TARGETED ACQUISITION: Israel’s largest publicly traded defense contractor, Elbit Systems, is continuing its targeted acquisition spree, now picking up Shiron Satellite Communications. The $16 million deal will see privately owned Shiron Satellite become part of Elbit’s Land and C4I Tadiran unit. That unit is where Elbit houses most of its communications activities. The main Shiron Satellite product is the two-way broadband satellite communications InterSky system to deliver Internet connectivity and interactive multimedia applications.
CHIEF OF THE BOAT: Royal Australian Navy Rear Adm. Rowan Moffitt has been appointed to the new position of head of the Future Submarine Program in Australia’s Defense Materiel Organization (DMO). The future boat is planned to replace the Collins-class sub starting in 2025. Moffitt on Feb. 23 started reporting to the head of DMO, Stephen Gumley, and will lead a combined Navy, DMO and Capability Development Group Future Submarine Project Office.
BEAT THE CLOCK: The United States still is trying to come to some agreement with Kyrgyz officials and the Manas Air Base there continues to operate under the existing agreement as a key logistics hub for the U.S. military in Afghanistan, according to a U.S. State Department spokesman. But the spokesman last week acknowledged the Kyrgyz parliament voted to close the base and President Bakiyev signed that bill into law, which he and the Defense Department’s spokesman have said starts a 180-day countdown to withdraw, based on a previous agreement made by the U.S.
Frustrated by continuing cost overruns and schedule delays in DOD acquisition programs, the chairman and senior Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee have introduced legislation to reform the Pentagon acquisition process.
Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) will be able to shield its planned Dragon space capsule with its own Phenolic Impregnated Carbon Ablator (PICA) material, following arc-jet tests at NASA’s Ames Research Center. NASA helped the California-based startup develop its ability to manufacture PICA-X, as it calls the material, for use on the vehicle that may wind up providing commercial transportation to and from the International Space Station.
TRACKING REVENUE: Northrop Grumman will provide the Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below (FBCB2) program with a new in-line encryption device, called the KGV-72, with the latest Blue Force Tracking installation kits. The company recently announced that the U.S. Army boosted its contract ceiling by $574 million to provide the kits, cables and related hardware for the key situational awareness and command-and-control system, heavily used by U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.
NASA’s first mission to monitor the effects of humanity’s input of greenhouse gas-causing carbon dioxide was lost Feb. 24 when the payload fairing on its Taurus XL 3110 launcher apparently failed to open about 2 minutes and 55 seconds into the mission. The Orbital Carbon Observatory (OCO) and four-stage, 93-foot-tall Taurus solid rocket, both built by Orbital Sciences Corp., were proceeding nominally through an 11-minute launch sequence after a 1:55.31 a.m. PST liftoff from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.
President Barack Obama is nominating Ashton Carter to be the next undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics. If confirmed as the Pentagon’s acquisition czar, DOD said Carter would be the “point man in the difficult procurement decisions” that Defense Secretary Bob Gates told senators would begin with Obama’s fiscal 2010 defense budget request.
DROPPING DEFENSES: The market for U.S. defense electronics will be worth at least $59.512 billion from 2009-2018, according to consultants at Forecast International. But on an annualized basis, the market shows a steady decline over the next decade, from a high of $8.484 billion this year to $4.945 billion in 2018. This represents a 10-year drop of about $3.538 billion, or 41.707 percent from the market high, Forecast says.
FUELING TENSIONS: North Korea said it is looking to launch a supposed “communications satellite” for space research despite warnings from U.S. and South Korean officials that it would be deemed provocative and illegal. A spokesman for the Korean Committee of Space Technology said in an official news statement Feb.
Three months after formal talks began, negotiations between the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA) and Boeing at its Integrated Defense Systems (IDS) facility in Wichita, Kan., have broken down, and the union’s leaders began meeting Feb. 24 to discuss whether to ask members for a strike authorization vote.
Showing the Pentagon’s keen interest in deploying more – and more modern – tracked combat, assault and tactical vehicles to meet growing needs in Iraq and Afghanistan, those outlays gained more ground on the list of top DOD expenses for 2008. Contracts and modifications for those types of vehicles accounted for 10 percent of the top 21 Pentagon expenses in 2008, compared to 7 percent in 2007, according to an Aerospace DAILY analysis of data provided by the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting.
UNITED LIFT: The United Arab Emirates announced Feb. 24 that it has decided to buy 12 Lockheed Martin C-130Js and four Boeing C-17s. The UAE Air Force has been authorized to make the acquisition, although definitive contracts have yet to be signed, budgeting 4.3 billion dirhams ($1.17 billion) for the C-17s and 5.9 billion dirhams ($1.6 billion) for the C-130Js. Delivery is tentatively set for 2012-13. Lockheed expects further sales in the region, having recently concluded the sale of four C-130Js to Qatar.
PARIS – The Estonian government is paying around €2 million for 42 howitzers from the Finnish government. The 122mm 122H63s are intended to replace 105mm howitzers the Estonian government has in its inventory. The first dozen have already been delivered, with the rest to be handed over in the coming months. The 105mm howitzers were provided by Finland as part of an assistance package. Estonia says it plans to use the weapons to equip two artillery battalions for combat operations, as well as for training of artillery personnel in general.
TURKEY BONUS: Lockheed Martin has received a $797 million contract for 30 additional F-16 Block 50s for Turkey. The 14 single-seat F-16Cs and 16 two-seat F-16Ds, powered by General Electric F110-129 engines, will be manufactured by Turkish Aerospace Industries and begin deliveries in 2012 to fill the gap until the Turkish air force begins receiving its 100 planned F-35 Joint Strike Fighters. Including this latest deal, Turkey has ordered a total of 270 F-16s.
FLYING THE FLAG: The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) says its aircraft and personnel are preparing to deploy to Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., for the high-profile U.S.-led Red Flag air combat training exercise. No. 6 Squadron from RAAF Amberley is leading the Australian push with six F-111 jets, while a pair of C-130H Hercules from No. 37 at RAAF Base Richmond will transport equipment and personnel to the United States.
While fixed-wing aircraft spending still remains perched at the top of the list of leading Pentagon expenses, it is shrinking as a percentage of overall military spending, an Aerospace DAILY analysis shows. At the same time, fixed-wing aircraft contracts are becoming fewer and more expensive, according to the analysis of data gleaned from a federal contracting database released by the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting.
MIAMI, Fla. – U.S. officials at the 12th Air Force are hoping to move forward with plans this week with four Central American nations seeking to jointly collaborate on an aircraft modernization effort, according to Lt. Gen. Norman Seip, who leads the command. 12th Air Force interfaces with air forces in Central and South America. Seip is meeting with the regional air chiefs of Central America here during a Regional Air Chiefs Conference.
Domingo Urena-Raso will be named the new head of Airbus Military, industry sources have told Aerospace DAILY. Urena-Raso will replace Carlos Suarez at the helm of the division that is in charge of the A400M military airlifter program as well as the multirole tanker/transport aircraft, among others.
Selling Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) to Israel continues to be an uncertainty-plagued proposition, with the most difficult funding and advanced capability issues still to be worked out between Tel Aviv and Washington. U.S. hesitations over allowing the installation of Israeli-made electronic surveillance and warfare systems in the JSF may postpone the planned delivery of the fifth-generation stealth jet beyond the target date of 2014, senior defense officials told The Jerusalem Post. Davis speaks
SATELLITE DEBRIS: The Joint Space Operations Center is now tracking about 700 pieces of debris resulting from the Feb. 10 collision of a decommissioned Russian communications satellite and an operational Iridium spacecraft (Aerospace DAILY, Feb. 12). Prior to the collision, which took place over Siberia at an altitude of 790 kilometers (491 miles), operators there were tracking about 18,000 objects total.
The U.S. Marine Corps is exploring the use of simulated battlefield conditions to improve its infantry performance, including shooting at moving targets. The Marine Corps Warfighting Lab at Quantico, Va., plans to use simulation techniques to study a number of infantry skills, including coordinating close air support; understanding all aspects of activity on the battlefield; the effect of heavy equipment and exertion on individuals’ decision making; and hitting a moving target.
