ARMY Boeing Co., Mesa, Ariz., was awarded on Oct. 29 a $141,701,518 firm-fixed-price contract for advanced procurement for the manufacture of 31 AH-64D model aircraft and two fixed-site Longbow crew trainers matching the Taiwan AH-640 aircraft configuration. The work is to be performed in Mesa, with an estimated completion date of July 30, 2015. One bid was solicited with one bid received. AMCOM Contracting Center is the contracting activity (W58RGZ-09-G-0147). AIR FORCE
SINGAPORE—Indonesia has decided to acquire the Embraer EMB-314 Super Tucano light-attack aircraft. The country plans to order eight aircraft for the Indonesian air force, which is replacing its Rockwell OV-10 Broncos, according to Embraer. The Broncos were built in the 1960s and most are no longer operational.
MRAP OPTION: EG&G Technical Services Inc. of Stafford, Va., has been awarded a $22,090,818 modification to a previously awarded time-and-material contract to exercise option year one for the procurement of Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle contract support services, the Defense Department announced Nov. 15. The contract will support the MRAP program in the following areas: program management, acquisition, systems engineering, test and evaluation, logistics, safety, quality, and administrative support.
NUCLEAR STICK: After months of criticism by U.S. skeptics of the New Start nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia, proponents of the deal are sounding their own warnings: if critics stop Senate ratification, then the Obama administration does not have to make promised investments in nuclear facilities. While some conservatives outright oppose New Start, others see ratification as a lever to force long-sought funding and high-level attention to nuclear research labs, pits, workforce, weapons designs and other infrastructure.
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, vowing to fight for an early flight of Orbital Science Corp.’s Taurus II launch vehicle, says he can foresee the day when human spaceflight is controlled from the company’s office-building campus near Washington Dulles International Airport.
IIB COMPETITION: Raytheon, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman are all throwing their hats in the ring in response to the Missile Defense Agency’s request for proposals for the so-called SM-3 Block IIB long-range ballistic missile killer. The Next-Generation Aegis Missile, formerly dubbed the SM3-IIB, is the final pillar of the Phased Adaptive Approach plan designed to protect parts of Europe and North America from ballistic missile threats from Iran. It is slated for fielding as early as 2020, and a winner will be announced in 2011.
BEIJING — Shanghai-based space contractor SAST says it is progressing so smoothly with development of the Long March 6 light satellite launcher that the rocket may beat its larger cousin, the Long March 5, into service. Long March 6 will be able to loft 1,000-kg. (2,200-lb.) payloads to an orbit of 600 km. (370 mi.) altitude, SAST Vice President Meng Guang says, briefing a delegation from the U.S. space industry on the company’s progress.
ORS AWARDS: NASA has chosen five companies to receive a contract for Modular Space Vehicles. Acting as a contracting agent for the Pentagon’s Operationally Responsive Space (ORS) Office, NASA selected ATK Space Systems in Beltsville, Md.; Miltec in Huntsville, Ala.; Northrop Grumman Systems in Redondo Beach, Calif.; PnP Innovations in Albuquerque, N.M.; and Sierra Nevada in Sparks, Nev. The five-year, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity, cost-plus fixed-fee deals—worth up to $500 million total—took effect Nov. 10 when they were announced.
Rockwell Collins has demonstrated its damage-tolerant flight controls can increase the safety of an in-production unmanned aircraft, with a series of flights on the U.S. Army’s AAI RQ-7 Shadow tactical UAV. The damage-tolerance software was loaded onto the Shadow’s Rockwell Collins-supplied Athena flight-control computer and several flights were conducted to demonstrate safe recovery and landing after various flight control and engine failures, including losing part of the wing.
ASIAN LAND: The Asia Pacific land defense systems market will reach $9.4 billion in 2016, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 9.7% from 2009 to then. But Kunal Sinha, a Frost & Sullivan Asia Pacific consultant in the group’s aerospace and defense practice, indicates that markets will be uneven. High procurement costs are deterring smaller nations from upgrading their land defense systems, for instance, even as larger, more developed countries plow ahead in research and development.
SIGINT TEST SET: The U.S. Air Force plans to begin flight testing a new signals intelligence collection prototype by next summer on a Convair C-131, according to officials at the Air Force’s Aeronautical Systems Center (ASC). The pod will eventually be integrated onto the Air Force’s General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aircraft, which is in high demand for intelligence collection in Afghanistan. Northrop Grumman won a $24 million contract Nov. 1 to develop the pod-mounted prototype for the Reaper. Thus far, $17 million has been obligated.
Senior U.S. defense and Lockheed Martin officials have wrapped up a semi-annual Joint Executive Steering Board meeting with international Joint Strike Fighter partners in Rome, a defense official says. The Nov. 11 session came just after the chairmen of a White House-chartered deficit-reduction commission proposed sharply curtailing U.S. orders for the single-engine F-35.
TURKISH TURN: Turkish Technik is branching out into the design side of manufacturing as part of its 2010-2015 strategic plan to double revenue, potentially moving from just commercial maintenance repair and overhaul work and into defense. The company wants to design its own tools instead of buying them, as well as designing cabin interiors, trolleys, seats and galleys.
AEROSPACE UP: Concerns over China’s and North Korea’s military buildups and ongoing Indian-Pakistan tensions will help drive Asia Pacific’s military aerospace procurement to $70.64 billion by 2016, according to Kunal Sinha, a Frost & Sullivan Asia Pacific consultant in the group’s aerospace and defense practice. Sinha says the market will see a compound annual growth rate of 5.8% from 2010 to 2016, with newfound humanitarian missions adding to traditional military requirements in driving military aerospace spending.
NEWPORT RIF: Northrop Grumman will lay off about 380 salaried workers at its Newport News, Va., shipyard complex in what is the first reduction there in more than a decade, the company said Nov. 12. Matt Mulherin, vice president and general manager of Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding-Newport News, called it a “very difficult decision,” but said it was necessary to hold down costs for the company and the U.S. Navy. “This is a necessary step to improve efficiency across the organization,” he said.
Australia and the United States will work together to develop options for increased U.S. access to Australian training, exercise and test ranges, consider prepositioning of U.S. equipment in Australia, and develop options for greater U.S. use of Australian facilities and ports, Australian Defense Minister Stephen Smith said Nov. 10.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) Nov. 16 - 21 — AVIATION WEEK Airshow China, Zhuahai. For more information go to http://www.aviationweek.com/events Nov. 18 - 19 — Air Force Association’s Global Warfare Symposium, “Adapting to Challenges and Exploiting Opportunities,” The Beverly Hilton, Beverly Hills, Calif. For more information go to www.afa.org/events/NatlSymp/2010/default.asp
SECURITY BOOM: Service providers—not hardware suppliers—will dominate the U.S. homeland security landscape in the near future, according to Kunal Sinha, a Frost & Sullivan Asia Pacific consultant in the group’s aerospace and defense practice. For instance, the Obama administration’s plans for the Defense Department’s homeland defense budget have allocated a majority of funding toward security, enforcement and investigations mission areas. The overall homeland security budget has grown 6.2% from 2008-09.
LONDON – The U.S. Defense Department says foreign military sales (FMS) for the past fiscal year reached $25.2 billion, with another $6.4 billion in other security cooperation deals. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency notes that its combined deals now topped $30 billion for the third straight year. The FMS total is slightly below the level achieved in the prior two years, although still well above the five-year average. The combined Fiscal 2010 total of $31.6 billion also is a drop-off from the more than $37.9 billion in sales seen last year.
Boeing has moved into a permanent production line at Boeing Field in Seattle for installation of mission systems into the 737-800 platforms used for the U.S. Navy’s P-8 maritime patrol aircraft. The new line is located in the 14-10 bay, commonly called the Thompson Building, which has served multiple uses over the years, including 737 assembly facility and B-2 bomber wing production.
There appears to be an emerging upside – improved intelligence gathering – to London’s defense budget cutting. Operationally, British forces may be linked to those of France to compensate for shortages in unmanned reconnaissance, strike aircraft, aircraft carriers, troops and airlift. The value of that merger is being questioned because the strength of the military and defense spending is slipping in both countries.
Bengaluru – India last week successfully flight tested the indigenously designed and developed Kaveri engine during Flying Test Bed (FTB) trials at the Gromov Flight Research Institute (GFRI) in Russia. In its first flight, the engine flew for more than one hour up to at an altitude of 6,000 meters (19,685.04 ft.) at a speed of Mach 0.6. Engine control, performance and health during the flight were found to be excellent. With this test, the Kaveri engine has now completed a major milestone of the development program.
