Fueled by a new $125.5 million contract, an international software upgrade program for the F-16 is moving forward after a nine-month delay. The U.S. Air Force is awarding the deal to Lockheed Martin Aeronautics and the contract includes F-16s owned by the European Participating Air Forces - Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Portugal and the Netherlands.
Three House members are requesting more information about the Air Force F/A-22 Raptor, saying recent Pentagon testimony about the Lockheed Martin aircraft left key questions unanswered. During an April 11 hearing of the House Government Reform Committee's national security subcommittee, Defense Department and Air Force officials estimated that the Air Force could afford to buy 225 to 235 Raptors under the aircraft's congressionally mandated $36.8 billion production cost cap (DAILY, April 14).
The U.S. Army's Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command at Picatinny Arsenal, N.J., has awarded technology development contracts to General Dynamics Corp. and Textron Inc. for the Intelligent Munitions System (IMS) program. General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems, a unit of the company's Information Systems and Technology group, was awarded a $31.5 million contract April 16 to develop and demonstrate key technologies for the IMS program, formerly known as Raptor.
The European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. (EADS) will push ahead with plans to expand in North America despite the recent transatlantic rift between the U.S. and France and Germany over Iraq, a senior EADS executive said April 25. Ralph Crosby Jr., chairman and CEO of EADS North America, told defense reporters in Washington that EADS plans to expand its manufacturing base in the U.S., primarily through acquisitions but also through partnerships with U.S. prime contractors.
MODEST OUTLOOK: Despite recent increases in defense spending, the long-term growth outlook for the U.S. defense industry is modest, says aerospace and defense analyst Robert Friedman of Standard & Poor's. The reason is that Congress is unlikely to approve outsized military spending over the long term, he says.
NEW DELHI - India and France are beginning talks here on Mirage 2000-5 multirole fighters, which India wants to both buy and build under license. The talks are "top of the agenda" during the visit of Michele Alliot-Marie, the French defense minister, to New Delhi beginning April 28, an Indian defense ministry source said. A delegation from Dassault Aviation made a presentation on licensed production to Nalini Ranjab Mohanty, the head of India's Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL), last year in Bangalore.
President Bush plans to appoint James Albaugh, president and chief executive officer of Boeing's Integrated Defense Systems segment, to the President's National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee (NSTAC), the White House announced April 24. NSTAC, which is chaired by Vance Coffman, chairman and CEO of Lockheed Martin Corp., advises the president on national security and emergency preparedness communications policy.
The Boeing Co., prime contractor for the Airborne Laser program, has received a 10-year contract worth up to $500 million from the Missile Defense Agency to develop a ground-based test bed for the Airborne Laser (ABL) program. The Iron Bird test bed will support efforts to conduct troubleshooting and wargaming and evaluate advanced technology for the ABL, the Defense Department announced late April 24.
April 29 - 30 -- 2003 Annual Programs Review, "Transformation Roadmaps, Future of Precision Engagement," Scott Hall, Howell Auditorium, Defense Acquisition University, Fort Belvoir, Va. Contact Leslie Mueller at (301) 475-6513 or email [email protected]. April 30 - May 1 -- EW Analysis Conference, Army Research Lab, Adelphi, Md. Call (888) OLD-CROW or go to www.crows.org. May 5 - 7 -- Aerospace & Defense Finance Conference, Grand Hyatt New York Hotel, New York City. To register go to http://www.AviationNow.com/conferences.
POLICY REVERSAL: A proposed pilot program to fund energy-saving upgrades for up to 10 weapons programs may be doomed even if the legislation is enacted, the program's supporters say. That's because the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) last month reversed its long-standing accounting policy for Energy Savings Performance Contracts (ESPCs), scoring the deals as new outlays rather than operations and maintenance charges. ESPC supporters say that's a mistake: ESPC-funded upgrades, by law, save more money in fuel bills than the cost of the upgrade.
SPACE ROLE: Space systems were a major contributor to the U.S.-led military victory in Iraq, providing early warning, satellite imagery and other services to the warfighter. But space also will play a key role in rebuilding Iraq, says U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Joseph Cosumano, head of Army Space and Missile Defense Command. For instance, satellite imagery could be useful in tracking oil well fires, he says. An Army space support team is assigned to the Pentagon's Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance (ORHA) to ensure it gets the space-based products it needs.
RED HERRING: FAA regulations concerning the operation of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the national airspace are a "red herring" and aren't holding back commercial development, according to Aurora Flight Sciences Corp. President John Langford. "If you removed all restrictions tonight, you wouldn't see these things flying around tomorrow," Langford says. "It's not the FAA that's holding back the development of UAVs." The problem is one of simple economics, he says.
An Army general said April 24 that he would like to accelerate the Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system and the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS).
The U.S. Army believes it may be on the verge of deploying a system that would reduce substantially the logistical difficulties and dangers of getting equipment and supplies to troops in the field, according to a senior Army official. The system, called Precision and Extended Glide Airdrop System (PEGASYS), is a Global Positioning System-guided parafoil that can be dropped from high altitudes and steered to precise locations on the battlefield at specified times.
NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., and Team Encounter of Houston, Texas, have agreed to work together on solar sail technology capable of placing spacecraft in non-standard orbits such as "pole sitter" orbits, Team Encounter announced April 23.
MOSCOW - A Russian Proton vehicle launched a military satellite, Cosmos 2397, to geostationary orbit from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, on April 24. The Lavochkin NPO-built satellite is intended to help replenish the country's early warning constellation. The Cosmos 2397 is a Prognoz-2 type and will be part of the Oko constellation, which also includes smaller Prognoz satellites.
PRAGUE - The United Kingdom Ministry of Defence (MOD) has confirmed it is talking to Czech officials over the possible sale or lease of used Tornado F-3 fighters from Britain, despite first issuing a denial. A defense ministry spokesman told The DAILY last week that it was "not true" that negotiations were under way following a report in Czech daily Pravo that Britain could supply up to 14 Tornado aircraft by 2006 on the basis of a Czech-U.K. inter-governmental agreement (DAILY, April 16).
A coming debate about the how the U.S. should proceed in the field of offensive warfare will contrast projected capabilities of satellites with the capabilities of tactical aircraft, and pit Strategic Command against the Air Force, one analyst said. Discussion of weapons in space, such as lasers to strike ground targets, will presage a serious look at the future of the tactical aircraft fleet, according to Robbin Laird of International Communications and Strategic Assessments (ICSA), Arlington, Va.
A long-awaited plan for restructuring the 1.3 million-strong U.S. reserve force should be delivered by next fall for implementation in fiscal 2005, Thomas F. Hall, assistant secretary of defense for reserve affairs, said April 24. "I've met with [Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld] and he's not anxious to prolong this process," Hall said, briefing reporters at a Defense Writer's Group breakfast. "We've been given some stringent guidelines ... to make a proposal" within a year.
NEW DELHI - The Indian air force has demanded modifications from Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) to the Adour engines installed in its Jaguar fighter fleet, because of poor performance in the engines' reheat fuel control units. A senior air force official said a number of the aircraft have been grounded partially because of problems with the units, which have caused extensive damage to the engines. The air force's Jaguar fleet, which is overhauled and upgraded by the state-owned HAL, is equipped with Adour MK-811 and MK-804 engines.
First-quarter net income for Orbital Sciences Corp. jumped 42 percent, largely due to increased missile defense-related work, company officials said April 24. Net income for the quarter rose from a loss of $11.4 million a year ago to a net gain of $3.4 million, despite a $1 million settlement with Orbital Imaging Corp. (Orbimage) and a $1.5 million operating loss posted by the company's Electronic Systems business.
