From commercial airline fleet renewal through fighter procurement challenges to industry consolidation in the face of budget pressures, 2014 looks certain to be a pivotal year for aerospace and defense. Here are 12 areas to keep an eye on. 787
South Korea's 2014 defense budget, if approved as is, will see a 3.8% increase—good news by global standards, but well below the country's 10-year average growth rate of 7%. The government's campaign pledge to boost social welfare programs is squeezing defense spending, pushing its share of the budget below 15%.
Across Europe, nations are taking innovative approaches to foster their home defense industries despite limited budgets, without relying on complex international programs. After the 2011 Operation Unified Protector in Libya, for example, Italian military leaders noted the high cost of mounting long patrols at a considerable distance using supersonic fighters. This year, the Italian air force will be pursuing at least two new programs unveiled in 2013 and aimed at reducing the cost of persistent operations.
MUNICH — Airbus Military has set itself a target of obtaining two export contracts for the new Airbus A400M Atlas airlifter by 2016. CEO Domingo Urena-Raso, who will shortly become head of the Military Aircraft division of Airbus Defense and Space when EADS changes its name to Airbus in the New Year, said he was hopeful of achieving at least one contract in 2014 and another in 2015. These would be allocated for the first export production slots for the airlifter, which are due to become available in 2017.
As the more information emerges about the recent fraud case involving overseas port service—or “husbanding”—contracts, U.S. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus has detailed a series of efforts the service is taking to prevent such abuses in the future.
Fixed-wing aircraft slated for air-warfare missions rank as the number one aviation and shipbuilding investment over the coming 10 years for U.S. partners and allies in the Asia-Pacific, according to an Aviation Week Intelligence Network (AWIN) analysis of data provided by Avascent Analytics.
LONDON — The Chief of the U.K. Defense Staff has warned that overspending on equipment is leading to shortages in manpower to train on and use the matériel. In a December speech to the Royal United Service Institute (RUSI), Gen. Sir Nicholas Houghton, who became chief of the defense staff in July, said current levels of equipment spending could lead to a “strategically incoherent force structure.”
BRUSSELS — European Union governments have agreed to move forward, albeit slowly, on the joint development of key defense capabilities, including air-to-air refueling, a next-generation UAV, satellite communications and cybersecurity. During a two-day meeting in Brussels Dec. 19-20, the heads of state of the 28-member EU also discussed—but did not approve—joint funding of some military activities, such as those led by France in the Central African Republic.
Honeywell is detecting “modest improvement” in commercial aftermarket sales as 2013 wraps up, giving the company confidence that the stagnation of the last three years could be supplanted by a steeper uptick in demand. The company is projecting 3%-5% organic growth in total 2014 aftermarket sales, driven by a bump in air transport and regional (ATR) flight hours and continued solid demand for business aviation retrofits, modifications, and upgrades (RMU). Honeywell provided the details during its 2014 outlook presentation to analysts Dec. 17.
Kellstrom finished consolidating and segregating its business into commercial and defense units, and it expects the first quarter of 2014 to start showing the results of those efforts, as well as its “leaner and meaner side,” says Roscoe Musselwhite, Kellstrom Materials president. Kellstrom purchased AirLiance Materials in May, which subsequently involved not only consolidating and streamlining its commercial parts distribution business, but also all of the operations functions, such as IT migration and vendor code and invoice harmonization.
Sikorsky has revealed the unmanned Rotor Blown Wing concept it is designing with Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works under Phase 1 of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (Darpa) vertical-takeoff-and-landing experimental aircraft (VTOL X-Plane) program.
The U.K., which has hoped to sell Eurofighter Typhoons to the United Arab Emirates, has learned that any potential deal has been halted. “The UAE have advised that they have elected not to proceed with these proposals at this time,” says a note to prime contractor BAE Systems's investors. The U.K. had been negotiating with the UAE for the sale of about 60 aircraft, with Prime Minister David Cameron traveling to the Dubai Airshow last month in the hopes of lobbying for BAE's bid to sell the fighter jets.
LONDON — Russian Helicopters has completed the first flight of its long-delayed Mi-38 heavy helicopter with Russian-built Klimov TV7-117V engines. The engines are fitted to the third prototype aircraft, which made a first hover on Nov. 13, and then a first flight on Nov. 29, although Russian Helicopters did not announce the event until Dec. 17. The aircraft flew at the National Helicopter Development Center at Tomilino near Moscow.
Kellstrom finished consolidating and segregating its business into commercial and defense units, and it expects the first quarter of 2014 to start showing the results of those efforts, as well as its “leaner and meaner side,” says Roscoe Musselwhite, Kellstrom Materials president. Kellstrom purchased AirLiance Materials in May, which subsequently involved not only consolidating and streamlining its commercial parts distribution business, but also all of the operations functions, such as IT migration and vendor code and invoice harmonization.
LONDON — The Norwegian government has signed off on the purchase of 16 AgustaWestland AW101 heavy helicopters for search and rescue. Oslo decided on Nov. 8 that the three-engine AW101 will replace a fleet of Westland-built Sea King helicopters under the Norwegian All-Weather Search and Rescue Helicopter (NAWSARH) program, beating competition from Eurocopter’s EC725.
ASIAN ALLIES: The U.S. State Department approved and reported to Congress more than $20 billion in U.S. arms sales to countries across the Asia-Pacific region in 2013, according to Acting Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs Tom Kelly. And for the fourth consecutive year, total U.S. Foreign Military Sales (FMS) have exceeded $30 billion, he told an audience earlier this month at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The latest statistics show U.S.
