LONDON — Russia’s helicopter industry reports an increase in output for last year, with Mi-8s and their derivatives dominating the delivery total. What’s more, Russian Helicopters, which consolidated the country’s helicopter manufacturers, says that more than 50 percent of deliveries in the past year went to customers outside Russia. Overall, the rotorcraft producing companies — Ulan-Ude, Kazan, Kumertau, Rostvertol, and Progress — delivered 183 units last year, 14 more than the year before. The figure includes Russian military handovers.
ORLANDO, Fla. — The U.S. Air Force is hoping to have close involvement early in the planning for the Precision Tracking and Surveillance System (PTSS), which is a new ballistic missile midcourse tracking spacecraft program being devised by the Missile Defense Agency (MDA).
The Swiss military is suffering logistics problems as it tries to introduce a new electronic system that is supposed to make the support of forces more efficient. The defense ministry says that the new information system, called Logistic@V, was introduced at the start of the year to improve logistics flow within the armed forces. However, the introduction has not been seamless, forcing the defense ministry to acknowledge that some units will have to expect gaps in supply or late deliveries as teething problems are ironed out.
BRIGADE AND BELOW: The U.S. Army has completed formal evaluation of the newest software version of Northrop Grumman’s Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below (FBCB2) in preparation for a possible fielding late this summer. Field testing of the new software, called Joint Capabilities Release (JCR), was conducted at Fort Hood, Texas, between September and November 2009.
ARMY AAI Corp., Hunt Valley, Md., was awarded on Feb. 22, 2010, a $23,698,842 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for Shadow Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System performance based logistics incremental funding. The work is to be performed in Hunt Valley, with an estimated completion date of Oct. 31, 2010. One bid was solicited with one bid received. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Aviation & Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., is the contracting activity (W58RGZ-10-C-0006).
Pratt & Whitney has informed one of its unions that it will be laying off 163 of its members at the same time it appeals a court ruling that prevented it from closing its Connecticut plants and moving those jobs and others to Georgia and overseas. The company informed the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) Feb. 23 that it will be dropping 119 IAM-represented positions at its Cheshire overhaul facility and 44 in East Hartford, with 34 of those coming from its Connecticut Airfoil Repair Operations (CARO).
Boeing officials plan to begin taxi tests on the company’s Phantom Ray demonstrator in July, a slight delay from earlier plans, but first flight is still targeted for December 2010, according Darryl Davis, Boeing Phantom Works president.
ARMY AMTEC Corp., Janesville, Wis., was awarded a $33,676,800 firm-fixed-price contract for 40mm grenade family systems contract for fiscal 2010 through 2014. Work is to be performed in Janesville, with an estimated completion date of September 2014. Bids were solicited on the Web with two received. Rock Island Contracting Center, Army Contracting Command, Rock Island, Ill., is the contracting activity (W52P1J-10-C-0013). NAVY
While China has worked with the United States in stopping terrorism, the Chinese have not gone all-out in working with their U.S. counterparts to battle terrorists, a recent Congressional Research Service (CRS) report says. Still, the aid has helped solidify U.S.-Sino relationships, according to CRS. “The extent of U.S.-China counterterrorism cooperation has been limited, but the tone and context of counterterrorism helped to stabilize — even if it did not transform — the closer bilateral relationship,” CRS says in its January report.
FRENCH FCS: France is kicking off definition of a system of systems to tie future air- and ground-based army units into a network-based combat capability — the French equivalent of the U.S. Army’s canceled Future Combat Systems. The 4-5 billion euro ($5.6 billion - $7 billion) project aims to equip 18 battle groups with new infantry fighting vehicles and light tanks, upgraded main battle tanks and other gear — but so far no aerial hardware — connected by a single communications system.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) March 3 - 4 — ADTS Aerospace & Defence Training Show, Airport Expo, Dubai, UAE. For more information go to www.adts.aero/ March 8 - 11 — 8th Responsive Space Conference, LAX Westin Hotel, Los Angeles, Calif. For more information go to www.responsivespace.com
The U.S. Air Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center at Los Angeles Air Force Base has awarded the Next Generation GPS Control Segment (OCX) program to Raytheon Intelligence & Information Systems of Aurora, Colo. Raytheon beat a rival Northrop Grumman team for the $886 million, 73-month development contract, which represents the first two OSX development blocks.
LONDON — Senior British and French government officials met in Paris recently to carry on discussions over potential collaboration in meeting the two countries’ respective medium altitude long endurance unmanned aerial vehicle needs. Quentin Davies, U.K. minister for defense equipment and support, told Parliament he had met with “my French counterpart, the head of the DGA [Laurent Collet-Billon],” to discuss options for working together in this area. He added that he had held similar talks “with my Italian opposite number.”
INCORRECT ASSUMPTIONS: The extent of the gap between the U.K.’s recent military helicopter acquisition aspirations and available funding is clear in the government‘s response last week to a Parliamentary report on helicopter capability. The budget profile for the now-shelved Future Medium Helicopter project and its Puma and Sea King Mk4 fleet life extension programs would have resulted in a “substantial gap in lift helicopter numbers from 2012 until at least 2017,” according to the British government.
Lawmakers say funding the General Electric/Rolls Royce F136 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) alternate engine is “cost neutral” to pursuing a single Pratt & Whitney F135 model due to savings expected through the competitive process. “It costs no more on a net present value analysis basis to do a two-engine program that it does to execute a one-engine F-35 program,” says a House Armed Services Committee fact sheet on the issue.
WAR SERVICES: Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) have introduced legislation that would, if enacted, phase out private security contractors in war zones. “The behavior of private contractors has endangered our military, hurt relationships with foreign governments, and undermined our missions overseas,” Schakowsky said in announcing the legislative push.
NEW DELHI — India’s defense expenditure has been raised four percent to $31.8 billion for 2010-11. The budget was presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Feb. 26 in parliament. Last year, the government provided a steep hike of about 34 percent for defense.
MULTIPURPOSE REPURPOSED: NASA and the Italian Space Agency are transforming the International Space Station’s Multi Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM), known as “Leonardo,” into a Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM). The Italian-built logistic modules have flown inside the payload bays of NASA’s shuttle fleet for nearly a decade, delivering hardware and supplies to the station during its construction. Leonardo will undergo modifications to ensure safe, long-term operation as the PMM, and to increase the amount of mass it can carry to orbit, according to NASA.
ROCKY COAST: The centrist leaders of the Senate’s Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee are calling on the Obama administration to reverse proposed cuts to the Coast Guard’s budget in Fiscal 2011, specifically by using money that has been proposed for U.S.-based terrorist trials instead. Sens.
Leaders of the U.S. House Armed Services Committee (HASC) are voicing severe concerns with long-term maritime aviation and shipbuilding plans, as recently outlined in this month’s Quadrennial Defense Review and Fiscal 2011 budget request. The Pentagon has proposed a number of new initiatives designed to underpin strategic capabilities, such as a new SSBN submarine, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, ballistic missile defense and the Virginia-class attack submarine, but HASC leaders say the total planned air and surface assets still appears anemic.
