Defense contractor DynCorp International announced that it is being acquired by private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, in a $1.5 billion deal that includes assumption of DynCorp’s debt. The two companies announced the deal April 12. Per the tentative agreement, Cerberus will pay DynCorp shareholders $17.55 per share, a 50% premium over the company’s April 9 closing share price of $11.75. DynCorp’s share prices have been recovering from a low of $10.50 in mid-February. The company’s stock price peaked last year at $21.43 in August.
PARIS — The European Space Agency (ESA) has contracted with Eurockot for the launch of two Earth observation missions — Swarm, a constellation of three satellites to be launched in mid-2012 to study the Earth’s magnetic field, and another mission to be named later. Both will be orbited from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia using the Astrium-Khrunichev venture’s Rockot launch vehicle.
LONDON — The ruling Labour Government is committing to the U.K.’s future aircraft carrier program as the heart of a “strong navy” in its election manifesto. Britons go to the polls May 6. While the party is also signed up to hold a Strategic Defense Review if re-elected — as will the conservatives if they take office — the Labour statement on the carrier program would make any change of heart at least highly embarrassing. The party states in its 2010 Manifesto: “We are committed to a strong navy based on the new aircraft carriers.”
India successfully test fired the Brahmos supersonic cruise missile from a vertical launcher on the moving warship INS Ranvir off the Orissa coast on April 11. The launcher is designed to fit under the warship’s deck, protecting it from atmospheric conditions and imparting stealth. It also allows the missile to be turned to cover 360 deg. The missile performed supersonic maneuvers and homed on to the decommissioned target ship INS Meen.
Next-generation aircraft and sensors are being planned that combine surveillance, intelligence gathering, tactical cyber and other electronic attack and directed energy. For example, a burst of high-power microwaves could leave a person unharmed but kill his mobile phone.
LEAD PLEASE: Ahead of President Barack Obama’s highly anticipated Kennedy Space Center speech this week, Aerospace Industries Association chief executive Marion Blakey has petitioned the White House for a detailed plan and unflagging commitment for U.S. space activity. “We require a roadmap for the future, with milestones along the way and a sense of urgency that space exploration is important to our country and proclaims in clear terms that this is who we are as Americans,” Blakey said.
PARIS — Arianespace and its Ariane 5 partners have decided to conduct a quality audit and set up a special task force to determine the underlying reasons for an anomaly that occurred during an April 9 countdown and propose corrective action. The anomaly, in the launch vehicle pressurization system, caused the launch of the German military telecom satellite Comsat Bw-2 and SES’s Astra 3B to be postponed for the second time in as many weeks. An earlier delay on March 26 was caused by an anomaly with an unidentified subsystem.
ARMY L-3 Fuzing and Ordnance Systems, Cincinnati, Ohio, was awarded on March 31 a $24,069,912 firm-fixed-price contract for M762A1. The work is to be performed in Cincinnati, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 30, 2013. Bids were solicited on the World Wide Web with one bid received. Army Contracting Command, Joint Munitions and Lethality Contracting Center, CCJM-CA, Picattinny Arsenal, N.J., is the contracting activity (W15QKN-09-C-0050).
LONDON — BAE Systems ranked first in arms sales, leading the way ahead of Lockheed Martin and displacing Boeing, which dropped to number three in the latest ranking produced by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). The SIPRI data reflects 2008 sales. It is the first time a non-U.S. company leads the pack. According to SIPRI analyst Susan Jackson, the situation “really shows the increasing internationalization of the arms industry and the attractiveness of the U.S. market.”
E-Green Technologies is nearing completion of a 235-ft.-long helium airship intended for communications, surveillance and other missions as the U.S. Air Force canvasses industry on the feasibility of an even larger medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) airship. The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) has issued a request for information on airship concepts able to carry a 2,500-4,500-lb. payload to 20,000-25,000 ft. altitude, with a maximum speed up to 80 kt. and a loiter speed of around 35 kt.
As it rolls out its first production MQM-171A BroadSword tactical-class UAV target, Griffon Aerospace reports increasing interest in the low-cost air vehicle for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions. Madison, Ala.-based Griffon is producing an initial 20 BroadSwords, plus launchers and control stations, for the U.S. Army’s simulation, training and instrumentation program office under a contract awarded in August 2009.
ROMANIAN TRANSPORT: The first two Romanian air force C-27J tactical transports are now at Bucharest, where they will be based. The aircraft are the initial tranche of seven aircraft Romania ordered in 2007 to replace Soviet-era airlifters. The C-27J is assigned to the 90th Transport air base at Bucharest-Otopeni Airport, according to aircraft maker Alenia Aeronautica. The manufacturer notes that even though advanced training is unfolding for crew and maintenance personnel, actual operations are starting right away.
LCH FLIES: Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.’s first Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) technology demonstrator made its first flight on March 29. The 20-minute flight provided the pilots an opportunity to carry out low-speed, low-altitude checks.
INDIA VISIT: Adm. Gary Roughead, Chief of Naval Operations of the U.S. Navy, is visiting India through April 16 at the invitation of Adm. Nirmal Verma, India’s chief of naval staff. Roughead also will be visiting various naval ships and establishments in Mumbai and Goa and training establishments in Kochi. Meanwhile, the next edition of the MALABAR series of exercises is scheduled from April 23 to May 2. Four capital warships and one submarine and a few aircraft from each side are scheduled to participate.
NEW DELHI — ITT Defense International is focusing its efforts on the Indian market with the opening of an office here April 9. “We are very excited,” said Lt. Gen. (ret.) David Melcher, president of ITT Defense & Information Solutions. “India is the largest [growing] market in the world. ITT can be a great partner in that.” While ITT is advocating its Automatic Dependent Surveillance - Broadcast (ADS-B) system to India’s ministry of civil aviation, in the defense arena the company expects its night vision devices to attract interest.
AFGHANISTAN’S AIRCRAFT: The fleet of the Afghan National Army Air Corps (Anaac) is slated to increase by another 21 rotorcraft, with three more L-39C jet trainers also likely to be acquired. The U.S. government, through U.S. Naval Air Systems Command, says it plans to award a fixed-price contract for 21 Mi‑17V5s or Mi-171/172s. The helicopters are to be delivered to Kabul International Airport within two years of contract award. In parallel, the Pentagon is looking to buy three L-39Cs to augment the inventory of the Czech-made trainer now in the Anaac inventory.
DENIAL OF SERVICE: Israel’s preparations for its communications and military networks to be disabled by electronic attack in future conflicts are being taken to heart by the U.S. “We also are making sure that we can still fight with our networks degraded,” says Maj. Gen. Tom Andersen, director of requirements at Air Combat Command. “There are a couple of major projects that commanders are focused on. One that reported out at the four-star and service secretary level was the ability to operate in denied environments.
LONDON — The British Defense Ministry is rejecting parliamentary allegations that it was “unhelpful” and “obstructive” in discussing a multibillion-pound hole in its procurement budget. The British Parliament’s Defense Committee made clear its “disappointment” over how the Defense Ministry addressed the issue during its hearings in its Defense Equipment 2010 report.
A series of demonstrators is being planned by the U.S. Air Force to mature technology for the Reusable Booster System (RBS), its chosen replacement for the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) family beyond 2025. The first of the demonstrators, the Air Force Research Laboratory’s (AFRL) RBS Pathfinder, is planned to fly in 2013 to evaluate the “rocket-back” maneuver that would enable the unmanned first-stage booster to return to a runway landing at the launch site.
