DTN News: India To It FLIR To C-130J Transports / FLIR Systems Announces $7.2 Million Order For The Indian Air Force

DTN News: India To It FLIR To C-130J Transports / FLIR Systems Announces $7.2 Million Order For The Indian Air Force

*Source: DTN News / FLIR Systems, Inc.

(NSI News Source Info) PORTLAND, OR - August 8, 2009: FLIR Systems, Inc. announced today that it has received a $7.2 million U.S. Government Foreign Military Sale (FMS) order for the Indian Air Force.

The order includes FLIR System's Star SAFIRE III infrared multi-sensor surveillance systems, training and related services.

The units delivered under this award will be installed on C-130J Fixed Wing Surveillance Platforms in support of Indian Ministry of Defense airborne missions.

This FMS order represents the first fixed-wing sale of FLIR's multi-sensor systems to the Indian Ministry of Defense. Work on this order will be performed at FLIR's facility in Wilsonville, Oregon and deliveries are expected to be completed by 2011.

"This order, the result of FLIR's world-class products and significant investment in regional support and training, demonstrates our ability to penetrate new international markets," said Earl R. Lewis, President and CEO of FLIR Systems.

"We are pleased the Indian Ministry of Defense has chosen FLIR products for their critical homeland security and national defense missions and look forward to collaborating with them in the future."

FLIR Systems, Inc. is a world leader in the design, manufacture and marketing of thermal imaging and stabilized camera systems for a wide variety of thermography and imaging applications including condition monitoring, research and development, manufacturing process control, airborne observation and broadcast, search and rescue, drug interdiction, surveillance and reconnaissance, navigation safety, border and maritime patrol, environmental monitoring and ground-based security.

DTN News: Israel Says Tanks To Get New Anti-Missile System

DTN News: Israel Says Tanks To Get New Anti-Missile System *Source: DTN News / Int'l Media (NSI News Source Info) JERUSALEM, Israel - August 8, 2009: The Israeli army will begin equipping its tanks with a new anti-missile system, following stinging losses due to missiles fired by Hezbollah militants in the 2006 Lebanon war, officials said. Israeli tanks drive along the Israel-Lebanon border after arriving from south Lebanon, in 2006.The Israeli army will begin equipping its tanks with a new anti-missile system, following stinging losses due to missiles fired by Hezbollah militants in the 2006 Lebanon war, officials said. The Trophy system uses radar to track incoming missiles and fires a projectile to explode the missiles before they reach their target, a military official said. Tests of the system were successful and it will be installed on the latest generation Merkava IV tanks. According the private television station Channel 10 the system is expensive, costing around 350,000 dollars (245,000 euros) per unit. Israel has been searching for a new defence against missiles after Hezbollah militants during the Second Lebanon War scored a number of damaging strikes against the Merkavas, considered one of the strongest tanks in the world. Israel media have reported that of 25 modern guided missiles fired by Hezbollah militants, a quarter penetrated the tank's formidable armour and caused death or injuries among crew members.

DTN News: Australia Begins Search For Submarine Designers

DTN News: Australia Begins Search For Submarine Designers

*Source: DTN News / Int'l Media

(NSI News Source Info) SYDNEY, Australian - August 8, 2009: Defence Minister Sen. John Faulkner announced Aug. 6 that Canberra will call for tenders in the near future to carry out a design study for the Royal Australian Navy's Future Submarine project, code-named Sea 1000. The 12-boat program is expected to be the most expensive defense procurement undertaken by Australia, with estimates ranging up to 20 billion Australian dollars ($16.8 billion). The 2009 defense white paper, published in May, revealed that the Navy's six Collins-class boats will be replaced by about 2025 by 12 conventional submarines. The white paper calls for the Future Submarine to be more capable than the current 3,500-ton Collins-class boat, with greater range and patrol endurance, and armed with land-attack cruise missiles as well as heavyweight torpedoes. A spokesman for Faulkner said the request for tenders announced by Faulkner and his deputy, Greg Combet, the defense materiel and science minister, is designed to assess whether Australian companies have the capacity to design such a submarine. The request also will help the government's defense procurement agency, the Canberra-based Defence Materiel Organisation (DMO), determine the feasibility of establishing an indigenous submarine design capability in Australia. "My interpretation of their announcement is exactly that," said Graham Bulmer, acting CEO of the Collins-class builder, ASC Pty Ltd., Port Adelaide. However, he said, the wording of the announcement is ambiguous, and until the request itself is released, Bulmer declined to speculate on what ASC's response might be. At present, there is only one company in Australia recognized as a submarine design authority, and that is ASC, which established in 2007 a research and development subsidiary, Deep Blue Tech, to carry out self-funded research and development for the next generation of submarines. Bulmer said he couldn't say whether ASC or Deep Blue Tech might respond to the request. This is the second stage of a two-part process that began earlier this year, when a team of Navy and DMO officials visited submarine construction yards in the U.S. and Europe to assess design and technology options. The request is a tacit acknowledgement that there is no submarine available off the shelf that meets the Navy's needs, said Terry Roach, vice president of the Submarine Institute of Australia, a Canberra-based group comprising many former Navy submariners. Roach himself is a former Navy submarine captain and former director of the Navy's Submarine Warfare Systems Centre here. The institute published a paper last year setting out the key design factors for the Future Submarine project and urged the government to invest in the R&D required to support the design, construction and sustainment of a new fleet of submarines. The Navy has unique requirements for range, submerged endurance, speed, stealth and payload. The Navy/DMO study tour this year confirmed that no existing conventional submarine can meet these requirements, Roach said Aug. 7. In addition, the Navy has a close strategic relationship with the U.S. Navy, with whom it collaborates on the development of the AN/BYG-1 submarine combat management system and the Mk48 Mod. 7 heavyweight torpedo. To maintain that vital relationship and protect sensitive U.S. technology, Australia must have a secure, indigenous design and project management capability, rather than working with a European designer, Roach said. All that points toward ongoing investment in indigenous submarine design capabilities. The domestic design study forms part of the initial definition phase of Project Sea 1000, which is due to end in December. It will be used to shape the design, procurement and production process for the Future Submarine, Roach said. Phase 1A of the Future Submarine project, the concept design process, is due for Cabinet approval in 2010 or 2011, with the preliminary design stage, Phase 1B, due to get underway between 2011 and 2013. The detailed design for the Future Submarine in Phase 1C will get underway in 2013. The construction of the first submarine in Phase 2 of Project Sea 1000 will commence afterward.

DTN News: Airbus Reports 118 New Orders

DTN News: Airbus Reports 118 New Orders

*Source: DTN News / Int'l Media

(NSI News Source Info) PARIS, France - August 8, 2009: European airliner manufacturer Airbus on Friday reported 118 confirmed new orders, after cancellations or postponements, for its aircraft in the first seven months of 2009. The company's stated target for 2009 is to achieve 300 new orders.

The latest figures put it ahead of US rival Boeing, which as at August 4 had achieved 40 confirmed new orders. The figures from Airbus included 50 short-haul A320s for the Hungarian low-fare carrier Wizz Air. The number of cancelled or postponed orders has become a key measure of airliner manufacturers' health during the global economic crisis. Deliveries of completed Airbus aircraft amounted to 288 over the first seven months, including 235 short-haul A320s and four long-haul A380s. The catalogue price for the workhorse A320 is about 77 million dollars (53.6 million euros). Airbus lost 22 orders to cancellations whereas Boeing lost 89 orders including 73 for its flagship long-haul 787 Dreamliners. In June, Boeing delayed the maiden test-flight for the Dreamliner, which is already two years behind schedule. Airbus expects to match in 2009 its record 2008 volume of 483 deliveries. Boeing, for its part, has to-date delivered 279 aircaft this year, 216 of them its short-haul 737s.

DTN News: Air India Aims To Turn Profitable In Three Years

DTN News: Air India Aims To Turn Profitable In Three Years

*Source: DTN News / Bloomberg By Vipin V. Nair

(NSI News Source Info) NEW DELHI, India - August 8, 2009: Air India, the state-run carrier with $1.5 billion of accumulated losses, said it will create four business units, slash capacity and pay debt to turn profitable in three years. Cargo, engineering services, ground handling and airline operations will be separate divisions, Chairman and Managing Director Arvind Jadhav said today in New Delhi. The number of employees will be “rationalized,” he said without elaborating. Air India, seeking state funds, must reorganize after the government asked it for a “time-bound program” as part of conditions for the rescue package. The carrier delayed June salaries to its 32,000 employees and plans to cancel aircraft orders after traffic slumped and debt mounted. The cost-saving measures will “be painful,” Jadhav said. “We’ve got into a cash-flow problem. We are unable to service our interest and debt liabilities with our internal resources.” The focus in the first nine months of the reorganization will be “survival,” Air India said in a statement posted on its Web site. The units will be started in the next nine months and the carrier will aim to turn around in the following 18 months and prepare for an initial public offer. Leased Aircraft Air India will return the aircraft that are on lease, Jadhav said. The airline is in talks with Boeing Co. about canceling orders for six 777 planes, spokesman Jitender Bhargava said on July 31. “We are having a re-look at all the new aircraft,” Jadhav said. “We need to work with the vendors.” Air India, which has an equity capital of 1.45 billion rupees ($30 million), more than doubled its debt to 152 billion rupees as of June 30 after increasing loans to pay for 49 of the 111 planes ordered from Airbus SAS and Boeing. The carrier had placed orders for 68 planes from Boeing and 43 with Airbus. The government may give 25 billion rupees of capital to Air India, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said on July 16. The airline will ask banks to defer working capital loans due for repayment, return some leased planes and seek credit extensions from state-run oil retailers on jet-fuel purchases, he said. National Aviation Co. of India Ltd., Air India’s parent, had asked for a loan of 27.5 billion rupees and equity infusion of 12.31 billion rupees in the year ended March 31 from the government. To contact the reporter on this story: Vipin V. Nair in Mumbai at vnair12@bloomberg.net

DTN News: FAA Orders Safety Fix For All U.S. Boeing 767s To Prevent Possible Fuel Tank Explosion

DTN News: FAA Orders Safety Fix For All U.S. Boeing 767s To Prevent Possible Fuel Tank Explosion

*Source: DTN News / Int'l Media

(NSI News Source Info) NEW YORK, USA - August 8, 2009: The Federal Aviation Administration does not issue airworthiness (ADs) directives lightly. The idea is to make sure airplanes don’t crash, or—in this particular case—blow up. In this instance, the object of FAA’s attention is the ubiquitous Boeing 767. In its just-released AD, FAA wants to “prevent an overheat condition outside the center [fuel] tank fuel pump explosion resistance area,” of the twin-engine widebody. FAA says in the AD that the area “is open to the pump inlet, which could cause an ignition source for the fuel vapors in the fuel tank and result in fuel tank explosions and consequent loss of the airplane.” To correct the problem, FAA is mandating that airlines install an automatic shutoff system for the auxiliary fuel tank/override jettison fuel pumps on all Boeing 767s. That means this airworthiness directive takes in a lot of airplanes. FAA estimates the AD encompasses 414 Boeing 767s registered here in the United States. Among the airlines with significant 767 fleets: American, Delta, Continental, United, and US Airways – virtually all the country’s so-called “legacy” mainline, hub-and-spoke airlines. The cost to solve the problem according to FAA: as much as $4,655,016. The airworthiness directive also calls on carriers to revise the 767’s flight manual “to advise the flight crew of certain operating restrictions for airplanes equipped with an automatic auxiliary fuel pump shutoff control.” On certain aircraft, the AD mandates that a placard be installed in the cockpit “to alert the crew of certain fuel usage restrictions.” Some context: regulators and airlines have taken fuel tank issues very seriously since the July 17, 1996 crash of TWA Flight 800. The Boeing 747-131 was en route from New York Kennedy to Paris Charles de Gaulle when it exploded in the heavens off Long Island on a hot summer’s night. The National Transportation Safety Board concluded the Probable Cause for the crash that claimed all 230 souls-on-board was “a fuel/air explosion in the airplane’s center wing fuel tank.” While NTSB couldn’t determine the specific ignition source “with certainty,” the Safety Board concluded the most likely spark came from “a short circuit outside of the [center wing tank] that allowed excessive voltage to enter it through electrical wiring associated with the fuel quantity indication system.” Much speculation surrounded the accident, with Pierre Salinger, President Kennedy’s former press secretary, contending that the aircraft was shot brought down by a U.S. Navy missile.

DTN News: Malaysia's AirAsia Defers Airbus A320 Delivery

DTN News: Malaysia's AirAsia Defers Airbus A320 Delivery

*Source: DTN News / Reuters

(NSI News Source Info) KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - August 7, 2009: Southeast Asia's largest budget carrier AirAsia has deferred the delivery of 8 Airbus A320 aircraft to 2014 from 2010 as the existing low-cost terminal is unable to support its fleet expansion. "AirAsia foresees infrastructural constraints with the current airport facilities and until the new LCCT (low-cost carrier terninal) is constructed," the airline said in a statement. AirAsia has firm orders of 175 Airbus A320 aircraft scheduled for delivery between 2005 and October 2014, it said in a statement. Airbus has agreed to the revised schedule and no penalty will be imposed on AirAsia, which will now take delivery of 16 aircraft in 2010. The budget carrier said it has the right to postpone delivery of another 8 aircraft in 2011 to 2014 if it informs Airbus before the end of October. The Malaysian government in January turned down AirAsia's proposal to build, own and operate a new airport outside of the capital Kuala Lumpur. The authorities subsequently announced that the country's airport operator Malaysia Airports Holdings will build the new low-cost terminal with inputs from AirAsia. The budget carrier this week announced plans to place out a 20 percent stake in the airline, which has attracted strong interest from foreign and local institutional funds, its chief executive Tony Fernandes told Reuters. (Reporting by Julie Goh; Editing by David Chance)

DTN News: Honeywell Unit Says To Double India Revenue

DTN News: Honeywell Unit Says To Double India Revenue

* Plans to more than double $500 million rev from India * Investing $50 million to expand R&D plant in Bangalore * Eyeing revenue from India space programme

*Source: DTN News / Reuters By Bappa Majumdar

(NSI News Source Info) NEW DELHI, India - August 7, 2009: Honeywell International's aerospace unit plans to more than double its $500 million revenue from India in five years by increasing sales of defence and commercial equipment, a top official said on Friday. Honeywell is also upgrading India's Jaguar fighter planes with superior engine, and has a tie-up with state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) to produce aircraft engines and equipment for the international market. An Indian Air Force (IAF) 14th Squadron SEPECAT (Breguet/BAC) Jaguar GR-1 "Shamser" (Sword of Justice) ground attack aircraft prepares to receive fuel from a IAF 78th Squadron Ilyushin IL-78 Midas aerial refueling aircraft, flying out of Eielson FB, Alaska (AK), as they participate in an aerial refueling mission during Exercise COOPERATIVE COPE THUNDER, the largest multinational air combat training exercise in the Pacific. This 15-day exercise simulates wartime combat conditions so that military personnel from 12-nations can sharpen their air fighting skills, exchange air operational tactics, and build closer relations with each other. "We have revenue in excess of half a billion dollars, which we plan to more than double in five years," Paolo Carmassi, chief executive officer of Honeywell Aerospace, the world's largest maker of cockpit systems, told Reuters in an interview. Honeywell, a diversified group which makes products such aircraft engines, electronic systems and avionics, has five manufacturing facilities and 10,000 employees in India. As one of the world's biggest arms importers, India plans to spend more than $30 billion over the next five years to upgrade its largely Soviet-era arsenal, which Carmassi said provided the perfect environment to grow its businesses. "Honeywell has had significant investment in India and is committed to realise its vision in the country. For example, in 2009, Honeywell has invested $50 Million to expand its R&D facility in Bangalore," Carmassi said by telephone from Rolle in Switzerland. India will begin field trials this month to buy 126 fighter jets in a $10.4 billion project which is one of the world's biggest arms deal in play at the moment. Boeing's F/A-18 Super Hornet, France's Dassault Rafale, Lockheed Martin Corp's F-16, Russia's MiG-35, Sweden's Saab JAS-39 Gripen and the Eurofighter Typhoon, are the six contenders. When India finalises the fighter deal in a year's time, it would be a win-win situation for Honeywell, Carmassi said, adding that five of the six contenders for the fighters have Honeywell products. Honeywell components are also present in six C-130J military transport planes and eight P8-I maritime patrol aircraft, bought by India for $3.2 billion from Lockheed Martin and Boeing recently, Carmassi said. Honeywell is also upgrading India's Jaguar fighter planes with superior engine, and has a tie-up with state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) to produce aircraft engines and equipment for the international market. The company is also eyeing revenues from India's space programme which envisions the launch of several satellites in the coming years and unmanned and manned missions to space and moon. (Editing by Krittivas Mukherjee and Valerie Lee)

DTN News: Meggitt To Develop Energy Efficient Systems For Combat Vehicles

DTN News: Meggitt To Develop Energy Efficient Systems For Combat Vehicles *Source: DTN News / Future Technologies (NSI News Source Info) NEW YORK, USA - August 7, 2009: Meggitt’s US-based military electronics cooling facility in California and Maryland-based Patrick Power Products Inc (P3I) are to develop a family of rugged, energy and fuel-efficient auxiliary thermal management and power systems to run and cool electronics on ground combat vehicles.The IAV Stryker is a family of eight-wheeled all-wheel-drive armored combat vehicles produced by General Dynamics Land Systems, in use by the United States Army. Based on the Canadian LAV III light-armored vehicle, which in turn is based on the Swiss MOWAG Piranha III 8x8, the Stryker is the U.S. Army's first new armored vehicle since the M2/M3 Bradley Fighting Vehicle in the 1980s. The Stryker was championed by General Eric Shinseki when he was U.S. Army Chief of Staff. The vehicle is employed in Stryker Brigade Combat Teams, light and mobile units based on the Brigade Combat Team Doctrine that relies on vehicles connected by military C4I networks.

Optimised for size, weight and power (SWaP) and thermal management efficiency, the partnership aims to reduce dependence on a vehicle’s main engine power by command, control and communications systems and the electronics needed to run defensive and offensive weapons and the vehicles themselves. The systems will draw on established technology like the M1A2SEP thermal management system, 1300 of which have been produced by Meggitt for the US Army in the last decade, Meggitt’s third generation combat thermal management system developed for the US Army MULE programme and the recently demonstrated US Army multi-fuel rotary auxiliary power unit produced by P3I for the Abrams Main Battle Tank. Meggitt and P3I aim to develop and demonstrate combat-ready systems that can be integrated easily into a range of US Army and international ground combat vehicles and function reliably in all known extreme environments. Meggitt and P3I estimate the new systems could reduce dependence on vehicle engine power by over 40% on platforms like the M1A2, M2A3 and Stryker family of combat vehicles while reducing vehicle energy and fuel consumption and the associated logistics impact by over 60%.

DTN News: Twitter, Facebook Attack Targeted One User

DTN News: Twitter, Facebook Attack Targeted One User *Source: DTN News / Cnet By Elinor Mills

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - August 7, 2009: A pro-Georgian blogger with accounts on Twitter, Facebook, LiveJournal and Google's Blogger and YouTube was targeted in a denial of service attack that led to the site-wide outage at Twitter and problems at the other sites on Thursday, according to a Facebook executive. In common usage, a hacker is a person who breaks into computers, usually by gaining access to administrative controls. The subculture that has evolved around hackers is often referred to as the computer underground. Proponents claim to be motivated by artistic and political ends, and are often unconcerned about the use of illegal means to achieve them. Other uses of the word hacker exist that are not related to computer security (computer programmer and home computer hobbyists), but these are rarely used by the mainstream media. The blogger, who uses the account name "Cyxymu," (the name of a town in the former Soviet Republic) had accounts on all of the different sites that were attacked at the same time, Max Kelly, chief security officer at Facebook, told CNET News. "It was a simultaneous attack across a number of properties targeting him to keep his voice from being heard," Kelly said. "We're actively investigating the source of the attacks and we hope to be able to find out the individuals involved in the back end and to take action against them if we can."

Kelly declined to speculate on whether Russian nationalists were behind the attack, but said: "You have to ask who would benefit the most from doing this and think about what those people are doing and the disregard for the rest of the users and the Internet." Twitter was down for several hours beginning early Thursday morning, and suffered periodic slowness and time-outs throughout the day. "The people who are coordinating this attack, the criminals, are definitely determined and using a lot of resources," Kelly said. "If they're asking our infrastructure to generate hundreds of pages a second, that's a lot of pages our users can't see." Facebook and Google were able to minimize any impact to their sites. Facebook even managed to keep the Cyxymu account accessible to Web surfers from that region, Kelly said, although it was inaccessible to people in other geographic areas, including San Francisco. This was the first coordinated attack on the sites, and all the companies involved were working closely on the investigation, he said. "My team and the teams that are working together at all these companies are doing a really good job very quickly and I'm proud and happy," he said. Twitter and LiveJournal did not immediately return e-mails and calls seeking comment. A Google spokesman offered this statement: "We are aware that a handful of non-Google sites were impacted by a DOS attack this morning, and are in contact with some affected companies to help investigate this attack. Google systems prevented substantive impact to our services."