Denouncing Rosoboronexport for selling weapons to Syria, a bipartisan group of senators is calling on the Pentagon to end its relationship with the Russian arms export company and more specifically, to stop buying Mi-17 helicopters for the Afghan military.
The U.S. Navy decision to retire additional cruisers in coming years led to the reduced number of proposed MH-60R Seahawk helicopters in the current budget request, even as the service brass touts the aircraft as one of its top anti-submarine warfare assets.
HEIR APPARENT: General Dynamics’ board of directors named Phebe Novakovic president and COO, positioning the 54-year-old as the front runner to succeed Chairman and CEO Jay Johnson. Novakovic has been a senior executive at the company since 2002 and most recently ran the Marine Systems group, which includes Bath Iron Works, Electric Boat and NASSCO.
The U.S. Navy frigate USS Ford transited from the ship’s homeport in Everett, Wash., to San Diego earlier this month, using 25,000 gal. of a 50/50 algae-derived, hydro-processed algal oil and petroleum F-76 blend in the ship’s LM 2500 gas turbines. USS Ford’s March 2 transit on the algal blend marks the first demonstration of the alternative fuel blend in an operational fleet ship. The demonstration highlights the Navy’s continued drive to cut down on use of traditional fossil-fuels by employing different types of technology to power its vessels.
GAG ORDER: NASA’s leadership challenges the logic of asking experts for their honest opinions when science chief John Grunsfeld reminds scientists on the NASA Advisory Council that they are “temporary” government employees when in formal session, and as such required to support — at least in theory — the fiscal 2013 NASA budget proposed by President Barack Obama. The budget would gut the joint Mars exploration program with the European Space Agency. Grunsfeld apparently is not keen on having his independent advisory body become too critical of the administration’s plans.
Israel continues upgrading its air defense missile systems and plans an accelerated test program to counter the increasingly numerous and sophisticated missiles in the inventories of its neighbors.
Boeing is preparing to fly a wide-area surveillance sensor on the A160 Hummingbird unmanned helicopter for the first time, ahead of its planned deployment by the U.S. Army to Afghanistan in June.
TURKISH HELO: Turkey is launching a competition for medium helicopters for use by the country’s national police force. The move comes after last year’s contest for 15 light utility helicopters for the police. The new bidding is for seven rotorcraft, associated mission equipment and spares. Bidders have until March 21 to formally receive the request for proposals from the Turkish defense armaments agency, SSM, with bids due on April 24.
WINNING LOSS: When the Indian government named the Dassault Rafale as the low-cost bidder in the country’s Medium Multirole Combat Aircraft competition, beating out the Eurofighter Typhoon, it was seen as a setback for EADS, whose Cassidian unit led the Typhoon campaign. But how much of a loss did EADS really suffer in the MMRCA program? Perhaps less than many suspect. EADS holds a 46% share in the Eurofighter consortium, but also controls 46.3% of Dassault Aviation shares.
TAXING ISSUE: The U.S. aerospace and defense industry might have succeeded last year in helping to persuade Washington to reverse a looming tax withholding requirement on federal contractors, but two senators are not letting the original issue go away silently. Sens. Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), senior members of their chamber’s Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, are publicly pressing the Pentagon to explain what it is doing to help the government gain $4.5 million in unpaid taxes from one U.S.
LONDON — EADS is not ruling out the possibility that the NH Industries NH90 helicopter program could further impact earnings for the company. Development problems have, on numerous occasions, caused both EADS and Thales to take charges against their financial accounts to deal with unanticipated costs. In the 2011 results EADS released March 8, the NH90 was once again one of the main program-related one-off charges.
Boeing's Wideband Global Satcom began merely as a gapfiller project to provide communications for the U.S. military, but 11 years later the WGS satellites have become the backbone for shuttling the Pentagon's wideband data. And at a time when the Pentagon is planning to cut $487 billion over 10 years, WGS is being hailed as an example of an efficient satellite procurement.
For portions of the U.S. defense industry, China's military rise is viewed as an opportunity. As Beijing develops and fields more advanced defenses, the U.S. plans to respond with new spending on air, naval, missile defense and cyberforces. Indeed, this was underscored by the U.S. strategy pivot to Asia that was unveiled in January. But China's rise could also pose three challenges to U.S. defense companies in ways that may not be currently appreciated or understood.
In perhaps a sign of its seriousness in wanting to balance its defense equipment plan and budget, the U.K. is contemplating reversing a key modernization decision by again switching which F-35 Joint Strike Fighter model the country will buy.
Israel usually does not telegraph its punches or hype new technology, but now its leaders have done so. They say they are upgrading the long-range, high-altitude Arrow and other anti-missile systems and intend to test them soon. “We are introducing Block 4,” says a senior Israeli official. “That involves the new Green Pine radar [with more and better transmitter/receiver modules], new software for command and control, and enhanced performance of the Arrow 2 interceptor missiles against a variety of threats, including a much-expanded battlespace.”
Icing has been a threat to aviation since the dawn of the aeronautic age, and as manufacturers pursue efficiency improvements measured in fractions of a percent, the power demanded to protect aircraft—whether by bleed air or electrical heating—is coming under attack. At the same time, unmanned-aircraft developers see the need to operate in all weather conditions, but cannot afford the power and weight penalties associated with traditional anti-icing systems. Nanotechnology may hold the answer, at both ends of the spectrum.
To overcome equipment inadequacies, New Zealand's air force has set its sights on acquiring more advanced turboprop trainers while the navy wants more helicopters.
