NEW NAME: Finmeccanica’s Alenia North America publicly changed its name to Alenia Aermacchi North America on April 17. The move follows a merger of Finmeccanica’s Alenia Aeronautica and Alenia Aermacchi aeronautics brands and comes on the heels of a massive overhaul of the flagship Italian aerospace and defense company back home. Based in Washington, Alenia Aermacchi North America also maintains offices and facilities in Seattle, Wash., Smyrna, Ga., Fort Worth and Madison, Minn., as well as Canada.
FMV MARKET: Consulting company Visiongain says the global military video surveillance systems market will reach $8.81 billion this year, thanks in part to growing adoption of full-motion video (FMV) technology proven by U.S. and allied forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.
ABU DHABI — The former head of the New Mexico spaceport effort, Steve Landeene, will now work as chief adviser to the proposed spaceport in Abu Dhabi with an eye on clearing the way for potential Virgin Galactic operations. Landeene’s initial focus will be on the regulatory environment. The focus would then shift to determining the right location for the spaceport, Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides said during the Global Aerospace Summit here.
FORT WASHINGTON, Md. — Now that Ingalls Shipbuilding has tackled production problems with the U.S. Navy’s LPD-17 San Antonio Class Amphibious Transport Dock ship, the company is researching the possibility of using the ship for additional missions or technology upgrades, says Irwin Edenzon, Ingalls president and vice president at parent company Huntington Ingalls Industries. Remarking that the ship now has a “stable design,” Edenzon says the company is looking to see if the vessels can be “applied to other missions.
Click here to view the pdf World Military Spending:Expenditure By Region2002-2011 ($ in U.S. Billions) World Military Spending: Expenditure By Region2002-2011 ($ in U.S.
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.
CYBER GAME: A U.S. Air Force cyber and outer space wargame starting April 20 at Nellis AFB, Nev., will for the first time include representatives from NATO members Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey. Australia, Canada and Britain already are partners of the Schriever Wargame 2012 International Game. The wargame scenario depicts NATO counter-piracy operations around the Horn of Africa.
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.
Senators approved draft legislation April 17 that rejects parts of the president’s budget request for NASA, cutting nearly $300 million from the development of commercial crew vehicles. The fiscal 2013 spending bill passed by the Senate Appropriations commerce, justice, and science subcommittee adds back close to $200 million for the heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS), a priority for Republicans Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (Texas) and Sen. Richard Shelby (Ala.).
COLORADO SPRINGS — As part of a broad initiative to boost its share of the launch market and particularly the tightly contested medium commercial sector, Lockheed Martin is stepping up sales campaigns for its Atlas and Athena vehicles and appointing space and satellite marketing veteran Robert Cleave to head the business.
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).
COLORADO SPRINGS — More than 1,800 space experts from industry and government are gathering for the 28th National Space Symposium, as NASA engineers and technicians prepare for a major shift in U.S. space activities this week. Crews at Kennedy Space Center are readying the space shuttle Discovery for its final ferry flight to Washington, where it will go on permanent display at the National Air & Space Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center.
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.
