UPSTARTS WELCOME: Sending a clear warning shot across the bows of established launch suppliers, Gen. William Shelton, commander of Air Force Space Command, says the service is increasingly interested in the potential of emergent space companies like Blue Origin and Space Exploration (SpaceX). Propulsion systems recently demonstrated by Blue Origin “might well be worth examining for our own unmanned purposes,” Shelton says.
ARLINGTON, Va. — Link 16 communications are significantly improving operations for the U.S. Navy H-60 Seahawk fleet and changing the way the service incorporates helicopters into its missions, according to George Barton, Lockheed Martin Ship & Aviation Systems business development vice president.
ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy needs to pause incremental development of the Aegis combat system and streamline the existing versions out in the fleet, a key service admiral says. The Navy also needs to focus on long-term costs for the service’s proposed next-generation DDG-51 Arleigh Burke Flight III destroyers, according to Vice Adm. Richard Hunt, commander of Naval Surface Forces for U.S. Pacific Fleet.
2012 Appropriations: The Shift Away From Ground Begins (Base Budget Only. $ In Thousands) 2012 Appropriations: The Shift Away From Ground Begins (Base Budget Only.
The Mexican air force early this year will begin replacing its aging PC-7 training fleet with the first of six Hawker Beechcraft T-6C+ trainers. The initial contract, announced Jan. 9, comes as welcome news for the Wichita aircraft maker, which recently lost its bid for the U.S. Air Force Light Air Support (LAS) contract.
CANBERRA — The Australian Department of Defense does not expect the NH Industries MRH90 transport helicopter, a local version of the NH90, to be operational until the middle of this year. The program, which should have had aircraft in service more than a year ago, has been listed as a project of concern, meaning that it has been formally identified as one that has gone off the rails.
LONDON — Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) will get new leadership with the planned retirement of Itzhak Nissan on Oct. 31. The board of directors has yet to name Nissan’s successor. Nissan replaced long-serving Moshe Keret, first as president, in late 2005. In 2006 Nissan also took on the role of CEO.
LONDON — Cassidian Aviation Training Service has secured a deal to provide repair and support services for the French military’s EMB-121 Xingu fleet. The government decided in September it would outsource the effort as part of larger French plans to shift more work to industry. The work by the EADS defense unit will take place at the Avord air base and cover 30 of the twin-turboprop-powered aircraft.
ARMY General Electric-Aviation, Cincinnati, has been awarded a $937,878,676 firm-fixed-price contract. The award will provide for the necessary services and supplies in support of all Corpus Christi Army Depot overhaul and repair activities for the entire T-700 family of engines. The work will be performed in Corpus Christi, Texas, with an estimated completion date of Dec. 31, 2016. One bid was solicited, with one bid received. The U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., is the contracting activity (W58RGZ-12-D-0015).
U.S. SPECIAL OPERATIONS COMMAND DRS Systems Inc., Parsippany, N.J., has been awarded a five-year indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract with firm-fixed-price delivery orders for the purchase of Spot on Target in support of U.S. Special Operations Command Procurement Division. The estimated contract value is $40,218,000. The work will be performed in Dallas and Melbourne, Fla., and ordering will be completed by November 2016. U.S. Special Operations Command, MacDill AFB, Fla., is the contacting activity (H92222-12-D-0003).
As the U.S. shifts its focus away from combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Pentagon is starting to repair and reset its forces, including U.S. Navy ships and cargo vessels. The service recently awarded to Detyens Shipyards of North Charleston, S.C., a $7.8 million firm, fixed-price contract for a 60-calendar-day post-shakedown shipyard availability and dry docking of USNS William McLean, a Military Sealift Command dry cargo/ammunition ship.
LONDON — The U.K.’s flagship unmanned aircraft program, the Thales Watchkeeper, has failed to meet its target for delivering the first air vehicles to troops in Afghanistan. Watchkeeper is among the ongoing U.K. Defense Ministry procurements with the largest schedule delays, according to the National Audit Office. It was running more than a year behind schedule and also has come under scrutiny at the ministry.
Even before the Pentagon hinted last week that the U.S. Army would bear the brunt of looming budget cuts, lawmakers passed disproportionate reductions to the nation’s largest land force into law. In the 2012 appropriations bill passed last month, Congress took the Army’s share of the base procurement pie, already the smallest of the services, shaved two points, and split them with the Air Force and Navy. (See chart p. 3.)
DETAILS LATER: Last week’s release of the Defense Department’s comprehensive strategy review was the Pentagon’s first of three budget-related events. The next is expected in about two weeks — shortly after President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address — and should unveil broad programmatic changes. The administration’s budget release, which would contain specific dollar amounts, should follow shortly behind. The budget release is traditionally held on the first Monday of February, but it has not been formally scheduled yet this year.
The new defense strategy recently outlined by the Obama administration muddies the waters for the future of the DDG-1000 Zumwalt destroyer fleet just as the vessel was starting to generate more interest. As it stands now, the U.S. Navy program of record calls for three Zumwalts, fewer than half of what the service had planned a few short years ago and only a fraction of what the initial fleet was envisioned to be.
LONDON — Eurocopter sees residual concerns from the Chinese military over efforts to ease lower airspace restrictions, but still expects liberalization to take hold and drive growth in the country’s demand for rotorcraft.
With the Obama administration prepared to hand down at least $480 billion in reductions to the planned Pentagon budget over 10 years, a trio of industry groups has prepared a set of ideas for stemming the damage.
The U.S. Army is issuing its first Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) Interoperability Profile (IOP), which defines interoperability, modularity and commonality standards among future UGVs. According to the Program Executive Office for Ground Combat Systems, all future requirements documents and requests for proposals will reference the IOP, which will be updated annually, and bidders will be required to adhere to its guidelines.
WRITE IN: In addition to its lawsuit against the service, Hawker Beechcraft is hoping to build political pressure on lawmakers and the Defense Department to force the U.S. Air Force to revisit its decision to award the Light Air Support (LAS) contract to Sierra Nevada/Embraer. The company has launched a letter-writing campaign, asking customers and other supporters to contact their local congressmen and the Pentagon. As a result, close to 5,700 letters had been sent to Congress and the Pentagon by the afternoon of Jan. 6, according to the company.
