To call launch market upstart Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) a change agent would not be an overstatement. The company is bursting onto the scene with the stated goal of CEO Elon Musk to break the monopoly for U.S. national security launches now held by the United Launch Alliance's (ULA) Atlas V and Delta IV rockets. Air Force officials say they are already seeing ULA take measures to become more efficient and reduce cost (see page 43). And SpaceX is infusing the market with new manufacturing and design techniques.
For suppliers of defense equipment, selling a platform or a subsystem is just the beginning. The importance of what would be called “after-sales service” in the commercial market has increased as the global economic climate has worsened, but in certain sectors it has never really been about just selling a product. This is particularly true of electronic warfare (EW) systems.
When Marenco Swisshelicopter unveiled the mock-up of its radical-looking, single-engined light helicopter at Heli-Expo in 2011, critics were quick to pass judgment. They questioned the business model and the ability to keep costs low while building the aircraft in a country considered to be the most expensive in Europe.
London has held the responsibility for the defense of the British Isles since the Act of Union in 1707, but if Scots opt for independence on Sept. 18, 2014, that will come to an end, and Scotland will assume responsibility for its own defense.
European aerospace manufacturers are turning up the pressure on governments to develop a pan-European approach to the continent's medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) unmanned air vehicle requirements. But their protests appear to be falling on deaf ears as another European nation signs up to purchase the MQ-9 Reaper. The Netherlands announced plans Nov. 21 to introduce four General Atomics MQ-9 Reapers into full operational service by 2017.
Amy Butler (Washington), Bill Sweetman (Washington)
A large, classified unmanned aircraft developed by Northrop Grumman is now flying—and it demonstrates a major advance in combining stealth and aerodynamic efficiency. Defense and intelligence officials say the secret unmanned aerial system (UAS), designed for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions, is scheduled to enter production for the U.S. Air Force and could be operational by 2015.
With the U.S. Senate expected this week to pick up its stalled version of the defense authorization bill for fiscal 2014, most headlines out of the Capitol will be about debate over sexual assault in the military, the Guantanamo Bay prison, the Iranian nuclear deal, budget cuts or the possibility that no annual law will be enacted for the first time in 52 years.
The Pentagon’s acquisition czar has a growing chart in his office of defense programs and their current and past managers, and it is just one of the subtle, albeit significant, personnel-oriented changes being pursued in what is dawning as a new era of acquisition reform. It is not quite Santa’s list of who is naughty or nice, but for the U.S. defense and space sector, it is close.
TEL AVIV — The Israeli Air Force (IAF) is conducting a first-of-its-kind multinational exercise at the southern training base of Ouvda that kicked off last week, where 60 aircraft from four nations are taking part in realistic air combat training, practicing how air forces from different nations can cooperate in a coalition under one command.
U.S. partners and allies in the Asia-Pacific region are set to invest heavily in shipbuilding defense programs over the next 10 years, according to an Aviation Week Intelligence Network (AWIN) analysis of data provided by Avascent Analytics, an online market analysis toolkit for global defense programs.
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V 501 successfully launched the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office’s classified NROL-39 mission from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., at 11:13 p.m. Pacific Time on Dec. 5.
Boeing and Saab have signed an agreement to jointly develop and build an all-new aircraft for the U.S. Air Force’s T-X trainer competition. Boeing will be the prime contractor, but both companies will invest in the new aircraft, which appears certain to be the only all-new candidate. Discussions between the two companies were reported in September but have been under way for “much longer,” a Saab source says.
The decision by former Defense Secretary Robert Gates to cap Lockheed Martin’s production of the stealthy, twin-engine F-22 will “prove to be one of the strategically dislocating decisions that we will suffer from” on security made in this era, according to Gen. (ret.) T. Michael Moseley, former Air Force chief of staff from 2005-2008.
Electronic components distributors can now get a one-of-a-kind DNA mark to authenticate their products. Applied DNA Sciences, a provider of DNA-based anti-counterfeiting and product authentication technology, is now offering unique electronic components plant-based SigNature DNA marks to specifically identify authorized distributors, to be applied to incoming components, or legacy inventory before shipment per customer request. The marked components will be absolutely identifiable as sourced from the authorized channel, the company says.
NEW DELHI — India is increasing its ability to produce highly enriched uranium for military purposes, including more powerful nuclear weapons, at a facility near Mysore in the southern state of Karnataka, a U.S.-based think tank says.
MOSCOW — The Russian armed forces are beginning to enjoy the first benefits of the massive rearmament spelled out under the 10-year defense procurement program adopted in 2010. The air force alone can count on receiving almost a quarter of the program’s budget — or about 4.5 trillion rubles ($136 billion). The program’s implementation was reviewed by Russian President Vladimir Putin during a series of meetings in late November in which military officials and defense manufacturers reported on their achievements and plans.
HORNET FANS: Rep. Randy Forbes, the Republican chairman of the U.S. House Armed Services seapower and projection forces subcommittee, is adding his name to a list of lawmakers — most with ties to Boeing — calling on the Pentagon to maintain the Boeing F-18 production line beyond current Navy plans due to worries about losing industrial capacity. Forbes, whose southeast Virginia district surrounds the largest naval complex in the world in Norfolk, wrote Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Dec. 4 to say he thinks that “creating a single U.S.
The current battle over East China Sea airspace shows the need for even greater cooperation between U.S. and Chinese military forces and officials, U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says. “I would focus on one particular area … that is developing a stronger military-to-military relationship between the PLA [People’s Liberation Army] and the United States,” Hagel told reporters Dec. 5. “We have been working at that — both sides.”
The U.S. Navy recently completed the successful installation of the first operational next-generation tactical afloat network aboard the Arleigh Burke class guided-missile destroyer DDG-80 USS McCampbell. Based in Yokosuka, Japan, McCampbell completed its installation of the Consolidated Afloat Network and Enterprise Services (Canes) in November. Prior to that, the destroyer conducted sea trials in October to validate how the network would perform in an operational environment and that the network would meet mission needs, Navy officials say.
The current battle over East China Sea airspace shows the need for even greater cooperation between U.S. and Chinese military forces and officials, U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says. “I would focus on one particular area . . . that is developing a stronger military-to-military relationship between the PLA [People’s Liberation Army] and the United States,” Hagel said Dec. 5. “We have been working at that—both sides.”
BEIJING — China is working on a ceramic matrix composite (CMC) but lacks practical applications of such material, says a leading Chinese researcher in the field. More than 4,000 CMC articles have been made for 360 types of parts in China, the researcher told attendees at the China Aeronautical Materials and Manufacturing Equipment Summit, organized by Galleon, in Beijing. Apart from work on parts for turbine engines, Chinese engineers have been applying CMC to ramjets and telemetry systems.
FIRST FLIGHT: The first Tranche 3 Eurofighter Typhoon has made its first flight in the U.K. The aircraft, BS116/ZK355, took off on Dec. 2 from BAE Systems’ Warton facility. The Tranche 3s are set to be the most advanced versions of the Typhoon and are equipped to provide more electrical power in preparation for the installation of the planned E-Scan radar, as well as the ability to potentially fit conformal fuel tanks on top of the rear fuselage.
