Tejas LCA
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India’s fighter strength has been declining in recent years, as the MiG-21s that form the largest component of its fleet are lost in crashes, or retired due to age and wear. Some MiG-21s are being modernized to MiG-21bis ‘Bison’ configuration, while other current fighter types are undergoing modernization programs in order to maintain the fighter force until replacements can arrive. On which note, an ongoing tender has Russian, French, American, Swedish and European manufacturers dueling for a multi-billion dollar, 126+ plane light-medium fighter sale.

This still leaves India without a low-end solution to the twin problems besetting its overall fleet: numbers, and age. The MiG-21bis program adds years of life to those airframes, but that extended lifespan is still quite finite; by 2020, it is very unlikely that any MiG-21s will remain in service. As for the MMRCA program, it may replace some of India’s mid-range fighters – but that still leaves replacement of the MiG-21 fleet unfulfilled. In this environment, the status of the Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) project matters a great deal to the Indian Air Force’s future prospects, as their level of confidence in its longer-term success will affect their immediate buys. The choices made in the LCA’s design will also affect the lightweight fighter’s export potential, which in turn feeds back into the overall program’s costs and viability for India over its lifetime.

The latest additions to this article include a whirlwind of developments around the indigenous Kaveri engine. As some predicted, the project’s performance failures have finally killed Kaveri as a fighter engine. A foreign partnership to produce a replacement has reportedly been selected, and other vendors are reportedly canvassed to provide interim engines. Meanwhile, Kaveri engines may find an unexpected use within India’s military…

• LCA Tejas: India’s Lightweight Fighter, or Just a Lightweight?
• The Kaveri Engine: Keystone, or Killer? [updated]
• Updates and Events [updated]
• Appendix A: DID Analysis & Op/Ed (2006)
• Appendix B: Additional Readings & Sources
  
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C-20, ready
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Northrop Grumman Technical Services, Inc., of Herndon, VA received a 4-year, $252.3 million firm-fixed-price C-20 Contractor Logistics Support (CLS) follow-on contract. The U.S. Air Force, Army, Navy and Marine Corps all operate C-20 aircraft, which is the military designation for Gulfstream III/IV business jets. The Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center at Tinker AFB, OK manages this contract (FA8106-08-C-0010).

Northrop Grumman’s release adds additional members of the team: M7 Aerospace of San Antonio, TX; Jet Aviation subsidiary Savannah Air Center in Savannah, GA; and Rolls-Royce North America in Montreal, Canada. Together they will provide depot maintenance, supplies, flight line maintenance and field team support for the C-20s at Ramstein Air Base in Germany; Hickam Air Force Base and Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay in Hawaii; Sigonella, Italy; and Andrews AFB in MD.

C-20A-D models are Gulfstream IIIs, while C-20G/H models are the longer range Gulfstream IV. They can carry up to 12 passengers, or light cargo. VIPs, including American political figures, are frequent passengers. Past Speakers of the House have used C-20s, for example. The jets briefly made the news in 2007, when current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi [D-CA] tried to pressure the Pentagon to grant her larger planes, and carry “supporters” on her flights. The Pentagon responded with a denial of the aircraft request, and an explicit list of conditions regarding the passengers and purposes that were considered appropriate on these military flights.

General Dynamics Team
Trimaran LCS Design
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The Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) is the U.S. Navy’s newest surface combatant class. Optimized for shallow seas and operations within 100 miles of shore, but deployable across the ocean, LCS ships are a centerpiece of the USA’s new focus on littoral warfare. They will help to counter growing “asymmetric” threats like coastal mines, quiet diesel submarines, global piracy, and terrorists on small fast attack boats. They will also perform intelligence gathering and scouting using helicopters and UAVs, offer some ground combat support capabilities, and share tactical information with other Navy aircraft, ships, submarines, and joint units. Swappable “mission modules,” UAV robot aircraft, and robotic UUV and USV vehicles will give these small ships the specialized capabilities they require for each of these roles – and the quick-replace adaptability they need to keep up.

At present, 2 teams are competing for the final LCS design. The General Dynamics team is offering a futuristic but practical high-speed trimaran based on Austal designs and experience. The Lockheed Martin team offers a high-speed semi-planing monohull based on Fincantieri designs that have set trans-Atlantic speed records. Team Lockheed’s efforts have run into serious trouble, including cancellation of the contract for their second ship. The General Dynamics/Austal team hit the same rocks soon afterward, in part because of the US Navy’s unusual proposal for future business arrangements.

DID places recent developments in context by explaining a bit more about the US Navy’s new surface combatant; detailing the teams, key time line events, and contract awards under the program to date; and providing additional resources and links to complete our in-depth coverage. New material appears in green type. The latest updates involve mission module integration, a report on program status and costs from the Congresional Budget Office, and an article by Naval Technology that looks at the LCS program’s issues to date…

• LCS = Standard Equipment + Mission Modules
• LCS: Budgets and Program Structure [updated]
• LCS: Designs & Teams
• LCS Controversies
• LCS: Contracts & Key Events [updated]
• LCS Ancillaries: Mission Module & Weapon Contracts & Key Events
• Additional Readings & Sources
  
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RAF Eurofighter
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Back in 2005, DID reported that talks were underway for a Saudi purchase of Eurofighter Typhoon Tranche 2 advanced air superiority and strike aircraft from Britain’s BAE Systems – with an important (albeit denied) set of conditions on the Saudi side.

December 2005 saw confirmation that Saudi Arabia had ordered Eurofighter Typhoons, but the 72-plane deal started sinking into the tar sands shortly thereafter. Investigations from Britain’s Serious Fraud Office swirled around a GBP 43 billion oil-for-planes deal from the 1980s called Al-Yamamah (see Appendix A); in return, the Saudis played some hardball of their own. The investigation was eventually called off at the highest levels of government, and after a period of uncertainty, a contract was finally signed on Sept 11/07. Ironies aside, the price was a bit lower than many expected; even so, it comes with support arrangements that are likely to push the final value quite a bit higher.

This DID Spotlight article covers the Saudi Eurofighter deal, its associated controversies, and related developments. The latest additions include a decision that permanently shelves the Serious Fraud Office investigation, followed by rumors that the Saudis may buy a second set of Eurofighters, and a take another serious problem off of Britain’s hands…

• Typhoons Incoming: Updates and Contracts (i.e. “Continue reading…”) [updated]
• The Long Road to the Deal
• Analysis: Effects on the Eurofighter’s Export Prospects
• Appendix A: From Al-Yamamah to Project Salaam
• Appendix B: Saudi Arabia: Dependence & Deployment Options (December 2006)
  
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The V-22 program has been beset by controversy throughout its 20-year development period, from crashes that have killed more than 20 Marines, to engine stalls, to issues with their AE1107C Liberty engines in Iraq that may lead to the end of Power By the Hour maintenance arrangements, or even replacement of the Liberty engines altogether. DID’s “V-22 Osprey: A Flying Shame?” offers a focused look at a number of specific allegations associated with the program, with material from Pentagon test reports, critical reviews, and the US military’s responses.

Despite these issues, the program continues to move forward. In March 2008, the Bell Boeing Joint Project Office in Amarillo, TX received a $10.4 billion modification that converted the previous advance acquisition contract (N00019-07-C-0001) to a fixed-price-incentive-fee, multi-year contract. The new contract will be used to buy 141 MV-22 (for USMC) and 26 CV-22 (Air Force Special Operations) Osprey aircraft, including associated manufacturing tooling in support of production rates.

This DID article will cover V-22 multi-year purchase contracts, developments that arise after this contract conversion, and associated contracts for key V-22 systems. The latest contract involves the next phase of the CV-22’s development, as testing and preparation for OpEval continues…

• Contracts & Key Events (June 2008 – Present) [updated]
• Additional Readings
  
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SOAR’s AH-6J
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July 30/08: The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency announces Iraq’s formal request to buy 24 helicopters. Based on the request, Iraq seems to be interested in Armed Reconnaissance Helicopters that act as scouts, perform light close air support, and escort other helicopters on dangerous missions.

The IqAF currently relies on a small force of Russia’s popular Mi-8/17 and refurbished Bell “Huey II” helicopters. While the Russian helicopters can be armed, their status as Iraq’s only medium utility helicopters makes them a poor fit for an ARH role. Instead, Iraq looks set to choose between 2 competitors. One is the Bell 407, whose derivative ARH-70A won the competition in America but has run into trouble. The other is Boeing’s AH-6 “Little Bird” light attack helicopters used by US Special Forces, which provided critical fire support during the 1991 “Backhawk Down” incident.

The complete request also includes mortars for land use, but also adds airborne weapons – something the nascent post-Saddam IqAf has not really had to this point. The entire request, which could be worth up to $2.4 billion, includes:

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FSTA Concept
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Back in March 2005, “British AirTanker Deal May Go Private” discussed the deal for a potential public-private partnership to buy, equip, and operate the RAF’s future aerial tanker fleet, and noted the selection of a preferred consortium. The RAF would fly the 14 Airbus A330-MRTT aircraft on operational missions and receive absolute preferential access to the planes, while the contractor handled maintenance, received payment from the RAF on a per-use basis, and operated them as passenger or transport aircraft when the RAF didn’t need them. The deal became politically controversial; though it was based on a practice that has been successful in Britain, it had surface similarities with the USA’s controversial and canceled KC-767 lease deal. Negotiations on the multi-billion pound, 27-year deal, meanwhile, charted new territory for both the government and private industry.

Which may help to explain why the final decision to move ahead on a “Private Financing Initiative” basis had yet to be issued, and procurement had yet to begin, over 2 years after a preferred bidder was selected. That hurdle is now clear, and Britain has just issued the world’s largest-ever Defence Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contract. This FOCUS Article describes the current British fleet, the aircraft they chose and how the new fleet will compare, the innovative deal structure they’ve chosen, and the project’s key events. The most recent events include a contract for LAIRCM self-protection systems…

• RAF Tankers: The Current Fleet
• A330-200 MRTT: The RAF’s Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft [updated]
• FSTA Program Details [updated]
• PFI: The Art of the Deal
• UK FSTA: Contracts & Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings
  
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C-27J Spartan
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Rolls-Royce has announced a 9-year, $900 million agreement with Alenia Aeronautica that makes them the exclusive provider of engine and propeller assemblies for these light transport aircraft. The C-27J uses Rolls Royce’s AE 2100D2 turboprop engine, and Dowty’s 6-bladed propellers. These 6,000 shp engines benefit from over 80% parts commonality with the Rolls Royce AE family of engines which includes the AE 2100D3 that equips the 4-engine C-130J Hercules, and the AE 1107C-Liberty that currently quips the USA’s V-22 Osprey tilt-rotors.

A 2006 contract between Alenia Aeronautica and Rolls Royce already covered 42 systems, which would be enough to equip 21 of the twin-engine C-27Js. The new contract raises that number, guaranteeing a new total of 155 systems. In addition, 78 C-27J aircraft and up to 180 engines were placed under contract by the US Armed Forces’ Joint Cargo Aircraft program, with potential volumes of up to 145 aircraft and a correspondingly higher number of engines. Rolls Royce release.

NH90: TTH & NFH
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The NH90 helicopter emerged from a NATO requirement that created NATO’s own helicopter development and procurement agency in 1992 and, at almost the same time, the consortium to build the hardware – NHIndustrie (62.5% EADS Eurocopter, 32.5% AugustaWestland, and 5% Stork Fokker). It was originally developed to fit between light naval helicopters like AW’s Lynx and Eurocopter’s Panther, and medium-heavy naval helicopters like the European EH101. A quick look at the NATO Frigate Helicopter design showed definite possibilities as a troop transport helicopter, however, and soon the NH90 project had branched into 2 versions, with more to follow. The nearest equivalent would be Sikorsky’s popular H-60 Seahawk/ Black Hawk family, but the NH90 includes a set of innovative features that give it some distinguishing selling points.

While battlefield damage to composite airframes can be more difficult to repair in the field, the combination of corrosion-proofing, lower maintenance, greater troop or load capacity, and the flexibility offered by that rear ramp have made the NH90 a popular global competitor. Orders currently stand at 507 machines, on behalf of 14 nations. This is DID’s FOCUS Article, offering an in-depth look at the multi-national NH90 program, its customers, and its chronology from 1995 to the present day.

During that time, the NH90 has become a sales success – but as many business people discover the hard way, success can be almost as dangerous as failure. NH Industries has had great difficulty ramping up production fast enough to meet promised deliveries, which has left several buyers upset at their lack of operational helicopters. The most recent announcement involves engine choices by 3 of the helicopter’s new orders…

• The NH90 Platform(s)
• The NH90 Production Program
• Contracts & Key Events, 1995-present [updated]
• Additional Readings & Sources
  
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Northrop Grumman’s E-2C Hawkeye began replacing previous Hawkeye versions in 1973, and serves as the US Navy and French Navy’s carrier-capable “mini-AWACS” aircraft. Its primary role is advance warning of incoming aerial threats; ship-based radars are far larger and more powerful, but cannot scan below the angle of the horizon. Secondary roles include strike command and control, land and maritime surveillance, search and rescue, communications relay, and even civil air traffic control during emergencies. E-2C Hawkeyes also fly from land bases in the militaries of Egypt, Japan, Mexico, Singapore, and Taiwan; and in the US Naval Reserve in a drug interdiction role. Over 200 Hawkeyes have been produced.

The $17.5 billion E-2D Advanced Hawkeye program aims to build 75 new aircraft with significant radar, engine, and electronics upgrades in order to deal with a world of stealthier cruise missiles, saturation attacks, and a growing need for ground surveillance as well as aerial scans. It looks a lot like the last generation E-2C Hawkeye 2000 upgrade on the outside – but inside, and even outside to some extent, it’s a whole new aircraft. This DID FOCUS Article covers the E-2D program, from the new platform and its capabilities to the budgets, contracts, and companies making it all fly. The latest news includes a pair of contracts aimed at getting the first E-2Ds ready, and an associated engine contract…

• From E-2A Hawkeye to the E-2D
• E-2D Advanced Hawkeye: Program
• E-2D Advanced Hawkeye: Contracts & Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings
  
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