BANGALORE, India - The deep-penetration Jaguar aircraft is set to become a mainstay of the Indian air force after the government agreed with the recommendations of an air force report that calls for upgrading existing aircraft and buying more. The state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) has begun upgrading 18 two-seat Jaguars, in addition to the upgrades of 17 single-seat aircraft that already are underway, HAL Chairman Nalini Rangan Mohanty said in a Feb. 7 interview at the Aero India 2003 expo here.
Feb. 9 - 11 -- Helicopter Association International's Heli-Expo 2003, Dallas Convention Center. For more information call (703) 683-4646 or go to www.heliexpo.com. Feb. 10 - 13 -- Fatigue Concepts' course on fatigue, fracture mechanics and damage tolerance. Rose College, Oklahoma City. Call (916) 933-5000 or go to www.fatigueconcepts. com. Feb. 11 - 12 -- NAVWAR Conference, "NAVWAR After 9/11." Aerospace Corp., Los Angeles, Calif. SECRET clearance required, U.S. only. For more information call (888) OLD-CROW or visit www.crows.org.
NO SHOW: Americans, U.S. companies and the armed forces should not participate in the Paris Air Show if France continues to oppose the potential use of force to disarm Iraq, says Rep. Jim Saxton (R-N.J.). Saxton, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee's new terrorism subcommittee (DAILY, Jan. 10), is circulating a letter seeking co-sponsors for a resolution asking Americans to steer clear of the show.
ZERO-SUM GAIN: The loss of the space shuttle Columbia could have a positive impact on U.S. space programs if plans are implemented to develop new orbiters or multiple pathways to space, according to senior aerospace and defense analyst Byron Callan of Merrill Lynch. Ensuring access to space through multiple paths "may result in greater attention to providing funding for two strong suppliers of expendable launch vehicles and renewed development of other reusable concepts," Callan says.
NEW JSOW: A new and improved Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) is preparing to enter production as early as May of this year, according to Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR). The munition recently underwent an 18-month redesign effort intended to address vibration issues with the F-16 that were causing wear on the JSOW's control fins. JSOW developer Raytheon led the effort, which culminated recently in three test launches from an Air Force F-16D and a Navy F/A-18C fighter at NAVAIR's Pacific test range in southern California.
Goodrich Corp. on Feb. 7 reported a profit for the fourth quarter, but results for the newly acquired Aeronautical Systems business were worse than expected. Fourth-quarter net income rose from a loss of $54.4 million a year ago to nearly $12 million. Revenue for the quarter climbed 12 percent, from $1.05 billion to $1.18 billion, partly due to the inclusion of results generated by the former TRW Aeronautical Systems business.
Two new advisory groups reporting to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will monitor the development of the Pentagon's concept for a Total Information Awareness (TIA) system. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) effort, headed by retired Vice Adm. John Poindexter, aims to detect signs of terrorist transactions in cyberspace. It has stirred a storm of controversy among civil libertarians and privacy advocates.
DEVELOPING THE ORD: The military services in general, and the Marine Corps in particular, are trying to do a better job of communicating operational weapon requirements to defense contractors, according to Marine Corps Assistant Commandant Gen. William Nyland. Doing a better job of developing the operational requirements document (ORD) before the early milestones of a weapons program is key, he says. "We have not historically done a great job in [developing the ORD]," he says.
Integral Systems' three-month-old crash marketing effort to sell direct broadcast satellite terminals for the military's use in a looming war in the Middle East has stirred interest in the Pentagon, but has not yielded bids. Time is beginning to run short for the deal, a company executive said Feb. 6. Integral Systems is billing its Skylight satellite terminal as a cheaper and more effective replacement for the military's deployed weather forecast technology, company Vice President Don Mack said.
Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI), the prime contractor for the Arrow missile defense system, and the Boeing Co. are completing a contract that will allow Boeing to begin producing Arrow missile components in the U.S., industry sources said Feb. 7.
SPACE LAUNCHES: The market for commercial space launches has plummeted in recent years, in part because of the decline in demand from the battered telecommunications industry, and Boeing chairman and CEO Phil Condit does not expect it ever to return to the level of its heyday. "We think that the launch rate is going to be relatively low, but relatively stable," he said in an interview with Aviation Week Group editors.
INTERNATIONAL JSF: The General Accounting Office (GAO) is completing a draft report on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter's international program, a GAO source says. Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) commissioned the report in the summer of 2001, but the GAO auditing team waited several months, until the eight international partners officially joined the program, to begin.
TANKER LEASE: A decision on the potential $17 billion lease of 100 Boeing 767 tankers for the Air Force could be reached this week, says E.C. "Pete" Aldridge Jr., the undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics. Perhaps mindful of several previous false starts for the lease deal last year, Aldridge says his prediction may be more of a preference. "We would like to [reach a decision], but whether or not we can depends on a lot of external" factors, he says. A go-ahead decision likely will trigger another series of deliberations over funding.
MINI KILL VEHICLES: The Missile Defense Agency plans to conduct a flight experiment for its miniature kill vehicle program in fiscal 2005, according to MDA. MDA believes that developing smaller kill vehicles would allow it to put more than one on a interceptor, giving it multiple chances to hit a target. The agency is trying to decide what kind of "contract strategy" to pursue for the new program, according to a senior budget official at the Defense Department.
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Science Committee's space and aeronautics subcommittee, plans to reintroduce legislation that would offer tax incentives to promote greater commercial investment in space, according to a spokesman for the congressman.
DEFENSE CONFIRMATIONS: The Senate Feb. 4 confirmed former Rep. Paul McHale (D-Pa.) to be assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense and industry executive Christopher Ryan Henry to be deputy undersecretary of defense for policy.
Despite the U.S. military's growing need for bandwidth, the likelihood that it will turn increasingly to the commercial satellite industry to fulfill that need remains remote, according to some industry analysts. The military always will depend on the commercial sector for some of its communications needs, such as casual communication, analysts say, but budget issues and the military's unique needs may make longer-term relationships difficult.
EDO BUY: EDO Corp. said it has acquired Advanced Engineering and Research Associates, Inc., for $38 million in cash. The Alexandria-based company provides information technology, engineering and logistics support to several military programs, including the U.S. Marine Corps' Commercial Enterprise Omnibus Support Services and the Coast Guard's Deepwater program. The company will become part of EDO's Systems and Analysis Group. EDO said last year the company planned to become "substantially larger" through acquisitions (DAILY, Aug. 7, 2002).
Taking the next step in the streamlining of defense export controls, the Eurofighter consortium is set to sign the first Major Program Authorization (MPA) approved by the U.S. State Department, industry and government sources said. The MPA would clear the way for U.S.-based supplier Hamilton Sundstrand to export electronics components to the Eurofighter program under a single license.
BANGALORE, India - India is hosting the Aero Expo 2003 here Feb. 5-9 just as its military is planning one of the biggest acquisition plans since the nation's independence. The Indian air force is attending the show with a shopping list for $25 billion worth of aircraft to meet its needs over the next 15 years, including some 360 transport, combat and airborne warning and control aircraft, as well as unmanned aerial vehicles.
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), who has secured another two-year term as head of the House Science space subcommittee, said Feb. 6 that he will "definitely" push to speed up development of NASA's Orbital Space Plane (OSP) in light of the loss of space shuttle Columbia. Rohrabacher strongly supported the OSP even before the Columbia disaster, but he believes the loss of the orbiter has made the need for the space plane even more urgent.
The fiscal 2004 budget cycle marks the first time the Pentagon combined its program and budget review processes, and more changes could be ahead, according to a senior Defense Department official. DOD's former procedure required a program review at the beginning of the process and a budget review for the same program months later, Pentagon Comptroller Dov Zakheim told reporters Feb. 3. "We're trying to finally clean up all the instabilities that have piled up for 30 or more years," he said.
WORK BEGINS: Northrop Grumman's Ship Systems sector has begun construction of DDG 100, the 50th ship in the DDG 51-class of Aegis destroyers, the company said Feb. 6. The company has delivered 17 Aegis destroyers to the U.S. Navy, with the delivery of the 18th scheduled for Feb. 28.
Northrop Grumman is being awarded a $185 million contract to prepare its Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to participate in a maritime demonstration in 2006 that will be a crucial step in the Navy's effort to develop a high-altitude maritime surveillance UAV.
