JDAMs, PLEASE: The foreign military sales trend continues, as Israel has asked to buy 6,900 Boeing Joint Direct Attack Munition tail kits, parts and training, a deal worth about $647 million, according to the Defense Security Cooperation Agency. DSCA notified Congress of the potential sale Dec. 10. Up to this point, Congress had been notified of 58 foreign military sales valued at $62 billion. “The principal contractors will be The Boeing Company in St.
PARIS — Europe’s defense industrial base will have trouble meeting long-term capacity requirements for land-based systems, according to the European Defense Agency (EDA). The European industrial base, while fragmented, is sufficient to meet near-and midterm capability requirements for land-based systems, the Brussels-based agency said in a recent report. In the long term, however, EDA foresees a loss of capacity, “given that the technology, industrial and program areas are not being handled adequately.”
European Union foreign ministers say they would consider the launch of a satellite by North Korea a “provocative act” that would violate Pyongyang’s U.N. Security Council obligations and merit an international response.
NEW DELHI — Russia has begun delivering upgraded MiG-29 fighters to the Indian air force (IAF), with the first three traveling aboard an An-124 transport aircraft. The aircraft were due to arrive Dec. 11. The IAF has awarded the MiG corporation a $900 million contract to upgrade all of its 69 operational MiG-29s. These upgrades include a new avionics kit, with the N-109 radar being replaced by a Phazatron Zhuk-M radar. The upgrades also include improved beyond-visual-range combat ability and an air-to-air refueling capability.
DOWN TO ONE: Sikorsky, teamed with Lockheed Martin, is the only bidder left for the U.S. Air Force’s 112-aircraft, $6.85 billion Combat Rescue Helicopter (CRH) program. Boeing, Bell Boeing, EADS North America and Northrop Grumman, teamed with AgustaWestland, all say they will not bid to replace the Air Force’s Sikorsky HH-60G Pave Hawks.
Boeing has delivered the Qatar Emiri Air Force's fourth C-17 Globemaster III in Long Beach. The delivery reflects Qatar's agreement with the US government to acquire two additional C-17s.
AgustaWestland has lodged an official complaint concerning the Danish Ministry of Defense’s choice of the Sikorsky MH-60R Seahawk as its next shipboard maritime helicopter.
AIR FORCE Raytheon Co., Sudbury, Mass., (FA8730-13-C-0003) is being awarded a $289,458,942 cost-plus-fixed-fee, firm-fixed-price, cost reimbursement contract for follow-on sustainment support of the Taiwan Surveillance Radar Program. The location of the performance is Taiwan. The work is expected to be completed by Nov. 8, 2017. The contracting activity is AFLCMC/HBNA, Hanscom AFB, Mass. The contract involves foreign military sales to Taiwan. NAVY
Despite long-term budget restrictions, U.S. officials appear optimistic about development of air-launched missiles to destroy short- and medium-range ballistic missiles during the early launch or boost phases of their flight. Before his October retirement, the U.S. Air Force chief of staff, Gen. Norton Schwartz, confirmed that the mission area and an air-launch and kill architecture is of interest to the service.
President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) met over the weekend to discuss averting the so-called fiscal cliff of federal budget cuts and the expiration of tax cuts. No deal yet, and as of last week, the consensus view of defense industry officials was near unanimous: prepare for the leap.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers is urging House and Senate conferees to maintain restrictions on the ability of the Pentagon to contract with Russian weapons exporter Rosoboronexport in the final version of the defense authorization bill.
MV-22 TESTING: The Bell-Boeing Joint Project Office in Amarillo, Texas, has been awarded a $26.5 million contract modification to provide the Naval Rotary Wing Aircraft Test Squadron with on-site test management, flight test engineering, design engineering, and related efforts to support MV-22 flight and ground testing, the Pentagon announced Dec. 10. The work will be performed at the Naval Air Station, Patuxent River, Md., and in Philadelphia and Fort Worth. It is expected to be completed in December 2013.
A recent budget-crafting exercise that included input from “defense community experts” highlights the need and desire to continue to develop military undersea capabilities. The experts say the capability is needed to better cope with anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD), environments, according to the exercises and a subsequent recently released report, “Strategic Choices; Navigating Austerity,” by the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA).
Airbus Military’s A400M airlifter has taken another step toward certification with the completion of 300 hr. of Function and Reliability (F&R) trials. The trials, stipulated by the European Aviation Safety Agency, (EASA) expose the aircraft to the rigors of day-to-day flying. They were successfully completed over 32 days on Dec. 7 by the company’s first production-representative aircraft – MSN6 or “Grizzly 5.” Data from the trials is now being examined by EASA and OCCAR, the European armament cooperation agency.
AIR FORCE Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, (FA8604-13-D-7951) is being awarded a $29,446,000 requirements contract for Engineering and Technical services for the F-16 and F-22 aircraft. The location of the performance is Bahrain, Chile, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Poland, Taiwan and Turkey. The work is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, 2014. The contracting activity is AFLCMC/PZIEB, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. The contract involves Foreign Military Sales.
PARIS – Infrared sensor manufacturer Sofradir will acquire the IR detector facilities of Sagem and Thales, fortifying Sofradir’s position as a player in the global infrared imaging market.
LONDON – BAE Systems has begun test flights of the first aircraft in the latest batch of Eurofighter Typhoon jets destined for the Royal Saudi Air Force. The aircraft – a two-seater – first flew from the company’s facilities at Warton in Lancashire at the beginning of December and is one of a small set of six twin-stick aircraft which will be delivered to Saudi Arabia next year. The six aircraft will be followed by the remaining 42 Typhoons ordered as part of Riyadh’s Al-Salam deal, which will see 72 Typhoons delivered to the country.
ABOARD THE USS FREEDOM — The skipper is smiling, cautiously. The first Littoral Combat Ship (LCS-1), the USS Freedom, is pushing off from a U.S. Navy pier in San Diego a few minutes before schedule, and Cmdr. Tim Wilke, the ship’s commanding officer, knows that the early departure is a big deal. “We finished everything on time,” he says. “We got under way on time. Those are the highlights.”
CYBER STEP: The divide causing cybersecurity legislation to stall in the Senate hinges on whether or not the government can direct private companies to share information about attacks. But the Senate’s version of the fiscal 2013 defense authorization bill will take a limited step in that direction. The bill includes a provision that will require defense contractors to report breaches of their network and the loss of information on sensitive programs.
