Jeff Chalupa (see photo) has been named general manager-domestic operations for Tulsa, Okla.-based Nordam's transparency division. He was senior director-global engineering and quality for the repair division.
Richard DeFatta has joined Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in San Diego, as VP-engineering support services for the Madison Research Business Unit of the Weapon Systems Solution Div. He was VP of Teledyne Solutions.
Michelle A. Scarpella and Stephen D. Hogan (see photos) have been appointed Falls Church, Va.-based VPs for the F-35 and F/A-18 programs, respectively, for the Northrop Grumman Corp. Scarpella has worked on the B-2, Joint Stars and E-2C Hawkeye programs, and Hogan was EA-18G and EA-6B program director.
When GE Aviation spearheaded its drive to qualify the F136 as a second powerplant choice for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, it naturally emphasized the project's jobs potential. Southern state political leaders, eager for new, well-paying manufacturing jobs, offered incentives to win a share of the Defense Department's biggest procurement program. In the end, GE Aviation and its partner, Rolls-Royce, lost their JSF bid; Pratt & Whitney's F135 retained its role as the fighter's sole powerplant.
R. Scott Rettig has been named chairman and CEO of OTO Melara North America in Washington, succeeding U.S. Navy Adm. (ret.) James Amerault, who will retire. Rettig was chairman and CEO of AgustaWestland North America.
An unguided, Vietnam War-vintage missile has been transformed into an air-to-ground precision-guided munition (PGM) that will be introduced into combat in Afghanistan this spring. The 2.75-in. Hydra rocket was the keystone weapon of the U.S. Army aviation's aerial artillery. Now BAE Systems has turned it into the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) II that does not require communications with its launch aircraft. All the precision is introduced after the rocket is launched.
The Pentagon's $614 billion fiscal 2013 spending request proposes to put to rest several ailing programs that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has deemed unnecessary, but there are some major programmatic decisions that remain unclear in this budget plan.
The UAE's aerobatics display team, Al Fursan, is to take its place among the world's top military performers when it makes a debut appearance at the UK's Royal International Air Tattoo in July.
SINGAPORE — Indonesia is planning to buy new radars that will be used for national defense and commercial air traffic management. Lockheed Martin is proposing its TPS-77 and FPS-117 surveillance radars. In an effort to boost its chances of securing the contract, Lockheed Martin has teamed with local, privately owned company PT CMI Teknologi.
WORKING ON IT: Touting its American bona fides and striving to appear responsive to its customers’ needs, Sierra Nevada said Feb. 15 it is “exploring ways” to mitigate expected delays in meeting the April 2013 delivery schedule for the first aircraft under the U.S. Air Force’s embattled Light Air Support (LAS) contract. Rival Hawker Beechcraft has mounted a legal and public relations campaign to undo the USAF award to Sierra and Embraer, whose work was stopped last month under a subsequent USAF order due to the litigation.
NEW DELHI – India’s largest company by market capitalization, Reliance Industries Ltd., and France’s Dassault Aviation have signed an initial pact to work together in the Indian defense and homeland security sector, a Reliance official says. The agreement comes less than two weeks after Dassault emerged as the lowest bidder for a multibillion-dollar order to supply 126 Rafale fighters to the Indian air force. Indian Defense Minister A. K. Antony said it was a long process and the deal was not expected to be signed in the current financial year.
Dallas – Boosted by military training contracts, light piston and turbine helicopter maker Enstrom is ramping up production as it looks to rack up back-to-back record years. “We are making a dent in the industry” says Jerry Mullins, president/CEO of the Michigan-based manufacturer. Although a relatively small player compared with other manufacturers competing in the training market, Enstrom is riding a building wave which shows signs of swelling throughout the business.
Washington – The budgets for at least three airborne directed energy weapons are being fully protected by the U.S. Air Force in fiscal 2013 budget plans, a top researcher says. Specifically, they are the platforms to carry high-power microwave warheads that are being developed in parallel. The longest range device is the Boeing-made Champ cruise missile.
SPAIN-BOUND SHIPS: The U.S. Navy has named the four Arleigh Burke class guided-missile destroyers to be forward deployed to Rota, Spain, including three from Norfolk, Va. – the USS Ross, the USS Donald Cook, and the USS Porter – as well as one from Mayport, Fla., the USS Carney. The ships will support President Barack Obama’s European Phased Adaptive Approach for ballistic missile defense to enhance the security of the European region. Ross and Donald Cook will arrive in fiscal 2014 and Carney and Porter in fiscal 2015.
Partisan posturing over how to avoid steep spending reductions at the Pentagon is in full swing, as Republicans try to pin blame on the Obama administration for not engaging fully on deficit reduction. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s weeklong series of hearings on Capitol Hill has given him a platform for pointing out that Congress passed the law that set those spending cuts in motion and that it is Congress’s responsibility to fix it.
In observance of U.S. Presidents’ Day, Aerospace Daily & Defense Report will not publish an issue dated Feb. 21. The next issue will be dated Feb. 22. Aviation Week Intelligence Network subscribers may visit www.aviationweek.com/awin at any time for news updates.
ABOARD THE USS KEARSARGE — In his nonfiction book “Marine,” author Tom Clancy says, “Amphibious warfare is one of the most expensive and risky forms of combat ever devised. You have to move difficult and unruly cargo (combat troops) … and bring them through hostile waters to an enemy shore. You have to then deliver them, with all of their equipment and supplies, onto a beach.” After just a couple of days aboard the amphibious landing helicopter dock ship LHD-3 USS Kearsarge during a major coastal exercise, it’s easy to understand what Clancy means.
Rome and Ft. Worth, Texas – Italy has slashed its planned purchase of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters by 41 aircraft, Italian Defense Minister Giampaolo Di Paola says. The country will now buy 90 JSFs instead of 131. Italy will purchase both F-35A and F-35B variants and assign them to its navy and air force, replacing its AV-8B Harrier II, AMX, and Tornado fighter bomber.
Click here to view the pdf Winners & Losers In the U.S. Navy and U.S. Army 2013 U.S. Budget Requests (Base Request + OCO, $ in thousands) Winners & Losers In the U.S. Navy and U.S. Army 2013 U.S.
Among the Navy’s big aircraft procurement programs, the V-22 Osprey suffered the most severe cut of all in the Obama administration’s 2013 budget proposal, worse than the F-35C carrier variant. Funding across the Future Years Defense Program hovers around $1.5 billion each year for a total of $6.2 billion. Against the 42% cut, an increase in the program’s advance procurement plan is trivial.
Concerns are being aired by military analysts in the U.S. and bloggers in the Middle East that Syria is sending its surface-to-air missiles and long-range ballistic missiles to Lebanon’s Hezbollah-controlled Bekaa Valley for safekeeping. U.S. defense officials say such moves might be “plausible” if the regime of President Bashar al-Assad is truly threatened, but so far no significant shift has been observed.
INTELLIGENCE REQUEST: The Obama administration is requesting $71.8 billion for national and military intelligence programs in fiscal 2013. The total budget in fiscal 2010, the last year of fully released figures, was $80.1 billion. The total budget comprises the National Intelligence Program, covering the CIA and other agencies, and the Military Intelligence Program, covering the National Security Agency and others. For fiscal 2013, the administration is asking for $52.6 billion for the former and $19.2 billion for the latter. Details are largely classified.
SINGAPORE — Lockheed Martin has unveiled the F-16V, a new variant and upgrade package that includes datalinks allowing the aircraft to operate alongside the F-35 and F-22. In a separate development, Lockheed Martin is developing new variants of the C-130, including the XJ (Aerospace DAILY, Feb. 13).
Click here to view the pdf Winners & Losers In the U.S. Air Force 2013 U.S. Budget Request (Base Request + OCO, $ in thousands) Winners & Losers In the U.S. Air Force 2013 U.S.
