In value terms, 2012 is poised to be India's biggest year for aerospace contracting. The next 12 months will see a raft of large deals signed by the country's government for aircraft virtually across the board, but especially for long-awaited defense projects.
The Italian government is ushering in a new round of defense cuts in which, for the first time, the fate of Rome's participation in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program will be seriously threatened.
Like its Western allies, Australia has had its share of troubled military procurement programs that missed cost and delivery targets. The Kaman Super Seasprite naval helicopter never entered service, for example, despite government expenditures of $1 billion. But Australia also deserves credit for innovations in program management that may hold lessons for other countries. While they offer no guarantee of success, they are worth a closer look.
When it comes to the U.S. missile defense market, nothing and everything have changed. In the closing days of 2011, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) announced that Boeing would retain its decade-long position as prime contractor for the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) missile shield for another seven years. But if the $3.48 billion contract signifies a renewal of the partners' sometimes-rocky marriage, there now seems to be a change in the wedding vows.
AERONAUTICS/PROPULSION •The AeroVironment Nano Air Vehicle Team developed and unveiled a tiny remotely piloted air vehicle, the Nano Hummingbird. Looking and flying like a tiny bird, it is designed to record video with an onboard camera and send color video to a hand-held controller.
A new defense strategy shifting the focus away from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and toward the Asia-Pacific region tees up a reduction of nearly $490 billion in previous Pentagon planning, aimed at reducing the federal deficit.
TURKISH JSF: The Turkish government has given the go-ahead for the acquisition of its first two F-35As. The goal is to field the aircraft in 2015, the government’s defense procurement agency says. The government has also approved other projects, including production of 10 Anka medium-altitude unmanned aircraft, effectively launching series production of the Turkish Aerospace Industries program. Contract negotiations will now start. Helicopter upgrades, research on turbojet technology, and work on the sensor for the TF-2000 frigate also are being given the green light.
Complaints are now being aired by U.S. and allied participants about the cobbled together, understaffed and segmented joint and combined command and control system used to manage combat in Libya. In particular, some early U.S. Navy missile attacks were launched without coordination with the air tasking orders. Some allies, like the Swedish air force, didn’t have access to key information. Moreover, personnel were assigned to key jobs without the right skills.
LONDON — Discussions over price escalation clauses remain the main sticking point in talks between Saudi Arabia and BAE Systems for a follow-on purchase of Eurofighter Typhoon combat aircraft. The two sides have been in talks about changing the terms of an initial deal, under which the first 24 aircraft would be assembled in the U.K. and production would then shift to Saudi Arabia. The plan now is for all to be assembled in Europe.
The new set of Pentagon priorities discussed Jan. 5 by President Barack Obama and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta includes provisions that will likely bolster U.S. naval forces — but possibly dampen service plans for some proposed fleet upgrades. The new strategy includes a refocus on the Asia-Pacific region — with several allusions to China — which, many defense analysts say, will surely make certain Navy programs more desirable given the greater need to access the region by sea.
The U.S. Air Force has issued a stop-work order to Sierra Nevada and partner Embraer on their recently awarded $355 million Light Air Support (LAS) contract as the team’s onetime competitor, Hawker Beechcraft, claims unfair contracting practices in federal court.
Important points from the new U.S. defense strategy include the survival of the U.S. Air Force’s Long Range Strike Bomber (LRS-B) and — according to Reuters — a 120-unit cut in procurement of the Joint Strike Fighter from fiscal 2013 through 2017. The decisions are a strategic win for advocates of long-range airpower, who had feared that shrinking budgets and growing JSF costs would strangle the new bomber in its crib.
NEW DELHI — India has approved a $1.23 billion deal to procure 490 French advanced air-to-air missiles for its air force’s Mirage 2000 aircraft fleet. The country’s Cabinet Committee on Security, headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, gave its approval late yesterday to sign the purchase contract with European missile maker MBDA for the fire-and-forget MICA, or interception and aerial combat, missiles as part of the second phase of plans for upgrading the Indian air force (IAF) Mirage fleet, a senior government official says.
The first production F-35B is scheduled to fly to Eglin AFB, Fla., Jan. 5 to join a small fleet of F-35As already there for maintenance training, according to U.S. defense officials.
A new aircraft was introduced into combat in Libya, the EA-18G Growler, and it arrived as an unknown to those planning combat missions over and around the country. When the squadron VAQ-132 arrived at Aviano AB, Italy, it had to find its place in the international operations and logistics complex. Operators had to spread the word about the Growler and what it can do.
SAN FRANCISCO — Despite promises made only a year ago of job security if it won the U.S. Air Force’s KC-46A tanker program, Boeing says a changing climate for military work is forcing it to close its Wichita Defense, Space & Security plant by the end of 2013, shifting its work to lower-cost and more efficient factories in San Antonio, Oklahoma City and Seattle.
The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps are still having trouble keeping their financial books straight, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office. GAO identifies $22 billion in payment disbursement and collection errors and says the Navy and Marine Corps are unable to complete their audit of the Fund Balance with Treasury (FBWT) — which is akin to a corporate financial statement — and that the current accounting system is still not performing basic accounting and financial operations, leaving the military budget prone to waste and fraud.
The recent launch of France’s first Pleiades Earth-imaging satellite, plus a quartet of French military radar-mapping microsatellites, atop the second Russian Soyuz rocket flying from the European launch center near Kourou, French Guiana, suggests some cross-fertilization may be in order for the troubled Russian space program. The Dec. 16 mission marked the second successful flight of the Europeanized Soyuz rocket from the new Soyuz pad at Sinnamary (Aerospace DAILY, Dec. 20).
DRASTIC MEASURES: President Obama, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and U.S. Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are expected to announce the results of the Pentagon’s roles and missions review on Thursday, Jan. 5. The top-to-bottom review seeks a way forward for the Defense Department in light of looming budget cuts that could total $450 billion over the next decade, as specified by the August deficit-reduction law. For projections on the department’s future budgeting from McAleese & Associates, see pp. 6-8.
BEIJING — Japan will join international programs for the development and manufacturing of military equipment, following its historic decision to relax its ban on arms exports. The decision creates a potential for enormous changes in the way Japanese defense suppliers do business, allowing them to concentrate on developing and making weapons parts in which they have special advantages, rather than persist in building the entire equipment in uneconomical, low volumes. Changes are likely to come only gradually, however, as the country initiates new programs.
The Pentagon Inspector General (IG) says the Defense Department’s flawed procurement process was partly to blame for the problems the IG found in helicopter contracts with Sikorsky. As was widely reported during the latter half of last year, the IG scrutinized procurement problems regarding the Army Aviation and Missile Life Cycle Management Command (Amcom) material purchases from Sikorsky supporting the Corpus Christi (Texas) Army Depot (CCAD).
“Mr. President, congratulations. You're a tough adversary. No hard feelings, old pal. It's a great two-party system we have. We gave our best and you outdid us. As a matter of fact you stunned us. I never figured you could beat us that badly. I want to wish you all the success in the world.” Those words were spoken three decades ago by then-U.S. House Speaker Thomas P. (Tip) O'Neill, a liberal Massachusetts Democrat, to President Ronald Reagan, a conservative Republican, after the chief executive prevailed in a tough budget battle.
Russia's United Aircraft Corp. (UAC) has reported assembly of the first Ilyushin Il-476 flight prototype, a modernized version of the Il-76MD heavy transport aircraft. The prototype was shown publicly for the first time at the Aviastar-SP production facility in Ulyanovsk in mid-December. A UAC representative told Aviation Week the official rollout will be in early 2012, with first flight expected in the spring.
