DRASTIC MEASURES: President Obama, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and U.S. Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are expected to announce the results of the Pentagon’s roles and missions review on Thursday, Jan. 5. The top-to-bottom review seeks a way forward for the Defense Department in light of looming budget cuts that could total $450 billion over the next decade, as specified by the August deficit-reduction law. For projections on the department’s future budgeting from McAleese & Associates, see pp. 6-8.
BEIJING — Japan will join international programs for the development and manufacturing of military equipment, following its historic decision to relax its ban on arms exports. The decision creates a potential for enormous changes in the way Japanese defense suppliers do business, allowing them to concentrate on developing and making weapons parts in which they have special advantages, rather than persist in building the entire equipment in uneconomical, low volumes. Changes are likely to come only gradually, however, as the country initiates new programs.
The Pentagon Inspector General (IG) says the Defense Department’s flawed procurement process was partly to blame for the problems the IG found in helicopter contracts with Sikorsky. As was widely reported during the latter half of last year, the IG scrutinized procurement problems regarding the Army Aviation and Missile Life Cycle Management Command (Amcom) material purchases from Sikorsky supporting the Corpus Christi (Texas) Army Depot (CCAD).
The U.S. Air Force has awarded a contract option to Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems to complete the acquisition of the eighth Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) spacecraft. The $296 million option brings the total cost of satellite 8, including long lead parts, to $354 million, according to the Space and Missile Systems Center at Los Angeles AFB.
The U.S. Air Force must head back to the drawing board in 2012 to once again rethink its successor to the aging Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) spacecraft currently in orbit, now that Congress has preemptively taken the budget ax to Northrop Grumman’s Defense Weather Satellite System (DWSS). The fiscal 2012 defense spending bill passed last week provides $43 million in termination costs for DWSS and $125 million for a follow-on satellite. Lawmakers cut the Pentagon’s $444.9 million request.
The U.K. Defense Ministry is spending ₤400 million ($630 million) to buy 100 Foxhound armored vehicles and additional counter-improvised explosive device (C-IED) equipment to better protect British forces in Afghanistan. “IEDs are the single greatest threat to our forces in Afghanistan,” the ministry said in a statement. “Improving the protection of our forces on the front line is the military’s number one priority, and these investments mark another major step forward in the battle against the Taliban.”
PARIS — French space agency CNES and European launch consortium Arianespace have signed more than a dozen contracts worth a combined €700 million ($916 million) during the next five years to reorganize and streamline operations at the newly expanded Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana, Arianespace announced Dec. 21. The contracts, slated to enter into force Jan. 1, will account for 900 jobs at the South American spaceport, which facilitates launches of Russian Soyuz and Italian Vega launch vehicles in addition to Europe’s Ariane 5.
In observance of the year-end holiday season, Aerospace Daily & Defense Report will not publish issues dated Dec. 27 through Jan. 3. Following the Dec. 26 issue, the next issue will be dated Jan. 4. During the interim, Aviation Week Intelligence Network subscribers can visit www.aviationweek.com/awin for continuous news updates.
The U.S. Navy awarded Raytheon a contract modification this month for up to $254 million for development, test, and delivery of DDG-1000 Total Ship Computing Environment software for the Self Defense Test Ship, post-delivery availability, post-shakedown availability, SPY-3 volume search software and firmware development, as well as software maintenance on the DDG-1000.
March 7, 2012 Andrew Mellon Auditorium Washington, D.C. Aviation Week’s 54th annual Laureate Awards recognize individuals and teams for extraordinary accomplishments that embody the spirit of exploration, innovation and vision. Join us to celebrate their significant contributions and the inspiration they provide. The 2012 Awards will be presented in each of the following categories: -- Aeronautics/Propulsion -- Business/General Aviation
An exclusive Aviation Week Intelligence Network investigation into the U.S. Navy destroyer fleet and its accompanying combat systems strongly suggests the service will have to upend some $121.8 billion worth of plans for their development, effectively solidifying the grip of incumbent contractors on the work at the very time Navy brass say they’re trying to break such monopolies.
Russia’s United Aircraft Corp. (UAC) has reported assembly of the first Il-476 flight prototype, a modernized version of the Ilyushin Il-76MD heavy transport aircraft. The prototype was shown publicly for the first time during the unofficial ceremony at the Aviastar-SP production facility in Ulyanovsk in mid-December. A UAC representative told Aviation Week that the official rollout ceremony will be in early 2012, while the first flight is expected in the spring.
In a new partnership between the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Defense Department, the National Guard will reduce the number of troops it has on the ground along the U.S./Mexican Border from 1,200 to 300 next year, while deploying more aerial assets to assist in surveillance.
While the Pentagon and the rest of the defense community prepare for a budget-slashing ax that some say could swipe into future aircraft carrier programs, the U.S. Navy continues to keep its next-generation carrier plans right on course. The service recently awarded the Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS) division of Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) a $113 million contract to continue ship and propulsion-plant design and engineering services for the aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy (CVN 79).
HOUSTON — A Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying a three-man, multinational crew is speeding toward a Dec. 23 rendezvous with the International Space Station, following the start of a two-day transit with a successful Dec. 21 liftoff from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, the Soyuz commander, flight engineers Don Pettit, of NASA, and Andre Kuipers, of the European Space Agency, were on course to dock with the orbiting science laboratory on Dec. 23 at 10:22 a.m. EST.
BEIJING — The Japanese defense ministry says the Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning’s performance beat that of the other two contenders in the competition for Japan’s F-X fighter requirement. The ministry says the F-35A also was the cheapest, because the competing Eurofighter Typhoon and Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet would have needed modification for flying-boom inflight refueling.
Congress has given a thumbs down to the next-generation SM-3 Block IIB interceptor, part of the Aegis ballistic missile defense system, but the Obama administration may be aiming to keep it alive. The defense spending bill for fiscal 2012 pares back funding to $13.5 million from a request of $123.5 million. Congressional aides, however, say the administration is planning to transfer money to keep development of the system alive.
NEW DELHI — India’s defense forces have failed to purchase even a single artillery gun to replace its obsolete inventory for more than 25 years, Indian government auditing agencies say. In a report on defense acquisitions introduced in Parliament Dec. 20, India’s Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) slammed the country’s armed forces and defense ministry for causing “inordinate delays” in procuring artillery guns for more than a decade, leaving troops to use obsolete varieties of 1970s vintage.
VEHICLE DEAL: The U.S. Army has awarded a $126 million contract modification to General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada for 73 more Light Armored Vehicles (LAVs) for a Foreign Military Sale to an undisclosed customer. The modification of the original contract announced in January 2011 brings the contract total to $264 million for 155 LAVs. The LAV — a cousin of the eight-wheeled Stryker infantry carrier used by the U.S. Army — has been the workhorse of the Canadian army in operations in Afghanistan.
Click here to view the pdf Defense Appropriations: Conferees Roll Back The Senate's OCO Shift Defense Appropriations: Conferees Roll Back The Senate's OCO Shift Description Request Conferees Account: Line
