While the Pentagon has continued to invest heavily in the logistics of transporting war support and other equipment, a recent government audit report says the Defense Department (DOD) needs to hone those efforts, particularly when it comes to pre-positioned materiel.
FRANKFURT — Just days before the Oct. 10 deadline for merger negotiations between EADS and BAE Systems, there is still no sign that the companies and relevant European governments have developed a common strategy to proceed with the consolidation effort. An agreement by the deadline looks increasingly unlikely. BAE Systems could apply for an extension, but industry sources say the manufacturer is opposed to such a move.
CHOOSING APACHE: The Indian government has chosen the Boeing AH-64D Apache Block III in a competition for 22 new attack helicopters. As expected, the AH-64D beat out the only other contender, Russia’s Mi-28 NE, which is understood to have fallen short of requirements during field evaluation trials last year. Air Chief Marshal Norman Browne, India’s air force chief, said Oct. 5, “We have finalized our selection of the Apache. Contract negotiations and other discussions will now commence.” A final deal is expected to be worth $1.5 billion.
The six-month stopgap funding bill Congress passed before leaving town upends Pentagon planning for nearly every line of the procurement and research budgets, essentially freezing billions in fiscal 2013 money unless a defense appropriations bill is passed.
Warfighters have long desired rapid, autonomous aerial cargo delivery to the battlefield. Now the U.S. Navy is developing an app for that. The Office of Naval Research (ONR) awarded contracts to Lockheed Martin and Aurora Flight Sciences late last month to develop such technology, which would allow Navy and Marine Corps units operating under hostile conditions to call in an unmanned cargo rotorcraft via a smartphone-like device.
NEW DELHI — The Indian air force (IAF) soon will have determined the winner of its heavy-lift helicopter competition, based on lifecycle costs, and the winner should be decided within a few months, according to a senior defense ministry official. The contenders are Boeing’s CH-47F Chinook and Russia’s Mi-26. The IAF already operates four Mi-26s Meanwhile, IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal N.A.K. Browne on Oct. 5 said 75% of the IAF’s modernization program will be complete by 2022.
NETANYA, Israel — Cyberdefense specialists in Israel are looking for ways to protect networks that control critical infrastructure from attacks like the Stuxnet worm discovered in 2010 that infiltrated Iranian nuclear facilities. The networks that control many crucial industrial and manufacturing processes were once considered largely immune to cyberattack. But now researchers have found there are often obscure Internet connections in virtually every automated network.
While they may disagree on energy policy, crucially for the aviation industry President Barack Obama and Republican rival Mitt Romney do agree that a national program designed to expand the production of biofuels should continue. As the Pentagon and airlines try to bridge the gap between the technical feasibility and commercial availability of advanced biofuels as drop-in replacements for fossil fuels, government support for scaling up both feedstock and fuel production is proving critical—and controversial.
Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D), the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, is proposing a framework for how Congress can reach a deal on $4 trillion in deficit reduction next year, but he will not be on Capitol Hill to reach the compromise. Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.), the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, tried to prevent last year's budget penalty from taking place, but he will not be around either. And Rep. Steven LaTourette (R-Ohio) helped broker deals on two transportation bills in 2011. But by January, he will be gone, too.
President Barack Obama's widely panned debate included criticism for his lack of interest and intensity. The lackluster performance extended to the few areas in which aerospace and defense entered the discussion, as Obama opted to ignore messages that resonate with Americans in favor of dusting off an old battle that never took off. And his attacks on Mitt Romney's proposal to spend 4% of GDP on defense during a time of tight budgets went nowhere.
Last week's first KC-130J refueling for F-35B pilots was a step forward as the Marine Corps plans to field its first squadron of the stealthy fighters in Yuma, Ariz., in November. Two U.S. Marine Corps F-35B pilots executed the first two aerial refuelings for the stealthy aircraft from a KC-130J on Oct. 2. Instructor pilot Maj. Ty Bachman,and student Maj. Paul Holst each connected with the KC-130J and took on fuel, a first for the 33rd Fighter Wing, which handles F-35 pilot training at Eglin AFB, Fla. The aircraft took on only about 2,000 lb.
A new mid-year report from Aviation Week's Top-Performing Companies (TPC) study reveals that the aerospace and defense (A&D) industry remains resilient, even as potentially deep cuts to Pentagon spending draw closer. Boeing held on to its top ranking of 10 publicly traded contractors with revenues of more than $20 billion, raising its TPC score two points in the first half of 2012, to 89. And the next three companies, all pure-play defense contractors, also managed to boost their performances, reversing declines in 2011.
Cyberattacks have breached the Pentagon and sent businesses into bankruptcy. Still, it might take a cyberdisaster on the scale of Hurricane Katrina to impel lawmakers to pass laws to help shore up the nation's infrastructure. The White House has proposed an executive order to address some of the problem, but Gen. Keith Alexander, director of the National Security Agency and commander of U.S. Cyber Command, says more is needed. The Pentagon has a pilot program that will help private companies to work with the government to help them protect their own information.
NASA stalwarts across the agency have pulled up their socks and forged ahead with the new approach of sending humans to Earth orbit in commercial crew vehicles. But it has been a case of reality transcending preference, says William Gerstenmaier, who runs NASA's human-spaceflight effort. “As a government person, I kind of like the old way of doing business with these big government programs, and controlling specifications and not being in this new world,” he tells an International Astronautical Congress audience in Naples, Italy. “This is a little riskier for me.
For General Electric, the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL)-led push to develop a variable-cycle engine for the next generation of combat aircraft is a blast from the past. After all, the company's variable-bypass YF120 still holds the record for supersonic cruise speed without afterburner, set in 1990 at Mach 1.6 on the Northrop YF-23 Advanced Tactical Fighter prototype.
Last fall, a bill to block U.S. air carriers from participating in the EU's emissions trading system flew through the House of Representatives. Now it appears stalled there until after the Nov. 6 elections, industry and congressional sources say. The bill, co-sponsored by Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), was approved by the Senate before the chamber adjourned for recess. Supporters had expressed hope that the House would consider the bill during its pro-forma session before the elections, but 435 members would need to say yes.
Australia's 2009 defense white paper unveiled a great pile of proposed equipment orders and pledged a great deal of money to pay for them. It was, more than anything, Australia's long-term defense plan for coping with a rising China. Yet even then analysts doubted that the promised budget would be enough, and they wondered whether the extra money would really come through.
CORRUPTION COSTS: Transparency International U.K. estimates the global cost of corruption in the defense sector now amounts to at least $20 billion annually, based on data from the World Bank and the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. “This equates to the total sum pledged by the G8 in L’Aquila in 2009 to fight world hunger,” the watchdog group says.
NEW DELHI — The Indian government is likely to conclude a multibillion contract with Dassault Aviation for 126 Rafale fighters in six months or less, with contract negotiations reaching a crucial stage and inquiries into the selection process concluded. Sources stressed that “all hurdles have been cleared,” following questions in the Indian parliament about how the commercial bids were interpreted.
