With commercial aerospace booming and defense markets cooling, business leaders in the sector are searching for a recipe to guide their actions in these uncertain times.
While U.S. Air Force Scientific Advisory Board findings have pinpointed specific equipment problems that led to F-22 Raptor pilots suffering hypoxia, the board also identified gaps and issues with service policies and procedures that exacerbated the issues.
PALMACHIM AB, Israel — Israel is a small country and its skies are periodically packed with fighters, airliners, helicopters, unmanned aircraft, missiles and rockets. The increasing technical and geographic complexity is driving planners to seek greater coordination and synchronization of air, space, land and sea operations.
PAC-3 FOR KUWAIT: The White House is asking Congress to approve the $4.2 billion sale of up to 60 Patriot Advanced Capability (PAC-3) missiles to Kuwait, according to the Defense Security Cooperation Agency. The sale, which would include related parts, components, training and logistical support, adds to a record-setting year of foreign military sales. Buoyed by the $30 billion sale of Boeing F-15s to Saudi Arabia, the U.S. already anticipates more than $50 billion in weapons sales for fiscal 2012.
After dueling foreign policy speeches before the Veterans of Foreign Wars last week, the U.S. presidential candidates unleashed their surrogates on Washington, where a discussion at the Brookings Institution underscored both candidates' inability to answer questions on defense spending.
NEW DELHI — A request for proposals for a wargaming center for the Indian air force (IAF) is expected in the last quarter of this year, according to Boeing, one of the likely competitors. Boeing responded to India’s request for information (RFI) issued late last year, says Eugene Beckles, senior managing director for international strategic development and experimentation at Boeing Phantom Works. According to the RFI, the center should be capable of simulations at the strategic and operational levels in collaboration with other security agencies.
The A400M airlifter has been through more than its fair share of development and cost issues on the road to service entry, but with its operational debut on the horizon, Airbus Military is gearing up for a hectic final phase of military-specific testing.
In the wake of two miscues involving nuclear weapons in the latter half of the previous decade, the U.S. Air Force has taken steps to bolster its organization to prevent similar incidents, according to the Pentagon Inspector General (IG). The IG made the determination following an investigation of changes at Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC); U.S. Strategic Command; and the 8th Air Force (8 AF) and 20th Air Force (20 AF) bases, which the IG refers to as the Numbered Air Forces (NAF).
After years of little presidential attention during the last administration, aerospace and defense industry executives are now more in the loop with top Pentagon officials—but they don't feel any better. In the latest in a series of get-togethers, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and several CEOs and trade organization leaders sat down last week to discuss the so-called sequestration budget cuts that are set to take effect in January. But from reports of the meeting, neither side walked away with answers or reasons to feel less anxious.
While the latest U.S. Navy shipbuilding plan provides for a bigger destroyer fleet than what the service had previously proposed, there remains a risk of a significant shortfall in the vessels when measured against U.S. needs, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
Politics—not policy or technology—is proving to be the biggest obstacle to developing alternative-fuel programs for the military that could prove to be successful commercial energy alternatives, says Phyllis Cuttino, director of the Pew Project on National Security, Energy and Climate. The Pentagon is employing and deploying ships and aircraft using sound technology for alternative energy, particularly biofuels, Cuttino says.
TEL AVIV — Israeli military and defense officials are boasting that their new trainer-and-sensor aircraft deal with Italy provides the Middle Eastern country with a high-grade capability and, just as importantly, opens up Italy and possibly other European markets for Israeli foreign military sales.
EADS's plan to grow in the U.S. defense market may have been set back by losing the bruising tanker battle to Boeing, but the European giant has other weapons at its disposal. And in the company's arsenal, Eurocopter is as powerful a force as Airbus. Now the company is aiming at the Pentagon again, in the form of Eurocopter's X3 high-speed helicopter demonstrator. The proof-of-concept X3 arrived in the Washington area last week on the final leg of its U.S. tour, with flight demonstrations from Fort Belvoir, Va., and a static display at the Pentagon.
Robert J. Stevens, Lockheed Martin's CEO, went to Capitol Hill on July 18 to deliver a warning: If Congress does nothing to halt another $500 billion in automatic cuts to U.S. defense spending due to begin next January under a process known as “sequestration,” the Pentagon's largest contractor will be forced to hand out 10,000 pink slips, riffing 8% of its workforce.
SUPPORTING ISRAEL: President Barack Obama signed into law July 27 a bill to reiterate U.S. support for Israel. The United States-Israel Enhanced Security Cooperation Act of 2012 is less a binding document and more of a public declaration of the two nations’ military ties. But the signing ceremony gave the president the chance to highlight the continuation of $3 billion in foreign military aid to Israel during tight financial times — just days before his campaign rival Mitt Romney (R) will visit the longstanding U.S. ally.
Even as the congressional clock ticks away, a bill to prevent U.S. airlines from paying the EU for carbon emissions may yet receive attention. The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee is expected to mark up the bill aimed at blocking the EU's emissions trading system (ETS) on July 31. “If we could get a good, strong vote out of the committee, it would increase the likelihood we could get it voted on the floor,” says bill co-sponsor Sen.
NEW DELHI — Aviation trials of India’s second aircraft carrier are set to begin soon in anticipation of the refurbished Russian carrier’s induction into India’s navy on Dec. 4. The “aviation facilities complex trials” of the 45,000-ton, 284-meter (932-ft.) long INS Vikramaditya, formerly the Russian Kiev-class Admiral Gorshkov, will begin before mid-August in the Barents Sea, off Russia, a naval official says.
The U.S. Navy raised some eyebrows recently when it proposed Afloat Forward Staging Bases (AFSBs) from which it could conduct a variety of operations, including irregular warfare (IW) missions. Now, a Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports says Congress may have some questions about the vessels and program procurement.
BIG DEAL: The U.S. Justice Department and the European Commission gave final approvals to United Technologies Corp.’s (UTC) acquisition of Goodrich, clearing the way for UTC to close on its $18.4 billion mega-merger July 26. Hartford, Conn.-based UTC expects to see $8 billion in synergies from the deal this year, according to CEO Louis Chenevert.
