DTN News - CHINA DEFENSE NEWS: China’s New Freight Plane Extends Military Modernization Program

DTN News - CHINA DEFENSE NEWS: China’s New Freight Plane Extends Military Modernization Program

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Bloomberg

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - January 28, 2013: China successfully tested a locally- built freight plane, two months after the debut of its fighter jet, boosting the nation’s efforts to use homegrown technology to expand defense capacity.

The Yun-20, which had its maiden flight yesterday, can take a maximum load of 66 tons and is suited for long-distance transportation, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. The plane will aid the armed forces and will help deliver disaster relief and humanitarian aid, according to the report.

China achieved a military milestone when its fighter jet landed on its new aircraft carrier in November, extending a modernization bid that’s recorded advances in submarines, cyber warfare and in outer space.

The J-15 jet was developed and built by AVIC Shenyang Aircraft Corp., a unit of China’s largest aerospace company, Aviation Industry Corp of China. It can carry multi-type anti- ship, air-to-air, air-to-ground missiles and precision-guided bombs.

The aircraft tests underscore China’s progress in military modernization, which has been accompanied by a doubling of the defense budget in six years. China, the biggest spender on defense after the U.S., has become increasingly assertive in the region as President Barack Obama executes a strategic shift toward Asia and tensions rise with Japan and other nations over territorial disputes.

China’s defense spending, estimated at 670 billion yuan ($108 billion) in 2012, has more than doubled since 2006, tracking a rise in nominal gross domestic product to 47.2 trillion yuan from 21.6 trillion yuan.

*China Conducts Jumbo Freighter Test Flight ~ Reuters

China has conducted a successful test flight of its first domestically developed jumbo air freighter, the official state news agency Xinhua reported.

The Yun-20, or Transport-20, is designed for long-distance air transport of both cargo and passengers, Xinhua reported.

"The successful maiden flight of Yun-20 is significant in promoting China's economic and national defence build-up as well as bettering its emergency handling such as disaster relief and humanitarian aid," Xinhua said, adding that further test flights are scheduled.

China is determined to reduce dependency on foreign firms such as Boeing, Airbus, General Electric and Rolls-Royce for the country's rising demand for planes and engines.

Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), the country's dominant military and commercial aviation contractor, has lobbied for Beijing to back a multi-billion dollar plan to build a high-performance engine.

Meanwhile a host of design flaws has delayed approval by the Civil Aviation Administration of China for the country's homegrown 90-seat ARJ21 regional passenger jet.

At last November's China Airshow, China unveiled 50 new orders for its COMAC C919 passenger jet which is designed to challenge Airbus and Boeing in the USD$100 billion annual airliner market.

The orders for the 150-seat jet boosted the official tally to 380, reaching the state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China's declared breakeven point of 300-400 orders.

However, analysts say it will be some time before the aircraft, due to make its maiden flight in 2014, proves both its technical worth and its financial viability.

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Bloomberg
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DTN News - LOCKHEED MARTIN NEWS: Lockheed’s F-35 Operating Costs May Reach $1 Trillion, U.S. Congress Told

DTN News - LOCKHEED MARTIN NEWS: Lockheed’s F-35 Operating Costs May Reach $1 Trillion, U.S. Congress Told

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Tony Capaccio - Bloomberg

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - April 22, 2011:

It may cost as much as $1 trillion to operate the military’s fleet of Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT) F-35 aircraft for several decades, according to a preliminary Pentagon estimate sent to Congress.

The figure is 9.3 percent more than the $915 billion estimate by the Defense Department in its 2009 Selected Acquisition Report to Congress.

The long-term cost estimate, which includes inflation, was submitted to Congress on April 15 in a report obtained by Bloomberg News. It assumes 8,000 hours of flying time for each of the 2,443 aircraft over a 30-year period. The Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps have their own variations of the aircraft, with the last in the fleet to be produced in 2035.

The estimate was calculated by the Pentagon’s independent cost analysis group based on models using historical data from other fighters, David Van Buren, Air Force service acquisition executive, said in an interview today.

“We are taking the challenge” posed by the $1 trillion estimate and “saying we’ve got to drive this down fast,” said Van Buren, who oversees F-35 management. “Do we drive down it down based on reliability projections? Do we drive it down based on technologies that we developed for the F-35” that reflect lessons learned from the F-22, he said?

Older Aircraft

For example, the latest estimate assumes that F-35 components will break more frequently than older aircraft, he said. The Pentagon is trying to develop “a more refined number,” he said.

The $1 trillion estimate is in addition to an estimated $382 billion in development and production costs.

The long-term maintenance estimates were projected based on costs incurred to support the military’s fleet of F-16s, F/A- 18s, and AV-8B Harrier jets, the Pentagon said in its report

Almost all government, analyst and media attention on the Pentagon’s biggest program has focused on cost growth and technical issues in the $54 billion systems-engineering phase.

The Pentagon’s top weapons official, without citing figures, said yesterday that the military must start focusing on controlling the long-range costs.

Sustaining the Fighter

“It’s not too early to think of sustainment for the Joint Strike Fighter,” Undersecretary for Acquisition Ashton Carter said yesterday. “Most of the cost of our programs is in ‘having’ them, not in ‘acquiring them,” he said at the Heritage Foundation in Washington.

“We are at the point with the Joint Strike Fighter where we have wrestled with the development issues,” Carter said. “We are trying to manage down some of the cost associated with the production, and it’s not too early to look at sustainment, because the projected bills also have increased.”

The Pentagon’s Cost Analysis and Program Evaluation group is updating its $1 trillion figure for a major F-35 review next month intended to revise all of the program’s costs, including overrun estimates on the first three low-rate aircraft production and engine contracts, according to the report to Congress.

Operations and support costs, when calculated in base-year 2002 dollars, were estimated at $420 billion, according to the document.

Baseline Review

“This is the year to focus on sustainment costs,” Vice Admiral David Venlet, the F-35 program executive officer, told reporters today. The estimates thus far “have all been predictions without any actual” data to back up the figures, he said.

The program office will begin a so-called baseline review of the sustainment cost, similar to the F-35 design and production review conducted last year, Venlet said.

The review will examine “all aspects of sustainment, from repair to transportation and illuminate the consequences” for the U.S. and the international partners, he said.

The Pentagon will look for ways to maintain the F-35 fleet with work split between military depots and performance-based logistics contracts with Lockheed, Venlet said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Tony Capaccio in Washington at +1- acapaccio@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Silva at msilva34@bloomberg.net

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources

By Tony Capaccio - Bloomberg

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DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: Lockheed F-35 Program Faces $1 Billion Cut In U.S. Senate Spending Measure

DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: Lockheed F-35 Program Faces $1 Billion Cut In U.S. Senate Spending Measure

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Tony Capaccio - Dec 16, 2010 Bloomberg

(NSI News Source Info) SINGAPORE - December 27, 2010: Lockheed Martin Corp.’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program faces a $1 billion budget cut under a bill to finance government operations that’s advancing toward a Senate vote.

The move would strip out the JSF money, eliminating seven aircraft, from a U.S. Defense Department request for $7.86 billion and 42 planes, according to the spending measure, which didn’t give a rationale for the new totals.

Savings from the JSF program, the Pentagon’s biggest arms project, would be the most among $8.4 billion in weapons- spending reductions in the 1,924-page Senate bill released Dec. 14. Bethesda, Maryland-based Lockheed is the largest U.S. defense contractor by sales.

The measure’s $667.7 billion defense section also provides $450 million to keep developingGeneral Electric Co.’s F-35 backup engine. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has said the engine from primary supplier United Technologies Corp. is sufficient, and has vowed to advise President Barack Obama to veto any bill that funds the GE model.

Senators are proposing to drop five of the Air Force F-35s from the Pentagon’s request and two of the short-takeoff and vertical-landing models being built for the Marine Corps. The military expects the first F-35s to be ready for combat in 2016.

Lot 4 Prices

Separately, the Pentagon F-35 program office released today the per-aircraft costs of the 42 jets to be bought in the fourth low-rate production contract awarded Nov. 19. The Air Force version will cost $111.6 million, the Marine Corps short-takeoff and vertical landing model is projected at $109.4 million and the Navy carrier model will be $109.4 million.

The price includes one-time expenses for production equipment, flight-test instruments and manufacturing support equipment, the Pentagon said. It doesn’t include the propulsion system.

Jennifer Whitlow, a spokeswoman for Lockheed, said in an e- mailed statement the F-35’s price has “dropped dramatically” from the previous three production contracts. The Air Force version’s price has dropped as much as 50 percent compared with the first contract of two aircraft, she said.

Omnibus Measure

Under the bill, the Pentagon would get $495 million to buy nine Boeing Co. F/A-18E/F fighters it didn’t request. The bill provides $2.1 billion to fully fund the Navy’s request for 35 Boeing and Textron Inc. V-22 tilt-rotor Osprey and $1.8 billion for additional Boeing P-8A Poseidon surveillance aircraft.

The so-called omnibus measure would cap a year that included a breakdown in the congressional budgeting process, as Democrats were unable to pass a tax-and-spending blueprint or any of the 12 annual appropriations bills to fund federal agencies for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1.

Once senators approve their legislation, it must be reconciled with a House version that keeps the federal government funded at the levels for fiscal 2010, which ended Sept. 30. It is called a “Continuing Resolution.” The House bill doesn’t reduce F-35 purchases.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye, a Hawaii Democrat, said he is confident the spending plan will be passed before Congress adjourns for the year on Dec. 30.

Defense Secretary Gates told reporters today at the White House the Senate version is preferable to the House measure.

“We have very little flexibility to move money around in the Pentagon budget” under the House proposal, he said. A continuing resolution for the Defense Department “is the worst of all possible worlds.”

Lockheed rose 65 cents to $70.37 as of 4 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The stock has dropped 9.2 percent in the past 12 months.

To contact the reporter on this story: Anthony Capaccio in Washington atacapaccio@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Mark Silva at msilva34@bloomberg.net; Ed Dufner at edufner@bloomberg.net

*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News, contact: dtnnews@ymail.com

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