DTN News: Australia's First Five Super Hornets To Arrive On Friday

DTN News: Australia's First Five Super Hornets To Arrive On Friday Source: DTN News / Flight International By Leithen Francis (NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 25, 2010: Australia's defence minister has confirmed that the first flight of its air force's new Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornets into their home base will be on 26 March. Canberra is acquiring 24 Super Hornets, and the first batch of five will arrive at the Royal Australian Air Force's base in Amberley, Queensland, says John Faulkner, who plans to witness the event. "Five Super Hornets have departed NAS Lemoore in California after extensive preparations, including acceptance flights and ground tests," Faulkner says. "While air-to-air refuelling is occurring, the long journey to Australia involves several stops, including Hawaii and New Zealand." The 24 Super Hornets on order "will arrive at RAAF Amberley progressively during 2010 and 2011", the minister says. The aircraft will "provide a bridging capability during the transition to the [Lockheed Martin] F-35 Joint Strike Fighter", Faulkner adds. *This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News, contact: dtnnews@ymail.com

DTN News: RAF Jets Scrambled 20 Times In 12 Months To Intercept Russian Aircraft

DTN News: RAF Jets Scrambled 20 Times In 12 Months To Intercept Russian Aircraft

*Tornado crews scrambled to intercept Russian aircraft near British airspace on more than 20 occasions since start of 2009, air force says Source: DTN News / By Richard Norton-Taylor Guardian.co.uk (NSI News Source Info) LONDON, UK - March 25, 2010: Tornado fighters have been scrambled 20 times in the last year to intercept Russian aircraft near British airspace, the RAF has revealed. Jets intercepted two Russian Blackjack bombers – Tupolev TU-160 aircraft – near Scotland after they had been seen earlier by Norwegian, Danish and Icelandic fighters. Two RAF Tornado F3 fighters from 111 Squadron were scrambled from RAF Leuchars, in Fife, in the early hours of 10 March, the RAF said. The aircraft intercepted the Russian planes near Stornoway, on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. The Tornados shadowed the bombers as they flew south before turning north off the Northern Ireland coast. Eventually, the Russians left UK airspace and, after four hours, the Tornado crews stood down and returned to Leuchars. Wing Commander Mark Gorringe, the commander of 111 Squadron, said: "This is not an unusual incident, and people may be surprised to know that our crews have successfully scrambled to intercept Russian aircraft on more than 20 occasions since the start of 2009. "Our pilots, navigators and indeed all the support personnel at RAF Leuchars work very hard to deliver the UK Quick Reaction Alert Force, which can be scrambled in minutes, 24 hours a day to defend the UK from unidentified aircraft entering our airspace, or aircraft in distress." There was no indication that the Russian planes intended to enter British airspace but were simply showing Russia could still deploy long-range bombers in areas of potential interest to Moscow despite the end of the cold war, defence officials said.

DTN News: Russia Conducts Navy Anti-Submarine Drills In Sea Of Japan

DTN News: Russia Conducts Navy Anti-Submarine Drills In Sea Of Japan Source: DTN News / RIA Novosti (NSI News Source Info) VLADIVOSTOK, Russia - March 25, 2010: A mixed task force from the Russian Pacific Fleet started on Wednesday a series of anti-submarine warfare (ASW) drills in the Sea of Japan, a fleet spokesman said. "Two task forces comprising missile destroyers and diesel-powered submarines are taking part in the drills in line with a regular training program," Capt. 1st Rank Roman Martov said. The exercises involve a number of search-and-destroy missions, simulated torpedo attacks and live-fire drills with on-board artillery and air defense systems. The Admiral Tributs and Admiral Vinogradov destroyers, which carried out patrol missions in the Gulf of Aden as part of international efforts to fight sea piracy, will take part in the drills. According to Martov, the exercises will culminate with a "battle" between the destroyers and submarines, when the surface ships attempt to thwart "a surprise attack from the deep." Russia's Pacific Fleet has a missile cruiser, five destroyers and a large number of submarines in service. Its anti-submarine warfare aircraft include Tu-142 Bear F and Il-38 May planes, and Ka-27 Helix D helicopters.

DTN News: Raytheon Company Increases Dividend 21 Percent, Its Sixth Consecutive Annual Increase ~ Announces New $2.0 Billion Share Repurchase Plan

DTN News: Raytheon Company Increases Dividend 21 Percent, Its Sixth Consecutive Annual Increase ~ Announces New $2.0 Billion Share Repurchase Plan Source: DTN News / Raytheon (NSI News Source Info) WALTHAM, Mass., - March 25, 2010: Raytheon Company's (NYSE:RTN - News) Board of Directors has voted to increase the Company's annual dividend payout rate by 21 percent from $1.24 to $1.50 per share. The Board also authorized payment of a quarterly cash dividend of $0.375 per outstanding share of common stock to be paid on April 29, 2010 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on April 6, 2010. Payment of quarterly dividends is subject to Board authorization. The Board of Directors also authorized the repurchase of up to an additional $2.0 billion of the Company's outstanding common stock. Share repurchases will take place from time to time at management's discretion depending on market conditions. "The Board's decision to substantially increase our dividend and to authorize additional share repurchases reflects our Company's strong financial position, our continued confidence in our future and our ongoing commitment to our shareholders," said William H. Swanson, Raytheon's Chairman and CEO. Raytheon Company, with 2009 sales of $25 billion, is a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, homeland security and other government markets throughout the world. With a history of innovation spanning 88 years, Raytheon provides state-of-the-art electronics, mission systems integration and other capabilities in the areas of sensing; effects; and command, control, communications and intelligence systems, as well as a broad range of mission support services. With headquarters in Waltham, Mass., Raytheon employs 75,000 people worldwide.

DTN News: U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates Says Lopsided F-35 costs "Drove Me Nuts"

DTN News: U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates Says Lopsided F-35 costs "Drove Me Nuts" * Gov't paid 70 pct overhead, project used 6 pct of plant * Pentagon declines to name the contractor involved * Gates not referring to a Lockheed Martin plant (Adds Gates veto threat over second engine, C-17) Source: DTN News / Reuters By Jim Wolf (NSI News Source Info) WASHINGTON, - March 25, 2010: U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he was driven "nuts" by the revelation that taxpayers were funding 70 percent of the overhead at a plant involved in the increasingly expensive F-35 fighter jet, even though the work used only 6 percent of the floor space. The lopsided overhead charge "just drove me nuts" when it was revealed at a briefing, Gates told the House of Representatives Appropriations subcommittee on defense on Wednesday. "I think we can fix that," Gates added. Although Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N) is the primary F-35, contractor with overall responsibility for the program, Gates was not referring to a Lockheed plant, said Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary. Citing what he called proprietary concerns, Morrell declined to identify the company in question. Lockheed's chief subcontractors on the program include Northrop Grumman Corp (NOC.N) and BAE Systems Plc (BAES.L). Two separate, interchangeable F-35 engines are under development, one built by United Technologies Corp's (UTX.N) Pratt & Whitney unit and another by a team made up of General Electric (GE.N) and Rolls-Royce Group Plc (RR.L). At an estimated $300 billion-plus, the F-35 is the Pentagon's costliest arms purchase. Gates also vowed anew to urge a presidential veto of any legislation that funds the GE-Rolls Royce alternate engine or more Boeing (BA.N) C-17 cargo aircraft. Lawmakers have kept both programs going for years despite Pentagon efforts to end them in a belt-tightening move. "I am fully aware of the political pressure to continue building C-17s and to proceed with an alternate engine for the F-35, so let me be very clear," Gates told lawmakers. "I will strongly recommend that the president veto any legislation that sustains the unnecessary continuation of these two programs." "NOT GOING WELL" Gates fired his F-35 program manager in February and withheld $615 million in Lockheed's potential award fees as part of a restructuring. He also added 13 months and $2.8 billion to the plane's development phase and slowed its transition to full production to cap the cost of potential design tweaks. Michael Sullivan, the top expert on the F-35 at Congress's nonpartisan Government Accountability Office, told lawmakers that an "awful lot of design changes" were being carried out now on the factory floor. Lockheed is "still having trouble learning how to build" the aircraft, he said. "That's not going well." Gates tied the program's problems to administration and management, not technology or capabilities. "The Joint Strike Fighter will do everything the military services need it to do, and it will become the backbone of U.S. air combat for the next generation," he said. The program is projected to cost more than $300 billion over the next two decades for 2,443 planes in three different models for the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps. Affordability was supposed to be a hallmark of the F-35, which is also being built for eight overseas partners and other projected foreign buyers, including all those now flying the F-16, the world's most widely deployed fighter. One of those partners, Denmark, said on Wednesday it was postponing a decision on buying new fighter jets, saying it could keep flying its F-16s for two to four years longer. (Reporting by Jim Wolf; Editing by Tim Dobbyn and Ted Kerr)

DTN News: Bombardier CSeries Aircraft Program Reaches Another Milestone

DTN News: Bombardier CSeries Aircraft Program Reaches Another Milestone Source: DTN News / Int'l Media (NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, ONT. Canada - March 25, 2010: Construction of the facility that will build the fuselage for the all-new Bombardier CSeries mainline commercial jetliner has begun. The event - another milestone in Bombardier's progress toward a 2013 entry-into-service for the CSeries aircraft - was marked with a foundation stone-laying ceremony today at the site in Shenyang, China. The 21,000 m2 (226,042 ft2) facility will be operated by Shenyang Aircraft Corporation (SAC), a subsidiary of the state-owned aviation industrial entity, China Aviation Industry Corporation (AVIC). SAC is a key supplier in the Bombardier CSeries aircraft program. Pierre Beaudoin, President and Chief Executive Officer, Bombardier Inc. took part in the ceremony at the Shenyang National Aviation and High Technology Industrial Base in Dongling District. "This ceremony marks a new milestone in the strategic cooperation between Shenyang, AVIC, China and Bombardier," said Mr. Beaudoin. "Bombardier believes in the China aviation industry and is encouraged to see the further development of the Shenyang National Aviation and High Technology Industrial Base as a center of design and manufacturing excellence." SAC delivered the first test article in the CSeries aircraft program - a fuselage test barrel - to Bombardier's Saint-Laurent, Quebec site on August 19, 2009. The test barrel is being used to demonstrate manufacturing and engineering structural concepts before the CSeries aircraft's final design phase begins later this year. It has already been subjected to 40,000 simulated flight cycles of testing. The Shenyang facility joins two other new CSeries aircraft installations that are already under construction. In September 2009, Bombardier celebrated the groundbreaking of the first CSeries aircraft building in Quebec, Canada. Located in Mirabel, 45 minutes north of Montreal, the Complete Integrated Aircraft Systems Test Area (CIASTA) will test aircraft systems for reliability and functionality one year before the first prototype aircraft flies. In November 2009, construction got under way on the company's new state-of-the-art aircraft wing manufacturing and assembly facility in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Since launching the CSeries family of aircraft at the Farnborough Air Show in July 2008, Bombardier has recorded firm orders for a total of 90 CSeries aircraft which includes an order from Republic Airways for 40 CS300 aircraft, another from Deutsche Lufthansa AG for 30 CS100 aircraft, and one from Lease Corporation International Group for 17 CS300 and three CS100 aircraft. The program has also booked options for an additional 90 CSeries aircraft. The CSeries aircraft which are optimized for the longer range, single-aisle 100- to 149-seat market will deliver the lowest operating costs in their class, exceptional operational flexibility, widebody comfort and an unmatched environmental scorecard. About Bombardier A world-leading manufacturer of innovative transportation solutions, from commercial aircraft and business jets to rail transportation equipment, systems and services, Bombardier Inc. is a global corporation headquartered in Canada. Its revenues for the fiscal year ended Jan. 31, 2009, were $19.7 billion US, and its shares are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (BBD). Bombardier is listed as an index component to the Dow Jones Sustainability World and North America indexes. News and information are available at http://www.bombardier.com/. Bombardier, CS100, CS300 and CSeries are trademarks of Bombardier Inc. or its subsidiaries.

DTN News: Boeing Launches Commercial Security Products At International Security Conference

DTN News: Boeing Launches Commercial Security Products At International Security Conference Source: DTN News / Boeing (NSI News Source Info) LAS VEGAS, - March 25, 2010: Boeing [NYSE: BA] is debuting two new versions of its Visual Security Operations Console (VSOC) security management product this week at the International Security Conference and Exposition in Las Vegas. VSOC Responder and VSOC Smart Building will join VSOC Sentinel and VSOC Virtual Shield -- proven tactical intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance products -- to address the unique requirements of facilities management and emergency operations centers. The new products build on the sensor-networking capabilities of VSOC Sentinel to display 3-D models and real-time incident information on one computer screen, allowing for greater situational awareness. “VSOC Sentinel and VSOC Virtual Shield have had great success protecting critical infrastructure around the world, so these additional capabilities will only enhance the abilities of first responders and facility managers,” said Michael Gannon, VSOC program manager for Boeing. All products are featured on the new VSOC Web site (http://www.boeingvsoc.com/), which is also being unveiled this week. The site features interactive product experiences and serves as a centralized destination for customers and product distributors. A unit of The Boeing Company, Boeing Defense, Space & Security is one of the world’s largest defense, space and security businesses specializing in innovative and capabilities-driven customer solutions, and the world’s largest and most versatile manufacturer of military aircraft. Headquartered in St. Louis, Boeing Defense, Space & Security is a $34 billion business with 68,000 employees worldwide.

DTN News: Boeing Supports Future Cybersecurity Experts In Collegiate Competition

DTN News: Boeing Supports Future Cybersecurity Experts In Collegiate Competition Source: DTN News / Boeing (NSI News Source Info) ARLINGTON, Va.,- March 24, 2010: Boeing [NYSE: BA] is sponsoring the Western Regional Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition on March 26-28 at California State Polytechnic University in Pomona, Calif. The competition tests students’ abilities to defend a network in a corporate scenario while accomplishing routine business tasks. "We are proud to support the Western Regional Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition as it focuses on the skills necessary to protect networks and information from cyber threats," said Barbara Fast, Boeing vice president of Cyber and Information Solutions. "Industry must help develop and employ the next generation of cybersecurity experts in order to ensure the availability and trustworthiness of our customers’ networks and information." The competition focuses on the operational aspects of managing and protecting an existing network infrastructure. Students from two- and four-year colleges and universities will face a "red team" of hackers trying to disrupt and compromise their networks. Several Boeing employees -- Cal Poly Pomona and competition alumni -- will be on site during the competition in various support roles. Some have served as advisors to student teams and others will participate as red team members. "Our continuing involvement in these skill-building competitions reflects Boeing’s commitment to investing in national and economic security," said Fast. Boeing also sponsored and provided personnel support to the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic Regional Collegiate Cyber Defense Competitions earlier this month. A unit of The Boeing Company, Boeing Defense, Space & Security is one of the world’s largest defense, space and security businesses specializing in innovative and capabilities-driven customer solutions, and the world’s largest and most versatile manufacturer of military aircraft. Headquartered in St. Louis, Boeing Defense, Space & Security is a $34 billion business with 68,000 employees worldwide.

DTN News: ‘Flawless’ Vertical Landing By F-35 Signals Possible Tipping Point

DTN News: ‘Flawless’ Vertical Landing By F-35 Signals Possible Tipping Point Source: DTN News / Flight International By Stephen Trimble (NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 24, 2010: Lockheed Martin still has much to prove, but two days of flight tests on 17-18 March did more than offer a short burst of relief for the F-35programme's supporters.

Both the timing and visual effect of the hover and vertical landing tests offer the opportunity for Lockheed to achieve a critical tipping point in the programme.

In a single 13min sortie, BAE Systems test pilot Graham Tomlinson provided a vivid glimpse of the F-35's most impressive features, which Lockheed rushed to post onYouTube within an hour of the event. Moreover, achieving both hover and vertical landing milestone events within a two-day window - with only the availability of a redundant search and rescue helicopter delaying the vertical landing event by 2h - lends hope that Lockheed can begin closing a gaping lag in the flight-test schedule.

Only about 3% of more than 1,200 flight tests planned in fiscal year 2010 had been completed through February, while the vertical landing itself had been delayed from mid-2009.

As always, programme officials spoke confidently of making real progress. Speaking after the historic flight, Tomlinson said the same flight recorded a total of 40 test points. Lockheed plans call for averaging 10 test points per each sortie over the nine-year span of the flight-test phase on all three aircraft variants.

"It's certainly not a smooth sequence yet, but we're making some giant steps with some of the sorties we're experiencing at the moment," Tomlinson says.

Perhaps humbled by a series of recent setbacks, Tom Burbage, Lockheed F-35 vice-president, struck a cautious tone. F-35 programme officials predicted at last year's Paris air show that the programme would achieve 1,600 sorties in 2011, meaning each of the 12 flight test aircraft would fly 12 times a month. But Burbage stopped short of predicting such success after the vertical landing event.

Instead, he cited the programme's arguably next biggest milestone event. Lockheed is scheduled to fly two conventional take-off and landing F-35As to Eglin AFB, Florida, in mid-year to stand-up the first training unit.

By that time, Burbage says, "we'll be able to get a really good lock on whether we can achieve these kind of legacy-type [sortie] rates, and we think we will".

For the moment, however, the programme can celebrate a key breakthrough. Even some of the programme officials acknowledged the F-35B's flawless landing surprised them.

"I'm still rather speechless about it," says Tomlinson, lead test pilot for the short take-off and vertical landing variant. "We constantly expected we'd get issues and we saw nothing."

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

DTN News: South Korea Develops Corner Shot ~ Daewoo DP-51 / K5 pistol (Republic of Korea / South Korea)

DTN News: South Korea Develops Corner Shot ~ Daewoo DP-51 / K5 pistol (Republic of Korea / South Korea) Source: DTN News / Int'l Media By JUNG SUNG-KI Published: 23 Mar 2010 Defense News (NSI News Source Info) SEOUL, South Korea - March 24, 2010: South Korea's arms development agency showcased a new weapon March 23 that can shoot around a corner. . The Agency for Defense Development (ADD) began development of the Corner Shot in September 2008 with the investment of about 350 million won ($307,000), the agency said in a news release. The 9mm semi-automatic K-5 pistol is mounted in the front end of the South Korean version of Corner Shot, which is modeled after an Israeli weapon, it said. The gun bends horizontally at a midgun 60-degree hinge, and a digital camera and a flashlight are attached to the barrel in the bayonet position, the release said. On the butt side of the hinge are the trigger, camera screen, and controls for the camera and light, it said. "The Corner Shot has proved its performances in field operations and our special forces are using the weapon," an ADD spokesman said. "We've developed our own version meeting homegrown requirements." Israel developed the Corner Shot in the early 2000s for SWAT teams and special forces in situations involving terrorists and hostages. The weapon allows its operator to both see and attack an armed target, without exposing the operator to counterattack.