Pilatus’s past two years of record profits and revenue will not be repeated in 2012. “The current year is likely to be more difficult,” says Oscar Schwenk, CEO/chairman of the Swiss business and trainer aircraft manufacturer. “Even a major order will not be enough to compensate for the low level of orders in hand,” he adds. Last year, strong military business helped Pilatus offset a further drop in PC-12 business aircraft, with the company reaching record profits of 108 million Swiss francs ($118 million).
Using new mid-wave infrared detector technology, Lockheed Martin has begun assembly of a wide-area surveillance sensor that will provide at least 130 independently steerable, full-motion video feeds within its field of view. The sensor is being developed for the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (Darpa) Autonomous Real-time Ground Ubiquitous Surveillance — Infrared (Argus-IR) program.
AIR FORCE The Boeing Co., St. Louis, is being awarded a $9,353,862 firm-fixed-price contract to procure focused lethality munitions Small Diameter Bomb I variant. The location of the performance is St. Louis. The work is to be completed by Dec. 31, 2013. AAC/EBMK, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity (FA8672-12-C-0039).
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Malaysia’s navy is continuing to evaluate anti-submarine warfare (ASW) helicopters, but it remains unclear when it will receive funding for the purchase. The Sikorsky MH-60R and AgustaWestland AW159 are being pitched to fulfill the navy’s requirement for six ASW helicopters to replace its six Westland Super Lynx 300s.
An April 23 story misstated the officially quoted range of a cruise missile that the South Korean defense ministry says it has deployed. The ministry says its range is more than 1,000 km (620 mi.).
NEW DELHI — The Indian air force (IAF) has called for information to support the acquisition of nine new special-mission aircraft for communications jamming, signals intelligence and surveillance.
Latin American drug traffickers and Islamic terrorists beware: the Pentagon and other U.S. federal, state and local agencies are ramping up their capabilities to allow tactical forces to counter hostile and/or criminal tunnel networks, including in “nonpermissive” environments.
Cubesats quickly turn into space debris when their typically short missions are over, and NASA is looking for ways to reduce the risk of one of the small spacecraft colliding at high speed with a more valuable spacecraft. A request for information issued April 23 by NASA’s Launch Service Program seeks information on concepts developed by industry for minimizing the collision risk from cubesats.
Investors seem to believe that Textron Inc.'s darkest days are behind it. The share price of the 89-year-old parent company of Cessna Aircraft, Bell Helicopter and Textron Systems rose more than 50% during the first quarter of 2012. And while the stock has declined a bit in April, it has recovered from a slump that began a year ago, when it became apparent that a rebound in the lower end of the business jet market was further off than anticipated.
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Saab soon will display its Saab 340 Maritime Security Aircraft (MSA), a new variant that aims to create a market for second-hand Saab 340Bs.
Robert Wall (Santiago, Chile), Michael Mecham (Santiago, Chile)
When Eurocopter inaugurates its new final assembly line in Brazil at its Helibras facility, it will signify how much Western aerospace companies are banking on the Latin market's potential.
FORT WASHINGTON, Md. — During this quarter, the first DDG-1000 Zumwalt destroyer should start look even more like the new U.S. Navy warship it is planned to be, as contractors prepare to marry the vessel’s composite hangar with its hull.
Brazil is unusual among top-rated emerging markets because it can support manufacturing, services and natural resource development simultaneously. This is due, in part, to its low external and public debt, low unemployment, an enviable 90% literacy rate, expanding capital markets and declining poverty. And to top it off, the country is self-sufficient in water, food and energy. Brazil recently passed the U.K. to become the world's sixth-largest economy. By 2040, Goldman Sachs expects it to be fourth behind China, the U.S. and India.
Now it is official. Amid mounting evidence that China is serious about curing its weakness in engine technology, Avic says its highest priority in the coming years will be propulsion. The group has set a budget of 10 billion yuan ($1.6 billion) for aero-engine work over five years, though that figure is probably only a fraction of actual spending.
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — The industrial cooperation package that manufacturers can offer Malaysia appears to be the key to winning government support in the country, which has a competition under way for the purchase of 18 fighters.
Brazil's new entrants in aviation design and manufacturing are specializing in niche markets for domestic consumption and are receiving support from industry, academia and government agencies.
The Brazilian air force's requirement that KC-390 tanker/transports serve civil and military markets is underscoring prime contractor Embraer's approach to the airplane's product strategy.
