LONDON — The Spanish army has begun transporting three Eurocopter EC665 Tiger attack helicopters to Afghanistan, kicking off the country’s first operational deployment of the type. The helicopters will be deployed to Herat in west Afghanistan beginning March 27. They will be used to support the pullout of Spanish troops, which is due to be completed in 2014.
TILTROTOR DOWNWASH: Financial analysts at RBC Capital Markets recently met with Textron management and came away sensing “frustration” concerning the multiyear procurement (MYP) deal with the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) for V-22 tiltrotor aircraft. “If agreed in the currently proposed form then [subsidiary] Bell will see volumes come down from [around 40/year to about] 20 as the MYP procures 99 V-22s over a five-year period,” the analysts told investor clients.
Defense budget cuts in the U.S. and Europe have not crimped planned attendance at the 2013 Paris air show, according to show officials. The defense downturn is being offset by two key factors: an increase in the commercial market and an “economic war” to export defense products since domestic budgets are declining, says Paris air show Chairman Emeric D’Arcimoles. The U.S. Air Force is still planning to attend the show, but NASA, the U.S. Army and the Navy have canceled their participation, show officials say.
The U.S. Air Force needs to improve the ways it justifies and manages its cost-reimbursable contracts, according to the Pentagon’s Inspector General (IG). “Of the 156 contracts reviewed, valued at about $10.5 billion, Air Force contracting personnel did not consistently implement the interim rule for 75 contracts, valued at about $8.8 billion,” the IG says in a report released earlier this month.
While most of the defense community has been expecting the U.S. Navy to reap the majority of the harvest from the nation’s Pacific Pivot and shift to Asia, Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter says all Pentagon forces will benefit. Speaking recently as part of a global panel at the third Jakarta International Defense Dialogue, or JIDD, Carter ticked off a series of programs and capabilities from the range of U.S. forces that will be needed to successfully accomplish the shift, the American Forces Press reports.
LANGKAWI, Malaysia — Indonesia says it is open to the U.S. military’s “Pacific Pivot” and shift of focus to Asia, a stance that is in line with Indonesia’s efforts to procure more U.S. defense equipment. U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter issued a press statement March 22 saying, “Asian defense leaders were eager for a U.S. presence and involvement in the region and will very palpably feel the U.S. rebalance in the Asia Pacific region.”
CANCELED: U.S. Fleet Forces recently notified several Navy commands that the Secretary of Defense approved cancellations of their upcoming deployments due to budget limitations imposed by sequestration. The April deployments of the Naval Station Norfolk-based USNS Comfort (T-AH 20), USS Kauffman (FFG 59) and the Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-based USNS Grasp (T-ARS 51), along with their supporting units, have been canceled. Kauffman and Comfort were scheduled to deploy to the U.S.
NUCLEAR STUDY: Rep. Adam Smith (Wash.), the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, has named two members to a congressionally mandated advisory panel examining nuclear security: former Rep. John Spratt (D-S.C.) and T.J. Glauther, former deputy energy secretary. The “Congressional Advisory Panel on the Governance of the National Security Enterprise” will eventually comprise 12 members.
LANGKAWI, Malaysia — While Australia’s requirement to replace its aging F-18s captures much public attention, other military aircraft procurements in the country’s pipeline include a new primary trainer and advanced maritime patrol aircraft. Australia’s defense department publicly agreed last October to help with further development of the Boeing P-8A with the intent of eventually purchasing the aircraft. It has, however, yet to order the P-8A. These would replace the air force’s 19 Lockheed Martin AP-3C Orion aircraft.
The U.S. Navy recently started at-sea testing and data collection of the Rapid Prototype Torpedo Warning System (TWS) and Countermeasure Anti-Torpedo (CAT) system. The tests are being conducted aboard the CVN-77 USS George H.W. Bush by the Naval Sea Systems Command (Navsea) Surface Ship Torpedo Defense (SSTD) team. The aircraft carrier is currently completing training qualifications. This marks the first aircraft carrier to use the TWS, Navy officials say, which was installed during the ship’s recent planned incremental availability period.
PRYING EYES: Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) is joining other lawmakers in drafting legislation to protect the privacy of U.S. citizens from being invaded by loitering UAVs, specifically UAVs operated by private citizens. “The only way to truly embrace these innovative, job-creating technologies, is to assure the public that these technologies will not compromise Coloradans’ basic privacy rights,” says Udall, who is supportive of a bid from his home state to become one of six test sites for civilian-use UAVs.
MUHU ISLAND, Estonia — Estonia unveiled the first of two new long-range air defense radar posts March 26 as part of an effort to modernize the former Soviet-occupied country’s air surveillance capability in support of NATO air policing missions. Produced by ThalesRaytheonSystems (TRS), Estonia’s first Ground Master 403 (GM 403) radar was delivered to the Baltic nation last December under a 2009 contract valued at €25 million ($32 million), including options.
The U.S. Forest Service is in search of six or more high-fidelity networked aerial firefighting simulators for initial and recurrent training of fire management officials and contract pilots flying a wide variety of fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft for the agency.
Engineers from the Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock recently released software that provides the U.S. government, industry and academia a standardized method of analyzing ship testing data that is expected to improve high-speed craft design, Navy officials say. The software — called Standard G — uses a physics-based approach to analyze data recorded during wave-impact testing on watercraft and was developed in partnership with the Office of Naval Research, the U.S. Naval Academy and the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
It will take another year for export control reforms aimed at easing the path for the U.S. satellite industry to take effect, which is time enough for manufacturers and others affected by more than a decade of onerous International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) to push for additional changes.
The U.S. Navy’s first Mobile Landing Platform MLP-1 USNS Montford Point successfully completed builder’s sea trials March 20 in San Diego, proving the vessel’s propulsion, ballasting, communications, navigation and mission systems, as well as related support systems meet requirements. The milestone is not only an accomplishment for the program of a new ship concept, but also for the Navy itself, which has had some issues lately with developing other new first-of-class vessel concepts.
ARMY BAE Systems – Ordnance Systems Inc., Kingsport, Tenn., was awarded a $780,802,473 firm-fixed-price contract. The award will provide for the manufacture and supply of Insensitive Munitions Explosives. The work location will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 29, 2017. One bid was solicited, with one bid received. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island, Ill., is the contracting activity (W52P1J-12-D-0037).
Success in the Army’s growing catalog of work in linking manned and unmanned aviation assets could lead the service to reduce is reliance on helicopters, potentially impacting the planned buys of Boeing Apache AH-64Es and future Armed Aerial Scouts.
