As Europe’s Seventh Framework research program enters its closing stages, the European Commission (EC) is looking for advanced air transport concepts as part of its sixth and final call for proposals. The EC also is seeking proposals for a high-speed aircraft flight-test program as well joint aeronautics research with Russia. The call closes in November.
Budget and political decisions made in Berlin, Brussels and Washington will help shape the global aerospace industry. So it was not surprising that an undercurrent of anxiety ran through the recent Farnborough air show (see p. 43). Uncertainty from a financial crisis in Europe, potentially hefty cuts to U.S. defense spending, and slower economic growth in Asia and Latin America have put buyers and suppliers on edge.
An article on Spain's S-80 submarine program (July 2, p. DT24) misidentified the legacy platform that was supposed to rationalize Europe's shipyards. It was the Scorpene sub.
TEL AVIV — Israel and the U.S. military have drawn similar conclusions about how to pick their cyber-warriors, although the Israelis appear to be establishing a lead in identifying and training their electronic special forces. The problem is a sports metaphor. It involves separating the erratic, eccentric superstar from the organized, focused genius. Both can be naturals. But only one can lead a team in solving a problem that requires many teams working in tandem.
NEW DELHI — The Indian government is soon likely to give final clearance for the $1.2 billion purchase of six additional C-130Js, after U.S. authorities approved New Delhi’s request to buy more of the airlifters, officials say. India also ordered six of the aircraft for the same price in 2007-08.
With the threat of sequestration stalking defense program spending, the U.S. Navy is providing a stronger financial anchor for the next-generation aircraft carrier CVN-79 John F. Kennedy with the recent award of a $43.4 million contract modification for additional long-lead-time material for the ship. Some defense analysts have cited the next-generation carrier program as a potential target for budget cutters as the Navy and Pentagon look for more ways to save money to meet federally set limits.
Pratt & Whitney’s president is encouraged that the urgency of sequestration’s effects on business is starting to sink in with lawmakers and the public, but his company has been making plans for some time now. Speaking July 19 at a House Aeronautics Caucus luncheon, David Hess said “Sequester is not worst-case. It is the law.” Accordingly, his company has to plan and to take action based upon that law.
SUPPORTING STATE: The U.S. State Department this week awarded General Dynamics Information Technology a $22 million contract for supply chain management services, with a potential total value of $2.2 billion over five years if all options are exercised.
The U.S. Navy hopes to use its major 2012 Rim of the Pacific (Rimpac) exercise as a showcase for its alternative energy programs. Alternative fuels, including nuclear power, will be used in an operational demonstration starting this week, fueling helicopters and jets from the deck of an aircraft carrier, and refueling a cruiser and two destroyers during an underway replenishment. The demonstration also will incorporate prototype energy-efficient technologies designed to enhance the combat capability of Navy warships.
When it comes to the takeoff of the UAV industry in the U.S., lawmakers have a new bogeyman: hackers. At a congressional hearing July 19, a University of Texas professor described how he and a group of his students hijacked an $80,000 Adaptive Flight Hornet Mini, the kind of small rotorcraft a local police force might use. Professor Todd Humphreys had proposed the test as an experiment to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which was then roundly criticized by Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) for not sending someone to testify.
Two U.S. senators are continuing the drive to pressure Congress to avoid sequestration cuts to the defense budget, arguing that lawmakers are playing chicken, or Russian roulette, with the budget and national security.
Small firm D-Star Engineering has received what appears to be the first contract, for $4.8 million, awarded under the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (IARPA) Great Horned Owl (GHO) program to develop a new class of quiet, small unmanned aircraft.
PARIS — British military demand for Skynet satellite bandwidth is expected to decline with troop drawdowns in Iraq and Afghanistan, prompting Paradigm Services, a division of EADS-Astrium, to expand its commercial offering to include civil service monitoring and data collection for government and private sector customers.
Robert Stevens, chairman and CEO of Lockheed Martin, estimates that the largest U.S. defense company could lay off 10,000 workers if $1 trillion in across-the-board federal budget cuts begin taking place as anticipated on Jan. 2, 2013. The company employs 123,000. Stevens qualified the layoff estimate as crude, but told lawmakers during a House Armed Services Committee hearing that 10,000 was the “best number I can offer.” More than 80% of Lockheed’s business is tied to the federal government — 61% of which is purely defense.
The U.S. Navy intends to significantly increase the percentage of simulation training for its personnel — especially in aviation — in the coming years. For the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, for example, the Navy plans to increase simulated training to 32% of overall training by 2020 compared to the current 18%, according to a report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). For the EA-18G Growlers, the Navy plans to increase that percentage to 34% from the current 20% in the coming eight years, the GAO says.
