During their first weeks of operation in Afghanistan, four robotic cargo vehicles built by Lockheed Martin for the U.S. Army have been used to resupply outposts and carry loads ranging from radios and batteries to construction and demolition equipment. Under Project Workhorse, the six-wheeled Squad Mission Support System (SMSS) arrived in-theater in mid-January for a four-month military utility assessment. At 11-ft. long, they are the largest unmanned ground vehicles deployed in Afghanistan.
The Pentagon plans to spend $770 billion on aircraft purchases, operations, maintenance and construction between fiscal 2013 and fiscal 2022, according to a report on the military’s 30-year aviation blueprint.
AgustaWestland North America, Inc. has delivered an AW139 helicopter to the Egyptian Air Force via its contract with US Army Aviation and Missile Command (AMCOM) Contracting Center for Foreign Military Sales.
LONDON — The long-running process to ease the rules governing the export of defense articles between the U.S. and U.K. has suffered another delay, but should still be ready to move forward soon. London was hoping to complete the so-called U.S./U.K. Defense Trade Cooperation Treaty before the end of March. However, the Defense Ministry now says that “the Exchange of Notes to bring the Treaty into force will take place following the Easter break.”
Embraer expects it will win a rebid on the U.S. Air Force’s botched Light Attack Support (LAS) contract and sees no justification for changing the contract’s specifications. “We have to hope that when this process is reopened there are no changes to the original specs,” Embraer President and CEO Frederico Fleury Curado told reporters April 10 during a roundtable discussion in Washington. “If there are no changes, the same reasons that made us win the first time will make us win a second time.”
FAA officials estimate that they will select six sites for integrating unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) into the national airspace by December. Since early May, the agency has been accepting public comments that will help it shape the test sites. The comment period runs through May 8, officials said in a web-based conference April 10.
SINGAPORE — Astrium is continuing to search for the investors and customers it needs for its Spaceplane to take off, and is looking to Asia for possible backers. The company needs to attract investment from the private sector for the Spaceplane, rather than rely solely on governments, according to Astrium Chief Financial Officer Thomas Muller.
Spurred by reports that LightSquared is considering bankruptcy, two lawmakers are hoping the government can recover the cost of testing the company’s proposed 4G communications network for interference with GPS.
LONDON — The U.K. and Japan have committed to a future defense cooperation agreement, although specifics are still scant. The U.K. is aggressively looking for new export markets for its equipment to prop up industry at a time that its own defense spending is in decline. Exactly what programs the two sides may work on remains unspecified. The U.K. notes the agreement was made possible by Japan’s policy change, made late last year, on defense equipment transfers.
LONDON — The government of Saudi Arabia has given the green light to BAE Systems to build another 48 Eurofighter Typhoons even as the two parties continue to work out contractual details associated with changes in the program. The company notes that the contract for final assembly of the additional 48 aircraft — 24 were bought initially — has been signed. In January, the company was still saying the money for the aircraft was allocated, but no contract had been completed.
LONDON — The French government has completed validation of the final elements of its principal anti-air missile system (Paams), with the intercept of a supersonic sea-skimming target. The test was designed to explore the final element of the Paams ship-based air defense system, following previous engagements of air-breathing targets and ballistic missiles.
UNSAFE START: U.S. Army aviation safety is off to a bad start for fiscal 2012, with five fatalities in 10 or 11 Class A accidents, says Brig. Gen. William Wolf, director of Army safety. The total includes four soldiers killed when two Bell OH-58D Kiowa Warriors crashed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., on Dec. 12. Fiscal 2011 was Army aviation’s safest year, with 11 fatalities in 16 Class A accidents, he says. Analysis shows that 88% of Army aviation accidents are caused by overconfidence or complacency, Wolf adds.
FAA officials estimate that they will select six sites for integrating unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) into the national airspace by December. Since early May, the agency has been accepting public comments that will help it shape the test sites. The comment period runs through May 8, officials said in a web-based conference April 10.
Under the patronage of the UAE Armed Forces GHQ - and with the full support of the UAE Air Force and Air Defence - the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis (INEGMA) organised the third edition of the Middle East Missile and Air Defense Symposium (MEMAD), a two-day event held at the Armed Forces Officers Club in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
Despite directives to the contrary, the U.S. Army and Air Force still have been farming out certain “inherently governmental” tasks to contractors, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). In the services’ own reviews of fiscal 2009 contracting, which GAO auditors call “incomplete” because the Navy failed to participate, there were 1,935 instances in the Army and 91 in the Air Force in which contractors were performing inherently governmental functions, according to GAO.
AIR FORCE SAIC, McLean, Va., is being awarded a $32,876,384 firm-fixed-price, time-and-material contract to procure the 480th Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Wing (480 ISRW) has a requirement in support of the AF DCGS intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance mission. The location of the performance is 480 ISRW, Langley Air Force Base, Va. The work is to be completed by May 30, 2014. Air Force Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance Agency, San Antonio, is the contracting activity (FA7037-12-F-0062).
As the Pentagon begins a 10-year reduction in its spending plans, its database of the vast network of suppliers that feed its prime contractors is helping spare vulnerable companies. The effort may provide some small measure of reassurance to lawmakers, who are concerned about maintaining high-quality jobs in a presidential election year during a time of high unemployment. The aerospace and defense industries employ more than 1 million people, according to a study conducted by Deloitte for the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA).
NEW DELHI — India’s nuclear-capable, long-range Agni-V missile, with a strike range of more than 5,000 km (3,100 mi.), is scheduled to be tested this month. “The Agni-V will be tested sometime in the middle of April. The exact date has not been fixed, though,” says Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) chief Dr. V.K. Saraswat.
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and his Brazilian counterpart, Celso Amorim, are scheduled to begin a U.S.-Brazil Defense Cooperation Dialogue on April 24. Their first meeting was part of President Barack Obama’s April 9 meeting with Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff. As an example of how close the two nations have become, the White House is pointing to the U.S. offer to sell Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighter jets to the Brazilian air force.
AIR FORCE Al Raha Group for Technical Services, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, is being awarded a $95,000,000 firm-fixed-price and cost-no-fee contract for third-party logistics services supporting repair and return of F-15 assets for the Royal Saudi Air Forces. This contract includes repair services for 4,500 national stock numbers. The location of the performance is Riyadh. The work is to be completed by Nov. 30, 2013. WR-ALC/GRWKB, Robins AFB, Ga., is the contracting activity (FA8505-12-D001). U.S. SPECIAL OPERATIONS COMMAND
RELIABLE DELIVERY: Two Lockheed Martin/Kaman K-Max unmanned helicopters supporting the U.S. Marine Corps in Afghanistan have flown some 240 missions and delivered around 600,000 lb. of cargo to remote bases since deploying in December, achieving a high operational tempo. Availability is “near 100%,” Lockheed says, adding that the aircraft have expanded into retrograde operations, picking up cargo at the forward base and bringing it back to the main operating base, and are beginning to fly to different locations.
