Rapid Fire June 29, 2012: Win Some, Lose Some

• United Technologies subsidiary Pratt & Whitney Canada pleaded guilty to violating the Arms Export Control Act and making false statements in connection with its export to China of US-origin military software used in the development of China’s Z-10 attack helicopter. UTC and its involved subsidiaries settled with the US Justice and State departments for more than $75M.

• General Dynamics is discussing with Earl Industries about acquiring some of its ship-repair business units. The process is reportedly well underway.

• A strong majority of workers have agreed to the deal their union negotiated with Lockheed Martin to end their 10-week strike in Fort Worth. They will be back to work on Monday with relatively little to show for the strike.

Rapid Fire June 27, 2012: FY12 Reprogramming

• The US Missile Defense Agency’s FTM-18 test goes well, as the AEGIS BMD 4.0.1/ SM-3 block IB missile combination tracks & hits a separating ballistic missile target. That’s the same configuration that will be used on land in Europe, as of 2015.

• Meanwhile, the Dutch just signed an agreement with Thales to upgrade their high-end air-defense ships’ SMART-L radars for early ballistic missile detection.

• Denmark has added itself to the LITENING pod’s customer list, buying the latest G4 model for its F-16s. The Danes have delayed their competition for an F-16 replacement, so this kind of upgrade becomes important.

From Test Jet to Money-Maker: Lockheed’s AML “Net Dragon”

G-III AML

Lockheed is more aggressive than most defense firms in self-funding projects that make sense to them, and the Airborne Multi-Intelligence Laboratory (AML) was their response to the rising popularity of small manned surveillance planes like the USA’s MC-12W Liberty, the MARSS program, etc. Now, their AML is moving from a privately-funded surveillance variant of the Gulfstream III business jet, to a money-making platform, courtesy of the Italian Ministry of Defence.

Under an agreement for an undisclosed sum, Lockheed Martin will provide its AML as a contracted ISR(Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance) service “in a live operational environment,” which probably means Afghanistan. The service goes beyond the jet…

Rapid Fire June 27, 2012: Head Honchos Hunting

• The CEOs of prime contractors including Lockheed Martin and EADS North America met with US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta to discuss how to avoid next year’s pending budget sequester. A previous meeting of industry bigwigs with the White House’s budget office did not seem to bear fruit.

• Republican members of the Senate Armed Services Committee John McCain [AZ], Lindsey Graham [SC] and Kelly Ayotte [NH] have recently expressed their support for the industry following yet another study showing a great number of jobs are at stake, but there’s still no clear path to avoid sequestration before the presidential election. Graham is even advising defense contractors to send layoff notices as soon as possible to force Congress to act. In an apparently endless stalemate, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid counters that increased revenue will have to be part of any deal.

Desert Leopards: Germany Selling Heavy Armor to the Saudis?

Leopard 2A7+

In mid-2011 reports surfaced that Saudi Arabia was preparing to buy around 200 German Leopard 2A7+ main battle tanks. Those reports stirred serious controversy in Germany, and indirectly confirmed the existence of a sales request.

Saudi Arabia would hardly be the first recipient of new or refurbished German tanks; indeed, Germany has displayed a consistent policy of selling cheap used tanks to countries all around Europe, and far beyond. Saudi Arabia is a somewhat surprising customer, because of its traditional “dual buy” structure for its land forces equipment, but there are strong reasons for Germany to be very interested in closing a Saudi sale. At the same time, the concerns expressed by opposition members are not without foundation.

Britain’s A330 Voyager FSTA: An Aerial Tanker Program – With a Difference

FSTA Concept

Back in 2005, Great Britain was considering a public-private partnership to buy, equip, and operate the RAF’s future aerial tanker fleet. The RAF would fly the 14 Airbus A330-MRTT aircraft on operational missions, and receive absolute preferential access to the planes. A private contractor would handle maintenance, receive payment from the RAF on a per-use basis – and operate them as passenger charter or transport aircraft when the RAF didn’t need them.

The deal became politically controversial, and negotiations on the 27-year, multi-billion pound deal charted new territory for both the government, and for private industry. Which may help to explain why a contract to move ahead on a “Private Financing Initiative” basis had yet to be issued, and procurement had yet to begin, over 7 years after the program began. In March 2008, however, Britain issued the world’s largest-ever Defence Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contract. This FOCUS Article describes the current British fleet, the aircraft they chose to replace them, how the new fleet will compare, the innovative deal structure they’ve chosen, and ongoing FSTA developments.

The USMC’s Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV)

AAAV/ EFV, swim mode

The US Marine Corps’ AAVP7 Amtracs have been their primary ship to shore amphibious armored personnel carrier for a long time; the AAV7A1 was initially fielded in 1972, and underwent a major service life extension program and product improvement program from 1983-1993. The Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle was the USMC’s plan to replace the aging AMTRACS (lit. AMphibious TRACtorS), which saw extensive service deep inland during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The personnel version of the new EFVs would carry a crew of 3, plus a reinforced rifle squad of 17 combat-loaded Marines. A high-tech weapons station would provide firepower, via a stabilized ATK 30mm MK 44 Bushmaster cannon with advanced sights to replace the AAV’s unstabilized .50 caliber machine gun. A command variant would carry an array of communications and computer systems and staff personnel. The EFV remained the U.S. Marine Corps’ top land acquisition priority, even as its price tag and development issues cut its buy sharply. Push finally came to shove in 2010, however, as the USMC realized that it simply couldn’t afford the vehicle, or its performance.

Britain’s VC10 Tankers Arrive At New Support Model

VC10 & Tornado F3s

As of 2002, the RAF had 19 of its 4-engined VC10 aerial tankers in service. These sleek aircraft with the unusual engine arrangement form the backbone of its aerial tanker fleet, and will continue to do so for about another decade until the new Airbus A330 MRTTs fully enter service as part of a pathbreaking private-public partnership deal.

Meanwhile, the RAF continues to pursue its “future contracting for availability” approach across its fleets, which aims to pay for available equipment, not man-hours and spare parts. This includes the VC10s, who have now reached the final stage of their own support program… and of their service lives.

Rapid Fire June 26, 2012: USAF Looking for Hypersonic Weapons

• The US Air Force will hold an industry day tomorrow at its Eglin base in Florida on the High Speed Strike Weapon (HSSW), a research laboratory program that intends to demonstrate “a Mach 5+ (i.e. hypersonic) velocity weapon capable of holding fixed and relocatable targets (i.e. time critical targets) at risk from tactically relevant standoff distances in tactically relevant timelines.”

• India’s ballistic missile defense system will initially cover Delhi and Mumbai. In addition to being a major economic center, Mumbai is also the HQ for India’s west coast fleet.

• Russia is preparing to deliver India’s 7th and last upgraded Kilo Class submarine. With India’s Scorpene submarine program running late, the upgraded Kilos will be the core of India’s dwindling submarine fleet.

Raytheon’s APG-79 AESA Radars

AN/APG-79 AESA Radar

The AN/APG-79 Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar began life as a replacement. Initial F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet production batches installed Raytheon’s all-weather, multimode AN/APG-73, but the APG-79 has intrinsic technical features that offered revolutionary increases in capability, reliability, image resolution, and range.

Unlike the APG-73 that equipped the first Super Hornets, the APG-79′s AESA array is composed of numerous solid-state transmit and receive modules that are fixed in place, eliminating a common cause of breakdowns. To move their beams, they rely on electronic changes in each module’s transmissions, creating useful interference patterns in order to aim, focus and shape their output. Other system components include an advanced receiver/exciter, ruggedized commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) processor, and power supplies. With its open systems architecture and compact COTS parts, it changes what both aircrews and maintenance staff can do with a fighter radar – and does so in a smaller, lighter package.