Lockheed Martin expects to be held to aggressive cost targets for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) despite the Defense Dept.’s decision to budget for development and production based on more conservative independent estimates. The Pentagon’s decision to reject the JSF program office’s estimates and budget for the higher costs projected by the Pentagon’s Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation (CAPE) group has reduced planned U.S. F-35 procurement to 43 from 52 in Fiscal 2011 and to 45 from 62 in Fiscal 2012 (Aerospace DAILY, Feb. 2).
F-16 UPGRADE: Bangkok and Washington are in negotiations over a potential upgrade package for at least some of Thailand’s F-16 fighter aircraft. Lockheed Martin officials at the Singapore Air Show confirmed that an upgrade package is again the focus of government-to-government talks, but declined to elaborate on the nature of the package options that might be considered. However, they hope that a deal could be struck this year. The air force operates the F-16A/B standard of the aircraft.
NEW DELHI — Indian Air Marshal Joseph Neri, formerly the Director General of Aircraft at Air Headquarters, took over as the new Air Officer-in-Charge Maintenance (AOM) on Feb. 1. The AOM is responsible for “maintenance management” of all weapon systems and equipment of Indian Air Force (IAF).
Demonstration of an optionally piloted UH-60 Black Hawk is one of the key projects being pursued by Sikorsky Innovations, the helicopter manufacturer’s new technology development organization. Sikorsky’s concept is to build on fly-by-wire technology developed for the UH-60M Upgrade to enable the helicopter to be flown by two pilots, one, or none, depending on the mission.
WASHINGTON — Administrator Charles Bolden has started reorganizing NASA to meet the demands of the new U.S. space policy contained in the Fiscal 2011 budget request, setting up a new support organization to handle infrastructure and human resources and hiring a Georgia Tech professor as the agency’s chief technologist.
GENOA, Italy — Finmeccanica has been forced to temporarily “freeze” the activity of 1,500 workers due to a slowdown in production, mainly in its aeronautical business, but also in the company’s defense electronic, space and railway businesses. Worst hit is Alenia Aeronautica, which is suffering with the slow production rate of both Boeing 787 and Airbus A380, while maintenance, repair and overhaul activities that have been almost stopped have not been replaced with enough alternate aerospace work.
PARIS — Inmarsat says it has made its first call using a new global satellite phone intended to provide a handheld voice and data offering competitive with Iridium and Globalstar. The service, dubbed IsatPhone Pro, will offer telephony — with Blue Tooth for hands-off use — along with voicemail, text and e-mail messaging. It is on track for a June rollout, the company says, and will be targeted initially at professional users in government, media, oil and gas, natural resource and other industries.
SINGAPORE — Rafael is mounting a major push of the newest member of the Spike family of multipurpose missiles during the Singapore Airshow 2010. While the Spike missile family already has enjoyed strong export success, the “founder” of the family — the long-range Non Line Of Sight (NLOS) Spike derivative — remained a secret weapon for years. Only recently was the program declassified, enabling the export campaign now under way.
SINGAPORE — The Israel Ministry of Defense has confirmed that Rafael Advanced Defense Systems’ Iron Dome counter rocket, artillery and mortar (C-RAM) interceptor system has passed system qualification tests. Expecting to receive the first systems next month, the Israeli Air Force (IAF) already has activated an Iron Dome battalion. The IAF unit is slated to reach initial operational capability by May.
BIRD DOWN: Intelsat is investigating the origin of an anomaly on one of its older satellites, Intelsat 4, that has caused the company to shift customers to other capacity. The failure, which occurred on Feb. 1, is not expected to significantly affect the operator’s financial position or capital expenditure plans, because Intelsat 4 was launched in 1995 and is due to reach the end of its design life this year. The spacecraft, located at 72 deg. E. Long., is a Boeing 601 satellite.
U.S. intelligence officials are closely monitoring the testing of Sukhoi’s T-50 stealth fighter prototype, following its recent first flight from Komsomolsk. Since the flight, Russian blogs have been packed with pictures and videos taken from the base’s fence line and transcripts of in-flight conversations between Russian aircrews (Aerospace DAILY, Feb. 1).
Singapore Technologies Kinetics, the land systems and specialty vehicles arm of ST Engineering, has been awarded a $48.5 million contract for the demilitarization of ammunition for a country in Africa. Ammunition demilitarization involves destroying the inherent capabilities of the ammunition through a series of processes including disassembly, size reduction, melt-out of explosives and incineration of nonrecyclable explosives. Reusable materials such as projectiles and brass cases are then recycled or sold in the secondary market as scrap.
SINGAPORE — The Ukrainian Air Force (VVS) is seen as a prime customer for the Hongdu L-15 jet trainer, according to the China Aviation Technology Import-Export Corporation (CATIC). This effort is part of an aggressive promotion of the L-15 jet in which CATIC is looking beyond the usual suspects to find new customers in nontraditional markets.
WASHINGTON — Procuring additional Boeing EA-18G Growler electronic attack aircraft will enable the U.S. Navy to re-equip four expeditionary EA-6B jamming squadrons that are scheduled for retirement. “We will be out of the EA-6B by 2014,” said Rear Adm. Joseph Mulloy, Navy deputy undersecretary for budget, at the Feb. 1 fiscal 2011 defense budget briefing at the Pentagon.
PARIS — ICO Global Communications has announced a rights offering expected to raise around $30 million in new capital. The offering, to be mailed to stockholders on or about Feb. 17 and exercisable up to March 9, is intended to provide additional operating capital to tide the company over for the next two years without impinging on existing and potential tax loss benefits.
SINGAPORE — Malaysia is once again in exploratory talks with Boeing over the possible purchase of the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. The discussions are at an early stage and could result in the acquisition of eight to 12 of the type. The Royal Malaysian Air Force is already an F/A-18D operator, and has previously expressed an interest in the E/F variant of the aircraft, though a purchase was never secured. Talks could take place in the margins of the Singapore air show here.
STRONG SIGNALS: The U.S. will account for 76 percent of worldwide research, development, testing and evaluation spending in unmanned aerial technology over the next decade, and about 58 percent of procurement, according to a Teal Group forecast. “We expect that the sales of UAVs will follow recent patterns of high-tech arms procurement worldwide, with Europe representing the second largest market, again followed very closely by Asia-Pacific,” senior analyst Steve Zaloga says.
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Marine Corps will not rush to production on its embattled Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle, according to a budget official who noted the Commandant’s decision to push back procurement by a year.
NASA is kicking off its “game-changing” shift to commercial transportation for its astronauts with $50 million in stimulus-package spending that will support two commercial crew launch vehicles and some key technologies to keep them alive on the way to orbit and once they get there.
After wrangling between the U.S. Air Force and Navy over who gets the new three-star slot in charge of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), the Navy appears to have won — the most likely candidate appears to be Vice Adm. Dave Venlet, who commands Naval Air Systems Command.
