The U.S. Defense Department’s proposed fiscal 2015 budget calls for a dip in rotorcraft spending compared to enacted fiscal 2014 spending, according to an exclusive Aviation Week Intelligence Network (AWIN) analysis of budget data. The AWIN analysis shows the Pentagon spending about $9.9 billion for rotorcraft and related programs in fiscal 2015, compared to about $10.4 billion in fiscal 2014.
Canada is to upgrade another four of its 18 Lockheed CP-140 Auroras, taking the fleet of modernized maritime patrol aircraft to 14, extending its life and delaying the need to buy a replacement multi-mission aircraft to 2030, the Department of National Defense says. Canada has been considered a potential customer for Boeing’s P-8 Poseidon, to follow India and Australia, which is also planning to buy Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton unmanned aircraft for maritime patrol. Canada has been looking at the RQ-4 Global Hawk for Arctic surveillance.
‘WAKE UP CALL’: Referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s move to annex the Crimean Peninsula as a “wake up call,” NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen is calling on Europe to increase defense spending – particularly in areas such as missile defense, cyber and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. “Developments in Ukraine are a stark reminder that security in Europe cannot be taken for granted,” Rasmussen said at the Brookings Institution.
AgustaWestland has begun flying the first fully configured AW101 combat search-and-rescue (CSAR) helicopter destined for the Italian air force (AMI). Company officials confirm that the helicopters are the most advanced versions of the AW101 currently flying. The aircraft are being fitted with defensive aids and an electro-optical sensor under the nose. They also eventually will be configured to receive fuel in midair from the AMI’s fleet of Lockheed Martin KC-130J Hercules transports.
A Royal Air Force Airbus A330 Voyager tanker/transport plunged almost 4,500 ft. during a Feb. 9 flight from Afghanistan to the U.K. because a camera became stuck between the captain’s seat and his sidestick controller, an interim report from the U.K.’s Military Aviation Authority (MAA) reveals. The fly-by-wire aircraft—which is owned by AirTanker Services but flown by RAF crews—was in cruise mode at 33,000 ft., en route from Camp Bastion to RAF Brize Norton with 189 passengers and 9 crew on board, when it suddenly pitched nose-down.
To address concerns raised by U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, the U.S. Navy has created a high-powered Small Surface Combatant Task Force (SSCTF) to set the requirements for the follow-on design to the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS). Hagel directed the Navy to truncate the LCS fleet at 32 ships and develop a more frigate-like successor that would be more lethal and survivable. The Navy now intends to use LCS and FFG-7-class frigates as initial templates for the new small surface combatant.
LONDON — The Indian defense ministry has said it plans to appeal against an order filed by an Italian court stopping it from collecting money paid in deposit for a fleet of VVIP helicopters purchased in 2010.
TEL AVIV — Chile is apparently a potential customer for the Airbus Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) variant of the C295 turboprop, positioned as a potential successor for the Boeing 707 Condor currently in service. “The C295 AEW would be a natural choice as follow-on to the Condor, since the aircraft is widely used in the continent,” says Avishai Izhakian, deputy general manager of Israel Aircraft Industries Elta Systems’ AEW Division, which provides the radar.
BEIJING — The single-engine aircraft that Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) is proposing for the South Korean KF-X indigenous fighter program would be as effective in combat as the big twin proposed by the Agency for Defense Development (ADD), KAI says.
Karem Aircraft has been confirmed as one of four competitors selected for the initial preliminary design phase of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (Darpa) Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) X-Plane program. VTOL X-Plane aims to demonstrate a vertical-lift aircraft that can cruise at 300-400 kt., but achieve a 75% hover efficiency and a cruise lift-to-drag ratio (L/D) of at least 10, as well as carry a useful load of at least 40% of the vehicle’s gross weight.
The U.S. Navy’s fiscal 2015 budget plan maintains funding for air- and missile-defense programs, but delays implementation for some of the platforms, sensors and equipment because of the lingering effects of sequestration and other financial concerns. The Navy still plans to field its Integrated Fire Control-Counter Air (NIFC-CA) Increment I, with the Northrop Grumman E-2D Advanced Hawkeye aircraft, in 2015, but only in four air wings—compared to the six wings proposed in the Navy’s fiscal 2014 budget.
With the recent acceptance trials by Mobile Landing Platform (MLP-2) USNS John Glenn, U.S. Navy officials are boasting of MLP capabilities and the need to get the ships into service. The Glenn finished its acceptance trials earlier this year off the coast near the General Dynamics National Steel and Shipbuilding Co. (NASSCO) shipyard in San Diego, as the Navy’s Board of Inspection and Survey (Insurv) tested the vessel and its equipment to demonstrate and evaluate the performance of all of the ship’s major systems.
LONDON — The U.K. is to provide Eurofighter Typhoons to support the Baltic Air Policing mission in Lithuania for the first time. The move, announced by U.K. Defense Secretary Philip Hammond in Parliament on March 17, will see several Eurofighter Typhoons deploy to Siauliai air base in April, where they will join Polish air force fighters also deployed for the operation.
CHINESE TRAINERS: Avic subsidiary Hongdu Aviation Industry Group will build a 1.225 billion yuan ($198 million) factory for manufacturing parts of trainer aircraft in its home city, Nanchang. Completion of the 208,000-sq.-meter (2.2 million-sq.-ft.) plant is due in three years, local media report, citing approvals from the Nanchang government. Hongdu is one of two trainer specialists in Avic’s defense subsidiary, Avic Aviation Techniques. The other is Guizhou Aircraft. Some of the trainer parts will be made under contract, presumably for Guizhou.
Investigators probing the loss of a U.S. Air Force Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker in Kyrgyzstan last year have concluded that component failure and a lack of crew experience were key factors in the aircraft’s loss. Three air force personnel died when “Shell 77” crashed just 11 min. after takeoff from Manas International Airport. The aircraft, which had arrived at the base only 12 hr. before as an airframe swap, had taken off to support coalition air operations over Afghanistan.
