COLORADO AEROSPACE: Two U.S. lawmakers from space-industry-heavy Colorado are standing up their own “working group” on aerospace export control reforms. After being part of the advocacy effort for loosening satellite-related regulations, the lawmakers say their new group will continue to look for more changes “that will help U.S. companies export their products and technologies to international customers while still protecting our national security interests.” The group will provide recommendations to Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet and Republican Rep.
The Pentagon has officially notified Congress of the potential sale of 60 Boeing F-15 Silent Eagles or Lockheed Martin F-35s to South Korea, as the country weighs these American options against the Eurofighter Typhoon for the forthcoming downselect in its F-X Phase 3 competition.
BAE Systems is volleying back against cost, capability and scheduling concerns raised this week in a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report on the U.S. Army’s Ground Combat Vehicle (GCV) acquisition. The CBO estimates the GCV would cost the service $29 billion in 2013 dollars from 2014 to 2030 as it is currently structured.
THAAD DEPLOYS: In response to escalating tensions with North Korea, the Pentagon is deploying the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense System to Guam. The battery from the Army’s 4th Air Defense Artillery Regiment at Fort Bliss, Texas, is being sent to the Pacific island to counter the North Korean regional ballistic missile threat. The decision follows a shift in the U.S. military’s investments in national missile defense as well as the recent participation of B-2 bombers and F-22 fighters in military exercises in South Korea.
Lockheed Martin has told Australia’s government and general public that if the country orders fewer than its originally planned 100 F-35s, Australian industry will receive less work on the Joint Strike Fighter program.
Lockheed Martin plans to provide further details later this week about the international version of its USS Freedom Littoral Combat Ship, the navy’s newest warship.
PARIS — French President Francois Hollande says the nation’s €31.4 billion ($40 billion) annual defense budget will remain flat next year despite pressure to reduce public spending. “We will spend in 2014 exactly the same amount as in 2013,” Hollande said during a March 28 interview with France 2 television. The Socialist president also lauded French military support for Operation Serval in Mali and vowed to maintain the nation’s security independence, including modernization of its nuclear arsenal.
The U.S. Army needs to do a better job tracking, configuring and “sanitizing” commercial mobile devices (CMDs) to ensure cybersecurity, a recent Pentagon Inspector General (IG) report says. “The Army Chief Information Officer (CIO) did not implement an effective cybersecurity program for CMDs,” the IG says. “Specifically, the Army CIO did not appropriately track CMDs and was unaware of more than 14,000 CMDs used throughout the Army.”
The Pentagon concurs with recent U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) recommendations to improve its efforts to infuse greater competition in its contracting procedures and the Defense Department plans to do just that, GAO says in a recent report. While the Pentagon has been working on making its contracting more competitive in recent years, the trend has not been promising.
GCV ANALYZED: In a new report, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that it will cost the U.S. Army $29 billion in 2013 dollars from 2014 to 2030 to carry out its current Ground Combat Vehicle (GCV) acquisition effort on the most recent schedule offered for the perennially challenged program.
NEW DELHI — The most advanced version of India’s Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) has made its first flight, setting the stage for its induction into the country’s air force. The limited series production aircraft (LSP-8) is the last in the indigenously developed Tejas’ flight line before it is prepared for deployment for operational service by 2015.
The U.S. Navy will likely pay much less for its vaunted air and missile defense radar (AMDR) than previously projected — only perhaps about a third of what officials predicted a year ago — a recent U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report says. The AMDR’s total price tag is now estimated at $5.8 billion, compared to the $15.2 billion projected last year for the radar system meant to provide simultaneous air and ballistic missile defense (BMD). (See chart p. 8.)
LANGKAWI, Malaysia — BAE Systems, which is leading the campaign to sell Eurofighter Typhoon fighters to Malaysia, says the Southeast Asian nation would have three anti-ship missiles to choose from if it orders the Typhoon.
LANGKAWI, Malaysia — The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) has become bullish about the prospect of using UAVs to help monitor Malaysia’s territory, even though it also has a plan to add more manned fixed-wing maritime patrol aircraft.
LONDON — The U.K. defense ministry says it plans to stick to a common configuration of its Airbus Military A400M transport aircraft as the type enters service in 2014. The U.K. Royal Air Force is buying 22 A400Ms to replace its fleet of Lockheed Martin C-130J Hercules aircraft over the coming years. Initially the U.K. had ordered 25 of the type, but the number was cut in 2010 as part of the re-negotiations over the increased price of the aircraft.
U.S. AIR FORCE Northrop Grumman Technical Services Inc., Hill Air Force Base, Utah, (F42610-98-C-0001, P03801) is being awarded a $12,655,091 contract modification contract for a Dual Source program. The contract modification is to refurbish fuses under the ICBM prime integration contract. The location of the performance is Hill Air Force Base, Utah and King of Prussia, Pa. Work is expected to be completed by June 30, 2014. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2013. The contracting activity is AFNWC/PZBE, Hill Air Force Base, Utah.
LONDON — Korean Aerospace Industries (KAI) says it has completed development of the Surion Korean Utility Helicopter (KUH-1) and that the type is now ready to start replacing older helicopter models in South Korean army service.
