Aviation Week honors Boeing programs for excellence

By BA Staff

The Boeing P-8A Poseidon program and F-15 logistics program were recognized for their success at Aviation Week & Space Technology's Program Excellence award ceremony held Nov. 14 in Phoenix.

The P-8A maritime surveillance aircraft program won the System Level Production category, while the F-15 fighter jet Radar Contractor Logistics Support (CLS) Performance-Based Logistics (PBL) program was a finalist in the Sub-System Sustainment category.

Aviation Week's awards recognize management, leadership, best practices, benchmarking and other factors that make aerospace and defense programs successful.

Jean Chamberlin, vice president of Boeing Defense, Space & Security Program Management and a member of the Aviation Week Program Excellence evaluation team said:

"These nominees represent the 'best in class' when it comes to exceptional leadership and program performance, particularly when we reflect upon how far we have come since the first awards in 2005. I am proud of the improvement these programs demonstrated in customer and supply chain integration and collaboration. It is an honor to be recognized by our industry and government partners."

The U.S. Navy has called P-8A the most successful major Department of Defense acquisition program in the past 30 years. The program exceeds requirements and has achieved every major milestone to date.

Rick Heerdt, Boeing vice president and P-8 program manager said:

"We're lucky to have a great partner – the U.S. Navy – on the P-8A program, and the entire industry team deserves credit for this award,"

The F-15 Radar CLS PBL program with the U.S. Air Force provides total system support to the Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar weapon system. The AESA system gives warfighters the capability to simultaneously detect, track, and engage multiple targets.

Kevin Pennington, F-15 Radar CLS program manager said:

"The PBL approach allows Boeing the ability to optimize radar system availability and performance. Ensuring radar availability provides greater situational awareness and decreased workload with increased survivability." 

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Photo essay: Transit of Singapore Air Force elite 145 squadron F-16s, KC-135R, C-130H at Bangalore

On Monday evening an entire contingent of the elite 145 squadron of the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) touched down at Bangalore's HAL airport.

The 145 Squadron "Hornet" is a strike fighter squadron of the RSAF currently based at the new airbase Changi Airbase (East) which to the east of Singapore Changi Airport. With hornets as their motif and a motto "Swift & Valiant", the 145 squadron is considered one of, if not the best squadron of the RSAF.

The 145 squadron operates 20 Lockheed Martin F-16D+ Fighting Falcons procurred during 2003~2004 under the Peace Carvin IV. The twenty aircraft of the squadron which are upgraded versions known as the Block 52+ or F-16D+, are equipped with state-of-the-art Conformal Fuel Tanks, extended spines which house a formidable radar, targeting pod, and ECM suite enabling the squadron to conduct precision day and night operations at a greater combat range and duration.

In many ways the F-16D+ looks very similar to the F-16IN SuperViper which Lockheed Martin is pitching for the Indian Air Force Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) tender.

Six F-16D+ (tail numbers 661, 662, 669, 674, 678, 679) accompanied by the Boeing KC-135R Stratotankers (tail numbers 750 and 753) and Lockheed C-130H Hercules filled with ground support personnel transited through Bangalore on the night of 7th June. After an overnight stop, the whole fleet took off for Qatar, and most likely proceeding on to Europe.

I managed to capture some of the aircraft as they departed. First to leave were the two KC-135R tankers.
Observe the flight of F-16s in the background

Soon after came the six F-16D+. HAL airport has a 10,000ft runway, and these planes were airborne well before the centre point of the runway. Streaking across the sky with full afterburners, they were well above 400kts (800 kmph) even before reaching the end of the runway. In typical Singapore precision they even took off by tail number.

Sorry, it was a cloudy morning and with the high speed of the F-16s I could not achieve a high quality of the pictures.


Last to leave was the C-130H Hercules by which time the sun had come out of the clouds. Really beautiful looking aircraft.

Please note, these images are the copyright of Bangalore Aviation and may not be used without permission.

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Death toll rises to 79 in Indonesian Air Force Lockheed C-130 Hercules crash

An Indonesian Air Force Lockheed C-130 Hercules carrying 98 passengers and 14 crew on a regular flight from the capital, Jakarta, to the eastern most province of Papua crashed in a rice field at about 06:20 (23:20-1 GMT) in Geplak village and burst into flames crashed into several homes and burst into flames Wednesday, killing at least 79 people, including two on the ground.

Nineteen survivors have been rescued and transported to hospital. Recovery of badly burnt bodies continues and we can expect the death toll to increase. Local television is reported to be flashing footage of fire engulfed mangled wreckage.

The aircraft was transporting troops and their families, including at least 10 children, when it tumbled from the sky near an air force base in East Java province smashing in to a row of houses in Geplak village, killing three on the ground, before skidding into a rice field. Large chunks of the wreckage lie strewn across the paddy fields and bordering bushes.

It was not clear what caused the crash, but several witnesses described hearing a large explosion while it was still in the air and then seeing it split apart.

The Indonesian Air Force is still recovering from the crippling effects of sanctions and low budget allocations. This is the second fatal accident involving their planes in recent weeks. Just 5 weeks earlier, on April 6, a Fokker F-27 crashed and burst into flames in West Java’s capital, Bandung, killing all 24 officers on board.

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Politics triumphs need and sense in US Air Force tanker tender

Pentagon hands tanker tangle to next president
By Andrea Shalal-Esa and Jim Wolf

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Defence Department has ended for now a $35 billion (19.9 billion pound) transatlantic aerial-refuelling competition, handing a nagging seven-year headache to the next administration and boosting Boeing Co's (BA.N: Quote, Profile, Research) hopes to keep Airbus planes out of the Air Force fleet.

Defence Secretary Robert Gates told Congress on Wednesday the Pentagon was dropping plans to pick between revised tanker proposals from Boeing and Northrop Grumman Corp (NOC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) by January 20, when President George W. Bush leaves office.

The Air Force in February awarded the $35 billion, 179-plane program to a team of Northrop and Europe's EADS (EAD.PA: Quote, Profile, Research), parent of Boeing commercial archrival Airbus.

After Boeing protested its loss on procedural grounds, a congressional umpire found the Air Force made "significant errors" in evaluating the rival bids.

The Pentagon responded by preparing for a new round, spelling out more clearly the expanded fuel-carrying capabilities it was seeking, among other things.

Boeing, sole supplier of tankers to the U.S. Air Force for 50 years, is seeking to curb EADS' penetration of the rich U.S. military market. Also at stake are EADS plans to move production of A330 freighters from France to Alabama, partly to cash in on exchange rate fluctuations.

The tanker bidding has been complicated by lawmakers' efforts to bring home jobs and a renewed "Buy America" debate about protecting key aerospace manufacturing capabilities.

The Air Force calls acquiring new tankers its No. 1 acquisition priority. The new fleet would phase out Boeing-built KC-135 tankers, which have an average age of 47 years. Tankers are used to refuel other planes in mid-air, a critical component of projecting U.S. power around the globe.

Rather than hand over "an incomplete and possibly contested process," Gates said he wanted to give the next administration a free hand to determine the military requirements, funding levels and how to weigh the bids.

PRESIDENTIAL POLITICS

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, where Boeing is headquartered, believes the competition "will benefit from a fresh review," said Wendy Morigi, an Obama campaign spokeswoman.

Obama "will work to ensure that this review puts our national security and the American taxpayer first," she said in an e-mailed response. "Senator Obama is committed to getting this important contract right and to making sure that we are providing our men and women in uniform with the equipment and support they need."

Representatives of Republican presidential hopeful John McCain did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

As a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, McCain led a drive in 2003 to kill an initial $23.5 billion Air Force plan to lease and buy 100 modified Boeing 767s as tankers.

McCain of Arizona denounced the original no-bid, sole-source plan as a taxpayer "ripoff" and sweetheart deal for Boeing, then reeling from drops in demand for commercial airliners after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

The proposed lease-purchase deal collapsed in 2004 amid a scandal that sent two Boeing executives, including the Air Force's one-time No. 2 arms buyer, to prison on conflict of interest charges.

MISTAKES AND MISSTEPS

"Over the past seven years the process has become enormously complex and emotional -- in no small part because of mistakes and missteps along the way by the Department of Defence," Gates told the House Armed Services Committee while discussing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"It is my judgment that in the time remaining to us, we can no longer complete a competition that would be viewed as fair and objective in this highly charged environment," he said.

What Gates called a "cooling off" period was a big gain for Chicago-based Boeing. It had threatened to withdraw from the now-cancelled competition unless given six months to prepare a new bid. It said the Air Force had made clear it was now seeking a larger plane than the modified 767 it originally offered.

Boeing cheered Gates' decision, calling it in U.S. forces' best interest to give "the appropriate time for this important and complex procurement to be conducted in a thorough and open competition."

Northrop Grumman, on the other hand, said it was extremely disappointed, "especially on behalf of our men and women in uniform who will now be denied a critically needed new tanker for years."

EADS had no immediate comment. Northrop's tanker would use an Airbus A330 airframe that would be assembled in Mobile, Alabama.

HANDICAPPING THE NEXT STAGE

The A330s are currently put together in Toulouse, France, using mainly French, German, British and Spanish parts. The Pentagon issued a stop-work order on Northrop's contract after Boeing challenged the choice. Boeing has been considering substituting its bigger 767-400 or even the 777 aircraft, in place of its 767-200ER model.

"Given McCain's history in regard to this program, one might handicap a slight advantage to Northrop/EADS should he be elected," said Harry Nourse of Bank of America Securities.

"If Obama wins, you could see some implementation of the 'Buy America' philosophy, which might favour Boeing," he said.

(With additional reporting by Bill Rigby in New York and Tim Hepher in Paris; editing by Tim Dobbyn)

© Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idUKN1041158420080911?sp=true

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