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Boeing Contracted for UAV Services in Iraq

Boeing Co. in St. Louis, MO received a minimum guaranteed $10.5 million indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract for “intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance services utilizing an unmanned aircraft system in support of the Global War on Terrorism.” This contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $381.55 million. Work will be performed in the area of operations in support of I and II Marine Expeditionary Forces (MEFs) deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, and is expected to be complete December 2007 (December 2010 with options). Contract funds will expire at the end of the fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured with proposals solicited via the Navy Electronic Commerce Office, with two offers received. The Marine Corps Systems Command in Quantico, VA issued the contract (M67854-07-D-2052).

Boeing has had field representatives in theater for a couple of years now to support and operate the Boeing/Insitu ScanEagle UAV from ships and ashore, receiving high praise and a fairly regular stream of contracts like this one from the USA and Australia. ScanEagle was developed to track dolphins and tuna from fishing boats, but its characteristics (low infrastructure launch and recovery, small size, long endurance, automated flight patterns) have turned out to be very good for battlefield surveillance. It has also been adapted to a number of specialty roles from sniper locator, to bio-warfgare agent detection.

Boeing Flies Blended Wing Body Research Aircraft

(Source: Boeing Co.; issued July 26, 2007) CHICAGO — The innovative Boeing Blended Wing Body (BWB) research aircraft — designated the X-48B — flew for the first time last week at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base in California. The 21-foot wingspan, 500-pound unmanned test vehicle took off for the first time at 8:42 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time on July 20 and climbed to an altitude of 7,500 feet before landing 31 minutes later. “We’ve successfully passed another milestone in our work to explore and validate the structural, aerodynamic and operational efficiencies of the BWB concept,” said Bob Liebeck, BWB program manager for Boeing Phantom Works, the company’s advanced R&D unit. “We already have begun to compare actual flight-test data with the data generated earlier by our computer models and in the wind tunnel.” The X-48B flight test vehicle was developed by Boeing Phantom Works in cooperation with NASA and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory to gather detailed information about the stability and flight-control characteristics of the BWB design, especially during takeoffs and landings. Up to 25 flights are planned to gather data in these low-speed flight regimes. Following completion of low-speed flight testing, the X-48B likely will be used to test the BWB’s low-noise characteristics, as well as BWB handling characteristics at transonic speeds. Two X-48B research vehicles have been built. The vehicle that flew on July 20 is Ship 2, which also was used for ground and taxi testing. Ship 1, a duplicate of Ship 2, completed extensive wind tunnel testing in 2006 at the Old Dominion University NASA Langley Full-Scale Tunnel in Virginia. Ship 1 will be available for use as a backup during the flight test program. Three turbojet engines enable the composite-skinned research vehicle to fly up to 10,000 feet and 120 knots in its low-speed configuration. Modifications would need to be made to the vehicle to enable it to fly at higher speeds. The unmanned aircraft is remotely piloted from a ground control station in which the pilot uses conventional aircraft controls and instrumentation while looking at a monitor fed by a forward-looking camera on the aircraft. The Boeing BWB design resembles a flying wing, but differs in that the wing blends smoothly into a wide, flat, tailless fuselage. This fuselage blending helps to get additional lift with less drag compared to a circular fuselage. This translates to reduced fuel use at cruise conditions. And because the engines mount high on the back of the aircraft, there is less noise inside and on the ground when it is in flight. “While Boeing constantly explores and applies innovative technologies to enhance its current and next-generation products, the X-48B is a good example of how Boeing also looks much farther into the future at revolutionary concepts that promise even greater breakthroughs in flight,” said Bob Krieger, Boeing chief technology officer and president of Phantom Works. While a commercial passenger application for the BWB concept is not in Boeing’s current 20-year market outlook, the Advanced Systems organization of Boeing Integrated Defense Systems’ (IDS) is closely monitoring the research based on the BWB’s potential as a flexible, long-range, high-capacity military aircraft. “The BWB concept holds tremendous promise for the future of military aviation as a multi-purpose military platform in 15 to 20 years,” said Darryl Davis, Boeing IDS Advanced Systems vice president and general manager of Advanced Precision Engagement and Mobility Systems. “Its unique design attributes will result in less fuel burn and a greatly reduced noise footprint, which are important capabilities to offer our Air Force and mobility customers.” NASA’s participation in the project is focused on fundamental, edge-of-the-envelope flight dynamics and structural concepts of the BWB. Along with hosting the X-48B flight test and research activities, NASA Dryden provided engineering and technical support — expertise garnered from years of operating cutting-edge unmanned air vehicles. The two X-48B research vehicles were built by Cranfield Aerospace Ltd., in the United Kingdom, in accordance with Boeing requirements.

Boeing Starts Flight Tests for Canada’s First C-17

ST. LOUIS — The first of four Boeing C-17 Globemaster IIIs for the Canadian Defense Forces took flight for the first time Monday, a major milestone leading to the aircraft’s delivery on Aug. 8.

With a takeoff weight of 460,000 pounds, (208,650 kg), the advanced airlifter lifted off from Long Beach, Calif., at 3:36 p.m. Pacific time, and flew for three hours and 45 minutes.

Led by Boeing production pilot Joel Brown, the seven-person crew put the C-17 through a series of functional checks, flying west over the Pacific Ocean, before returning to the facility where Boeing assembles and tests C-17s prior to delivery.

“For a first flight, we thought it performed exceptionally well,” said Brown. “But our expectations are always high that the C-17 will perform well.”

“We’re looking forward to providing this world-class capability to our new customer, on time and on budget,” said Dave Bowman, vice president and C-17 program manager. “The C-17 program continues to deliver on its commitment to execute flawlessly and deliver C-17s on time with the quality and reliability that has made the C-17 the best airlifter the world has ever seen.”
- Source – Boeing Company July 25, 2007

Boeing’s Flight Risk

Article appearing on businessweek.com July 26 2007

Article written by Stanley Holmes

Boeing (BA) postponed the first flight of its new 787 Dreamliner, pushing the test to the end of September from the end of August, and has boosted research-and-development funds to ensure the fuel-efficient jetliner will overcome last-minute snarls and still enter service on time.

The slight delay remains within the window management has said would be consistent with the first 787 delivery to All Nippon Airways in May, 2008.

“We are spending more than originally planned to ensure we make our commitments,” Boeing Chairman and Chief Executive James McNerney told analysts and media on a July 25 earnings call. “We are facing some challenges.”

Profits Unaffected

The announcement did little to dampen a very strong second quarter. Continued robust commercial airplane sales, improved productivity, and steady financial performance from the company’s defense division contributed to the largest profit in nearly four years. The Chicago aerospace giant said it earned $1.1 billion, or $1.35 a share, in the second quarter on revenue of $17 billion—up 14%. That’s compared with a loss of $160 million, or 21¢ a share last year, when the company paid a $615 million government fine.

The better-than-expected results, the best since the fourth quarter of 2003, surpassed Wall Street’s expectations. Shares of Boeing rose 3.3%, to $107.83—a new 52-week high—July 25 on the New York Stock Exchange, before settling at $107.23. Over the past year, the stock has increased 28%. Heidi Wood, an aerospace analyst for Morgan Stanley (MS), calls the quarterly performance “very nice. It was an uncharacteristically clean quarter without charges and favorable one-time items.”

Delivery Crunch

Boeing raised its 2007 profit forecast to $4.80 to $4.95 per share, from $4.55 to $4.75. It projected sales of $65 billion, up from a previous forecast of about $64.5 billion. Analysts predict per-share earnings of $4.90 for the year on sales of about $65.2 billion. The company maintained its 2008 earnings forecast at $5.55 to $5.75 a share. The company also raised its 2007 operating cash flow by $2 billion, to more than $6 billion, largely reflecting the strength of new order deposits.

The company reiterated its forecast for a 12% boost in commercial airplane deliveries this year to 445 aircraft, which reflects two consecutive years of record airplane orders. It forecasts deliveries of 515 to 520 aircraft next year. Sales from the company’s commercial airplane division grew 22%, to $8.7 billion on higher deliveries. The unit’s profit jumped 34%, to $960 million, for a operating profit margin of 11%. The order backlog is now valued at $208 billion.

For Boeing, about the only potential glitch in a near flawless quarter is the increasing pressure to meet its ambitious 787 delivery schedule. Boeing raised its R&D expenses to $3.7 billion for the year—up from $3.2 billion—as it races the clock to ready the aircraft for its first flight to ensure production doesn’t fall behind. “It’s the scramble at the end of the program,” McNerney said. “Increasing R&D is the right thing to do to keep our successful airplane programs on track.”

Three Challenges

McNerney said the 787’s troubles fall into three categories. The biggest delay for first flight is centered on integrating the various software systems with the hardware, which is a typical challenge for a new airplane program. Still, McNerney said the company has “no reason to believe we’ll face a major issue there.” Engineers are still testing flight-critical software, the fuselage, and the craft’s wings.

The other two areas of concern continue to be supporting major suppliers and trying to reduce overall weight of the aircraft. Some of the first-tier suppliers still are struggling to iron out the kinks of a new composite-based manufacturing system. Key questions revolve around replicating the fuselage sections at higher production rates that produce consistent quality and ramping up to meet the surge in demand for the Dreamliner. For its part, Boeing continues to send teams around the globe to help suppliers stay on track and share best practices.

The aircraft remains about 2% heavier than it should be, Boeing executives say. Engineers have been scrambling to redesign parts of the wing and window frames to meet its weight targets, but it’s unclear whether Boeing will meet them by the time it assembles the first production jet for ANA. “Our projection is a small weight gain, a percent or two,” McNerney said. But he said even a slightly heavier aircraft would still meet its performance obligations to airlines. “Most of our commitment to customers is along operating cost guarantees, and we’re well above those guarantees,” McNerney said. “We can absorb a little bit.”

Lockheed Martin / Northrop Grumman TSAT Team Announces Partnership with Juniper Networks

REDONDO BEACH, Calif. — The Lockheed Martin/Northrop Grumman Transformational Satellite Communications (TSAT) team today announced its partnership with Juniper Networks, Inc. to apply the company’s Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) routing software and related expertise in the design of the team’s TSAT processor/router.

The TSAT system will provide warfighters with high-bandwidth, networked connectivity by extending the reach of the U.S. Department of Defense’s Global Information Grid (GIG) through advanced satellite communications.

Juniper Networks has been supporting Northrop Grumman for the past three years in developing the Next Generation Processor/Router (NGPR) for the TSAT system, which will use Internet Protocol routing on board the satellites to connect users with the GIG. The company has licensed its JUNOS software product for Northrop Grumman’s use. JUNOS is the routing control software being fielded across Juniper’s widely used commercial routers. It is the first IPv6 software approved for use by the Defense Department, which has fielded JUNOS software and Juniper’s router hardware for terrestrial use in the GIG network.

“We are excited about the opportunity to be involved in this global initiative and fully support the Defense Department’s net-centric vision for a secure, reliable enterprise IP infrastructure,” said Haywood Talcove, vice president of Public Sector Americas for Juniper Networks. “We are confident that Juniper Networks’ JUNOS modular operating system will deliver the high-performance and advanced IPv6 capabilities critical to the enablement of the dynamic situational awareness, holistic information assurance and collaboration requirements in the TSAT system.”

The Lockheed Martin/Northrop Grumman TSAT space segment team is currently working under a $514 million contract for the risk reduction and system definition phase. The team, including Juniper Networks, is competing for the subsequent development and production phase of TSAT, which the U.S. Air Force plans to award in late 2007.

“Juniper has been a valuable partner in developing a high-performance, low-risk NGPR during the risk reduction and system definition phase of TSAT,” said Stuart Linsky, vice president of Satellite Communications at Northrop Grumman’s Space Technology sector. “For the development and production phase, JUNOS reduces development risk and minimizes integration risk with the larger end-to-end GIG network. As GIG routers evolve, we can upload improvements to the TSAT router, ensuring compatibility well into the future.”

The integration of JUNOS with Northrop Grumman’s TSAT-unique software was demonstrated in the recent NGPR-2 testing conducted with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Lincoln Laboratory, which verified NGPR functionality and performance in tests completed last February.

“With Juniper’s IP router expertise and experience with the Defense Department’s networking requirements, we are well positioned to help our customer attain its TSAT objectives,” said Mark Pasquale, Lockheed Martin’s TSAT vice president. “We look forward to offering an incremental, low risk TSAT solution to the government and stand ready to achieve operational excellence and mission success on this vitally important program.”

Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Sunnyvale, Calif., serves as the prime contractor. Northrop Grumman is responsible for the communications payload, including laser and radio-frequency communications and on-board processing. The U.S. Air Force is managing the program at the MILSATCOM Systems Wing, located at the Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, Calif.

Juniper Networks, Inc. is the leader in high-performance networking. Juniper offers a high-performance network infrastructure that creates a responsive and trusted environment for accelerating the deployment of services and applications over a single network. This fuels high-performance businesses.

Northrop Grumman Corporation is a $30 billion global defense and technology company whose 120,000 employees provide innovative systems, products and solutions in information and services, electronics, aerospace and shipbuilding to government and commercial customers worldwide.

LUH Program Win Lands Eurocopter in US Defense Market

While the rest of EADS seems to be sinking, Eurocopter continues to fly. Fresh off of major wins with Korea’s KHP development program ($1.3 billion) and Australia’s NH90 order ($1.5 bilion), in June 2006 Eurocopter racked up the biggest win of all: its EC145 will serve as the USA’s future Light Utility Helicopter, replacing existing UH-1s and OH-58s in a 322 helicopter, $3+ billion program between 2006-2015. Losing entries included Team MD Helicopters’ 902 Explorer NOTAR design, Bell-Textron’s 412EP Twin Huey, and Team AugustaWestland’s AB139.

Eurocopter’s LUH first carried the designation UH-145, before being renamed UH-72A Lakota at a December 2006 naming ceremony. This marks the first major US military program awarded to an EADS company; as such, it represents a breakthrough for both Eurocopter and its EADS parent.

Sikorsky wins VH-60N Helicopter cockpit upgrade

   Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., Stratford, Conn., is being awarded a $9,586,594 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the installation and training of the cockpit upgrade program for the VH-60N executive helicopter. Work will be performed in Stratford, Conn., and is expected to be completed in December 2010. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md. is the contracting activity (N00019-07-C-0047).

Navy Unmanned Recon Contract won by Boeing

The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Mo., is being awarded a minimum guaranteed $10,530,210 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance services utilizing an unmanned aircraft system in support of the Global War on Terrorism. This contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $381,542,865. Work will be performed in the area of operations in support of I and II Marine Expeditionary Forces (MEFs) deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Work is expected to be complete December 2007 (December 2010 with options). Contract funds will expire at the end of the fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured with proposals solicited via the Navy Electronic Commerce Office, with two offers received. The Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico, Va., is the contracting activity (M67854-07-D-2052).

Aircraft requirements for AFSOC to go up

HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. – U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command officials here
say their requirement for CV-22 Ospreys could increase well into the 70s, and
the need for more C-130s for transport also could grow, according to Col. Billy
Montgomery, AFSOC’s top planner.
The command’s requirement for the Bell/Boeing tilt-rotors now stands at 50.
The boost is expected to come in a study of global posture and mobility needs
now being conducted by U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM).
The Marine Corps is preparing for its first MV-22 deployment to the Middle
East later this year. AFSOC is planning to send liaisons on that deployment to
gather lessons for the Air Force, as well. The service is preparing to begin CV-
22 initial operational test and evaluation this summer.
Meanwhile, planners here also say requirements for specialized C-130-based
transports and tankers for special operations could increase. The boosts in
force size are needed as the overall ranks of SOCOM forces grow to handle the
war on terrorism. Also contributing to the ballooning needs are the requirements
of the soon-to-be-established regional command overseeing operations in Africa.
Plans for avionics upgrades to the existing AFSOC C-130s, however, are in
doubt. The Air Force trimmed the scope for the Boeing C-130 Avionics
Modernization Program (AMP) from earlier plans for more than 500 aircraft to 222
in the spring due to major cost overruns and technical problems in the program.
SOCOM, in parallel, terminated work on its specialized portion of AMP, called
the Common Avionics Architecture for Penetration (CAAP).
Air Force officials will reconsider progress on the C-130 AMP effort later
this month. If they find risk is acceptable, they can add AFSOC’s C-130s back
into the program. Officials at the command say they must have the specialized
radar and some survivability equipment included in CAAP eventually, though they
are willing to wait for assessments of the C-130 AMP’s progress.
For an in-depth look at AFSOC’s force sizing plans, and requirements for a
new gunship, read articles in Aviation Week & Space Technology’s July 23
edition.
- Amy Butler (butler@aviationweek.com)

$88.1M to Upgrade 4 MV-22 Ospreys

The Bell Helicopter – Boeing Tilt Rotor Team in Amarillo, TX received an $88.1 million modification to a previously awarded cost-plus-fix-fee contract (N00019-96-C-0054) to accept Engineering Change Proposal V-22-0704 for rework of 4 Lot III MV-22 (Marine variant) Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) tiltrotor aircraft used in testing and evaluation to MV-22 Osprey Block A/B operational configuration.
For those counting, that’s $22 million for each refitted aircraft. MV-22 Ospreys are currently headed to Iraq for deployment, reportedly with significant limitations on their use in order to avoid a catastrophe for the program.

Work will be performed in Amarillo, TX (42%); Ridley Park, PA (30%); and Fort Worth, TX (28%) and is expected to be complete in November 2009. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity.