LOCKHEED M&A: Faced with worries about shrinking U.S. military spending and weak share prices as a result, the world’s largest defense contractor, Lockheed Martin, will host a board meeting later this month to discuss improving investor returns — including share buybacks, dividends and acquisitions — CEO Robert Stevens told the Reuters Aerospace and Defense Summit in Washington this week. Acquisitions will play a part, but the company is cautious about overpaying for assets, Stevens told Reuters.
LONDON — Turkey is making good on its commitment to explore the feasibility of developing its own fighter aircraft, with the government signing off on a two-year study contract. Government-owned Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) also is looking at potential jet trainer conceptual designs. The deal was signed by TAI and procurement and industrial agency SSM.
Aerospace & Defense Programs October 24-26, 2011 Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa, Phoenix, AZ Strategic Performance, Innovation and Sourcing will focus on government customers — from the initiation of development throughout delivery of product. A&D Programs will bring together these professionals who wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity to interact and discuss common challenges and issues they face on a daily basis.
The U.S. Navy Program Executive Office for Integrated Warfare Systems (PEO IWS) will now acquire MK 41 Vertical Launching System (VLS) launcher module mechanical structures for fiscal 2010-12 directly from the subcontractor and assume the role of major systems integrator, the Navy acknowledged Sept. 1. The PEO IWS is making the change to “gain efficiencies” with the program, the Navy said in a statement.
SINGAPORE — Cambodia’s government plans to buy the Harbin Z-9, a military utility helicopter from China. The contract between China and Cambodia has been signed, but it is “an open contract because there are some terms and conditions” that have to be fulfilled before the sale is completed, says a senior official from China’s Avic, who is familiar with the situation. Avic is the parent company of Harbin Aircraft, which manufactures the Z-9.
ARMY Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., Stratford, Conn., was awarded a $265,646,071 firm-fixed-price contract. The award will provide for the procurement of 22 UH-60M aircraft and one HH-60M aircraft. The work will be performed in Stratford, with an estimated completion date of March 31, 2013. One bid was solicited, with one bid received. The U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., is the contracting activity (W58RGZ-08-C-0003).
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Virgin Galactic’s chief test pilot has flown the WhiteKnightTwo (WK2) carrier aircraft for the first time as part of the buildup to the start of rocket-powered test flights for the SpaceShipTwo suborbital passenger vehicle.
NEW DELHI — The Indian Air Force (IAF) lost yet another MiG-21 fighter jet in a crash Sept. 6, nearly a week after the chief of the service announced that only experienced pilots will be allowed to fly the Soviet-era aircraft starting next year. The combat aircraft crashed when the rookie pilot was on a routine training sortie in northern India’s Punjab province. The pilot bailed out safely.
LONDON — With the U.K. government still debating its defense industrial white paper, there are increasing calls from industry for clarity, particularly when it comes to the science and technology (S&T) program. Without that planning guidance, “the biggest issue today is you don’t know what is on and what is off,” making it hard to make workforce decisions, says Qinetiq CEO Leo Quinn. He urges the government to devise “a coherent S&T policy,” warning that “you can’t just take a capability holiday.”
HOUSTON — Soyuz missions to the International Space Station with new crewmembers, stalled by the Aug. 24 loss of the Russian 44 Progress resupply mission, are tentatively scheduled to resume in late October and early November, according to NASA.
U.K. TRAINER: The U.K. program to modernize part of the country’s fixed-wing and rotorcraft training fleet is slated to kick into high gear again in December. The modernization is part of the Military Flying Training System program being managed by the Ascent Flight Training joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Babcock International. Peter Luff, minister for defense equipment, support and technology, tells Parliament that the request for proposals for aircraft service provisions is due in December. The downselect is planned for mid-2012.
The U.S. Navy took some marked strides toward deploying a more advanced Arleigh Burke-class destroyer fleet at the start of this month with the first voyage of DDG-111 Spruance, the first new-construction vessel of its class with an upgraded machinery control system. The system minimizes problems caused by obsolescence by leveraging open architecture and helping reduce total ownership costs (TOC), according to the Navy.
LONDON — The U.K. Royal Air Force should see the first elements of a new systems enhancements program for its E-3D AWACS aircraft starting next year, with additional efforts to sustain the airborne early warning fleet to follow in the coming years. The program now under way is a downscaled version of the so-called Project Eagle, which would have been a far more extensive system upgrade. But with financial resources tight, the focus now is on assuring the fleet can be sustained until at least 2025 by addressing parts obsolescence and key mission needs.
Unmanned cargo aircraft have moved a step closer to deployment with the completion of an assessment of the readiness of the Lockheed Martin/Kaman K-Max to be deployed to Afghanistan to resupply remote U.S. Marine Corps bases.
SINGAPORE — U.S. defense cuts have led major players such as Lockheed Martin to try to make up for some of the revenue shortfall by investing in their commercial satellite businesses, Arianespace Chairman and CEO Jean-Yves Le Gall observes.
PATUXENT RIVER, Md. — The U.S. Army and NASA are preparing to flight test autonomous rotorcraft technologies on the JUH-60A Rascal fly-by-wire testbed helicopter operated by the Aeroflightdynamics Directorate (AFDD) at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California. Autonomous waypoint navigation, obstacle avoidance and landing-site selection have already being demonstrated by AFDD using two Yamaha RMAX small unmanned helicopters, and the capabilities are now being transferred to the fly-by-wire Black Hawk.
The fiscal 2012 budget may begin to take shape this week when Congress returns from the August recess, but it’s unlikely to offer near-term certainty or good news. Analysts are already predicting that with just a few weeks left in the fiscal year, Congress will have to pass a continuing resolution that keeps funding at fiscal 2011 levels for some period of time.
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill may be far apart when it comes to the future of defense spending, but it turns out not even key House Republicans are on the same page, according to an Aviation Week Intelligence Network review of the standing House defense bills. In the House committee markup of the Pentagon’s 2012 request, appropriators agreed with authorizers’ changes only 6% of the time. (See charts pp. 7-9.)
