While the U.S. Navy intends to cut down on the number of ships it will purchase over the coming three decades, the service’s updated shipbuilding plans will require more money to support the fleet, according to a recent analysis by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). CBO notes that the recent Navy 30-year shipbuilding report—issued in February and covering fiscal years 2011-40—contains “some significant changes in the Navy’s long-term goals for shipbuilding.”
NO FLY: F-35 Joint Strike Fighter flight testing has been halted while Lockheed Martin and the Joint Program Office investigate the cause of a dual generator failure and oil leak in flight that took place March 9. The affected aircraft, F-35A test jet AF-4 at Edwards AFB, Calif., returned to base safely.
DEAD ENGINE?: Connecticut Rep. John Larson (D) and high-profile Sen. Joe Lieberman (I) are publicly encouraging Defense Secretary Robert Gates to exercise his authority to end the General Electric-Rolls Royce F136 alternate engine program for the Lockheed Martin Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) now that Congress appears to be dropping its support for the powerplant. “Now that both the House and Senate have shown that they plan to cancel the alternate engine, it is time we bring this wasteful and unnecessary program to an end,” Lieberman said March 9.
END MEADS: Now that the Pentagon plans to exit the Lockheed Martin Medium Extended Altitude Air Defense System (Meads) in 2014, the National Taxpayers Union is calling on defense officials and lawmakers to immediately terminate the program. The watchdog group said March 9 that there likely would be termination penalties of $500 million to $1 billion for ending the program, but they argued that Washington could swing a better deal than expected with Lockheed, Italy and Germany.
Significant climate changes in the Arctic region are creating a potential military, economic and geopolitical battle zone for which U.S. naval forces appear to be woefully unprepared, according to a new report by the National Academies. The U.S. Navy and Coast Guard should substantially upgrade parts of their fleets to prepare for the disputes over boundaries, natural resources and travel routes that will likely result from the thinning and shrinking polar cap ice coverage caused by climate changes, according to the report, released March 10.
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the aerospace and defense (A&D) industry could heat up this year as companies grapple with declining or flattening defense budgets and reposition themselves for future growth, analysts at investment bank Houlihan Lokey say. A&D companies are cash rich, with access to as much as $189 billion in funding capability, which includes the measure of cash on the balance sheets as well as access to capital for acquisitions, says Jean Stack, director in Houlihan Lokey’s aerospace, defense and government group.
R&D CREDIT: A group of House lawmakers have launched the latest salvo in the elusive, seemingly endless effort to make permanent a U.S. research and development tax credit — a major priority of the aerospace and defense industry, as well as others. Reps. Kevin Brady (R-Texas) and John Larson (D-Conn.) are introducing the so-called American Research and Competitiveness Act of 2011 (H.R. 942), which also would boost the tax credit amount from 14% to 20%. Several companies and trade associations immediately promoted the bill, but its fate is nonetheless uncertain.
NASA engineers will help Ad Astra Rocket Co. mature the design of a flight demonstrator for its 200-kw Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (Vasimr) under a new support agreement between the Houston-based company and Johnson Space Center.
The U.S. Navy did a poor job of estimating costs to homeport a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in Mayport, Fla., according to a recent report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The GAO estimates much lower costs than the Navy did. “Our independent cost estimate suggests that the total one-time cost of homeporting a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier at Naval Station Mayport will be between $258.7 million and $356 million, in base-year 2010 dollars,” the report says.
The U.S. and South Korea have reached a handshake agreement for the sale of the Global Hawk unmanned surveillance aircraft, according to program sources. The sale, which could take place as soon as this year, will include four of the high-flying UAVs. Though the Global Hawk is designed to carry a variety of payloads, including imagery sensors, radars and signals intelligence collectors, South Korea has been approved for the Block 30I version, which includes an electro-optical/infrared system.
May 24-25, 2011 Washington Marriott - Washington, D.C. Managing Cybersecurity, from Policy to Protocol Find out where opportunities exist for the industry and how to effectively thwart potential cyber threats. www.aviationweek.com/events Click here to view the pdf
The U.S. Navy says it prohibits its Virginia-class submarines from operating near diesel-electric submarines during exercises with allied forces for fear that some of the Virginia’s stealthy characteristics could be compromised. The service acknowledged the prohibition in response to concerns raised recently by the Pentagon Office of the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E) about the Virginia sub’s ability to operate in waters with diesel-electric submarines, known as SSKs.
BENGALURU, India — The Indian air force (IAF) recently introduced a new squadron of Sukhoi Su-30MKI aircraft at Chabua air base in Assam in northeast India, on the border with China. The IAF hopes to have 18 Su-30 MKIs once the base becomes fully operational in the next few months. It is the second squadron being raised in the region, following one at Tezpur in 2009.
The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, predicted by the U.S. Navy to cost about $132 million each, could escalate to $450 million per aircraft for the newly truncated Canadian fleet of 65 stealthy fighters if new cost calculations from Canada’s Office of the Parliamentary Budget Office are correct. The office estimates that the total program cost will be $29 billion. “It is not immediately obvious, given the available evidence, how the cost can be reduced to estimates predicted by Lockheed Martin over 10 years ago,” the report says.
SAN FRANCISCO — The first production P-8A Poseidon U.S. Navy anti-submarine warfare fuselage has entered final assembly on the special security line Boeing has established for the program at its 737 factory in Renton, Wash., south of Seattle.
HOUSTON — Shuttle Discovery returned from orbit for the final time on March 9, rolling onto the runway at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Fla., where the 27-year-old spacecraft and her six astronauts received a spirited homecoming. The fleet-leading orbiter touched down on Runway 15 under mostly sunny skies at 11:57 a.m. EST, ending her 39th trip to space with just over 148.2 million mi. on her odometer and an accumulated 365 days in orbit.
LOS ANGELES — Boeing says it currently has no plans to integrate newly acquired military electronics specialists Argon ST into the main Boeing structure, and conversely is actively moving some of its own network and space payload work into the Fairfax, Va.-based operation.
Boeing has completed the preliminary design review (PDR) on the first of three Inmarsat-5 high-power Ka-band spacecraft it is building for the London-based mobile satellite services provider. Boeing is a longtime provider for Inmarsat, having built its Marisat and Inmarsat-2 series; but the new Inmarsat-5 series are the first in which all 89 transponders are dedicated to Ka-band. The spacecraft are based on the Boeing 702HP satellite bus and form the backbone of Inmarsat’s Global Xpress network, which is to provide broadband speeds of 50 mbps.
Aviation Week recognized outstanding individuals and teams for their achievements in aviation, aerospace and defense March 8 during the 54th Annual Laureate Awards dinner in Washington. In addition to Laureates, two individuals were chosen for the Heroism award — Capt. Daniel Aufdenblatten of Air Zermatt and Swiss mountain guide Richard Lehner. The two performed the highest longline aerial rescue of three Spanish climbers on Nepal’s Mount Annapurna.
Airbus Military is setting a gradual production rate ramp-up for the A400M airlifter now that the industrial launch of the program has officially been approved by the project’s management.
As part of a CA$5 billion ($5.1 billion) program to buy three new ground vehicle types and reset its existing tactical vehicle fleet, Canada’s Department of National Defense (DND) has released a list of the prequalified bidders for the Standard Military Pattern Vehicle component of the Medium Support Vehicle System (MSVS) program. The companies that have emerged as prequalified bidders are BAE Systems, Daimler AG, Oshkosh, Navistar Defense Canada, Renault Trucks and Rheinmetall/MAN Military Vehicles Canada. There is no word on the other vehicle types yet.
