Raytheon and General Electric are two leading defense companies among the top contributors to Sen. Scott Brown’s (R-Mass.) re-election race, the most expensive in the U.S. during this election cycle. Brown has raised $24.4 million in this cycle, drawing $77,751 from employees of Raytheon, headquartered in Waltham, Mass., according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Lobbyists representing the company added another $4,000 to Brown’s race against Democrat Elizabeth Warren.
The Aegis SM-2 Block IIIA engagement this week against a cruise missile target as part of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency’s (MDA) largest-ever flight trial has been deemed a success by operators, according to MDA officials. Early reports from MDA only listed the SM-2IIIA as having “engaged” the BQM-74E target; agency spokeswoman Pam Rogers would not list it as a success or intercept.
The U.S. Army and Raytheon are nearing completion of talks on a contract for more technology development on a seeker for the service’s Joint Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM), according to military and industry officials. The service and company differed in their opinions of readiness for a tri-mode seeker for JAGM, with the Army pushing Raytheon officials to consider a dual-mode design that would omit the imaging infrared capability.
NEW DELHI — India has once again asked the Italian government to probe alleged irregularities in a contract for 12 helicopters from AgustaWestland. The Italian defense firm has denied the allegations.
French aerospace equipment manufacturers saw steady growth last year, with revenues up 14% to €11.4 billion ($14.7 billion) and order intake totaling €14.3 billion, including a 20% increase in exports. Olivier Zarrouati, who leads the equipment group at French aerospace industry association Gifas, says the country's equipment-manufacturing industry is entering a new phase.
An unequal battle is brewing to replace the airplane that has provided U.S. Navy aircraft carriers with their logistics lifeline to the mainland for half a century, a competition that could lead the service to reevaluate fundamentally how it transports high-priority cargo to its battle groups.
The U.S. Army is finally expecting its first delivery—due next fall—of new equipment designed to help correct the problem of fratricide in its air and missile defense forces that has persisted since the Persian Gulf war in the early 1990s.
Preliminary results show that the Missile Defense Agency scored three of five attempted missile intercepts in the first integrated flight exercise to combine engagements from three different defense systems.
Slashing its requirement by a third, the Indian air force (IAF) says it will induct only 144 of the originally ordered 214 Fifth-Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) that it is co-developing with Russia.
Malaysia's navy is generally last—behind the army and the air force—when it comes to securing budget approval for new aircraft, but the government may be end up giving the navy priority over the other armed services, because anti-submarine warfare (ASW) capability is becoming critical. The deputy chief of the navy, Vice Adm. Mohammed Noordin bin Ali, says ASW has increased in importance because there are now many more submarines in Asia. He says the navy needs to boost its capability by buying six more ASW helicopters.
The big names in commercial aircraft manufacturing no longer have Southern California addresses, but the area abounds with suppliers. Twice as many aerospace engineers, mechanics, technicians and assemblers work in California as in any other state, and the bulk of them are clustered from Los Angeles to San Diego.
An unidentified, classified air vehicle is the primary platform for a compact high-resolution ground-surveillance radar developed by Lockheed Martin and unveiled last week at the Association of the U.S. Army show here. It is intended to provide accurate target and intelligence imagery in bad weather. The radar has been dubbed Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar System (Asars) 3. Asars-1 and -2 were developed for the Lockheed SR-71 and U-2R, respectively, in the 1980s, when both were strategic reconnaissance systems operating under tight classification.
Eleven years of war have built unmanned-aircraft manufacturing into a lucrative business. Operational demands have also created a market for companies to operate the aircraft and provide full-motion video as a service. As war winds down and budgets follow, interest in UAVs is expanding beyond the military into other government and civilian missions. The industry is anticipating a shift from manufacturing to operating aircraft, but some companies are finding that fee-for-service is a business model with pitfalls.
The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) plans to fly the fourth and final Boeing X-51A WaveRider hypersonic engine demonstrator in mid-2013. Tests of the component suspected to have caused the early end to the third flight in August are to begin on Friday, Oct. 26. If confirmed, the fix should be “pretty simple,” says Charlie Brink, AFRL X-51A program manager.
France successfully completed the first launch of its naval cruise missile MdCN (missile de croisiere naval) in submarine configuration Oct. 24, the French armaments agency DGA says.
FRANKFURT — Germany is rushing to buy an initial 7.5% stake of EADS before year’s end to ensure its power in Europe’s largest aerospace company is similar to that of France, although an economics ministry report warns of the time constraint on concluding the transaction within the next two months.
SINGAPORE — The Philippine Air Force (PAF) is about to embark on the biggest acquisition program in its history, and at this stage it seems the main beneficiaries will be Embraer, Indonesian Aerospace (IAe) and Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI).
As the U.S. Army fields more air defense technology, contractors are examining ways to squeeze more threat detection capability out of existing radars. Lockheed Martin is self-funding work to generate software that will allow for AN/TPQ-53 radars to detect both air-breathing threats as well as those in a ballistic trajectory, according to Lee Flake, director of Lockheed Martin’s counter fire radar programs.
NASA AUDIT: House Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Paul Broun (R-Ga.) is asking the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) to request a review of NASA’s export control policies, in response to recent allegations that Simon “Pete” Worden, director of NASA’s Ames Research Center, allowed foreign nationals access to information protected under International Traffic in Arms Regulations. In an Oct.
NEW DELHI — An internal audit by India’s defense ministry has concluded that violations of procurement rules by the Indian army has resulted in the loss of more than 1 billion rupees ($18.6 million) in public funds during the two fiscal years since April 1, 2009. According to the 118-page audit report, equipment such as bulletproof jackets, night vision devices and parachutes were procured by the Northern Army commander between 2009-2011 from “unlisted and unregistered” vendors.
NETANYA, Israel — With virtually every cyber network in the world in jeopardy of attack, Elbit has positioned itself over the last three years to cash in on the escalating likelihood of digital intrusions. A program here is training teams of cyber warriors for companies, government agencies and military organizations that want an in-house defense capability. That can be done at Elbit’s facilities, or the company can provide a customer with the system, build the facilities and provide trainers for those wanting a turnkey, in-house facility.
Teams have been selected to compete in a U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) challenge to demonstrate a robot that can help humans respond to disasters. Under the Darpa Robotics Challenge, the Pentagon agency will provide funding to seven teams that will develop robotic systems with hardware and software (Track A) and 11 that will develop software only (Track B).
