AERO INDIA: Roadmap revealed for Medium Combat Aircraft

The head of India's Aeronautical Development Agency yesterday revealed key details of the roadmap for development of the proposed indigenous medium combat aircraft (MCA) in an interview with Flight Daily News.
ADA will complete a feasibility study on the MCA by the end of 2011. The study will be submitted to the Indian government and air force, and discuss key aspects of the programme, says PS Subramanyam, programme director at the ADA.
The study will consider several areas: the number of MCA prototypes, prototype timelines, funding, and production schedules for the final aircraft.
"The MCA will be in flight trials by end of the decade, and it will be inducted by the middle of the next decade," says Subramanyam.

India's Medium Combat Aircraft will be larger than the Tejas (top), but smaller than the FGFA, Indian variant of the developmental Sukhoi PAK FA (bottom)

Subramanyam also discussed how the MCA will fit into the Indian air force's future force structure. It will be a 20t aircraft with a 1,000km range, fitting between the 10t, 500km range of the Hindustan Aeronautics Tejas, and the 30t, 1,500km range of the fifth generation fighter aircraft (FGFA), an Indian variant of the developmental Sukhoi PAK FA.
Therefore, Subramanyam says, the MCA "does not clash" with the FGFA. He says the MCA will be comparable to the Lockheed Martin F-35, and the FGFA comparable to the F-22 Raptor.
The MCA will be a single seat fighter. A two seat version will be developed, but primarily as a trainer. A naval variant is not envisaged, but Subramanyam foresees a requirement for a 20t aircraft for India's future indigenous aircraft carriers. A naval variant of the Tejas was rolled out in mid-2010. It is likely to have its first flight this year.
In a recent interview with Flight Daily News, IAF Air Chief Marshal Pradeep Vasant Naik said the MCA will be a medium weight combat aircraft with low observable features and a payload capability of more than five tons. It will have swing role capability and "provide greater flexibility in the application of aerospace power".
The ADA has previously said the MCA will have "serpentine-shaped" air intakes, internal weapons bays, and advanced radomes to increase its stealth features. Radar-absorbing composites and paints will supplement the design.
It will be powered by two Kaveri engines optimized for low observable characteristics. The Kaveri, which has suffered considerable delays, is still in development, and will eventually replace General Electric engine in the Tejas.

P&W: Cost of F-35 Engines Drops 16%

Pratt & Whitney has reached a handshake agreement for the fourth batch of low-rate-production F-135 engines for the F-35 at a price 16 percent below from the previous lot, the company's military engines chief, Warren Boley, said Feb. 10.

Pratt & Whitney's military engines chief Warren Boley announced the firm will produce 37 units of F-135 engines for the F-35 for 16 percent less than the previous lot. (Darin Russell / Lockheed Martin)

The order is for 37 units.

Eventually, Boley said, the company hopes to reduce the engine's price tag to around $10 million each. At that price, the engine would cost the same as the F-22's F119 engine despite being 1,500 lbs heavier and delivering 20 percent more thrust.
Further, Boley said, all three versions of the engine have received their Initial Service Release, which certifies that development is complete. The engine has been showing a reliability of 99 percent.
The F-35B vertical-landing variant's entire lift propulsion system, including its lift-fan and roll-posts, has demonstrated a "mission readiness" of 98 percent, he said.
Comparatively, the fully operational F119, which is known for its reliability, has a mission readiness rate of 98.5 percent.
The earlier issues with engine "screech" have been solved, Boley said. Screech kits are being installed on the first 12 engines while the subsequent units will have the modifications incorporated in the production line.
Pratt & Whitney is still working to improve the F135's reliability. For example, improvements to the vertical-landing variant's propulsion system are to be incorporated into the sixth and seventh production batches.
Any retrofits for older aircraft would be performed in depot as the changes are very minor, Boley said.
The engine has a thrust margin that can accommodate weight growth, Boley said. Even the F-35B's lift-fan has a 1 percent thrust margin.
The company's role in the flight test program is being extended by three years, he said, to support an expanded flight test program that now includes 7,000 flights, up from about 5,000 flights. The total value of the company's extended involvement might amount to a $1 billion.
In 2011, the flight test program will fly 872 sorties, Boley said.

U.S. Spy Sats, Intel Budget Eyed for Savings

Both the Republican and Democratic leaders of the U.S. House Intelligence Committee are looking at spy satellites as an area to save money as budget cuts loom.
"I urge the intelligence community to remain open-minded about alternative satellite architectures that could potentially meet current requirements at a much lower cost to the taxpayers," said the committee's chairman, Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., at a Feb. 10 hearing that covered worldwide threats.

In April 2009, Dennis Blair, then-director of national intelligence, announced the federal government's plans to develop and build new spy satellites, while at the same time buying more imagery from the commercial sector to address immediate needs.
Sen. Christopher Bond, R-Mo., the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee at the time, criticized the Obama administration's plans, saying they were high-risk and "by far the most expensive" option.
The new effort comes after a program led by Boeing was canceled in 2005 due to cost and schedule overruns.
"I haven't made up my mind yet, but I'm studying my options carefully and so should you," Rogers told witnesses at the hearing, who included CIA Director Leon Panetta, National Intelligence Director James Clapper and FBI Director Robert Mueller.
The committee's ranking Democratic member, Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md., said he wondered whether satellite launches could be made less expensive.
"The U.S. is spending more per rocket launch and battling more delays than anywhere else," Ruppersberger said. "That is because the United States has committed to a two-company alliance to handle all launches, despite the fact that other U.S. companies are showing promise."
Ruppersberger was referring to the United Launch Alliance, a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin. Formed in 2006, the venture was challenged on antitrust grounds but received clearance from the Federal Trade Commission.
"We must get costs under control and consider other approaches that satisfy the needs of the intelligence community, as well of the warfighter, without busting our bottom line," Ruppersberger said.
Both Rogers and Ruppersberger called for greater efficiencies within the intelligence budget. At roughly $80 billion, the intelligence budget is more than twice what it was on Sept. 11, 2001.
In July, the Washington Post described the growth of the government's top-secret world. For example, the Defense Intelligence Agency has grown from 7,500 employees in 2002 to 16,500 today.
Clapper, who ran the DIA in the early 1990s, said that, given the funding that has been provided to the intelligence community for the last 10 years, it is appropriate the pendulum is swinging back.
"We, I think, all understand that we're going to be in for some belt-tightening," he said.
To that end, Clapper said he reviewed the size and structure of his own staff.
"Based on this efficiencies review, the Office of the [Director of National Intelligence] is being reduced in size and budget," Clapper said.
Ruppersberger said an "across-the-board" reduction in intelligence funding would be a bad idea.
"We must review each program on its own merits," he said. "We must identify what is working and get rid of what is not, including redundant programs that cost us too much money."
Rogers said he wanted to avoid the mistakes of the 1990s, "when we cut too deep" into intelligence funding.

Australia and NZ Expand Defense Cooperation

WELLINGTON - New Zealand Defence Minister Wayne Mapp and his Australian counterpart, Stephen Smith, held their annual meeting Feb. 10 here and announced that Australia will have access to New Zealand's amphibious ship HMNZS Canterbury through a joint forces initiative.
"Today's meeting provided both countries with the opportunity to discuss strategic defense and security priorities in the region … and to give our respective defense organizations the strategic guidance they need for our essential and growing bilateral cooperation in 2011," Smith said.

The ministers asked secretaries in their respective departments to produce a joint report by July 31, detailing preliminary proposals to improve bilateral engagement structures and strengthen strategic bilateral exchanges.
The report is expected to detail proposals to ensure cost-efficient cooperation, notably complementary military capabilities, and the efficient implementation of ANZAC policies.
The ministers noted that the Pacific-focused Ready Response Force (RRF), initiated in September 2009, will be finalized in March, with New Zealand Defence Force personnel to be placed at the Deployable Joint Forces Headquarters in Brisbane.
"We have agreed that, to maintain a robust capability to respond to regional contingencies, the Australian and New Zealand defense forces will jointly develop and exercise plans under the RRF for a common response to contingencies, including humanitarian assistance and disaster relief," Mapp said.
The ministers also announced the sharing of key capabilities, including HMNZS Canterbury, as part of the RRF banner, with a view to early opportunities to exercise planning functions and amphibious interoperability.
"HMNZS Canterbury's amphibious-lift capability will be particularly important in our region over the next few years [as] the Royal Australian Navy faces challenges in amphibious capability," Smith said.
"The integration of HMNZS Canterbury in this way is a practical example of ANZAC cooperation which can benefit our region, particularly in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief," he said.
The ministers also highlighted the successful reinvigoration of the Australia-New Zealand Airlift Agreement, an initiative developed at the previous defense ministers meeting in Sydney in 2009.
As well, Mapp announced that New Zealand will provide a maritime surveillance adviser to the Cook Islands in support of the patrol boat given to that country by Australia.
In addition, both countries will expand their cooperation in English language training for regional militaries, starting with Vietnam, to increase the number of personnel eligible for training courses in New Zealand and Australia.

S. Korean Firm Wins Contract To Supply F-15 Displays

SEOUL - LIG Nex1, a leading precision electronics maker in South Korea, signed a contract Feb. 9 with U.S. defense company Rockwell Collins to deliver 20 more heads-up display (HUD) systems for F-15 fighter jets, the company announced.

LIG Nex1 will produce 20 more heads-up display systems for F-15 fighter jets. The South Korean company's total HUD orders are 150, worth about $45 million. (Boeing)

The contract was signed by LIG Nex1 President and CEO Lee Hyo-koo and Kevin Lynch, vice president of Rockwell Collins Head-Up Guidance Systems, in Portland, Ore., a LIG Nex1 spokesman said.

LIG Nex1 has been manufacturing HUDs since 2004. The latest deal brings total orders to 150, worth more than 50 billion won ($45 million), the company said in a news release.
The company won a subcontract with Rockwell Collins to develop the HUD system as part of an offset deal with Boeing, which won the first two parts of South Korea's F-X fighter acquisition program. Boeing will deliver 60 F-15K fighters.
Under the F-X program, South Korea aims to purchase 120 advanced combat aircraft by 2020 to replace an aging fleet of F-4 and F-5 fighters.
"It's meaningful that our defense technology has been recognized by the United States, which is apparently leading the world's aerospace business," the release said.
Currently, six nations operate the F-15. They are the United States, Israel, South Korea, Japan, Saudi Arabia and Singapore.
The HUD presents data without requiring the pilot to look away from his or her usual viewpoint, improving situational awareness. It sits above the instrument glare shield and allows the pilot to look forward onto a transparent screen called the optical combiner.
Besides the HUD, LIG Nex1 is moving ahead with manufacturing the new plane's Multi Function Display and Flight Control Computer, according to the release.

Boeing Touts Version of JSF Engine for Bomber

A version of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter's Pratt and Whitney's engine might be capable of powering the U.S. Air Force's prospective new bomber, Boeing's military engines chief said on Feb. 10.
If the long-range strike aircraft is not "as ambitious" as previously envisioned, as suggested by Gen. Norton Schwartz, Air Force chief of staff, then a version of the fighter engine could be adapted for the bomber, said Warren Boley of Boeing. Given Schwartz's statement, made Feb. 9 during the National Defense Industrial Association's Special Operations/Low Intensity Conflict Symposium, the new aircraft could be subsonic and use proven, off-the-shelf technology, Boley said.

"So the future bomber may be much more off the shelf, much more proven technology, it may be a subsonic bomber, it may use a proven [F-35 Pratt and Whitney] F-135," he said.
Previously, a senior industry official familiar with long-range strike aircraft programs had said both the F-22 Raptor's F-119 engine and the F-135 consume fuel far too quickly to be used on such a long-endurance strike platform. Instead, the official had suggested using high-efficiency advanced turbofans or perhaps Pratt and Whitney's geared turbo-fan engines.
However, Boley said the 8-foot diameter of a geared turbo-fan engine was likely too large for a new bomber. He added that the F-135 would "most definitely" be suitable for a long endurance aircraft.
The company is developing the PW9000 engine, which uses the F-135 low pressure compressor mated to the core from a geared turbo-fan engine. The engine may be used on the Navy's Unmanned Carrier Launch Surveillance and Strike aircraft, he said.
If the Air Force's new bomber was more ambitious, the developmental Adaptive Versatile Engine Technology (ADVENT) engines being developed under a U.S. government contract by General Electric and Rolls Royce might be applicable, Boley said. While Pratt and Whitney is not receiving government funding, he added, it is developing similar technology internally.
The ADVENT technology would be especially useful if the bomber is supersonic, Boley said. However, the technology is also useful for managing the aircraft's signature and generating large amounts of electrical power for sensors and other ancillary systems, he said.

Pakistan May Be Expanding Nuclear Site: Report

WASHINGTON - Pakistan appears to be increasing its production of nuclear materials with the apparent construction of a fourth reactor at its Khushab nuclear site, according to a U.S.-based think tank.
Releasing satellite images from Jan. 15, the Institute for Science and International Security said in a report Feb. 9 that the pictures showed the early construction of a fourth military nuclear reactor set to be the same size as two of the other buildings.

"Pakistan is determined to produce considerably more plutonium for nuclear weapons," ISIS said in its report, noting that since the announcement of its first reactor at the Khushab site in 1998, the nuclear power began constructing a second reactor around 2000-2002, and began building a third in 2006.
Pakistan has reportedly doubled its nuclear arsenal over the past several years, increasing its stocks to more than 100 deployed weapons.
Only four years ago the country's arsenal was estimated at 30 to 60 weapons, but has since stepped-up its production of plutonium and highly enriched uranium.
"They have been expanding pretty rapidly," ISIS president David Albright noted late last month, the Washington Post reported, with Islamabad edging ahead of its nuclear-armed rival India, estimated to have somewhere between 60 to 100 weapons.