A $33 million program to demonstrate autonomous aerial refueling to extend the endurance of high-altitude unmanned aircraft has been ended by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) without achieving its goal of transferring fuel between two Northrop Grumman Global Hawks in flight.
ARMY The Boeing Co., Ridley Park, Pa., was awarded a $185,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract. The award will provide for the performance based logistics services in support of the CH-47 Chinook helicopters and rotor blades. The work will be performed in Ridley Park, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 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-0196).
HOUSTON — SpaceX is sorting through a first-stage Falcon 9 engine anomaly that occurred when the two-stage booster lifted off for the International Space Station on Oct. 7 under a $1.6 billion NASA Commercial Resupply Services contract that signals the restoration of U.S. cargo delivery and return capabilities lost with the space shuttle’s 2011 retirement.
NAVY Electric Boat Corp., Groton, Conn., is being awarded a $100,444,236 modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-10-C-2118) to exercise an option for continued lead yard services for the Virginia-class submarine program. The work will be performed in Groton (93%), Newport, R.I. (1%), and Newport News, Va. (6%), and is expected to be completed by September 2013. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity.
ARMY Raytheon Co., Andover, Mass., was awarded a $59,034,271 cost-plus-incentive-fee contract. The award will provide for the modification of an existing contract to support the Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor. The work will be performed in Andover, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 28, 2013. One bid was solicited, with one bid received. The U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command, Huntsville, Ala., is the contracting activity (DASG60-98-C-0001). NAVY
U.S. Naval Supply Systems (Navsup) Command this month awarded a $218.4 million Performance Based Logistics (PBL) contract to Bell-Boeing for the V-22 Osprey, the first such award designed to serve both Marine Corps and Air Force variants of the tiltrotor.
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.
Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) CEO Elon Musk sounded a note of caution about the company’s upcoming first operational cargo delivery mission to the International Space Station, during an online question-and-answer session Oct. 5.
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.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) OCT. 9 — Aviation Week Aircraft Composite Repair Management Forum, Amsterdam RAI, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. For more information go to www.aviationweek.com/events Oct. 9 — Aviation Week MROIT Europe Conference & Exhibition, RAI Amsterdam, The Netherlands. For more information go to www.aviationweek.com/events/mroiteurope
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.
HOUSTON — The U.S.-led International Space Station mission management team on Oct. 4 approved the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9/Dragon on a three-week resupply mission to the orbiting science lab, the first delivery carried out under the terms of the company’s $1.6 billion, 12-flight Commercial Re-Supply (CRS) contract awarded in late 2008.
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.
NEW DELHI — The Indian air force (IAF) soon will choose a winner in a protracted bid to buy new short-range infrared homing missiles for more than 100 of its Jaguar strike jets. With the elimination of Diehl’s IRIS-T last year ahead of field evaluation trials, the competition has come down to the Rafael Python-5 and MBDA’s Advanced, Short-Range Air-To-Air Missile (Asraam). The missiles will be mounted on the Jaguar’s unique over-wing pylons, where the platform currently deploys out-of-production Matra R550 Magic short-range heat-seeking missiles.
