The Pentagon and Lockheed Martin have finally agreed on a 4% decrease in the target cost for the next production lot of stealthy F-35s after more than a year of antagonistic negotiations.
March 5-6 2013 Hilton Arlington Arlington, VA Join senior defense officials and discover where priorities and opportunities exist beyond the FY 2014 budget and hear First-hand how programs are implementing affordable and effective designs! Register now at www.aviationweek.com/events/dtar Click here to view the pdf
The destroyer-building shipyards were expecting the U.S. Navy to award the next contract block for nine or 10 DDG vessels by the end of this year, but legislative continuing resolutions (CRs) will likely push that decision out to the first quarter of next year, says Michael Petters, CEO for shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls Industries.
NEW DELHI — The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) plans to undertake 10 space missions in 2013, including its first Mars orbiter. “Of these, eight missions will be launched by September 2013 and the remaining by year-end,” says V. Narayanasamy, a junior minister in the prime minister’s office, which is in charge of space administration.
LONDON — The U.K. Royal Air Force has carried out its last missions with the Eurocopter SA330 Puma Mk1. The last Mk.1 flew its final sortie on Dec. 14. The Mk.1s are being replaced by 24 Puma Mk.2s that are progressively being upgraded by Eurocopter at their facilities at Brasov in Romania under the Puma Life-Extension Program, launched in September 2009. The first aircraft entered the program in October 2009 and the upgrades should extend the life of the long-serving medium helicopter until around 2025.
Of little surprise to anyone who follows federal procurement, the Pentagon is the hands-down leader when it comes to U.S. government sole-source contracting, accounting for nearly half of the bigger deals between fall 2008 and spring of this year.
LONDON — The U.K. Ministry of Defense will award a contract to provide for its Military Flight Training System (MFTS) in 2015. Industry partner Ascent — a Lockheed Martin/Babcock International joint venture — has issued a request for proposals for a new fleet of fixed-wing training aircraft that will be used for elementary, basic, multi-engine and fixed-wing rear crew training for all three of the U.K. armed services until 2030.
After a long delay, board members for the non-profit organization set up to organize and promote use of the U.S. National Laboratory on the International Space Station were finally appointed. In order to make up for lost time, they are scheduling weekly meetings by telephone.
SAN DIEGO — After relying for years on contractors to provide maintenance and other services, the U.S. Navy is looking to redevelop the expertise to do much of that work with its own personnel in-house. This course change could significantly alter maintenance and other related contracts in years to come.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) Jan. 7 - 10, 2013 — 61st AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting, New Horizons Forum and Aerospace Exposition, Gaylord Texan Hotel and Convention Center, Grapevine (Dallas/Ft. Worth Region), Tex. For more information go to www.aiaa.org/asm2013/ Jan. 9 - 10 — Fourth Annual China Aerospace Manufacturing Summit, Post Hotel, Harbin City, China. For more information go to www.galleonevents.com
SPACE PRIORITIES: Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), incoming chairman of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, is looking for programs that inspire the public. During a recent hearing on NASA, a key space-policy adviser may have provided clues to the new chairman‘s priorities. “People have an interest in life,” says Scott Pace, the head of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University.
BEIJING — China is referring to a southern military command as a “theater of operations,” warlike language evidently designed to increase pressure on rival claimants to the South China Sea. The term, unfamiliar in peacetime, has appeared in a report by the state’s Xinhua news agency covering a visit to the southern city of Guangzhou by the new chairman of the Communist Party, Xi Jinping. Xi has inspected the command and called on the Chinese armed forces to increase their “real combat” awareness through military training, Xinhua says.
Lockheed Martin’s newest hit-to-kill air defense weapon achieved its first intercept this month in its production configuration, and full production is expected late next year. The Patriot Advanced Capability (PAC)-3 Missile Segment Enhancement (MSE) interceptor destroyed a tactical ballistic missile during a flight test at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., Dec. 6.
The U.S. Navy has underscored its growing interest in developing greater cyber warfare capabilities with the approval and release of key strategy documents meant to guide the service’s efforts in the field.
Aviation Week Events - Defense Technology And Affordability Requirements March 5-6 2013 Hilton Arlington Arlington, VA Join senior defense officials and discover where priorities and opportunities exist beyond the FY 2014 budget and hear First-hand how programs are implementing affordable and effective designs! Register now at www.aviationweek.com/events/dtar
Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) is petitioning the leaders of the defense authorization bill’s conference to extract satellites and their related items from the U.S. Munitions List.
A U.S. defense official suggests North Korea’s first-ever satellite is tumbling in its polar orbit. U.S. Strategic Command, which tracks orbiting objects, referred questions to the Pentagon. A spokeswoman there said she would not comment on classified intelligence matters. One observer who tracked the spacecraft with night vision goggles said the satellite was “flickering,” and produced an intermittent trace on a time-exposure photograph, which could suggest tumbling.
IN THE CROSSHAIRS: A liberal think tank is targeting Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) for opposing sequestration cuts to the Defense Department with an advertising campaign (www.cutpentagonwaste.com) on cable stations in politically savvy New Hampshire.
SENATE TO CABINET: Numerous reports, starting with Bloomberg, said Dec. 13 that President Barack Obama will nominate Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) to become secretary of state and former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) for secretary of defense. Both men enjoy good reputations in the Senate, which must confirm their nominations, meaning their approval is expected. The libertarian Cato Institute in Washington said Hagel’s appointment would be welcome news for critics of the last decade’s explosive defense spending and activity around the world.
The Pentagon recently issued a new set of directives to better control the developmental use of autonomous weapons. “Autonomous and semi-autonomous weapon systems shall be designed to allow commanders and operators to exercise appropriate levels of human judgment over the use of force,” the directive says.
