Congressional investigators at the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) are scrutinizing the U.S. Navy’s decision to restart production of DDG-51 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, a GAO official confirms. GAO is trying to determine the underlying basis for the Navy decision to select DDG-51 as the “best hull form to meet future surface combatant requirements” Belva Martin, GAO director of acquisition and sourcing management for a variety of programs, including Navy ships, tells Aviation Week.
MOSCOW — The rivalry continues between Russia’s two new combat helicopters — the Mil Mi-28 and Kamov Ka-52 — for dominance of the domestic market. Russian Helicopters, the holding company overseeing both manufacturers, says it has signed a contract with the defense ministry for delivery of “more than 140” Ka-52s for the air force. The deal is estimated to be worth 120 billion rubles ($4.1 billion). Deliveries will continue through 2020.
SATELLITE MARKET: Western defense budget cuts will affect the global military satellite market the most in the U.S., Forecast International analysts predict, but the U.S. will remain the major marketplace. The tougher budget environment is prompting the U.S. to focus on production of already-developed satellites rather than new technology, as well as smaller, inexpensive satellites, the analysts say. But despite more austere budgets, the U.S.
The remnants of a tropical storm have been parked over Washington for much of the week, providing a fitting backdrop of rain and gloomy skies as the U.S. Congress returned from its summer recess.
DEFENSE DRAWDOWN: U.S. Senate appropriators are recommending fiscal 2012 baseline defense spending of about $513 billion, the same as this fiscal year and more than $25 billion below the Obama administration’s request for the year that starts Oct. 1. The Senate Appropriations Committee (SAC) allocation, which was expected, contrasts with a House defense spending bill that cut only $9 billion from the request.
LONDON — Embraer and Elbit Systems have finalized the terms for their joint venture to develop unmanned aircraft for the Brazilian market, with the Brazilian company taking a 25% minority share in Elbit’s Brazilian subsidiary, AEL. AEL will be the principal agent for the Israeli defense company in the joint venture. Embraer will control 51% of the joint venture, with AEL Elbit holding the rest. The plan to work together was first announced in April during the Latin America Aerospace and Defense exhibition in Rio de Janeiro (Aerospace DAILY, April 14).
Launch controllers scrubbed a Sept. 8 attempt to launch the Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (Grail) mission toward the Moon after upper-level winds at the Cape Canaveral, Fla., launch site threatened to push the twin NASA probes’ Delta II launch vehicle off course. The launch team set up for two launch attempts — at 8:37 a.m. and 9:16 a.m. EDT — but weather balloon data showed the winds did not abate. The next launch attempt will come at 8:33 a.m. Sept. 9.
The head of spaceflight operations at NASA expects the International Space Station to remain occupied despite the failure of a Soyuz rocket carrying a load of station supplies, based on the nature of the failure and Russia’s progress in identifying the cause.
Like a contender trying to nail down his perfect fighting weight, the U.S. Navy is still struggling to keep from getting too fat or too thin when it comes to the right number of sailors it needs aboard its ships, submarines and aircraft.
Embraer has selected U.K.-based Cobham to provide the wing-mounted refueling pods for its KC-390 tanker/transport, under development for the Brazilian air force. Brazil’s AEL Sistemas will supply the mission computer and Italy’s Selex Galileo the aircraft’s radar.
NEW DELHI — The Indian Air Force is weathering strong criticism from the country’s auditing agency for a delay in buying 37 low-level transportable radars (LLTRs) meant to plug gaps in aerial surveillance. “As against the envisaged time of 29 months, the procurement took 49 months due to delay in each stage,” India’s Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) says in its Sept. 8 report.
Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) is shoring up his credentials as the lead protector of military spending. He was already the senior Republican on the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction with a long history of working on nuclear, missile defense and strategic issues. But he may have scored additional loyalty points by insisting that after the first $350 billion in cuts to the defense budget, no more can be sent the military’s way.
LONDON — Russia is projecting it may sell as many as 1,000 T-50 fighter aircraft in the coming decades. In addition to sales to the two countries already signed on to the program, Russia and India, the Tsamto analysis center associated with the Russian defense ministry sees at least 274-388 aircraft being sold to more than ten other countries.
The Electric Boat unit of General Dynamics this week started building the yet-unnamed SSS-787 Virginia-class attack submarine — the 13th vessel of the class and the second to begin construction this year. This is the first time in 22 years the Navy is building two same-class subs in the same year, the service notes. The Navy pursued the two-per-year sub-building contracts to help curb costs and cut construction times. Electric Boat won the $1.2 billion construction contract in April.
The U.S. Navy is to award Northrop Grumman a contract to supply 28 MQ-8C Fire Scout “rapid deployment capability” (RDC) vertical-takeoff-and-landing unmanned aircraft using the larger Bell 407 helicopter airframe to increase endurance and payload. The notice of intent says the RDC aircraft are to be fielded by the first quarter of 2014 to meet an urgent operational requirement. The Navy has said the “endurance upgrade” Fire Scout is needed to support special operations.
ROCKETDYNE M&A: United Technologies has received potential buyer interest for its rocket engine business, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, and is considering a range of strategic options including a sale of the business, says the president of Pratt & Whitney. David Hess, head of the United Technologies subsidiary, told the Reuters Aerospace and Defense Summit in Washington this week that the end of the U.S.
With the focus on Capitol Hill sharply pointed at deficit reduction, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) is staking out turf as a defender of the Pentagon’s billions. Rep. Buck McKeon’s (R-Calif.) recommendation to the so-called “super committee” tasked with wringing $1.2 trillion from government spending is: “Leave us alone.” Rather than outline a figure of what defense hawks can live with, the armed services committee will be providing information about the effects of possible reductions.
HOUSTON — NASA’s dwindling astronaut ranks may leave the agency unable to adequately live up to its staffing commitments aboard the International Space Station and put a half-century of U.S. human spaceflight experience in jeopardy, according a former NASA associate administrator and chairman of a new National Research Council report on the astronaut corps in the post-shuttle era.
In the wake of taking delivery of its third National Security Cutter (NSC)—the WMSL-752 Stratton—the U.S. Coast Guard saw the Senate Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee approve fiscal year 2012 legislation that includes $1.4 billion for more cutter spending and additional acquisitions, but calls for greater financial oversight by lawmakers.
PARIS — Hispasat will launch its Amazonas-3 telecommunications satellite atop an Ariane 5 rocket in late 2012 or early 2013, the Spanish commercial satellite fleet operator announced Sept. 7. Built by Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) of Palo Alto, Calif., Amazonas-3 is designed to provide 14 kw of power through the end of its 15-year design life. Arianespace will launch the satellite from Europe’s space center in Kourou, French Guiana, into Hispasat’s orbital slot at 61 deg. W. Long. for broadcasts in the Americas and Europe.
While the U.S. Coast Guard is becoming more adept at its missions, the service still can do a better job of buying its ships and other equipment, a recent U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report says. The Coast Guard suffers from the same “limited strategic and program planning” approaches for assessment and evaluation as other parts of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), GAO says in its report, released this week.
LONDON — The U.K. defense industry will gain at least 15% of the value of F-35 Joint Strike Fighter production work, even as the country’s own plans for how many of the stealth fighters to buy remain ill defined.
