News Story: India's Tender for Private-Sector-Built Airlifter May Not Take Off

Avro transport aircraft

1 Potential Bidder So Far

By VIVEK RAGHUVANSHI

NEW DELHI — India’s first attempt to operate a military aircraft-building program involving the domestic private sector appears to be a non-starter as only one potential foreign partner is likely to submit a bid, a Ministry of Defence source said.

With only Spain-based Airbus Defence and Space participating, the program would become a single-vendor contest, which MoD almost certainly would cancel.

On July 19, the Defense Acquisition Council (DAC), the MoD’s top weapons decision-making body, extended the deadline for filing bids to Aug. 28.

DAC reiterated that Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL), the state-owned company that has long held a monopoly on local military aircraft manufacturing, would not be given the tender or made the sole production partner.

The DAC initially approved the program in July 2012 and paved the way for floating a global tender.

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News Story: HAL's Exclusion Delays Effort To Replace India's Avro Fleet

IAF Avro aircraft to be replaced

By VIVEK RAGHUVANSHI

NEW DELHI — A $3 billion Indian Air Force effort to acquire 56 transport aircraft from a foreign company has run into a roadblock after Minister for Heavy Industries Praful Patel asked why state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) was excluded from consideration.

In response, Defence Minister A.K. Antony has asked officials to look into the complaint, which sources say could stall the program.

In May, a tender to procure 56 aircraft to replace the air force’s aging Avro fleet was sent to overseas companies: Casa (EADS) of Spain, Alenia Aeronautica of Italy, Boeing and Lockheed Martin of the United States, Antonov Design Bureau of Ukraine, Ilyushin Design Bureau of Russia and Embraer of Brazil. The tender was not sent to HAL, the state-owned military aircraft manufacturer, and for the first time the tender allowed the selected overseas company to choose an Indian private-sector company as the lead partner for the licensed production of the aircraft. Until now, HAL has been the lead partner for all military aircraft programs.

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News Story: India Issues Global Tender for Maritime Recon Planes

By VIVEK RAGHUVANSHI

NEW DELHI — India is on a global hunt to procure nine medium range maritime reconnaissance (MRMR) aircraft equipped with anti-ship missiles.

The tender, worth more than $2 billion, was sent to overseas defense majors Alenia of Italy; US-based Boeing and Lockheed Martin; Saab of Sweden; Germany’s EADS, France-based Dassault; Embraer of Brazil and Bombardier of Canada.

The latest global tender is a rebid of tender floated in 2008 to buy six MRMR aircraft. That was withdrawn later because none of the vendors could meet the qualitative requirements of the tender.

In the latest tender, the nine MRMR aircraft will replace the Indian Navy’s Islanders (BN-21A) surveillance aircraft, which were used for coastal surveillance for many decades. The Islander aircraft, bought in 1976, will be given to the Coast Guard or could even be gifted to foreign countries,said an Indian Defence Ministry source. India has already donated two Islander aircraft to Myanmar.

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ST AEROSPACE & ALENIA AERMACCHI ROLL-OUT FIRST M-346 FOR THE REPUBLIC OF SINGAPORE AIR FORCE

M-346 Master (Wiki Info)

Venegono Superiore (Varese), Italy 7 August 2012 – The first M-346 advanced trainer for the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) was rolled out in a ceremony held at Alenia Aermacchi’s plant in Venegono Superiore, Italy.

In September 2010, ST Aerospace, as the prime contractor, teaming with Alenia Aermacchi (a Finmeccanica company) and The Boeing Company, was awarded a contract to supply 12 M-346 aircraft and ground based training system for the RSAF’s Advanced Jet Trainer (AJT) programme.

The roll-out ceremony was attended by officials from the RSAF, key representatives from ST Aerospace, The Boeing Company and Alenia Aermacchi, as well as staff representatives involved in the programme.

“We signed the contract less than two years ago and today we have rolled out the first of twelve M-346 aircraft for the RSAF’s Advanced Jet Trainer programme. This is a particularly important moment for our company, a great team job has been achieved in strict collaboration with our industrial counterpart, ST Aerospace, and we are proud to celebrate together with them”. ~ Giuseppe GIORDO, Alenia Aermacchi’s CEO, and Responsible for Finmeccanica’s Aeronautics Sector

“The successful rollout of the first M-346 illustrates the firm commitment by ST Aerospace and Alenia Aermacchi, in support of the RSAF’s next generation training needs. Together with our partners we will continue to marry the strengths of one another to deliver an outstanding solution to our customer.” ~ CHANG Cheow Teck, President, ST Aerospace

The rollout follows the obtaining of the type certificate and the first flight made by this aircraft in July 2012. The delivery of the first M-346 is scheduled for the end of 2012.

Background

The M-346 is the ideal platform for a latest-generation integrated training system. The versatility of the M-346 allows for its configuration as an affordable advanced combat aircraft. The innovative technical characteristics of the M-346 provide for a high degree of safety and low acquisition and operating costs. The M-346 has been designed using the latest “design-to-cost” and “design-to-maintain” concepts, with an avionics system modeled on those used in new-generation fighter aircraft, such as Eurofighter, Gripen, Rafale, F-22 and the F-35.

The M-346 received its Military Type Qualification Certificate from the Italian Ministry of Defence - National Armaments Directorate in June 2011, an essential requirement to certify the full correspondence to aircraft specifications and to international military requirements.

In September 2010, the Singapore Government signed the contract for 12 M-346 and ground-based training systems under the AJT replacement programme. This contract was signed with the consortium, formed by ST Aerospace (prime contractor), Alenia Aermacchi and Boeing. The first aircraft is scheduled for delivery this year. Alenia Aermacchi also finalised contracts in June 2011 with ST Aerospace to provide logistics support to the RSAF’s fleet of M-346.

ST Engineering

News Story: Alenia Warns U.S. Over C-27J Sales

C-27J Spartan

By VAGO MURADIAN

Marcus Weisgerber in Washington and Tom Kington in Rome contributed to this report.

SINGAPORE — In what analysts see as an unprecedented move, Alenia Aermacchi, the Italian maker of the C-27J, is warning the U.S. government that it will refuse to support the aircraft it sold to the United States if the U.S. resells them to other nations.

The move caught some U.S. officials by surprise and threatens to undermine American efforts to resell the planes on the international market, most likely to Australia, Canada or Taiwan.

Read the full & involved story at DefenseNews

Eurofighter Working to Strengthen Strategic Partnership with Japan

Tokyo, Japan - Reflecting the strong commitment to deepen the strategic partnership with Japan, the Supervisory Board of Eurofighter GmbH will for the first time hold a board meeting in Tokyo. Senior executives from Eurofighter partner companies (BAE Systems, Alenia Aeronautica, and Cassidian in Spain and Germany) are visiting Japan from 5 July to 8 July to discuss the status of the Eurofighter Typhoon F-X campaign and strategic next steps, and to hold talks with Ambassadors of the four consortium member-nations – the U.K., Germany, Italy and Spain.

Eurofighter, its partner companies and the four member-nations are working to strengthen industrial and technological relations with Japan. All four partner countries are supporting and are committed to the Eurofighter F-X campaign, which is being led by the U.K. government and BAE Systems.

Commenting on the visit, Chris Boardman, Managing Director Military Air and Information at BAE Systems, said: “This meeting of the Eurofighter Supervisory Board demonstrates the enthusiasm of the consortium to work with Japan. We are ready to offer Japan’s defence industry considerable participation in the programme, which will offer significant technology transfer opportunities, including the source code, and the ability to develop and sustain key skills, capabilities and jobs within Japanese industry.”

Enzo Casolini, CEO, Eurofighter GmbH, added: “The changing security environment in East Asia presents Japan with diverse and evolving defence challenges. We are confident that the technical capabilities, cost projections and industrial offering of Eurofighter, the most advanced multi-role combat aircraft currently available, fully meet the Japanese government’s requirements.”

In addition, U.K. Ambassador to Japan, David Warren, on behalf of the Ambassadors of the consortium member-nations, commented: “As with broader economic partnerships, there is much that Europe and Japan can gain by cooperating more closely in the aerospace and defence field. We share a great deal in common, including common values, a close relationship with the United States and the need for interoperability with U.S. equipment, and similar pressures from an increasingly complex security environment. The U.K. government, and our European partners, remain fully committed to supporting the Eurofighter campaign and strengthening the defence and security relationship with Japan.”

The Eurofighter Supervisory Board members meeting in Japan include Bernhard Gerwert, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Eurofighter GmbH and CEO of Cassidian Air Systems; Enzo Casolini, Eurofighter GmbH CEO; Chris Boardman, Managing Director, Military Air and Information, BAE Systems; Cliff Robson, Deputy Managing Director, Combat Air, BAE Systems; Mauritzio De Mitri, Senior Vice President Business Management, Alenia Aeronautica; and Enrique Barrientos, CEO of Cassidian Spain.

Eurofighter