NEW DELHI - After postponing the commissioning of the first of three Russian-made stealth warships because of problems with its Shtil missile system, the Indian navy now has decided to take delivery of the vessel. Adm. Madhvendra Singh, chief of the Indian navy, arrived in Russia this week to take delivery of the INS Talwar. Singh originally had been scheduled to arrive June 4, but postponed that due to persistent problems with the Shtil system, Indian navy sources said. However, a navy spokesman said the problems have been resolved.
MILESTONE: Northrop Grumman has conducted 38 hot-fire tests of a hydrogen peroxide-based engine for the Missile Defense Agency's Liquid Booster target program, the company said June 18. More tests are planned through the fall and a risk-reduction flight is set for 2005, the company said.
LE BOURGET, France - Eurocopter's Tiger and multirole NH-90, and military helicopters yet to be developed, will be key to company plans for maintaining strong growth rates, according to Fabrice Bregier, the firm's president and CEO. Last year, Eurocopter's sales climbed to 301 units, a 12 percent increase from 2001, he said.
LE BOURGET, France - Burt Rutan's bid to launch the first manned commercial spaceflight within one year could be delayed by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, he said. Rutan, who briefed reporters at the Paris Air Show here June 18, said he is fighting a move by the FAA's office of Commercial Space Transportation to license his vehicles as spacecraft.
House Armed Services committee Chairman Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) on June 18 questioned Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz on the U.S. Air Force's possible need to develop a new deep-strike bomber, emphasizing the crucial role that bombers have played in recent military campaigns.
Lingering disagreements between the U.S. and Germany over the war with Iraq have affected discussions between Northrop Grumman and German shipbuilder Howaldtswerke Deutsche Werft AG (HDW), according to a senior Northrop Grumman official. Those discussions involve cooperation between the two companies to design and build eight diesel-electric submarines for Taiwan. Administration officials have expressed interest in selling eight diesel-electric submarines to Taiwan (DAILY, April 25, 2001).
Northrop Grumman Corp. has appointed Donald Winter as its lead executive for missile defense business, a move that reflects the company's increased role in that sector. Winter will set direction for all of the company's missile defense work and will be Northrop Grumman's main liaison to the director of the Missile Defense Agency (MDA). Winter will remain corporate vice president and president of the company's Mission Systems sector.
NEW DELHI - India has asked RAC MiG, builder of the MiG-29 K naval aircraft, to meet several conditions before the aircraft is ready for use on the aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov, which India plans to acquire from Russia. Although the Indian government accepted RAC MiG's technical report on the MiGs' readiness for carrier use, the defense ministry asked the company to meet the following conditions: * The aircraft's radar, which has not undergone flight demonstrations, should be tested.
LE BOURGET, France - The European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. (EADS) is proposing a NATO-wide program to replace the Sikorsky CH-53 helicopter, starting in 2012, according to co-CEO Rainer Hertrich. The project for a 65,000-pound-plus helicopter, bigger than the Boeing CH-47 Chinook, would draw on EADS subsidiary Eurocopter's experience with the high-technology, multinational NH-90 and would meet the needs of the German army, U.S. Marine Corps and other NATO forces with aging heavy helicopters.
The Senate Commerce Committee plans to consider a proposal June 19 to direct the Transportation Department to study whether new regulations are needed to govern the emerging market for suborbital reusable launch vehicles (RLVs).
The House Appropriations defense subcommittee approved a fiscal 2004 defense appropriations bill June 18 that provides the 22 F/A-22 Raptors requested by the Bush Administration and adds money for several programs, including the Tomahawk and Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missiles, according to a congressional source. Although the subcommittee made a small cut in the funding request for the Lockheed Martin F/A-22, it believes the money still is adequate to buy the 22 Raptors the Air Force wants to procure in FY '04, the source told The DAILY.
A vision of being able to quickly hit fleeting targets anywhere in the world is prompting the U.S. Air Force and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to solicit industry for ways to make the idea a reality. The ultimate goal of the FALCON (Force Application and Launch from CONUS) program, to be met in about 2025, is development of a hypersonic cruise vehicle (HCV) that would take off from a runway and strike targets 9,000 nautical miles away in less than two hours.
The U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command (NVSEA) has awarded Lockheed Martin Corp. a $67 million contract extension to develop and produce a new version of the Mk 41 Vertical Launch System (VLS) missile launcher. A contract option totaling $129 million in support of South Korea's KDX-III destroyer program could raise the contract's total value to $196 million.
Northrop Grumman has received a $220 million contract to enhance the integrated communications, navigation and identification (CNI) system for the Army's RAH-66 Comanche reconnaissance/attack helicopter, the company announced June 18. Under the new contract, the company's San Diego-based Radio Systems division will develop and incorporate three new communications capabilities for the Comanche's CNI avionics suite: * Enhanced Position Locating Reporting System via the Tactical Internet
LE BOURGET, France - Contractors vying to build the battle management suite aboard the E-10A Multi-sensor Command and Control Aircraft (MC2A) are pushing for a multi-intelligence fusion capability for the first production aircraft, despite U.S. Air Force fears that the technology is not available at an affordable price.
LE BOURGET, France - U.S. officials guiding development of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) are willing to negotiate opening assembly lines for its international partners. An early round of talks begin in August when U.S. officials hope to learn what each of its 10 international partners desire for the production phase of the contract that starts in 2006, said Col. Dennis Dwyer, deputy director of the international directorate.
LE BOURGET, France - "Chronic underfunding of defense programs in Europe in the face of robust U.S. spending is a recipe for several unappealing results," said Lockheed Martin's senior vice president for corporate business development, Robert Trice.
SECURITY: The Boeing Co. will demonstrate cargo security systems for a Department of Homeland Security initiative under a $4.2 million contract, the company said June 17 at the Paris Air Show. The program is aimed at developing and deploying technology for monitoring cargo containers.
LE BOURGET, France - A Eurohawk unmanned aerial vehicle prototype equipped with a non-operational electronic intelligence (ELINT) sensor will perform its first demonstration flight in October, industry officials said June 17. The first European flight of the Northrop Grumman M-Q4 Global Hawk derivative should shortly precede the release of an early solicitation by the German military, said Bob Smith, Northrop Grumman's business development director for unmanned systems. The flight had been delayed by Operation Iraqi Freedom.
LE BOURGET, France - The U.S. Defense Department's top weapons buyers who were barred from participating in the Paris Air Show this year may not be coming back to future events. The Pentagon plans to cut its foreign appearances by staging a significant presence every two years at only two international events - the United Kingdom's Farnborough Air Show and Singapore's Asian Aerospace event, organizers of both shows told The DAILY.
SES Astra awarded Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems a production contract for two communications satellites, the companies said June 17. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The contract calls for the production of two A2100 geosynchronous satellites to provide direct-to-home broadcast services across Europe. SES Astra is a subsidiary of SES Global.
Pratt & Whitney confirmed June 16 that its engine for the Joint Strike Fighter has successfully passed the milestone of critical design review (CDR), showing that requirements of the system development and demonstration program are being met.
LE BOURGET, France - A top Boeing executive is downplaying the threat of a congressional challenge to the Defense Department's proposed $15 billion lease of 100 Boeing 767-400ER tankers. The U.S. Air Force is drafting a report to send to four Capitol Hill defense committees, which will launch a mandatory 30-day review period before a contract can be approved. "I don't think it will be as difficult to get through the congressional reviews as you might think," said Howard E. Chambers, Boeing's vice president for airlift and tanker programs.
AEGIS BMD: The June 18 test of the Missile Defense Agency's Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) system will occur between 4 and 8 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, according to the Defense Department. The test will use a new solid divert and attitude control system (SDACS) to guide the warhead to its target (DAILY, June 16).
