RISING ORDERS: A U.S. State Department order for two upgraded S-61 utility helicopters for use in Afghanistan for drug interdiction brings the total purchased to 17. Earlier this year State signed an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract with United Technologies’ Sikorsky for up to 110 upgraded S-61s aircraft for passenger and cargo transport operations worldwide.
SEVILLE, Spain — The fourth Airbus Military A400M Grizzly is expected to join the flight-test program before the end of the year as the manufacturer faces an intense flying program in 2011 to keep certification on schedule. Three of the five development A400Ms are currently flying, and have accumulated 672 hr. of the 2,700 hr. planned for the civil certification program. The fourth should be airborne before the end of the year, says Fernando Alonso, Airbus senior vice president for flight and integration testing.
PARIS — Sea Launch has successfully completed a 16-month Chapter 11 reorganization that will allow it to resume operations early next year free of debt. The reorganization, approved by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., followed approval of the company’s acquisition by Energia Overseas Ltd. (EOL), a unit of Russian space contractor Energia, by the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment. Clearance of the acquisition, which cedes majority ownership to EOL, was obtained on Sept. 8.
PAINfUL CUTS: The U.S. Army has found it particularly difficult to meet new reduction goals in services contracting because it already was trying to pare programs for several years, according to Gen. Peter Chiarelli, Army vice chief of staff. “We felt we were already there, so a lot of these cuts were particularly difficult for us to find in the ‘tail,’” he told attendees at the Association of the U.S. Army conference Oct. 26 in Washington.
L-3 Communications reported a strong third quarter, with revenues of $3.8 million, operating income of $437 million and a strong margin of 11.4%, but the company’s guidance for next year anticipates flat sales and slightly softer margins.
BRUSSELS — Thales Alenia Space says a $2.2 billion contract for 81 Iridium second-generation satellites is now in full effect, following finalization of financing. Iridium announced last week that it had closed a credit facility backed by French export credit agency Coface that underwrites satellite design and construction of the spacecraft, including 66 operational satellites, six in-orbit spares and nine ground spares. Coface gave its final approval to the contract guarantee earlier this month.
LONDON — NATO has signed a contract with ViaSat to provide satellite groundlink capability under a deal worth around €10 million ($13.9 million). The money, put forward by the NATO Consultation, Command and Control Agency (NC3A) covers UHF Demand Assigned Multiple Access network control stations (NCS). NATO says it is buying equipment for two fixed-NCS sites in Belgium and Italy, as well as another to be deployable.
Issues with a propellant sample that did not meet specifications have prompted the launch team for the COSMO-SkyMed4 mission to postpone the launch from Oct. 29 until Oct. 31 at Vandenberg AFB, Calif. Built by Thales Alenia for Thailand’s space agency on behalf of the country’s ministry of defense, the spacecraft will be launched on a United Launch Alliance Delta II under a contract administered by Boeing Launch Services.
MEDIA AWARD: Frank Morring Jr., AVIATION WEEK’s senior editor for space, has received the 2010 Von Braun Memorial Dinner’s Media Award. Morring received the award Oct. 27 from the National Space Club-Huntsville, Ala., chapter during its 22nd Annual Dr. Wernher von Braun Memorial Celebration.
NEW DELHI – As President Barack Obama’s visit to India draws closer, Lockheed Martin is talking up its offering for the Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) competition.
International sales continue to fuel Raytheon’s results, rising 11% in the third quarter to comprise 24% of the company’s sales. International sales should account for between 22% and 24% of Raytheon’s sales next year, CEO William Swanson told analysts on Oct. 28. “The threat environment remains high in the Middle East and Asia,” and these countries have resources to protect themselves, he notes.
MOSCOW — The Russian air force expects to grow its fleet of Ansat-U light training helicopters to seven units by year’s end, with five helos of the type already handed over to the Syzran air force academy. The training assets were delivered Oct. 8 and Oct. 20. Russian air force commander Col. Gen. Alexander Zelin promises that the helicopters will gradually replace aging Mil Mi-2 light helicopters as the rotorcraft used for initial pilot training in the military academies.
Singapore is expected to issue a request for proposals next year for new logistics vehicles — trucks that can be readily adapted to unmanned operation. “It’s the first time we have seen that in an official bid document,” says Ron Ziebell, vice president for international programs at Oshkosh Defense.
SEVILLE, Spain — Airbus Military expects the remaining test flights for the Royal Australian Air Force’s A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) aircraft will be completed by early November, clearing the way for deliveries to begin before year’s end.
CAPE CANAVERAL — Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) is awaiting an FAA license to fly its Dragon capsule through the atmosphere, following launch on a Falcon 9 rocket targeted for Nov. 18 from Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla. The launch license was granted Oct. 15. The pending re-entry license will be the first ever issued by FAA, according to George Nield, FAA’s associate administrator for Commercial Space Transportation.
BETTER 2012: Nervous defense contractors may be heartened by a better-than-once-expected Fiscal 2012 defense budget request, according to Wall Street analysts at RBC Capital Markets, who say there may not be much in the way of immediate “savings” from Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ five-year, $101 billion cost-saving campaign. “Based on our conversations, we think the core budget request for FY12 will likely be roughly $550 billion, below the $560 billion expected in last year’s [five-year defense budget plan].
General Dynamics and Israel Military Industries are close to an agreement under which GD will market IMI’s Bright Arrow active protection system for armored vehicles, according to GD officials, and the system has just completed a round of tests in the U.S.
BRUSSELS — The European Commission (EC) has tapped a German-Italian team to operate the Galileo satellite navigation constellation. The €194 million ($268 million) award — the fourth for the deployment phase of Galileo, known as the full operating capability (FOC) — will ensure operation of Galileo space and ground assets through initial deployment, which starts in 2014. The initial operating capability will include 14 FOC satellites and four in-orbit validation (IOV) spacecraft currently in development.
Crews will have lived on board the International Space Station (ISS) continuously for 10 years as of Nov. 2, just barely surpassing the record set by Russia’s Mir orbital station.
General Dynamics reported $649 million in third-quarter earnings, up 12.9% from the same period in 2009, on the strength of its aerospace and defense businesses. The Aerospace and Combat Systems units drove margins growth up 12.1% for the quarter. “Margins remain strong across the corporation, and the quality of earnings was underscored by strong free cash flow,” CEO Jay Johnson says. Free cash flow for the quarter was $784 million, and the company has been repurchasing shares.
PARIS — EADS units Astrium and Eurocopter have struck two strategic agreements with Kazakhstan that will give them an industrial and engineering footprint in the big Central Asian country while allowing the Kazakhs to develop an indigenous aerospace capability. The agreements, part of a broad cooperation accord concluded by the two countries last year, were signed Oct. 26 during an official visit by President Nursultan Nazarbayev to Paris.
PARIS — Although the U.K. has not made missile defense a major topic of discussion in its strategic thinking, the government is throwing its support behind an expanded role in this field for the NATO alliance.
PARIS — The French defense ministry is aiming to award a contract by the end of the year to a team of Thales and Dassault to define the strategy for upgrading Atlantique 2 maritime patrol aircraft. The goal is to extend service life well past 2030, which will require airframe and systems improvements. The program is about two years behind schedule, as it has taken longer to define the plans and there has been a shortage of funding.
