BLACK HAWKS: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced that a long-awaited $3.5 billion contract to co-produce Sikorsky Black Hawk utility helicopters has been finalized. The deal includes an initial run of 109 T-70 Black Hawks to be assembled by Turkish Aerospace Industries for the army. Sikorsky says a formal announcement will be made when the program is launched in March. The T-70 is a Turkish derivative of the S-70i international Black Hawk now assembled in Poland by Sikorsky subsidiary PZL-Mielec.
Key capabilities fielded by Britain's Royal Air Force in Afghanistan and highly prized across the NATO-led coalition face uncertain futures once the Tornado GR4 aircraft is retired toward the end of the decade. As the RAF looks ahead to a fleet comprising Typhoons and F-35Bs, there are no plans in place to retain two systems that have become invaluable in-theater.
The Indian air force may be within months of receiving its intermediate jet trainer aircraft (IJT), which has been in development since 1999. “The much-delayed Sitara IJT is likely to be operational this year. . . . All efforts are being made by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) for achieving the final operational clearance by December 2014,” Defense Minister A.K. Antony says. “Production of the aircraft will commence immediately thereafter.”
A military fly/drive vehicle inspired by miniature “multicopter” unmanned aircraft is being prepared for its first flight. Advanced Tactics Inc.'s (AT) Black Knight Transformer is the technology demonstrator for a casualty-evacuation and cargo-resupply vehicle that can drive on or off road and fly like a helicopter, manned or unmanned.
For Sikorsky, demonstrating the S-97 Raider high-speed helicopter is even more important now that the U.S. Army has decided to retire its armed scout helicopters and not replace them, at least in the near term. The company, which is building two Raider prototypes on industry funds, believes there is still room, and time, within the Army's long-term budget to acquire a small fleet of new armed scouts before it begins the heavy expenditure of replacing its large fleets of medium-utility and attack helicopters.
Sikorsky Aircraft is bringing oil and gas platform operations into the 21st century with a new satellite-based approach system that takes the human calculation and guesswork out of legacy rig approaches in instrument conditions and at night. The system offers operators an automated arrival tool to reduce crew loading while increasing situational awareness.
Israel Aerospace Industries unveiled a new unmanned air system at the Singapore Airshow, inaugurating a new class that it calls the “super-tactical” UAS. The Super Heron is some 50% larger than the basic Heron or the General Atomics Predator in order to carry a high-performance multi-sensor suite on long-endurance missions. The UAS has completed its flight tests, IAI says, and is “a fully operational system.”
The release of next week's Pentagon budget request to Congress will set the stage for one of the first of several key decisions for Boeing's defense sector, which recently came under new leadership.
Rolls-Royce is producing upgrade kits for T56 engines in anticipation of a contract from the U.S. Air Force to retrofit an initial batch of Lockheed Martin C-130H airlifters. The inventory buildup is based on Congress including $15.7 million for engine upgrades in the fiscal 2014 omnibus spending bill.
TANKER NAMED: The U.S. Air Force has finally given its newest aerial refueler, Boeing’s developmental KC-46, a name. Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh announced Feb. 20 at the Air Force Association’s Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Fla., that the aircraft will be dubbed the “Pegasus,” referring to the winged stallion from Greek mythology. The aircraft, however, has yet to fly. The first Boeing 767-2C, a commercial jetliner outfitted with plumbing and wiring for the military refueling modifications, is slated to roll out of the factory this summer.
BAE Systems’ profits fell by £800 million ($1.33 billion) in 2013 because of reduced government spending in the U.S. Significant drops in sales were felt in the company’s U.S.-based Platforms and Services business and in cyber and intelligence, as well as in its electronic systems businesses. But overall sales were up 2%, from £17.9 billion in 2012 to £18.2 billion in 2013, thanks mainly to increased sales and new contracts in the Middle East.
Lockheed Martin has completed a company-funded flight test of its dual-mode seeker for the Joint Air-to-ground Missile (JAGM), as the U.S. Army edges towards development and production of a new version of the Hellfire missile. Originally intended as an all-new, joint-service replacement for the Hellfire with a tri-mode seeker and increased range, JAGM has evolved into a program to develop the seeker for a new version of the Hellfire, with tri-mode capability and new rocket motor as potential future upgrades.
The Pentagon is going on the offensive over electromagnetic spectrum (EMS) management issues — both internally and externally — according to officials’ comments on Feb. 20 as they unveiled the U.S. Defense Department’s long-awaited EMS strategy. “It’s an objective to be more proactive than reactive,” said U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Robert Wheeler, the department’s deputy chief information officer (CIO) for command, control, communications, computers and information infrastructure capabilities.
Raytheon has tested the latest Block III version of its Griffin miniature air-to-ground missile, which public documents say is to enter service this year on U.S. Air Force special operations gunships. The Block III enhancements, which apply to both the AGM-176A aft-launched and -176B forward-launched versions of the 33-lb. weapon, are an improved laser seeker and multi-effects warhead to increase lethality.
U.S. Naval Support Weapon Systems Support (Navsup WSS) officials this month approved a program to modify spare F/A-18 Hornet windshield panels to fit Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornets and EA-18G Growlers, Navy officials say. The initiative, known as the F/A-18 Windshield Logistics Engineering Change Proposal (LECP), will save the Navy approximately $8 million in fiscal years 2015 and 2016, according to the service.
NEW DELHI — Indo-Russian consortium BrahMos Aerospace has plans to develop a Mach 7 hypersonic missile, the BrahMos 2. “We have established a lead in supersonic missiles,” says Praveen Pathak, general manager for market promotion and export at BrahMos Aerospace. “Hypersonic vehicles with multi-use will reduce the cost [of] putting payload in orbit. It could deliver the payload at multiple points and it can come back.”
INTEL AUDIT: A new congressional audit of the Intelligence Community’s (IC) annual inventory of core contractors has found results there to be inconsistent and possibly inaccurate. “In the wake of Edward Snowden’s damaging leaks of classified information, the intelligence community must demonstrate that it can rigorously vet, hire, manage, and oversee the contractor workforce it relies upon to help perform its mission,” said Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine).
LONDON — Missile manufacturer MBDA says a recovery program to put its Brimstone 2 missile program back on track has improved the weapon’s maturity and performance. Brimstone 2 is being developed by MBDA under the Team Complex Weapons initiative to meet the U.K.’s Selected Precision Effects at Range (Spear) Capability 2 requirement for a direct-fire, air-to-ground missile for eventual use on the Eurofighter Typhoon.
SINGAPORE — Airbus Defense and Space says it is involved in two advanced sales campaigns for its A400M airlifter. Speaking at the recent Singapore air show—where the company was debuting its new identity, having absorbed both Cassidian and Astrium into Airbus Military at the beginning of 2014—Commercial Director Christian Scherer said that the company was involved in “at least two advanced campaigns around the world,” for the new airlifter, and was confident that one contract could be secured this year.
