AIR FORCE Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Rolling Meadows, Ill., is being awarded a $333,659,831 firm-fixed-price contract for an undefinitized contract action for the procurement of calendar year 2011 and calendar year 2012 large aircraft infrared countermeasures hardware and associated support. The location of the performances is Rolling Meadows. The work is expected to be completed by Feb. 10, 2012. Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8625-12-C-6598). NAVY
HEAVY DEAL: Singapore Technologies Aerospace (ST Aerospace) and Cosworth Group have signed an agreement to jointly develop heavy fuel engines for UAV customers in the Asia-Pacific region. The “technical alliance” matches ST Aerospace’s work in propulsion-to-airframe integration and operator HMI’s requirements with Cosworth’s heavy fuel engine technology.
LONDON – Coming off losses in Indian and Japan, the Eurofighter Typhoon consortium is now looking to the Middle East to build up its backlog of orders for the fighter. The goal is to secure the sale of 12 Typhoons to Oman in September or October after January’s formal release of the request for proposals. The program is valued at more than £2 billion and could also trigger sales of additional Hawk trainers.
With the House and Senate out this week, action in the nation’s Capitol is limited, providing a chance to catch up on the avalanche of budget material released last week. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is leading a congressional delegation to Egypt and the Middle East, where he is discussing the annual U.S. military aid package with Egypt of more than $1 billion.
LONDON – The French and British governments have added more clarity on their plans for future unmanned aircraft collaboration and also put efforts for a deployable combined joint force headquarters on the front burner.
SINGAPORE – After years of preparations and posturing, the battle between Northrop Grumman and Raytheon to provide active electronically scanned array radar upgrades to F-16s flown by the U.S. Air Force and international militaries is about to start.
NEW DELHI — India has started price negotiations with France’s Dassault Aviation on the 126-fighter Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) program. A contract is expected to be signed after six months, Indian Defense Minister A.K. Antony says. India announced early February that the French Rafale had won the $11 billion deal, beating the Eurofighter Typhoon on price.
SINGAPORE — Raytheon is starting discussions with international customers about the possible purchase of the Griffin missile, although export approval remains to be secured. The program is now transitioning from its sole-U.S. focus to expanding the customer base, said Zack May, director of Air Warfare Systems business development at Raytheon, during the Singapore air show.
The nomination of Mark Lippert as assistant secretary of defense for Asia-Pacific security affairs, which was on hold for a nearly one year, is being further delayed in an attempt to bolster the Taiwanese air force. In a statement saying the White House has not yet addressed concerns about the aging of Taiwan’s fighter jet fleet, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) has placed a hold on the president’s nominee to lead the Pentagon’s policies in Asia.
LOS ANGELES — Following the termination of its long-running F136 alternative F-35 Joint Strike Fighter engine last year, General Electric is accelerating R&D efforts to support an installed base of 25,000 engines and provide new sixth-generation combat engines that it says will be needed sooner rather than later.
BETTER BUYING: The Pentagon will have Statements of Budgetary Resources for general funds “audit ready” by 2014, three years earlier than previously planned, the White House declared last week in rolling out its fiscal 2013 budget request. “This audit of the department’s Statement of Budgetary Resources will encompass a complete review of how the department receives and spends its funds,” according to the official budget announcement.
The recent U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report questioning the U.S. Navy’s decision to truncate the DDG-1000 Zumwalt destroyer fleet and restart the DDG-51 destroyer line raises significant potential issues for Congress, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) says. The two reports echo findings and concerns highlighted by the Aviation Week Intelligence Network’s “Come About” investigation and series on the Navy’s destroyer and radar-suite programs.
GENOA, Italy and TEL AVIV — Israel has opted for the Alenia Aermacchi M-346 advanced jet trainer over Korea Aerospace Industries’ T-50, in an estimated $1 billion deal that will cover 25-30 aircraft plus ground-based training systems.
The U.S. Army is hoping that foreign military sales and public-private partnerships can bridge a looming production gap of medium and heavy combat vehicles, its leaders told lawmakers Feb. 17. The Army’s future spending plan proposes stopping production of General Dynamics M1 Abrams tanks and Stryker vehicles and BAE Systems Bradley Fighting Vehicles. Last year, Congress added money to continue production of Abrams tanks, which are built in Lima, Ohio.
SINGAPORE — New Zealand is looking at options for supplementing its fleet of naval helicopters and procuring a more advanced turboprop trainer. “We don’t have enough [Kaman SH-2G Super Seasprite] naval helicopters and the sustainability [of the existing fleet] through spare parts and support is an issue we’re working through for required output,” the chief of the New Zealand air force, Air Vice Marshal Peter Stockwell, told Aviation Week on the eve of the Singapore Airshow. “We are looking at the potential upgrade of the current five aircraft.”
A U.S. Marine Corps AH-1 Cobra fires a pair of BAE Systems-designed, advanced precision-kill weapon system 2.75-in. rockets. The rockets, previously dumb, have been upgraded with screw-in, mid-body guidance systems that feature fold-out wings, flaperons and four optical sensors that quarter the field of view for faster, more accurate targeting. The missiles have hit a meter-wide, laser spot from a range of 3 mi. Seven-rocket pods are being prepared for several Marine helicopter models and the U.S. Navy's MQ-8 Fire Scout unmanned aircraft. BAE Systems photo.
Charitably, one might say that the U.K.'s Defense Ministry is in a no-win situation regarding defense programs—damned if it cuts more and damned if it doesn't. A less charitable interpretation posits that after almost two years of trying to fix its military equipment plan, the U.K. is still left with a huge mismatch between funding and capabilities, with risk increasing of even greater imbalances as the nation's economy remains in a slump.
William Greenwalt has joined the Aerospace Industries Association, Arlington, Va., as VP-acquisition policy. He was deputy director for surveys and investigations of the U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee.
