• Taiwan prepares to order a $6.45 billion weapons package, sparks predictable diplomatic huffing.

• The Pentagon plans to replace the official in charge of the F-35 JSF program and withhold $614 million in performance fees from Lockheed Martin for failing to meet key goals. At the same time Pratt & Whitney delivered the 1st F135 production engine for the F-35 aircraft.

• Sikorsky is investing $1 billion to develop an unmanned Black Hawk helicopter, which it hopes to have ready by 2015.

• USS George H.W. Bush [CVN 77] redelivered; its strike group will soon have the first female CSG commander in US Navy history.

• Shares of major US defense companies gained in trading following the unveiling of the Obama administration’s FY 2011 defense budget that would increase defense spending by 3.4%.

• The US Missile Defense Agency (MDA) had another setback in its effort to build a ballistic missile defense, when its Sea-Based X-band radar failed to track a target missile during a test at the Kwajalein Atoll in the South Pacific. MDA is also looking for a supplier for its target missiles.

• Prime contractor CSC gets $261 million in orders to provide IT and logistics services under the US Army’s Logistics Modernization Program.

• USAF orders more of Lockheed’s Sniper ATP surveillance & targeting pods.

• Rolls Royce scores a $146 million order to provide another year of C-130J fleet engine support.

• Singapore unveils its new G550 AWACS aircraft.

• Raytheon/Boeing’s JAGM missile contender finishes captive test flights.

• Raytheon BBN announces a successful ad-hoc networking experiment under DARPA’s WNaN effort.

Canada’s $3 billion frigate modernization program is just the latest example of a growing problem for American defense firms.

Major players in the defense industry have been pushing to change US ITAR export controls for years. Unfortunately, the USA’s use of export controls for protectionist and political purposes begins to have the predictable effect of making American defense components toxic to potential international customers. Even as cumbersome rules and a slow American bureaucracy add friction to important international deals and partnerships.

• Problems & Proposed Reforms
• The January 2008 Presidential Directives
• Recent Updates and Additional Developments (2009-) [updated]
• Additional Readings
  
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EAGLE/ Harfang/ SIDM
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EADS “Harfang”/ EAGLE/ SIDM UAV system (Système Intérimaire de Drone MALE) was developed in conjunction with Israel Aerospace Industries, based on the Heron 2/TP. It is serving as an interim solution for France’s Medium Altitude, Long Endurance (MALE) UAV needs, and is currently active in Afghanistan, where it complements shorter range options like the Sperwer.

France has a number of advanced UAV programs in development, in collaboration with other European countries, at the medium, heavy, and UCAV levels. A 2009 test of the jet-powered Barracuda UAV demonstrator in Canada, ongoing progress on the multinational Talarion, and development of the nEUROn UCAV (Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle) underscores the seriousness of those efforts, but they are not realistic fielding options in the near term. Which is why France is increasing its SIDM order, in order to cover training and domestic security needs…

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