The actions of Congress, the government and businesses have yet to stop the flow of counterfeit defense electronics parts from China. Last year, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) set up a fictitious company to buy electronic parts online (Aerospace DAILY, Nov. 9). GAO purchased 16 different parts from 13 Chinese suppliers. All 16 of those parts, including seven used on aircraft such as Boeing’s F-15 fighter and the Bell-Boeing V-22 tiltrotor, were counterfeit.
Lockheed Martin officials acknowledge that they have learned some things from the company’s loss to rival Boeing of a $3.5 billion contract to continue managing the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) anti-ballistic missile system — and they are likely to apply this knowledge to some forthcoming work as the company continues to try to expand its footprint in that market.
One of the United States’ little-noticed conventional arms control treaties turns 20 today, while its enforcement continues to rely on aircraft and surveillance gear stuck in the analog age. The Open Skies Treaty enables countries to fly over each other’s territories, assuring signatories that their neighbors are not massing troops along a border, enabling them to monitor rail lines and generally building confidence between nations.
As promised, the U.S. Navy is focusing on taking greater care of its surface fleet, with the release this month of a new manual that details how the service will better maintain most of those ships. The Navy has been making ship maintenance and readiness a higher priority in recent years in the wake of reports and other revelations of more than a decade of degradation and deferred or ignored repair needs.
FRANKFURT — The German government is to acquire a 15% stake in EADS, twice as much as previously planned. The German finance ministry has set aside additional resources in the 2012 federal budget to enable the move, a government official said.
LONDON — Norway has restructured its F-35 procurement plan, signaling it may buy some aircraft early but stretch out the total procurement. The adjustments are part of a new defense white paper unveiled March 23. Norway says the purchase of F-35s is “a key priority” of the new document. The procurement total is set at 52 aircraft; approval of the last six is expected later. The Norwegian government notes that “despite changes made by other partner nations, Norway finds that its previous and robust real-cost estimates remain accurate.”
FORT EUSTIS, Va. — With the value of teaming unmanned with manned aircraft having been proved in combat, U.S. Army researchers are preparing to take the next steps in autonomy and integration. Previous research into hunter-killer teaming of UAVs and helicopters led to systems fielded on the Boeing AH-64D Apache and Bell OH-58D Kiowa Warrior that give the crews “Level 2” capability to receive imagery directly from UAVs.
GENEVA — Despite some big looming defense deals for the company, Dassault still predicts overall flat sales this year compared with 2011, as its results continue to be weighed down by the weak business jet environment of recent years. That said, there are signs of a business jet recovery, according to Chairman/CEO Charles Edelstenne.
The Pentagon’s procurement slowdown of the F-35 program reduces the concurrency risks that have plagued the effort, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), but larger affordability risks remain a major threat to the stealthy fighter. In a written statement presented to the House Armed Services airland subcommittee on March 20, the GAO’s Michael Sullivan points out that the fiscal 2013 plan is the third year in a row the Defense Department has cut procurement quantities.
Last year’s funding fight between Lockheed Martin’s Medium Extended Air Defense System (Meads) and Raytheon’s Patriot system has a sequel. Eight senators are asking their colleagues to shift funding from the U.S.-European missile defense system into upgrades for the current U.S. Army program.
U.S. Army researchers are planning demonstrations of technologies to improve the ability of rotorcraft to defend themselves from ground threats while engaging a wider range of targets, including unmanned aircraft. Planned demonstrations include an integrated, remote door-gun and ground-fire warning system. This would provide the crew with 360-deg. situational awareness and allow the helicopter to return ground fire automatically.
INTELSAT 22: The Intelsat 22 communications satellite is slated to launch on an International Launch Services Proton rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, on March 25 at 8:10 a.m. EDT (6:10 p.m. local time). Based on Boeing’s 702MP satellite bus, the 6,200-kg (13,700-lb.) spacecraft will carry two Ku-band mobility beams providing coverage of the Indian Ocean region. From its position at 72 deg. East, it will serve the Middle East and eastern Africa with its Ku-band capacity.
In a broadside to the U.S. Navy, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) says he is “underwhelmed” by the service’s response to the cost of Ford-class aircraft carriers that has grown by 18% to more than $12.3 billion.
GENEVA — The European Defense Agency (EDA) has elicited member-state support for the idea of pooling air-to-air refueling resources, although a concrete action plan remains to be defined. In a meeting of the steering group of member states for the Brussels-based organization, EDA secured a “political declaration” that countries have the “willingness to support further development of these capabilities and to better coordinate them,” according to an official statement after the gathering.
The U.S. Navy plans to test renewable jet fuel derived from butanol produced from biomass. The biobutanol is being produced by Cobalt Technologies, which has partnered with chemicals company Albemarle to produce the fuel using technology developed by Navy researchers.
The Pentagon’s top cyberwarrior says that the risks the U.S. faces are growing faster than the country’s progress in creating the offensive and defensive tools and rules of engagement to defend cyberspace. “Our work and actions are affected by threats well outside the Defense Department’s networks,” U.S. Army Gen. Keith Alexander, chief of U.S. Cyber Command, told the House Armed Services Committee on March 20. “What concerns us is the shift from disruptive to destructive attacks. Attacks that can destroy equipment are on the horizon.”
Add two more to the list of unpopular aircraft decisions that U.S. lawmakers are grilling Pentagon officials on during fiscal 2013 budget hearings: ending the C-27 transport and reducing the number of A-10 attack aircraft. At a March 20 hearing, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and other members questioned the Air Force moves, connecting the programs to a staple of home district politics: the Air National Guard and Reserve, their bases and the number of reservists.
LONDON — Continued delays in fielding the Watchkeeper unmanned aircraft are linked to clearing the system for use in military and civil airspace, the U.K. Defense Ministry says.
START DATE: The French air force is projecting that the A400M airlifter will become operational in 2014. The service expects Airbus Military to deliver the first of the aircraft in March 2013, after which the 1/61 squadron will undergo a period of training and familiarization. Once that process is complete, the unit is to formally reach operational status in 2014, the service says in announcing progress on building up the base infrastructure for the aircraft. France plans to base all 50 of its A400Ms at the Orleans-Bricy air base.
LONDON — European states need to quickly press ahead with a set of projects to preserve their defense aeronautics industrial base, an industry consortium urges. The Future Air Systems for Europe (or FAS4Europe) report calls for European Defense Agency (EDA) members to prepare an action plan this year and begin the first phase of their road map to preserve industrial skills in 2013. Moreover, the report, prepared by a Saab-led consortium, calls for the creation of an aeronautics working group to coordinate future activities, according to an executive summary.
Rep. Michael Turner (R-Ohio) is recommending a revamp of the National Nuclear Security Administration, the agency in charge of maintaining the U.S. nuclear arsenal. Turner, the top Republican on the House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee, also is blasting the Obama administration for failing to request enough money for missile defense.
