U.S. Navy and Lockheed Martin officials contest the findings of service and contractor reports from last year indicating that the cracking and engine problems on the Freedom-class Littoral Combat Ship (LCS-1) were far worse than the program initially acknowledged, and say those issues have been fixed. The Aviation Week Intelligence Network (AWIN) was granted exclusive access to the reports, which service officials say they do not know about and could be outdated.
TOTAL CONTROL: Shortly after joining forces in defense electronics, Thales and Safran have moved to ensure their joint venture has full control of infrared detector maker Sofradir. The two French aerospace and defense companies have acquired Areva’s 20% stake in Sofradir for an undisclosed amount. The two buyers will each hold 50% in the company. Late last year, after prolonged discussion, Safran and Thales agreed to pool their electro-optical activities.
Over the next decade, the international market should produce about 5,500 main battle tanks worth more than $24 billion, according to a new analysis from the Forecast International Weapons Group.
PARIS — Eurocopter delivered the first operational NH90 Tactical Transport Helicopter (TTH) to the DGA French armaments agency on Jan. 30 for use by the French army air corps, the company announced. France has ordered 34 TTHs and is expected to exercise an option this year to purchase an additional 34 as the army gradually replaces its fleet of SA 330 Pumas.
Fifteen new Lockheed Martin F-35 fighters, some of which are participating in the flight testing so critical to moving the troubled Joint Strike Fighter program forward, have been grounded owing to improper loading of parachutes in their ejection seats.
LONDON — The U.K. Defense Ministry has launched the development of the Sea Ceptor ship-based short-range air defense system intended to equip the future Type 26 Global Combat Ship and also modernize the in-service Type 23 frigates starting in 2016. MBDA has received a 483 million pound ($759 million) system demonstration phase contract to work on the system, also called the Future Local Area Air Defense System. Sea Ceptor is being designed to destroy aircraft and supersonic anti-ship missiles, including saturation attacks.
Even though defense budgets are finally beginning to turn downward, the Pentagon has avoided eye-popping program kills, leaving plenty of space on the negotiating table for another round of deficit reductions, defense analysts say.
The U.S. Army will not redeploy the two Heavy Brigade Combat Teams that it is pulling out of Europe in 2013 and 2014, Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno,said Jan. 27.
The U.S. Air Force is likely to place new cargo and intelligence-collection platforms that are currently supporting war efforts in Afghanistan into storage in the name of cost savings as the Pentagon strives to reduce spending. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced Jan. 26 that buys of the Northrop Grumman Global Hawk Block 30 unmanned aircraft system (UAS) and L-3 Communications/Alenia Aeronautica C-27J tactical airlifters will be halted (Aerospace DAILY, Jan. 27).
NEW DELHI — The value of aerospace and defense (A&D) exports from India is likely to reach $2 billion by the end of India’s current fiscal year on March 31, according to the country’s leading industry body. With 18% growth during the first three quarters, aircraft exports including component parts stood at about $1.31 billion, versus $1.11 billion in the year-ago period, according to the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India.
Concern is emerging over whether the stealthy F-35 Joint Strike Fighter’s schedule and cost woes are due to production and testing problems only, or whether some unplanned costs could be linked to cyber-intrusion of the program and data theft.
RED TAPE: Although efforts to reform the U.S. export control system have focused largely on the State Department, industry has long been frustrated with requests that are first bogged down at the Pentagon. A new Pentagon office, the Technology Security and Foreign Disclosure Office (TSFDO), is supposed to speed up the process. Before the State Department even touches a request for technology transfer, 13 different technical review boards at the Department of Defense must sign off. In a Jan.
COLLISION: The U.S. Coast Guard is investigating the Jan. 26 collision of a barge carrying Atlas V rocket stages with a bridge over the Tennessee river that caused part of the bridge to collapse. The 312-ft. vessel, which is owned and operated by Foss Marine, was carrying an Atlas V booster and Centaur upper stage for the U.S. Air Force’s AEHF-2 mission scheduled to launch in April, along with an interstage adapter for NASA’s Radiation Belt Storm Probes mission slated to launch in August.
By the end of this year, the U.S. will have spent more than $50 billion on training and equipping the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) in an effort to hand over security duties once NATO departs in 2014. The past two years have seen almost half of that spending, with $11.6 billion having been spent in 2011 and another $11.2 billion on tap in 2012.
The U.S. Army was both a huge loser and a relative winner in the first glimpse the Pentagon gave of its future budget priorities on Jan. 26. The overall end strength of the service is scheduled to drop to 490,000 soldiers from its current 565,000, while the Marines’ end strength slides from 202,000 to 182,000.
LONDON — The EADS board of directors has approved a planned management reshuffle after naming former European Central Bank chief Jean-Claude Trichet to the board in a bid to appease the French government. The leadership transition will now unfold as initially planned, with Airbus CEO Tom Enders replacing retiring EADS CEO Louis Gallois this summer, and Fabrice Bregier moving into the top job at Airbus. Arnaud Lagardere takes over as EADS board chairman from Bodo Uebber.
Initial reaction from Capitol Hill to details of how the Pentagon will abide by congressionally mandated spending restrictions is already taking on a partisan tone. Republicans were quick to pounce on initial details of $487 billion in reductions to the Pentagon’s spending plans over the next decade laid out Jan. 26 by the top uniformed and civilian leaders of the military — taking aim at some program decisions and a massive reduction to the size of the ground forces.
The U.S. Army is moving ahead to develop a ground-based sense-and-avoid (GBSAA) system that will allow operations in civil airspace wherever General Atomics MQ-1C Gray Eagle unmanned aerial vehicles are based across the U.S. A prototype of the ground radar-based GBSAA system became operational last year at General Atomics’ El Mirage airfield in California, to allow the UAVs to transit civil airspace to a nearby restricted area for night training flights.
Northrop Grumman is thus far a big loser in the Pentagon’s forthcoming fiscal 2013 budget plan, with severe cuts planned for its premier unmanned aircraft system (UAS) and satellite programs — both under U.S. Air Force supervision.
The U.S. Navy will keep its aircraft carrier fleet at the now-magical number, 11, while other ships are being slipped or cut over the next five years — even those the Pentagon says it needs and wants to protect — according to a preview of the upcoming fiscal 2013 budget request detailed Jan. 26 by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. The plan scuttles months-long speculation that the Pentagon would delay or cancel some carrier programs and reduce the fleet size.
