SINGAPORE — U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is downplaying the prospect of so-called “sequestration” cuts to the Pentagon’s budget. “Sequester is not a real crisis, but an artificial crisis,” Panetta says, adding that Congress deliberately “put a gun to its head” with the Budget Control Act, which forces across-the-board spending cuts if lawmakers fail to make sufficient progress in reducing the U.S. federal budget deficit.
RISING SUN: The U.S. and Japan are working on new areas of defense cooperation, including intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. “The U.S.-Japan alliance will remain one of the corne rstones of regional peace,” and the two countries are enhancing their ability to cooperate militarily, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told delegates June 2 at the IISS Shangri-La Dialogue here.
SINGAPORE — Mongolia is considering ordering the Lockheed Martin C-130 for its air force, a potential sale that would be highly significant as the Asian nation has traditionally bought defense equipment from Russia, its major ally. An official from Mongolia’s defense ministry tells Aviation Week on the sidelines of the IISS Shangri-La Dialogue here that a team from the ministry recently visited Lockheed Martin in Atlanta to discuss the airlifter, which is assembled in Marietta, Ga.
SINGAPORE — U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says he intends to visit China and is keen to discuss space- and cyberspace-related issues. “We must establish and reinforce agreed principles in space and cyberspace,” he says. He plans to visit China later this year, at the invitation of the Chinese government.
ARLINGTON, Va. — While the U.S. Navy embraces big-picture technological breakthroughs, the service also is looking for companies to help Navy programs make smaller technology strides, says Rear Adm. Matthew Klunder, the chief of naval research. “Everyone wants to hit the home-run ball,” Klunder said June 4 during his keynote luncheon speech at the annual 2012 Navy Opportunity Forum in Arlington, Va.
U.S. lawmakers tend to treat the White House budget proposal as a suggestion, and then proceed to do what they want. But in the fiscal 2013 request, House appropriators changed Navy procurement lines disproportionately more than the other services.
The U.S. Congress is closer than ever before to reversing a 14-year-old law aimed at limiting dual-use satellite technology that the industry complains has put U.S. exports at a competitive disadvantage.
Amid questions about America’s nuclear posture—particularly the role of the country’s ballistic missile submarine fleet—the U.S. Navy says it continues to prove the reliability of the Trident II D5 Fleet Ballistic Missiles (FBMs) carried by the subs. The service conducted successful flights April 14 and 16 of four Trident II D5 FBMs built by Lockheed Martin. The Navy launched two unarmed missiles each day from the submerged submarine USS Maryland (SSBN-738) in the Atlantic Ocean.
MALMEN AIR BASE, Sweden — The Swiss air force is likely to field the MBDA Meteor ramjet-powered, beyond-visual-range, air-to-air missile and could buy additional PC-21 trainers to support its Gripen E/F fleet, which is due to be fielded at the end of the decade, says service chief Lt. Gen. Markus Gygax. Initially, the fighter will likely use the Raytheon AIM-120 Amraam now used for air-to-air tasks on F/A-18s. But eventually Meteor will replace the U.S. weapon, Gygax said on the sidelines of the Aerospace Forum Sweden 2012.
SINGAPORE—Boeing anticipates that South Korea will decide before year’s end on a winner in its F-X3 fighter competition, and the winner also could become a partner in KFX, the country’s indigenous fighter program. Companies battling for the F-X3 must include in their proposals information about how they could later help South Korea develop the KFX, says Dennis Muilenburg, president and CEO of Boeing Defense, Space & Security. He spoke to Aviation Week and other media in a June 1 briefing here.
SINGAPORE — Boeing is proposing its KC-46A to meet the Singapore air force’s requirement for aerial refueling tankers. “Earlier this year Singapore issued a request for information [RFI] for tanker options,” says Dennis Muilenburg, president and CEO of Boeing Defense, Space & Security, and the company is responding. Aviation Week reported in February that Singapore had issued an RFI for six aerial refuelers. The other contenders are the Airbus Military A330 MRTT and the Israel Aerospace Industries 767 Multi-Mission Tanker Transport.
SINGAPORE — Boeing is sounding the alarm about U.S. defense budget cuts, saying that if they go beyond what has already been announced, there will be a huge impact on jobs.
MALMEN AIR BASE, Sweden — The Czech Republic is due to make decisions this year on two of the air force’s main equipment projects: how to extend the country’s fighter capacity and when to deploy its tactical airlifters. The Czechs currently operate 12 single-seat and two dual-seat Gripens under a lease deal that expires in 2015. The goal is to complete negotiations on preserving the nation’s fighter inventory.
HOLD THE LINE: Boeing hopes it can secure enough orders to keep its C-17 production line going into 2016 and possibly 2017. So far, the company has secured only enough orders to keep the line going to third-quarter 2014, but it sees opportunities to sell more of the airlifters to international customers and keep the line open for 2-3 years beyond that, says Boeing Defense, Space & Security President and CEO Dennis Muilenburg at a media briefing in Singapore June 1.
Bids have been submitted to build and operate the aircrew training system for the U.S. Air Force’s KC-46A tanker/transport, which is being competed separately from development and production of the KC-135 replacement. Boeing, CAE and Lockheed Martin all confirm they have submitted bids. FlightSafety International and L-3 Link Training & Simulation, which already operate other aircrew training systems (ATS) for the Air Force, also are expected to have bid.
The call for more U.S. Navy unmanned platforms across the spectrum of the service’s operations is starting to rise to a higher pitch, although Navy officials say such capability is still decades away. “[The] U.S. Navy should prioritize investment in cutting-edge technologies that offer new means of projecting naval power, such as stealthy, unmanned long-range strike platforms and autonomous undersea vehicles,” the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) think tank says in a report released earlier this week.
Maps are clearly a vital tool for any military commander, but the days when a two-dimensional, printed representation of an area will suffice have long since passed. Dynamic mapping of the battlespace is not new, but 21st century technologies are revolutionizing the collection, dissemination and analysis of tactical intelligence.
Do not be surprised if Defense Secretary Leon Panetta secures a $1.4 billion deal to sell India 22 Boeing-made Apache Longbow attack helicopters during his trip there this week, say Center for Strategic & International Studies analysts.
The specter of sequestration is not yet affecting either U.S. Air Force or Navy planning, nor is it slowing down the services' decision to enter contracts, say top commanders. But it is undermining the defense industry and executives making long- range plans must consider whether to buy long-lead items for projects that could be at risk, military leaders contend. Those early decisions could affect the success and shape of new AirSea Battle plans.
After years of frustration in the development of cybertools, cyberpolicy and cybercommand and control, both the White House and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency have new initiatives. Plan X is Darpa's concept to improve cyberwarfare weaponry, define operational employment and deflect counterattacks. The program is expected to invest $110 million into research during the next five years to support offensive military operations.
