WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army seems ever farther away from its goal of replacing its aging Kiowa Warrior fleet with an aircraft—manned or unmanned — that would provide the armed reconnaissance capability it seeks. During the Army budget briefing at the Pentagon on Feb. 1, service leadership said the analysis of alternatives (AOA) that will provide the service with a path ahead for an Armed Aerial Scout (AAS) will not be complete until April 2011.
The U.S. Army’s Fiscal 2011 budget request provides renewed focus on the service’s crucial, aging fleet of rotary wing aircraft, with $6 billion budgeted for acquisition and modernization of the fleet.
AIR FORCE Lockheed Martin Corp., Sunnyvale, Calif., was awarded an $85,400,000 contract which will modify the spacecraft integration and test contract for the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program to include tasks associated with revising the launch dates for Flight 19 and Flight 20 and rephrasing of the contract consistent with the revised launch dates. At this time, no money has been obligated. SMSC/DMSP, El Segundo, Calif., is the contracting activity (F04701-02-C-0003, P00157).
WASHINGTON — The program is to get new leadership and Lockheed Martin is to forgo hundreds of millions of dollars in award fees, but U.S. defense secretary Robert Gates is “not sure” whether the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter can avoid breaching Nunn-McCurdy limits on cost growth.
WASHINGTON — The Quadrennial Defense Review’s (QDR) edict to the U.S. Navy to continue “robust forward presence and power projection operations” is being reflected in the service’s Fiscal 2011 budget request for $14 billion in new shipbuilding funds.
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force budget request for fiscal 2011 is experiencing less turbulence than during the last few years, but there are still interesting developments for an armed service becoming used to them.
The U.S. Army is continuing its investment in the once and future Future Combat Systems, now known as Brigade Combat Team Modernization (BCTM), with $2.5 billion allotted to its $10.3 billion research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E) budget request for Fiscal 2011.
U.S. defense officials unveiled budget plans and strategic reviews Feb. 1 that promised to further “rebalance and reform” the national security domain around ongoing wars and a host of 21st century challenges, as was expected. But they also announced a few more surprises, including programmatic changes, and left some questions unresolved.
WASHINGTON — The joint Defense and Commerce Dept. National Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (Npoess) program of today will be dismantled, though details are still being determined. The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy has agreed to allow the two departments to embark on separate weather satellite programs to meet their unique needs. The root of this divorce is a mismatch of needs by the two, and a lack of interest by the Defense Dept. to continue keeping its promise of providing 50 percent of the program’s funding.
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency’s (MDA) Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system failed to achieve an intercept during a Jan. 31 flight test. The test, featuring the first flight of the Lockheed Martin LV-2 intermediate range ballistic missile target and a Ground-Based Interceptor (GBI) launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., was designed to mimic the geometry of a real engagement with a missile from North Korea.
WASHINGTON — The day an unmanned combat aircraft takes off from a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier will mark a milestone for UAVs, and the service is committed to achieving that goal with the inclusion of $266 million in its Fiscal 2011 budget toward the effort.
AS EXPECTED: The Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) and President Obama’s FY 2011 budget request for defense held few surprises for Wall Street analysts, most of whom maintained “buy” ratings on defense companies’ shares. The QDR’s emphasis on helicopters, ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) and cybersecurity were expected, Morgan Stanley’s Heidi Woods says. Analysts also breathed a sigh of relief over “comforting” news on the Joint Strike Fighter, boosting ratings for Lockheed Martin. J.P.
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) is requesting $8.4 billion in funding for Fiscal 2011 to continue implementing the “Phased Adaptive Approach” (PAA) defense architecture in Europe and to eventually broaden and apply it to other regions, including East Asia and the Middle East. MDA outlined no program terminations in its request – released Feb. 1 – although Fiscal 2011 would be the final year of activity managed by the agency for the Airborne Laser (ABL), a 747-400F-based chemical laser designed to destroy ballistic missiles in flight.
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy’s rotary wing budget request tops $5 billion, part of an $18.5 billion aircraft procurement budget for Fiscal 2011. The UH-1Y Huey and AH-1Z Cobra are Marine Corps utility and attack helicopters with 84 percent commonality. The FY ’11 budget includes $985.5 million for 31 aircraft — two new Cobras, eight remanufactured Cobras, construction of 18 new Hueys and three aircraft that fall under $92 million in Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) dollars.
The Obama administration’s Fiscal 2011 NASA budget retargets agency funding on developing a U.S. commercial space-transportation industry, killing the “Moon, Mars and Beyond” Constellation Program in favor of a $6 billion “investment” in human-rating existing launch vehicles and developing a common crew vehicle to ride on them all.
Five companies will get $50 million in federal stimulus-package funding to begin technology work that could support NASA’s shift to commercial space transportation under the Obama Administration’s new space policy. Blue Origin, Boeing, Paragon Space Development Corp., Sierra Nevada Corp. and United Launch Alliance will roll out their plans for NASA’s long-awaited Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) program at a Washington press conference with Administrator Charles Bolden on Feb. 2.
SINGAPORE — Fighter manufacturers are anxiously awaiting Japan’s request for proposals (RFP) for its F-X fighter program, with indications the release faces further delay. Previously anticipated by the end of the first quarter, the RFP now might emerge no earlier than May, industry sources suggest.
Foreign military sales are becoming a hot new “adjacency” for U.S. military contractors as they look for new sources of growth to offset constrained Pentagon spending. In their quarterly earnings calls the week of Jan. 25, defense CEOs were full of enthusiasm about the potential of overseas sales to pump up flattening revenues and declining profit margins. Military consultant James McAleese says the largest U.S. defense contractors are now aiming to generate 25%-35% of their sales from foreign customers, up from 10%-15% in the days of rapidly rising Pentagon spending.
HELPING VEGA: Arianespace has contracted with ELV, prime contractor for Europe’s Vega light launch vehicle, to support the qualification campaign and combined testing for the new rocket. The combined tests are intended to validate booster interfaces with the new Vega launch pad and control center in Kourou, French Guiana, from which the rocket will operate, and verify launch and control procedures. Vega is due to make its first flight from Kourou at year’s end. ELV is a joint venture of Avio and the Italian space agency.
