The U.S. strategy to reorient its forces to the Western Pacific Ocean is coming under pressure from financial, force structure, personnel and technology changes. For example, greatly desired, high-reliability, long-range active, electronically scanned array (AESA) radars installed in the Air Force and Navy’s best warplanes – including the F-22, F-35 and EA-18G – are vulnerable to cyberattack.
Efforts to commercialize algae-derived renewable fuels are to receive a $14 million boost from the U.S. Energy Department, which aims to fund projects to improve the sustainability and accelerate the availability of algal-based biofuels. The Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) is seeking proposals from small businesses, universities and national laboratories to modify existing facilities into long-term testbeds for new production processes to commercialize algal biofuels.
Hawker Beechcraft has welcomed the U.S. Air Force’s Feb. 28 decision to cancel Sierra Nevada Corp.’s $355 million contract to supply Embraer Super Tucanos for the Afghan air force, but whether the competition will be restaged remains unclear. Although Hawker Beechcraft (HBC) says the service has reinstated the company “to the competitive range” under the Light Air Support (LAS) procurement, the Air Force says no decision has been made on whether to restage the competition.
FORT LAUDERDALE – Spend a little time around Army acquisition staffers these days and you’ll hear the term repeated again and again: the Agile Process. Unlike some of its more obtuse cousins, however, this latest bit of Pentagonese is actually pretty easy to wrap your head around. Once the Army identifies a capability gap that it decides it needs filled, it kicks off the acquisition process by first sitting down with industry to determine what mature capabilities they already have that might fit the bill.
LONDON – Ultra Electronics is continuing its search for acquisition opportunities as the defense and aerospace supplier looks to tap growth areas in the declining U.S. and U.K. defense markets. The focus on high-end, niche capabilities is largely behind the company’s ability to deliver organic revenue growth of 2% – overall revenue was up 3% to £731.7 million ($1.16 billion).
Singapore – Thailand’s air force is seeking to buy search-and-rescue helicopters to replace its aging Bell UH-1s. The air force is expected to issue a request for proposals (RFP) next week, initially for four helicopters, says a report in The Bangkok Post. The service eventually plans to order a total of 16.
LONDON – Having declared an initial operating capability with the Lockheed Martin AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile in December, the Royal Australian Air Force is planning to reach full operating capability this year. The operational status is a sharp turnaround for the missile program that, in 2010, was added to Australia’s name-and-shame “Projects of Concern” list, before being removed late last year.
A new open avionics standard developed by a government-industry consortium has been boosted by U.S. Army plans to develop open architectures for aircraft survivability systems and future vertical-lift aircraft. The Army Aviation and Missile Research Development and Engineering Center (AMRDEC) has released a request for information to develop a prototype avionics platform based on the Future Airborne Capabilities Environment (FACE) standard published in January.
LONDON – Global arms sales continued to increase, but only at 1% real growth, in the latest figures published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri). The figures, reflecting 2010 data, show total sales of military arms and services of $411.1 billion. One of the main trends is “a continuing increase in the sales of military services – including systems support, training, logistics, and maintenance, repair and overhaul,” Sipri notes.
Leading senators on defense matters are divided over the issue of whether to provide weapons to those fighting against the government of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) argue that it is time for the U.S. to lead other nations in aiding the fight against the Syrian government, including providing weapons and financing to the Syrian people.
The U.S. Navy recently awarded Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Newport News Shipbuilding division a $383 million contract option to continue planning work for the refueling complex overhaul (RCOH) of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, underscoring the Defense Department’s carrier investment plan. If all contract options are exercised, the cost-plus-fixed-fee, level-of-effort for CVN-72 could reach $678 million.
Singapore – Malaysia has too few military aircraft, but there is another problem that poses an even greater threat to the country’s defense capability – a dearth of military pilots.
An interesting quid-pro-quo military equipment deal between Israel and Italy may jeopardize Israel's future contracts with South Korea, but it has also solidified Jerusalem's relationship with Rome. Israel is opting for the Alenia Aermacchi M-346 advanced jet trainer over Korea Aerospace Industries' T-50 in an estimated $1 billion deal that will cover 25-30 aircraft plus ground-based training systems. This month, the director general of Israel's defense ministry, Maj. Gen. Udi Shani, recommended his government authorize the order.
New Delhi – An Indian air force Mirage 2000 combat jet crashed in central India on Feb. 24. Both pilots ejected safely. Engine failure is suspected to be the cause of the crash, an IAF officer said. The crew was on a routine flight-training sortie. India last year signed a $2.4 billion deal with Dassault Aviation to upgrade 51 Mirage 2000s in the IAF fleet. The first set of aircraft are already in France for the project. The IAF has ordered an inquiry into the accident.
MUOS-1 LAUNCH: A United Launch Alliance Atlas V lifted off from Cape Canaveral on Feb. 24, carrying the U.S. Navy’s first Mobile User Objective System (MUOS-1), an ultra-high frequency communications satellite based on the Lockheed Martin A2100 spacecraft bus. The initial phases of the 3-hr. mission to get the big satellite into its geostationary transfer orbit went nominally.
The U.K. Strategic Defense and Security Review (SDSR) was supposed to clarify the country's military plans and industrial agenda. But the reform agenda has turned into a form of Chinese water torture for industry, with an unending trickle of decisions, reports and strategies that so far have failed to spell out a clear path forward. In turn, industry has been left trying to guess what capacities it needs to maintain and where it can rationalize its businesses, with indications now that the bottom line is being hit.
