Used to be ours…

Final assembly of 1st CH-147F begins; Hangar construction begins; 1st ISS support sub-contracts. (Oct 21/11)

Back in 1991, Canada’s Mulroney government sold the country’s CH-47 Chinook medium-lift helicopter fleet to the Dutch. They cost a lot to maintain and operate, and Canada didn’t need them anyway. Or so they thought. Fast forward to 2002, then 2006. Canada has had boots on the ground in Afghanistan for several years now, but doesn’t have any helicopters capable of operating in the hot and/or high-altitude environment of southern Afghanistan. To support its 2,000 or so troops in Afghanistan, Canada had to rely on favors from US, British, Australian, Polish, and – irony of ironies – Dutch pilots flying CH-47 Chinooks.

Even so, Canada’s “emergency” purchases for Operation Archer never included helicopters. It should have come as a relief, therefore, to learn in June 2006 that the Canadian government had announced a CDN$ 4.7 billion program to purchase 16 “medium-heavy” helicopters for military and “disaster response” roles. It should have, but it didn’t. It took 21 months after this helicopter program was announced before a sole-source RFP was even issued. DID explains the Afghan situation on the ground for Canadian forces, the RFP, the options, the problems, the ultimatum issued by Canada’s Parliament, and the contract(s) for new CH-47F/ CH-147 helicopters.

• Cemetary Sideroad: On the Ground in Afghanistan
• Bring It All Back: The New Helicopter Competition
• We’ll Go Too: Contracts and Key Events [updated]
• Appendix A: Looking for a Place to Happen – The Problem, and the Options
• Escape Is at Hand for the Travellin’ Man: Additional Readings & Sources
  Continue Reading… »

GPS IIIA concept

Contract to start satellites 3 & 4. (Jan 11/12)

Disruption or decay of the critical capabilities provided by the USA’s Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites would cripple both the US military, and many aspects of the global economy. GPS has become part of civilian life in ways that go go far beyond those handy driving maps, including timing services for stock trades, and a key role in credit card processing. At the same time, military class (M-code) GPS guidance can now be found in everything from cruise missiles and various precision-guided bombs, to battlefield rockets and even artillery shells. Combat search and rescue radios rely on this line of communication, and so does a broadening array of individual soldier equipment.

GPS-III satellites are a key part of this PTN (Positioning, Timing & Navigation) system’s future plan, offering several improvements over the existing GPS II family. So, too, are its companion OCX ground control system. This DII FOCUS article looks at the existing constellation, GPS-III improvements, the program’s structure, its progress through contracts and key milestones, and additional research links…

• GPS: The Existing Array
• The GPS III Program
  • GPS-III Satellites
  • OCX & MUE: New Ground Control & Receivers
  • GPS-III Budgets
• GPS-III: Contracts and Key Events [updated]
• Additional Research
  Continue Reading… »

• Moody’s Investors Service predicts that the US debt ceiling agreement could result in a downgrading of defense contractors’ credit ratings. Major defense projects like the V-22 Osprey and Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) are identified as vulnerable to quantity reductions, deferrals and even cancellation.

• US debt reduction policies may also prompt European defense contractors to continue their expansion into military technologies deemed safe from spending cuts, as well as cyber-security and energy industry opportunities.

• EADS’ chief financial officer says the company will not be able to reach its target of $10 billion-worth of non-Airbus sales in the US by 2020 without further acquisitions.

• CAE’s first quarter results for fiscal year 2012 report a 14 per cent increase in defense business revenue to $206.4 million compared with $181.8 million for last year’s corresponding quarter. However CAE’s President and Chief Executive acknowledges that the market outlook will become more challenging as governments evaluate their armed forces’ structures.

• RSK-MiG and Sukhoi are to collaborate on the development of a future unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV). The vehicle is expected to be modeled on the Skat UAV demonstrated at the MAKS air show in 2007.

• The US Air Force awards Honeywell an $11.5 million contract to provide heat stack and brake components for F-15 fighters.

• The Hong Kong Commercial Daily publishes a picture apparently showing the final preparations for the maiden voyage of China’s first aircraft carrier.

• Honeywell Aerospace’s President follows comments made by Boeing 24 hours earlier by also declaring that unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) will provide growth opportunities despite cuts to US defense expenditure. Beyond UAS, Mike Madsen also sees potential in retrofit and modernization programs.

• France’s Safran and China’s AVIC sign two memorandums of understanding (MoU) at the Paris Air Show. The first MoU focuses upon the development of new-generation turboshaft engines for heavy helicopters; the other concerns collaboration on avionics equipment for all types of aircraft.

• The Chairman of Israel Aerospace Industries sees opportunities for business development in the United States and Brazil, re-emphasizes the importance of defense ties with Turkey and has mixed feelings about joint ventures.

• Buoyed by recent contract wins in Sweden and Australia, Sikorsky looks to India as the next opportunity for export growth.

• M270 MLRS and M142 HIMARS systems can carry more than just 227mm rockets. With thousands of North Korean artillery tubes pointed at Seoul, South Korea’s M270s are deployed near the border now, carrying ATACMS missiles that can hit Pyongyang.

• United Aircraft Corporation’s chief says that Russia’s Sukhoi PAK-FA fifth generation fighter is showing progress in its test flight program, before branding China’s J-20 as more for effect than substance.

• Carpenter Technology Corporation announces the acquisition of Latrobe Speciality Metals for approximately $338 million. Latrobe manufactures materials for aerospace and defense in the United States and United Kingdom.

• Defense Tech says that European fighters dominated the skies at the first day of the Paris Air Show.

• They also dominate India’s M-MRCA fighter competition, which may become more important. India’s proposed Mirage 2000 upgrade project is reportedly losing support among senior decision-makers.

• The deputy commander of Armenia’s air force tells journalists that the country manufactures and supplies its own unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) for the country’s armed forces.

• Qatar’s 1st of 4 stretched C-130J-30 tactical transports takes to the air.

• Danger Room reports on a good few months for the Global Hawk drone.

• Admiral Jonathan Greenert will be the next US Chief of Naval Operations. Information Dissemination  responds: “If we ignore ADM Greenert’s total failure at Fleet Forces Command, this is good news.”

• WikiLeaks cables reveal that elements in Japan are thinking about their own nuclear deterrence, as confidence in the USA’s alliance and nuclear guarantee weakens.

• “What Gates’ [NATO] speech shows more than anything is the strategic weakness of cooperative strategy… The value of burden sharing only exists when there are mutually shared threats to stability and security, not when there are mutually shared benefits of stability and security.” If so, what does that mean for the US Navy’s Seapower strategy?

• Deputy Defense Secretary William J Lynn tells the Aerospace Industry Association that it is important to preserve the manufacturing facilities, financial strength and durability of the defense industrial base in the face of spending cuts.

• In a news briefing on the eve of the Paris Air Show, the head of strategy and business development for Boeing’s Defense Space and Security Unit sees cyber-security and new unmanned aircraft programs as growth opportunities despite impending cuts to US defense expenditure. Sales to Asia, the Middle East and Latin America are also under consideration.

• Raytheon receives a contract from the US Air Force to produce the first airborne tactical hyperspectral sensor system. The Airborne Cueing and Exploitation System Hyperspectral (ACES HY) is an infrared sensor system developed to identify targets based on their spectral characteristics.

• As the US Department of Defense seeks greater energy efficiency across its operations, Honeywell and Safran sign a memorandum of understanding to create a joint venture to deliver a new electric green taxiing system for aircraft.

• Australia’s Ministry of Defence announces that the tender for a $300 million five-year contract for the repair and maintenance of the Navy’s eight Anzac Class frigates has been released.

• Research and Markets publishes its Iran Defense and Security Report Q3 2011.

• Following last week’s pledge to improve defense ties between Israel and China, Xinhua reports on the social, economic and political factors driving the Israeli defense industry.

• Fitch Ratings grades Lockheed Martin’s financial status as ‘A-’. The ratings are supported by such factors as Lockheed Martin’s competitive position in the defense sector and growth prospects for several large programs. F-35 program restructuring and related cost growth gives cause for concern.

• The Director of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency says the Defense Department is streamlining the administration of the foreign military sales program. The move comes as foreign military sales average $30 billion for each of the last three years, up almost three-fold from the 2005-2008 timeframe.

• Honeywell announces that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire EMS Technologies, Inc., a provider of connectivity solutions for mobile networking, rugged mobile computers, and satellite communications, for approximately $491 million.

• The Ministry of Defence’s (MoD) Major Projects Review Board (MPRB) meets for the first time. The MPRB is tasked with examining the MoD’s 50 most expensive projects. The first projects examined were the £635m Watchkeeper UAV, £315m communications system Falcon and the £134m Valiant Jetty berthing project for the Astute class submarines.

• Boeing has delivered the UAE’s 2nd C-17, from its order for 6. UAE 01, delivered a month ago, has already started flying missions.

• Aviation Week reports that the USA’s proposed DDG-51 Flight III air and missile defense destroyers could be headed for difficulty, in large part due power, cooling, and weight requirements for the forthcoming AMDR radar. Can one of the AMDR contenders crack that engineering problem?

• UPI reports that the newly-formed Selex Elsag defense electronics company has launched a new modular and upgradable soldier radio system. The Frontline Soldier Radio is a fully integrated C2 module and can host both soldier system C2 and situational awareness applications. Selex Elsag says the design reduces system complexity, box and wire count and cost.

• H.I.G. Capital’s portfolio company Vaupell Holdings, Inc. acquires Russell Plastics Technology Company, Inc. a supplier of composite plastics products and assemblies serving primarily the aerospace and military markets.

• Wired’s Danger Room speculates that some of Xe Services’ – the company previously known as Blackwater – most high-profile appointments may raise a few eyebrows.

• A new Electronics.Ca Publications report predicts that the global machine vision and vision guided robotics market will be worth $15.3 billion by 2015. The Asia Pacific region is expected to continue its dominance over this time period.

• MDA, Ltd. and IAI’s Stark Aerospace announce the availability of Persist-INT, a turnkey unmanned airborne Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) service, for NATO ISAF forces in Afghanistan. MDA already operates Heron UAVs for Canada and Australia in theater.

• The French Government and Thales agree to pay EUR 630 million in compensation for bribes related to a contract to supply 6 frigates to Taiwan.

• Oshkosh Defense is to deliver more than 730 trucks for the U.S. Army’s Family of Heavy Tactical Vehicles (FHTV), including new and recapitalized Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck (HEMTT) A4s and new Heavy Equipment Transporter (HET) A1s, following orders from TACOM Life Cycle Management Command (LCMC).

• QinetiQ North America wins a $36.5 million Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract to provide scientific, engineering and analytical services to the Air Force Technical Application Center’s (AFTAC) Expert Scientific & Analytical Support (ESAS) program at Patrick AFB, FL. The ESAS contract will support AFTAC’s provision of advanced proliferation monitoring technologies and nuclear treaty compliance monitoring.

• DCS Corporation receives a contract award for Missile Defense Agency Engineering and Support Service (MiDAESS). The company will provide advisory and assistance services to the MDA’s Directorates of Engineering, Test, Advanced Technology, and Information Management and Technology Operations.

• Flight International reports that Elbit Systems is in talks with Honeywell and Rockwell Collins regarding cooperation on next-generation avionics for fighter, transport and rotorcraft platforms. Elbit is currently seeking investors for the development of its CockpitNG system unveiled at last year’s Farnborough Air Show.

• Poland issues a request for proposals to the manufacturers interested in competing for its 16 aircraft lead-in fighter trainer contract. The firms have until July 29th to submit their final offers, with Warsaw expected to sign off on the deal by late 2011 or early 2012.

• The Danish Defense Acquisition and Logistics Organisation reports that Denmark’s forces operating in Libya are running out of bombs for their F-16 fighters. The Netherlands have been asked to replenish Danish stocks.

• The internet continues to provide plenty of speculation regarding recently released pictures of China’s supposedly new fifth-generation fighter. One blog adds to the JH-7B debate by overlaying pictures of the aircraft.

• Pakistan’s military wants more F-16s, plus Chinese submarines to go with its new French boats, and a joint submarine development venture. These plans are all being made against a backdrop of a serious domestic insurgency and widespread flooding damage, which have combined to create over 1 million internal refugees, and threaten the government’s medium term ability to maintain control of the country. Even as the state is very obviously fraying in other ways, and the military’s ability to play a constructive role is coming into serious question.

• “Weapons and the Art of Diplomacy” discusses WikiLeaks revelations and the role of American diplomatic staff in promoting arms buys and other transactions. Oddly, they included Thailand’s case, but left out Norway.

• EADS returns to profitability; A400M airlifter program gets new chief; Eurocopter snags 68 new helicopter orders.

• Senate Armed Services Committee launches probe into counterfeit military electronic parts following Commerce Department study [PDF].

• GAO report [PDF] says key questions on the Army’s ground combat vehicle (GCV) program need to be answered, including how urgently the GCV is needed, the robustness of the analysis of alternatives, its cost and affordability, plausibility of its schedule, and whether mature technologies will be used. They aren’t the only ones asking questions.

• Frost & Sullivan says UK land defense market is expected to reach $1.5 billion in 2017, up from $834 million in 2010.

• Dutch Queen Beatrix in Oman to resume a postponed visit, and promote a potential corvette/OPV order from Damen Schelde. They make the Holland-class OPV, and the modular-build Sigma-class, ordered by Morocco (frigate), and Indonesia (corvette).

• Australian defence minister Stephen Smith is will use his current official visit to Europe to pursue the lease of RFA Largs Bay to the Royal Australian Navy. The Bay-class LSD was delivered in 2006, but is being mothballed under the recent SDSR. Australia had no amphibious ships on hand for disaster relief during the recent Cyclone Yasi.

• Japan’s JASDF security forces are preparing to assume a more forward security role, with training from their US Air Force counterparts.

• ATK gets $54 million order to supply 120mm training tank ammunition – M865 kinetic energy and M1002 multipurpose anti-tank training rounds – for the US Army’s M1A1/A2 Abrams main battle tank.

• Six aerospace and defense companies, including Lockheed Martin, Honeywell, and ITT, agree to pay close to $4 million to cleanup contaminated groundwater in the Los Angeles area.

Orbital MRT launch

March 8/11: The US Missile Defense Agency’s issues Orbital Sciences Corp. a $217.1 million firm-fixed-price contract with provisions for fixed-price incentive, cost-plus-award-fee, cost-plus-incentive-fee, cost-plus-fixed-fee, and cost-reimbursement clauses. In exchange, Orbital and subcontractors that include ATK and Honeywell will supply fully ready intermediate range ballistic missile targets, associated objects; and support services that include inventory storage and maintenance management, pre- and post-mission analysis, launch preparation and execution, engineering services, and modeling and simulation. If all options are exercised, the contract’s total value could rise to $1.1 billion. The total contract period of performance is from March 2011 to January 2018 (HQ0147-11-C-0006).

Orbital’s Multi-Mode Medium Range Target (MRT) system is frequently used to test SM-3/Aegis BMD and THAAD missile defense systems. It’s an innovative design that can be launched from land, sea, or even out the back of a C-17 heavy transport, using a parachute extraction and descent system. Orbital confirms to DID that the IRBM-T will be a new design, however, which they are not yet at liberty to discuss.

This purchase, and the push for a new design, fits into an important modern trend…

• Russia plans to build up defenses and deploy armaments on Kuril Islands on its Pacific coast, islands that have been disputed with Japan since WWII. As noted last week, Mistral type LHDs will also be part of that move.

• US Navy explains exactly which repairs and maintenance won’t get funded, due to the 111th (last) Congress’ failure to pass a budget.

• Still no Mirage 2000 upgrade deal for India. But the IAF has reportedly issued RFPs to Honeywell (F125N) and Rolls Royce (Adour Mk.821), to re-engine its 60-plus fleet of twin-engine Jaguar/Shamsher strike aircraft. The total is expected to be about 200 engines, to replace the current Adour Mk.811s that power the fleet.

• Brazil’s Embraer says it may develop jointly with India a military turboprop trainer aircraft.

• Embraer’s EMB-314 Super Tucano is a popular turboprop trainer and light attack aircraft, which may serve as a starting point for India. It’s being offered for the USA’s much-reduced Light Air Support program, and the firm is showcasing its Jacksonville, FL site. Rival Hawker Beechcraft, meanwhile, has picked Salina Airport, KS as the training center for its AT-6B program, which aims to pick up contracts from Iraq and LAS.

• Italian aerospace and defense firm Finmeccanica expects annual order from India to double over the next 4-5 years.

• JFCOM Command Gen. Raymond Odierno unveils plans to close the command down, resulting in the elimination of 2,275 jobs in Virginia.

• The AFRL is seeking proposals on development of a long endurance hand-launched UAV called the small unmanned renewable enerGy long endurance vehicle (SURGE-V). Proposals are due Mar 11/11.

• The US Navy plans to decommission the Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS Memphis (SSN 691) on April 1. The iconic moment actually passed on Feb 4/11, however, when they decommissioned the USS Los Angeles.

• Herley gets subcontract worth up to $12 million over 5 years to provide diplexers and attenuators for radar warning receivers systems for military aircraft.

• Beam me up, Scotty: DARPA and NASA sponsor [PDF] 100-Year Starship Study to examine business model for long-distance manned space flight a century from now.