Defense

The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is no longer heir-apparent F/A-18G Growler.

A shift around the globe to stealthy, or stealthier, combat aircraft designs is driving the market for fighters and jet-powered trainers.

Military helicopters have been rolling off manufacturers' assembly lines in increasing numbers in recent years. Build rates will continue to rise in 2012, but beyond that, market trends point to flat and even declining annual production levels over the next several years.

The 21st century has seen a massive surge in procurement of unmanned aerial systems (UAS). Twenty years ago, the anticipated value of this market per year did not exceed $400 million—and that figure included sales of target drones. Today the U.S. fleet has grown tenfold and the Pentagon is spending nearly $4 billion annually on unmanned systems of all types.

The U.S. unmanned aerial system fleet is tenfold what it was two decades ago, and the Pentagon is spending nearly $4 billion annually on UAS of all types. When the U.S. launched the 1991 war against Iraq, the anticipated value of the UAS market per year did not exceed $400 million, including sales of target drones. Barring major new financial crises in Europe and the U.S., unmanned platforms—along with electronic warfare and cyberoperations—are considered to be the technologies destined to survive the defense drawdown.

The heavy fighter engine market continues to be dominated by Pratt & Whitney and General Electric. The production of F100s and F110s remains active for F-15 and F-16 orders, primarily exports; after these fighters end production around 2016-17, the engine OEMs will shift production to modules to support the large world fleet.

Export sales will become increasing important as manufacturers try to sustain production levels built up over recent years. For the U.S., that means securing foreign military sales for Bell, Boeing and Sikorsky helicopters while European manufacturers market armed scout and support rotorcraft to the U.S.

Production of military transports is forecast to rise sharply during the next decade, especially in the latter half due mostly to the introduction of the Airbus Military A400M and Embraer KC-390.

Engine upgrades are a key element of product-line revamps underway at helicopter manufacturers as they work to stimulate a recovery in a commercial market where new-centerline powerplants for rotorcraft are rare events.

The production of F100s and F110s remains active for F-15 and F-16 orders, primarily exports.

As the Army prepares for a spring flight demonstration of possible interim replacements for its OH-58D scout helicopter, financial pressure on the Pentagon may mean the service has to make do with the aging Kiowa for years to come, despite forthcoming obsolescence issues. Army aviation officials face a tough decision as they continue to struggle with how to replace the Kiowa warrior fleet following the 2008 collapse of the Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH) program, led by Bell, owing to cost growth.

Alliant Techsystems is to delever a second Combat Caravan to Lebanon next year following an order from the US Air Force. The American company recently delivered a third AC-208B to the Iraq Training and Advisory Mission in Kirkuk.

The Sultanate of Oman has issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) to BAE Systems and the Eurofighter consortium for a number of Typhoon fighters.

Bahrain's Fighter Wing has dispatched examples of the F-16 and F-15 to BIAS, where they are on display in the static park.

When the Saudi Ministry of Defence was asked to send an aircraft to BIAS, it naturally chose an example of its latest fighter – the Eurofighter Typhoon.

Bahrain was the first export customer for the UH-60M Black Hawk, currently the most advanced variant in the UH-60/S-70 family, and is proudly displaying one of its new helicopters at BIAS.

Controllers have restarted on-orbit checkout of the Npoess Preparatory Project (NPP) satellite, which was suspended last year after the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) sensor begin losing sensitivity in four of its channels. The spacecraft originally was scheduled to become fully operational in December, but its commissioning was put on hold while the VIIRS problem was analyzed.

HAMBURG — Political problems at EADS could come to a head this month as the Franco-German aerospace and defense giant seeks a leadership transition.

Republican members of Congress are bristling about the Obama administration’s decision to work with the European Union on an International Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week announced that the U.S. would not sign on to an EU Code of Conduct but would continue to work with the EU to develop a broader international code.

Of the $1.5 trillion the Defense Department spent on contracts from 2007 to 2010, a full 41% – or $606.3 billion – were granted without first going through a full and open competition, mostly by making use of one of seven Federal Acquisition Regulation exemptions, according to a new U.S. Government Accountability Office report. The most commonly used exemption, stating that “only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements,” ate up $448.6 billion, or a whopping 74% of the total.

A Lockheed Martin/Raytheon team has opted not to protest its loss of a $3.5 billion contract managing U.S. missile defenses to a Boeing/Northrop Grumman team. Boeing re-established itself as the overseer of the massive Ground-Based/Midcourse Defense (GMD) program when the Missile Defense Agency announced the contract win late last year.

The Next-Generation Jammer (NGJ) will have to compensate for some past bad decisions that now hobble electronic warfare and the future of non-kinetic attack. The active, electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, for example, offers the potential for NGJ to become both an electronic sensor and weapon. But there will have to be intense development to make it an operational reality, and funding for such esoteric capabilities has been elusive.

In a “first step” toward implementing a more efficient procurement strategy for rockets, the U.S. Air Force has issued a $1.5 billion contract to United Launch Alliance for nine Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles (EELVs) to support launches in fiscal 2014, according to service officials.

Click here to view the pdf Fiscal 2012 Appropriations:U.S. Air Force Aircraft ($ in thousands) Fiscal 2012 Appropriations: U.S.

Although sales are soaring, two of Israel’s leading defense companies are undergoing unsettling personnel changes: Israel Aerospace Industries’ (IAI’s) CEO for the last six years, Itzhak Nissan, is being forced to retire, and Aeronautics Defense Systems’ CEO and founder Avi Leumi will also depart his position in the coming weeks.