As the U.S. Navy approaches the decision point on a sea frame for its Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessment (CSBA) is evaluating possible concepts of operation for the ship once it enters the fleet. Martin Murphy, author of the LCS study, posits that the Navy never really understood how the ships were intended to be used operationally because the designs never passed through the normal requirements process.
DOD Presolicitations DOD Presolicitations Date of Posting Response Date Opportunity Segment Procurement Office Solicitation Code Contact E-mail 09-Mar-10 08-Apr-10 Engineering technical services and systems development Professional, administrative, and
NEAL AWARD: The Aviation Week Intelligence Network (AWIN) has won the 2010 Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Award for the best Web site in its revenue category. In presenting the award March 11 at an American Business Media luncheon in New York, the judges found AWIN broad and “very well organized” across airlines, defense, space, business aviation and maintenance, repair and overhaul.
Cyber- and electronic warfare specialists contend that there is a yawning chasm between strategic network operations and electronic attack from tactical aircraft even though they are often described in similar terms. “There is a lot of contractor hype,” says a longtime U.S. Air Force airborne electronic attack specialist. “Most of what is described as combining jamming and cyber is nothing more then the subtleties of smart jamming.
PRE-OWNED: The Peruvian government has entered an agreement with the Netherlands to buy two Fokker 60 maritime patrol aircraft (MPA). The Dutch defense ministry in 2004 already decided to try to dispose of four of the MPAs. As part of the package, the Peruvian government also will buy some spares equipment, as well as training of both pilots and maintenance personnel. At the request of the Peruvian government, the Dutch defense ministry is not disclosing the financial terms of the deal.
MILSAT READY: The second satellite for Germany’s Satcom BW Stage 2 military communications satellite network — Comsat Bw-2 — has entered integration for a March 24 Ariane 5 ECA launch. The mission — the second of the year for the Ariane 5 — also will send aloft the Astra 3B commercial telecom spacecraft. Comsat BW-1, Germany’s first dedicated military telecom satellite, was orbited on Oct. 1.
Intelsat has reported record revenues of $2.5 billion in 2009 (up 6 percent over the year before), and a 7 percent boost in EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization), to $2 billion.
LONDON — The British Labour Government will review its 2005 Defense Industrial Strategy as an integral element of a full-blown strategic review, due to be launched immediately after a general election. Paul Drayson, minister for defense acquisition reform, said the second iteration of the defense industrial strategy (DIS2) “will be fully integrated with the Strategic Defense Review (SDR). The starting point has to be the top-level decisions about future roles for the armed forces, before considering how to deliver associated capabilities.”
Mobile satellite service (MSS) leader Inmarsat posted strong results again last year, showing that it will remain a force to be reckoned with as new players enter the fast-growing MSS market. In 2009 results posted March 9, the London-based company disclosed a 4.2 percent increase in revenues, to $1.04 billion, and an 11 percent improvement in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, to $594.2 million. Free cash flow shot up 54 percent, to $349 million.
NEW DELHI — The prototype of the naval variant of the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) being built for India’s aircraft carrier has lagged behind schedule due to various development requirements, Defense Minister A.K. Antony said in parliament March 10.
Engineers at Space Exploration Technologies Inc. (SpaceX) are reviewing data after an automatic abort of its nine-engine Falcon 9 launch vehicle on the pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., on March 9. The engines did not ignite for a planned 3.5-second static test, although flames appeared briefly beneath the rocket on the pad at Launch Complex 40, and a cloud of black smoke drifted away from the kerosene-fueled launch vehicle.
EADS North America Chief Executive Officer Sean O’Keefe says that while his company has built up its capacity to manage its first Pentagon prime contract — the UH-72A helicopter — its abilities are not mature enough to justify going it alone on a bid for the massive U.S. Air Force KC-X tanker contract.
The Swedish defense procurement agency FMV has awarded Saab another 2 billion Swedish kronor ($280 million) contract for further work on Gripen upgrades, including the integration of the Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) on the fighter. The contract is just the latest in a series of upgrades that FMV has ordered to meet the Swedish air force’s needs. Although the program will unfold over a roughly four-year period, as in previous instances the capabilities will be rolled out to the fleet as they become available.
LOS ANGELES — The responsive space initiative to develop affordable, lower-cost space missions may be in danger of failing unless progress speeds up, according to industry delegates at the 2010 Responsive Space (RS) conference here.
NEW DELHI — Even as trials for India’s 126 Medium Multirole Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) draw to a close, the drama continues. The Gripen IN, Saab’s Indian proposed variant of the next-generation fighter, recently made an appearance in Bangalore, Jaisalmer and Leh for trials — but in the form of two twin-seat Gripen Ds.
GRAB SOMETHING: With funds for a Mobile Landing Platform in the U.S. Navy’s Fiscal 2011 request, the sea service is busy with risk-reduction efforts toward a cornerstone capability of its future, massive seabasing vision: the ability to transfer large numbers of people and amounts of material between large surface vessels in all kinds of sea states. The Navy said last week it completed an at-sea exercise Feb.
PARIS — The U.K. Ministry of Defense has decided to acquire a fourth Skynet 5 spacecraft and to extend the contract for supply of services from the Skynet constellation by two additional years, to 2022. The 400 million pound ($600 million) extension will bring the total value of the private financing initiative (PFI) to 3.6 billion pounds ($5.4 billion).
Boeing has won the U.S. competition to convert surplus Lockheed Martin F-16 fighters into drones to replace the QF-4s now used as full-scale aerial targets for weapon-system testing. The company has received a $69.7 million U.S. Air Force contract for the first phase of the QF-16 program, covering engineering, manufacturing and development. Most of that will occur in St. Louis, while flight testing and production will occur at Boeing’s plant in Cecil Field, Fla.
PARIS — EADS will not mount a solo bid for the U.S. Air Force KC-X tanker program, ending the company’s highest-profile effort to grow its footprint in the U.S. market. EADS CEO Louis Gallois ruled out a solo bid on March 9, a day after the Northrop Grumman-led team involving EADS and the Airbus A330 said it would not respond to the Pentagon’s request for proposals, saying the tender favored the Boeing-offered KC-767 (Aerospace DAILY, March 9). He also rejected the notion of partnering with someone else.
Foreign suppliers are turning to joint ventures with Indian manufacturers as one way to satisfy the country’s technology offset requirements, but they want caps on ownership levels loosened. India has about $50 billion in procurement contracts identified for the near term, although so far negotiations are under way covering some $2 billion. Thus far, offset levels for them are just $43 million, but more are expected.
Iran’s claim that the Nasr 1 anti-ship missile is entering series production is indicative of a continuing relationship between Tehran and Beijing in the tactical guided-weapons arena. The Nasr 1 appears identical to the Chinese C-704 anti-ship weapon unveiled at the 2008 Zhuhai air show. Mock-ups of several variants of the C-704 were on display, while brochure material gave basic performance parameters for the weapon, with imagery of a “production batch” of the missile.
