NEW DELHI — U.S. aerospace giant Boeing has extended a contract with India’s Bharat Electronics Ltd. (BEL) after it recently delivered to the U.S. Navy the first EA-18G Growler electronic attack aircraft with a cockpit subassembly made by the Indian company. The subassembly provides cockpit floodlighting compatible with the aircraft’s Night Vision Imaging System (NVIS). Boeing had awarded BEL an initial contract in March 2011 for work on F/A-18E/F Super Hornet cockpit subassemblies.
COMING HOME: Preparations for the mid-to-early June landing of the U.S. Air Force’s second reusable X-37B space plane mission are under way at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., the service says. The precise landing date and time depends on technical and weather considerations. “Space professionals from the 30th Space Wing will monitor the deorbit and landing of the Air Force’s X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle mission, called OTV-2,” the service said in an announcement. The spacecraft was launched on March 5, 2011, from Cape Canaveral.
FLYING AGAIN: Australia’s fleet of Tiger armed reconnaissance helicopters has resumed regular training flights following the lifting of a May 16 grounding put in place after fumes were detected in the aircraft’s cockpit. The Army Operational Airworthiness Authority lifted the suspension May 28 after a detailed assessment and a recommendation from the Technical Airworthiness Authority. There are 22 Tigers in the Australian army’s Oakey and Darwin-based fleet. Three are completing a retrofit program and should return to the fleet later in the year.
The U.S. Navy’s decision to truncate its DDG-1000 Zumwalt destroyer fleet and curb radar tests and development on those ships is adding costs to the service’s next-generation aircraft carrier program, as defense analysts and others had warned.
NEW DELHI — Russian firm United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) has signed a contract with India’s Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) to make 205 multi-role transport aircraft (MTA) in the 15-20 ton-class for both countries’ air forces as well as other potential customers. The companies have roped in another Russian firm — Multirole Transport Aircraft Ltd. (MTAL) — as the third partner in the joint venture.
The U.K. government has awarded an industrial team of Marshall Aerospace , Rolls-Royce , and Lockheed Martin a £350 million ($548 million) contract to support C-130Ks and C-130J airlifters until 2015.
NEW DELHI — Unlike its Agni-V ballistic missile, do not expect New Delhi to draw a lot of international attention to upcoming testing of its Nirbhay cruise missile, even as the weapon holds far more significance to the Indian weapons program than is widely appreciated. In August, the country is scheduled to conduct the first test of its little known Nirbhay (“fearless”), a subsonic weapon with a maximum range of 1,000 km. Designated secret, the weapon’s development has remained concealed ever since its existence was first revealed in 2006.
AIR LAUNCH: The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has awarded Lockheed Martin a $6.2 million contract, and Northrop Grumman $2.3 million, for Phase 1 of the Airborne Launch Assist Space Access (Alasa) program to launch a 100-lb. satellite into low Earth orbit from an aircraft for less than $1 million per launch, including range costs. Space Information Laboratories has received $1.9 million to develop enabling technology for a GPS tracking, autonomous flight termination and space-based range system to reduce launch costs.
UNMANNED EYES: U.S. Naval Air Systems Command is seeking information on off-the-shelf synthetic-aperture radar/ground moving target indication payloads small enough to be integrated quickly into the Navy and Marine Corps’ Insitu RQ-21A Integrator small tactical unmanned aircraft system, as well as the AAI RQ-7B Shadow. Radar would allow the UAVs to search a wider area for vehicles and people and cue the electro-optical/infrared full-motion video sensors already carried. An airborne maritime search mode “is also a desired capability,” says the request for information.
When the U.S. Air Force showed only a tepid interest in unmanned aircraft, a small San Diego company, General Atomics, decided to build them on its own dime. So when the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks hit and U.S. forces were suddenly sent to combat guerilla-like forces in the mountains of Afghanistan, the company's Hellfire-equipped Predators were not just a concept—they were in production.
Christopher Kubasik, Lockheed Martin's incoming CEO, plans to maintain the heading set by his predecessor, Robert Stevens, when he takes the helm of the Pentagon's largest contractor next year in the face of major cuts to the defense budget.
Textron Defense Systems has demonstrated refinements to its BattleHawk squad-level loitering munition with flights of the lethal unmanned aircraft for the U.S. Army's Rapid Equipping Force at Socorro, N.M. BattleHawk is a tube-launched, warhead-equipped small expendable UAV unveiled by Textron last year as the Tactical Remote Aerial Munition, its entry into the emerging loitering-munition market.
The results of Aviation Week's 2012 Top-Performing Companies (TPC) study are providing fresh evidence that downturns in U.S. and European defense spending are starting to hit contractors (p. 44). BAE Systems, Finmeccanica, General Dynamics, L-3 Communications, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon all saw their TPC scores decline from last year. And the strong gains in operational efficiency made by defense primes during the past decade are showing tentative signs of weakening.
Indonesia aims to become a major defense exporter and will increasingly be working to secure partnerships that can assist it in achieving that goal. The government is formulating guidelines for international joint development of defense equipment including military aircraft, the country's deputy defense minister, Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin, told Aviation Week at the Defense Services Asia (DSA) exhibition here last month.
NEW DELHI — Boeing is in negotiations to sell its Apache AH-64D multi-role combat helicopter to the Indian air force (IAF) and expects a final decision by the end of 2012, a senior Boeing Defense, Space and Security (BDS) official says. “We feel very positive about the deal … and we probably will get to a decision point by the end of the year,” Mark Kronenberg, vice president of international business development for BDS, tells Aviation Week. Financial details were not disclosed.
Jim McNerney smiled broadly as he bounded onto a podium in a historic hangar at Reagan Washington National Airport this month, a gleaming Boeing 787 serving as a dramatic backdrop just beyond the open hangar door. The chairman and CEO of Boeing was accepting the 2011 Robert J. Collier Trophy on behalf of the team that developed the 787, a jet that is finally in service following more than three years of delays.
Airbus Military and its A400M development program face a mixed situation. After years of schedule struggles, company officials exude confidence that they will hand over the first airlifter earlier than expected despite a new round of engine problems. Late last week, engineers were poised to begin a key test phase that should lead to civil type approval in July, according to program chief Cedric Gautier. The initial military type certification is due in August or September, says Airbus Military head Domingo Urena-Raso.
