LINKOPING, Sweden — Saab is conducting a study of future undersea warfare options for Sweden’s defense materiel agency, FMV, the company announced March 11. Due to be completed in June, the study could be the first step in a Saab-led reorganization of Sweden’s submarine industry, with the defense company becoming the prime contractor for the nation’s next submarine.
THE PENTAGON — The U.S. Navy plans to request EA-18G Growlers in the service’s unfunded priorities list to address future electronic attack (EA) needs for joint operations, says Adm. Jonathan Greenert, the chief of naval operations. During a March 10 budget briefing, Greenert did not say how many additional aircraft would be included in the request, but a senior Navy official said the service would ask for 22 in the list it planned to send to the Defense Department later that day.
ARMY Ronal Industries Inc., Troy, Mich. was awarded a $7,422,150 firm-fixed-price, multiyear indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for 2,075 fan vaneaxials for the M109 howitzer. Funding and work performance location will be determined with each order. The estimated completion date is July, 31, 2019. Bids were solicited via the Internet with two received. Army Contracting Command, Warren, Mich., is the contracting activity (W56HZV-14-D-0042). NAVY
Plans by the U.S. Army to purchase another 100 Airbus UH-72 Lakota light utility helicopters to support future rotary-wing training will not affect Airbus Helicopters’ plans to assemble AS350 Ecureuil/Astar helicopters in the U.S., company officials say. Airbus Helicopters, formerly Eurocopter, announced in September 2013 that it would begin assembly of the light, single-engined helicopter at the company’s Columbus, Miss., plant after the fiscal 2014 budget revealed Army plans to cut procurement of the UH-72 Lakota.
While the Pentagon rethinks and restructures its Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), the U.S. has agreed to help Japan develop its own coastal warship with similar attributes. Recent Pentagon guidance directs the U.S. Navy to halt negotiations for any more LCS contracts less than halfway through the service’s proposed 52-ship buy, as the Defense Department reviews other options to make the vessels more lethal and survivable.
Airbus Defense and Space and Intelsat have signed a multiyear Ku-band maritime mobile capacity agreement to bridge the satellite fleet operator’s existing service to its new, high-throughput Epic platform slated to enter service in 2016.
NASA, working in partnership with Planetary Resources, Inc., will offer $35,000 in awards as part of an Asteroid Data Hunter competition intended to improve the detection of near Earth objects that could pose an impact threat or provide future space resources.
LONDON — Airbus Defense and Space and the Turkish government are said to be involved in “intensive” discussions over the delayed delivery of the country’s first Airbus A400M airlifter. The talks heated up after comments by Airbus CEO Tom Enders at the company’s annual press conference on Feb. 26, during which he described the protracted negotiations and “bargaining” between Turkey and Airbus over the late delivery of Turkey’s first A400M as an “increasingly unbearable situation.
Citing concerns of the potential ramifications on the safety of the national airspace system, FAA is appealing a National Transportation Safety Board administrative law judge’s decision to dismiss a proposed civil penalty for unauthorized use of an unmanned aircraft system. The law judge’s determination puts the penalty on hold while the agency appeals the case to the full NTSB.
BUDGET NEWS: With the release of the Obama administration’s fiscal 2015 budget request last week, the Aviation Week Intelligence Network’s budget digest page is your one-stop source for news, data and analysis of programs and priorities as the request makes its way through Congress. AWIN subscribers can access the page at www.aviationweek.com/awin/USBudget2015.aspx
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THE PENTAGON — While the U.S. Navy looks to cut other appropriation categories in its fiscal 2015 spending plan, the request includes a slight increase for research and development (R&D) activities. The Navy is seeking about $16.3 billion in its fiscal 2015 plan, compared with the $16 billion it requested in 2014. Still, the other appropriation categories all included requested cuts in fiscal 2015—the biggest being $38.4 billion for procurement—compared to the $43.5 billion requested in fiscal 2014.
NEW DELHI — With the Indian government and AgustaWestland on the threshold of what could be lengthy litigation over the cancellation of a deal for 12 AW101 VVIP helicopters, the Indian air force (IAF) has decided to fast-track a back-up, with time running out for its shaky fleet of Soviet-era Mi-8 executive transport rotorcraft.
The Senate on March 6 confirmed Kathryn Sullivan, an Earth scientist and oceanographer who was one of the first women chosen as a NASA astronaut, to be the next undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
An increase in funding of almost 5% is being sought for the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) in Fiscal 2015 as several programs enter the hardware demonstration phase. The Pentagon is requesting $2.92 billion for Darpa in 2015, up from $2.78 billion in 2014—which was an increase of almost 8% over the $2.58 billion provided in 2013.
Airbus Helicopters has completed Afghanistan theater modifications to German army Tiger attack helicopters. The Afghanistan Stabilization German Army Rapid Deployment (Asgard) upgrade began in 2012 as the German army was preparing to send EC665 Tigers to Afghanistan to support coalition troops working in the country’s north.
As the U.S. Navy continues to rebalance its forces in the Asia-Pacific and the Republic of South Korea Navy (ROKN) builds up its forces, the two are strengthening their ties. “ROKN capabilities have increased significantly over the last five years,” says Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery, commander, U.S. Battle Force 7th Fleet.
NASA’s fiscal 2015 budget request of $551 million for aeronautics is the first to be shaped by the agency’s new strategy for research, but represents a cut of 2.65% from the $566 million enacted for 2014. Of the funding sought, $214 million is for the new Advanced Air Vehicles program, which combines research conducted under the former subsonic and supersonic fixed-wing and rotary-wing programs.
