Russia's United Aircraft Corp. (UAC) has reported assembly of the first Ilyushin Il-476 flight prototype, a modernized version of the Il-76MD heavy transport aircraft. The prototype was shown publicly for the first time at the Aviastar-SP production facility in Ulyanovsk in mid-December. A UAC representative told Aviation Week the official rollout will be in early 2012, with first flight expected in the spring.
As a Japanese weapon, the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries F-2 fighter was built in Japan—and only for Japan. In 2011 the government, taking delivery of the last of 94 F-2s, looked at how much it would cost to build more. The answer: ¥15 billion ($193 million) apiece, more than the marginal price that any country has paid for any fighter from a mature production line.
Goodrich's five-year campaign to get its ACES 5 ejection seat onto the F-35A is likely to meet the same fate as General Electric/Rolls-Royce's push to keep an alternate engine in the Joint Strike Fighter program—failure. Last month, the engine manufacturer finally gave up on its years-long attempts to keep the F136 engine alive after consistent and stiff opposition from Pentagon leadership.
Back when two-way radios the size of bricks were the closest things to cell phones, and beepers the equivalent of texting, a 20-something manager of a General Motors chassis line in Montreal ducked out of work to run an errand. As luck would have it, a glitch shut down the auto line just as he reached the checkout counter. Suddenly, a gargantuan belt strapped around his waist came to life, with two beepers shrieking and flashing and the radio squawking.
Fresh troubles are delaying India's Tejas Light Combat Aircraft program, with final operational clearance slipping by more than a year to December 2014.
Is Hawker Beechcraft down to its last strike? Ever since a brutal downturn took hold in the business aviation sector three years ago, deliveries of T-6 trainers and intelligence-and-reconnaissance versions of King Air models to the Pentagon and other militaries have been a lifeline for the Wichita-based company. Sales have been so brisk that the company's owners have fielded queries about the profitable military business from unsolicited buyers.
Of three major fighter competitions—in the United Arab Emirates, India and Switzerland—that were to have been decided by the end of 2011, it looks as though two will be decided this year.
The Cold War is dead but one of its offspring, nuclear proliferation, is very much alive. Following is a review of programs underway in the Middle East, Asia and Russia, which could soon be flashpoints.
Kevin Kit Parker is not a typical traumatic brain injury (TBI) researcher. As an associate professor of biomedical engineering at Harvard University, his research interest until a few years ago was primarily cardiac cell biology and tissue engineering. But Parker, who is also a reserve officer in the U.S. Army, began to pursue a new area of research between two tours in Afghanistan. There, improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, are the No. 1 killer of U.S. and allied troops, and Parker saw firsthand the effects of TBI.
Trailblazer In a field that has traditionally been dominated by defense contractors and large auto manufacturers, Granite Tactical Vehicles of Mount Pilot, N.C., is a rare creature. Started by former U.S. Navy SEAL Chris Berman, the company is competing for lucrative Defense Department contracts to refurbish thousands of Humvees to make them more survivable.
A tool developed by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) could soon change the way the military understands—and deals with—the exposure of troops to bomb blasts. Darpa's Blast Gauge, which was deployed to Afghanistan in 2011, is a wearable sensor that measures blast exposure. The device could lead to better diagnosis of traumatic brain injury (TBI), dubbed the “signature wound” of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Russia continues to increase its defense expenditures to modernize military capabilities. Money in the growing budget is being spent to reshape the national military, which is being transformed into a smaller but more effective and better-equipped force. The federal budget for 2012 and 2013-14, approved by the Duma in November, calls for further growth of defense expenditures despite a budget deficit. Expenditures could be up 20.9% to 1.85 trillion rubles ($59.8 billion) from 2011, and account for 14.6% of the budget versus 13.9% last year.
Recent cabinet discussions called for cuts equivalent to $800 million in Israel's military budget. Defense Minister Ehud Barak objected, but they were approved. The military cautioned that when finalized the cuts could be more—$2.4 billion—and set back production of missile-defense systems, strategic stockpiles and other priorities.
It has been an interesting 12 months for U.K. defense, and 2012 promises to have as many noteworthy points as 2010-11. The end of 2010 saw publication of the Strategic Defense and Security Review (SDSR), with consequent cuts in the force structures of all three services. Then there was the budget settlement, which promises only minimal funding to 2015. The Libyan campaign appeared out of nowhere, but ended well, while raising serious questions about the outcome of SDSR.
Economic crises, budget cuts and shifting warfighting needs will have an impact on defense industries this year. Nevertheless, technology development continues. Products will be commercialized and business plans written with an eye toward weathering the storm and building for the future. Following are 10 companies that DTI's editors believe are worth watching for the innovation they will bring to the market this year.
The U.S. withdrawal from Iraq will leave the country without the ability to directly defend its airspace for at least two years. That's because Iraq won't get its first F-16s until late 2014 or early 2015, according to Maj. Gen. Russell Handy, commander of the 9th Air and Space Expeditionary Task Force-Iraq and director of the Air Component Coordination Element-Iraq. “There will be a gap, and it's up to the Iraqis [to decide] how they deal with that gap,” Handy says. Iraq has pilots in the U.S.
