As the U.S. searches for a way to further protect itself from the threat of foreign nuclear ballistic missile attack during times of budget austerity, some analysts and officials are suggesting a change in the degree or even basic philosophy of the nation’s nuclear protection strategy. Everything from the size of the country’s boomer submarine force to the three-legged nuclear protection triad is coming under scrutiny and attack.
Here is one simple lesson to be gleaned from Aviation Week's Top-Performing Companies (TPC Study): avoid overconfidence. History shows that a first-place finish is no guarantee of long-term success. Conversely, even consistently strong performers have a bad year every now and then.
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. 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.
The Australian government will buy 10 Alenia Aermacchi/L-3 Communications C-27Js to meet its tactical transport needs. An item in The World (May 14, p. 15) incorrectly identified one of the contractors.
In observance of the U.S. Memorial Day holiday, Aerospace Daily & Defense Report will not publish an issue on May 29. The next issue will be dated May 30. Subscribers to the Aviation Week Intelligence Network can visit www.aviationweek.com/awin for continuous news updates.
To see more details about the Medal of Honor aviators, plus photographs of them and video footage from the conflicts in which they served, go to AviationWeek.com/medalofhonor or your digital edition of AW&ST on an iPad. By the time Joe Jackson volunteered for duty in Vietnam at the age of 45, he already was a combat veteran. He had flown 107 sorties during the Korean War as a Republic F-84 pilot, and later was chosen to fly Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance missions.
The first Tupolev Tu-214R twinjet reconnaissance aircraft is now in flight trials. This aircraft, made at the Kazan-based KAPO facility, a subsidiary of Russia's United Aircraft Corp. (UAC), is the first of two airplanes ordered by the Russian defense ministry in 2002. Under this contract, both aircraft should have been delivered in 2008, but according to KAPO's annual report for 2011, delivery of the first Tu-214R has been s postponed until 2013. The second Tu-214R is on the final assembly line, with delivery expected in 2014.
As top-tier defense contractors begin to move away from an era of big-ticket weapons procurements, they are scrutinizing their portfolios in an effort to weed out lower-performing businesses. And one problem area keeps coming to the forefront: low-margin government services businesses.
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.
After months of bedeviling technical challenges and scaling back the scope of work on the Blue Devil II airship project, the U.S. Air Force has finally shot the program down. The service has notified prime contractor MAV6 — a fledgling company managed by two retired general officers — that it must cease work on the program owing to poor performance. Originally envisioned for quick deployment to Afghanistan in February, 18 months after contract award, the program had yet to reach first flight.
U.S. officials are voicing worries about the involvement of Chinese civilian telecommunications companies in military and information warfare programs. Congress has questioned the relationship between Huawei Technologies — which has twice been blocked from buying into U.S. telecommunications companies — and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and the ministry of state security.
MOSCOW — The first Tupolev Tu-214R reconnaissance aircraft is now in flight trials. The aircraft has been spotted at the Kazan-based KAPO facility, a subsidiary of Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation (UAC).
BMD SLUMP: The ballistic missile defense market, which earned revenues of $9.45 billion in 2010, is expected to drop over the next few years, reaching $8.44 billion in 2016, according to consultancy Frost & Sullivan. The market is expected to recover by 2020, the group says. “Procurement is now focused on improved ‘kill packages,’ radar modifications, and improved missiles,” Frost & Sullivan analyst Wayne Plucker says. “In general, the market is moving closer to a sustainment model, but true sustainment can be achieved only after the next six to seven years.”
U.S. Navy officials say they remain committed to deploying the first Littoral Combat Ship (LCS-1), the USS Freedom, to Singapore as a warship. But at the same time, service officials and other government supporters of the vessel say it should really be viewed as an R&D prototype shedding light on what design changes will be needed for the rest of the class.
NEW DELHI — India has finally signed a contract to buy a fleet of 75 Swiss Pilatus PC-7 MK II turboprop aircraft to conduct initial training for its air force pilots. The contract, which is worth more than 500 million Swiss francs ($520 million) also includes an integrated, ground-based training system and a comprehensive logistics support package.
The loitering munition market kicked into high gear last year with the award in September of an initial $4.9 million Army order for AeroVironment Switchblade tube-launched lethal small UASs.
The Senate Armed Services Committee on May 24 passed a defense policy bill authorizing the Pentagon to spend $631.4 billion in fiscal 2013 that follows the House in putting a hold on the U.S. Air Force’s plans to scale back the Air National Guard. “We rejected the Air Force plan, and fully funded the equipment and personnel,” committee Chairman Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) told reporters in a press conference after the committee voted unanimously to approve the legislation.
The defense industry supply chain is rife with counterfeit parts and efforts to police them are failing, increasing the risk that such parts could compromise the quality of U.S.-made defense systems, or even offer back doors to cybersnoops, escalating the threat of espionage and intellectual theft.
