LONDON — The U.K. will likely delay addressing its maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) gap until 2015, military officials tell Parliament’s defense committee. The decision will likely be part of the 2015 Strategic Defense and Security Review (SDSR), says Air Vice Marshal Mark Green, the Defense Ministry’s director of joint and air capability transformation. Legislators are worried about the MPA capability gap in the aftermath of the 2010 decision not to field the Nimrod MRA4.
Source: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
Click here to view the pdf World Military Spending:Key World Military Expenditure StatisticsBy Region World Military Spending: Key World Military Expenditure Statistics By Region Region/Subregion Military expenditure 2011 (US$B)
COLORADO SPRINGS — The Pentagon has declared that the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) project has exceeded its original projected per-unit cost by 58.4%, triggering a rigorous review under the Nunn-McCurdy program oversight law. Through the EELV program, the government procures Atlas V and Delta IV rockets from United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Boeing. The cost growth was reported April 13 to Congress.
COLORADO SPRINGS — Though parts for the new GPS III satellites are costing more than planned, Lockheed Martin says the rigor applied by the U.S. Air Force in quality assurance is setting a new industry standard.
After 13 years of steady and often sharp increases in defense spending, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) says last year’s 0.3% increase to $1.74 trillion in global expenditure suggests the growth period is at an end. Although the global average is leveling off, it mainly reflects a change in spending in the U.S. and Western and Central Europe, where spending was down by 1.2% and 1.9%, respectively. Latin American spending also was down, by 3.3%.
FORT WASHINGTON, Md. — Even in the construction of an aircraft carrier, it is the culmination of the small things that makes a big difference. The focus on lifecycle savings for the new CVN-78 Ford carrier has created a slight drag on the construction timetable for the ship, according to Matthew Mulherin, corporate vice president for Huntington Ingalls Industries and president of the company’s Newport News Shipbuilding unit.
WINNING COMBO: Textron AAI executives are pointing to their known track record with providing unmanned aircraft logistics, as well as the platforms themselves, as a key reason the company recently was selected to join a potentially $874 million contract vehicle for sea- and land-based intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) services for the U.S. Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy.
COLORADO SPRINGS — Lockheed Martin has begun hot-fire tests of a rocket engine designed to power a Reusable Booster System (RBS) demonstrator for the U.S. Air Force.
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Cambodia’s air force aims to receive its first Avicopter Z-9 helicopter next year and plans to purchase Russian-built Mil Mi-17 helicopters and Chinese-built Xian Aircraft MA60 military transports, according to service chief Lt. Gen. Soeung Samnang. Samnang spoke to Aviation Week April 16 on the sidelines of the Defense Services Asia exhibition in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
U.S. ARMY Raytheon Co., Network Centric Systems, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., was awarded a $75,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract. The award will provide for the procurement of the AN/TPX-57 Identification Friend or Foe Systems Air Defense Interrogators components and associated engineering support. Work will be performed in Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., with an estimated completion date of Dec. 31, 2013. One bid was solicited, with one bid received. The U.S. Army Contracting Command, Fort Monmouth, N.J., is the contracting activity (W15P7T-12-D-A010).
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Indonesia has signed a firm contract for the purchase of 16 Korea Aerospace Industries T-50 jet trainers. Defense minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro declined to reveal what offsets Indonesia has secured from South Korea for ordering the T-50s, at the Defense Services Asia (DSA) exhibition in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Russia’s arms export agency is only interested in selling fighter aircraft to China if there is a large deal, despite the fact many of the other contracts Russia has been chasing in Asia can be considered small.
LONDON — Cuts to the German military could lead to a contraction of the defense industry, particularly with smaller suppliers, warns the country’s aerospace lobby group, BDLI.
U.S. ARMY Hamilton Sundstrand Corp., Windsor Locks, Conn., was awarded a $46,780,633 firm-fixed-price contract. The award will provide for the overhaul/upgrade services of the T700 fuel control in support of the UH-60 Black Hawk. Work will be performed in Windsor Locks, Conn., with an estimated completion date of Jan. 30, 2017. The bid was solicited through the Internet, with one bid received. The U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., is the contracting activity (W58RGZ-12-D-0073).
U.S. AIR FORCE The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Mo., is being awarded a $98,800,000 not-to-exceed cost-plus-incentive-fee and firm-fixed-priced contract to procure enhanced threat response redesign for the Massive Ordnance Penetrator, a quick reaction capability program. The location of the performance is St. Louis, Mo. Work is to be completed by March 30, 2014. AAC/EBDK/EDBJ, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity (FA868109-C-0280, P00034). U.S. NAVY
FORT WASHINGTON Md. — Key technology for the U.S. Navy’s proposed Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR) is advancing more quickly than the service brass had anticipated, casting doubt on some of the criticism leveled lately at the AMDR development program, says Rear Adm. James Syring, program executive officer for Integrated Defense Systems.
AMMO DELIVERY: India is likely to take delivery of 16,000 rounds of ammunition from Russia for its T-90 tanks this year. “A contract for procurement of 16,000 rounds of Fin Stabilized Armor Piercing Discarding Sabot (FSAPDS) ammunition for T-90 tanks was signed with Rosoboronexport ... in December 2010. It became effective in March 2011, and the complete consignment is likely to be delivered in the first half of 2012,” a defense ministry official says.
If there is one Pentagon program decision for fiscal 2013 that lawmakers are likely to reject, it is the decision to mothball Northrop Grumman’s Global Hawk Block 30. Plans to make 18 of the high-altitude UAVs and immediately lock them in storage, when they have been already used both on the battlefield and for disaster relief, have not gone over well with House lawmakers.
Industry leaders are optimistic about the technology and promise of the commercial space, pointing to advances made by private companies leveraging government investment and finding more efficient ways to contract, buy and build. Mark Sirangelo, corporate vice president at Sierra Nevada Space Systems, touted the outlook of his company’s Dream Chaser orbital transit, now in development with 12 industrial partners, during the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s 11th Annual Aviation Summit on April 12.
The U.S. Air Force plans to release a draft of its amended request for proposals (RFP) for the troubled Light Air Support (LAS) program on April 17, with a source selection eyed in early 2013. If this schedule holds, the first aircraft will not reach Afghanistan until the third quarter of 2014, a slip of 15 months. The program was originally crafted to quickly field light-attack aircraft for use by the Afghan air force as Washington begins to withdraw its soldiers.
Moving quickly to get its Robotics Challenge disaster-response competition off the ground, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) plans to award Boston Dynamics a contract to supply eight humanoid robots for use by competing teams.
PARIS — The Yahsat 1B (Y1B) telecom satellite owned by United Arab Emirates-based Al Yah Satellite Communications Co. is slated to launch April 24 aboard an International Launch Services Proton rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. When Y1B enters service, it will complete the two-spacecraft Yahsat system built by EADS-Astrium and Thales Alenia Space. Al Yah, however, is now considering ordering a third satellite and is soliciting interest from numerous manufacturers, according to industry officials.
Two Lockheed Martin/Kaman K-Max unmanned helicopters have logged more than 380 flight hours and carried more than 750,000 lb. of cargo to resupply U.S. Marine Corps outposts since beginning operations in Afghanistan in mid-December. The six-month deployment is aimed at demonstrating how unmanned cargo aircraft can be used to take vehicle convoys off dangerous roads. Operations are being funded month-by-month, and Lockheed and Kaman say they are ready to support an extended deployment.
