SELECTED ACQUISITIONS: The Pentagon’s 2011 year-end Selected Acquisition Report includes four programs with cost decreases resulting from partial or full cancelation. The RQ-4A/B Global Hawk program cost decreased because of a quantity reduction of 21 from the cancelation of Block 30. Three programs had cost decreases from cancelation: the BDMS Airborne Infrared Program, JTRS Ground Mobile Radio and the National Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System.
The beginning of a major downturn is not the best time to launch a new company. But the executives who run ITT Exelis didn’t have much choice. The 20,000-employee defense and information systems operation was spun off last October as part of a breakup of multi-industry ITT Corp. designed to appease restless shareholders. And Exelis, which draws nearly 70% of its sales from defense, clearly was not the piece of ITT that investors saw as a growth play.
Boeing may have clashed recently with commercial air carriers over the issue of export financing. But the head of the company’s defense division reached out to the commercial side of the industry in an April 12 speech at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, saying that America needs a “game plan” for aviation. Other countries are investing in the commercial and defense industries with the idea that both are integral, Dennis Muilenburg, president of Boeing’s defense, space and security division, says.
QUIET DOWN: The Office of Naval Research (ONR) and NASA are teaming on a project to reduce jet noise. ONR is awarding grants and contracts to six academic institutions and two commercial companies to develop noise-reduction technologies, as well as measurement and prediction tools and noise source models to dampen noisy jet plumes.
Hawker Beechcraft is calling on the U.S. Air Force to re-write specifications when it re-bids the botched Light Air Support (LAS) contract. Chairman Bill Boisture says the original requirements laid out by the Air Force did not include standards mandated in other fixed-wing competitions in areas such as pilot safety and the use of proven U.S. or NATO munitions. That should be corrected when the service releases a new request for proposals later this month, he told Aviation Week editors in an interview.
Boeing, a commercial aviation and defense colossus, may have clashed recently with commercial air carriers over the issue of export financing. But the head of the company’s defense division reached out to the commercial side of the industry in an April 12 speech at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, saying that America needs a “game plan” for aviation.
The Pentagon budget will face sequestration in some form in the coming budget year, a panel of experts predicts, but with qualifications. In fiscal 2013 there is “no way it won’t happen, and programs will be affected” says Sean O’Keefe, CEO of EADS North America. But those facts might lead Congress to legislate some relief. The “fair-share” approach, in which all services bear the brunt of cuts equally, has been the default path in the past, O’Keefe says, but is not the same as cuts based on strategic emphasis.
The U.S. Navy has temporarily suspended MQ-8B Fire Scout flight operations for 14 of the unmanned helicopters in the wake of two recent crashes of the UAVs. No one was injured and no other aircraft were damaged in the crashes, the Navy reports. A Fire Scout operating off USS Simpson (FFG-56) on March 30 was ditched at sea upon returning from a maritime surveillance mission in support of Africa Partnership Station, the Navy reports.
Canada’s government has stripped its Department of National Defense (DND) of the lead role in the country’s planned acquisition of the Lockheed Martin F-35A Joint Strike Fighter, placed a cap on the program’s cost and directed the DND to evaluate alternative ways to sustain Canada’s fighter force, in the wake of a scathing report from the country’s auditor-general, Michael Ferguson.
LONDON — The U.S. Air Force and Lockheed Martin are preparing a short flight-test campaign to assess aerodynamic drag-reduction features for the C-130 to reduce fuel burn on the latest J-model as well as on older Hercules airlifters. A variety of design features are due to be looked at during about a month of flight testing, including winglets, strakes and guide vanes. Wind tunnel data indicate savings of 5-7% in fuel burn are possible, says Jim Grant, vice president for new air mobility business at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics.
AIR DEFENSE: Russia is planning to field its newest air and missile defense system, the S-500, after 2015. Work on the new system, which would be the follow-on to the S-400 now being fielded, will take place at a new facility that manufacturer Almaz-Antey is building in Nizhny Novgorod for around 9 billion rubles ($30.6 million) in government funding, according to the company. The facility is to be completed in 2015.
Boeing is developing designs for a secure mobile phone that could relieve the woes of government officials and senior business executives who use Blackberries for their security features, but hope to have the functionality of a more modern device such as the iPhone. The company is developing the system with partners, but officials decline to name them for now. They say more detail is coming on the design and the team later this year, with a product launch slated by year’s end.
During their first weeks of operation in Afghanistan, four robotic cargo vehicles built by Lockheed Martin for the U.S. Army have been used to resupply outposts and carry loads ranging from radios and batteries to construction and demolition equipment. Under Project Workhorse, the six-wheeled Squad Mission Support System (SMSS) arrived in-theater in mid-January for a four-month military utility assessment. At 11-ft. long, they are the largest unmanned ground vehicles deployed in Afghanistan.
The Pentagon plans to spend $770 billion on aircraft purchases, operations, maintenance and construction between fiscal 2013 and fiscal 2022, according to a report on the military’s 30-year aviation blueprint.
FAA officials estimate that they will select six sites for integrating unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) into the national airspace by December. Since early May, the agency has been accepting public comments that will help it shape the test sites. The comment period runs through May 8, officials said in a web-based conference April 10.
LONDON — The long-running process to ease the rules governing the export of defense articles between the U.S. and U.K. has suffered another delay, but should still be ready to move forward soon. London was hoping to complete the so-called U.S./U.K. Defense Trade Cooperation Treaty before the end of March. However, the Defense Ministry now says that “the Exchange of Notes to bring the Treaty into force will take place following the Easter break.”
Embraer expects it will win a rebid on the U.S. Air Force’s botched Light Attack Support (LAS) contract and sees no justification for changing the contract’s specifications. “We have to hope that when this process is reopened there are no changes to the original specs,” Embraer President and CEO Frederico Fleury Curado told reporters April 10 during a roundtable discussion in Washington. “If there are no changes, the same reasons that made us win the first time will make us win a second time.”
FAA officials estimate that they will select six sites for integrating unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) into the national airspace by December. Since early May, the agency has been accepting public comments that will help it shape the test sites. The comment period runs through May 8, officials said in a web-based conference April 10.
SINGAPORE — Astrium is continuing to search for the investors and customers it needs for its Spaceplane to take off, and is looking to Asia for possible backers. The company needs to attract investment from the private sector for the Spaceplane, rather than rely solely on governments, according to Astrium Chief Financial Officer Thomas Muller.
Spurred by reports that LightSquared is considering bankruptcy, two lawmakers are hoping the government can recover the cost of testing the company’s proposed 4G communications network for interference with GPS.
LONDON — The U.K. and Japan have committed to a future defense cooperation agreement, although specifics are still scant. The U.K. is aggressively looking for new export markets for its equipment to prop up industry at a time that its own defense spending is in decline. Exactly what programs the two sides may work on remains unspecified. The U.K. notes the agreement was made possible by Japan’s policy change, made late last year, on defense equipment transfers.
