LOCATIONS
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20 Nov 19. Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd. to Expand Headquarters at New Fairfax County Location. Adds More Than 50 Jobs to County Economy. Gov. Ralph Northam today announced that Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd. (IAI), Israel’s largest aerospace and defense company, will expand its North American headquarters operation at a new location in Fairfax County. The project will create more than 50 new jobs. The governor made the announcement following a meeting with IAI officials in Tel Aviv during his international trade and marketing mission to Israel and the United Arab Emirates.
The new headquarters is in the Herndon area of the county, close to Washington Dulles International Airport. From there the company will direct its $800m annual business operation in the United States and steer plans to grow in the market.
“IAI North America is proud to expand our corporate headquarters at a new location in the Dulles Technology Corridor in Fairfax County,” said Swami Iyer, CEO of IAI North America. “The area is the logical choice to establish IAI North America’s new corporate headquarters office. Fairfax is at the center of the aerospace and defense market here in the United States, it is close to many of our clients’ head offices, and provides the opportunity for increased coordination and synergy realization for our enterprise growth goals. The positions include the existing staff at IAI North America along with increased manpower in sales and business development areas.”
IAI employs about 15,000 workers worldwide, and more than 200 through its U.S. subsidiary, IAI North America.
“Fairfax County has long been a location of choice for major aviation and aerospace companies, and we are delighted to see that important industry cluster expand further with IAI,” said Victor Hoskins, president and CEO of the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority (FCEDA). “The announcement also illustrates the value of a Fairfax County location – close to Dulles Airport as well as a strong and diversified business base – for international companies that want to be close to our nation’s capital.”
The FCEDA has had an office in Tel Aviv since 2004 to work with Israeli companies that are considering expansion in the U.S. market. More than 30 Israel-based companies have a presence in Fairfax County.
The FCEDA worked with the Virginia Economic Development Partnership to secure the project for Virginia. Funding and services to support the company’s employee training activities will be provided through the Virginia Jobs Investment Program (VJIP).
The Fairfax County Economic Development Authority promotes Fairfax County as a business and technology center. The FCEDA is a member of the Northern Virginia Economic Development Alliance. Other members are the Alexandria Economic Development Partnership, Arlington County, City of Fairfax, City of Falls Church, Fauquier County, Loudoun County, City of Manassas, City of Manassas Park and the Prince William County Department of Economic Development. (Source: BUSINESS WIRE)
21 Nov 19. Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony and reception for the opening of its first office in Poland. U.S. Ambassador to Poland Georgette Mosbacher and representatives of the Polish Ministry of National Defence and government were among the guests as Northrop Grumman leaders officially opened the 12,000-square-foot office in the heart of Warsaw.
Northrop Grumman is an important partner for Poland’s military defense and is committed to helping Poland modernize its air and missile defense capabilities. Recently, Poland has become Northrop Grumman’s first international customer for the Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) Battle Command System (IBCS), enabling it to integrate current and future capabilities.
“Poland will be the first allied nation to acquire the IBCS and will field it nearly concurrently with the U.S. Army, meaning Poland is getting the latest technology and most innovative product,” said Ambassador Mosbacher. “Northrop Grumman’s commitment to Poland is another fine example of a strong U.S. investment that is creating competitive, skilled and highly desirable positions in Poland, specifically in the defense industry. Like our U.S. firms, the United States is committed to build a strong partnership in the area of security cooperation with Poland.”
The Polish government selected Northrop Grumman’s state-of-the-art Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) Battle Command System (IBCS) to serve as the centerpiece of the country’s modernization strategy for air and missile defense capability and has the largest installed base of the Northrop Grumman MK44 Bushmaster® Chain Gun® worldwide. The office in Warsaw will enhance progress on the WISLA medium-range air and missile defense program and other efforts with Poland’s government and industries, and will serve as the company’s Poland headquarters.
18 Nov 19. Rheinmetall NIOA Munitions officially opens Maryborough office. Rheinmetall NIOA Munitions (RNM) has announced it has opened its Project Office in Adelaide Street, Maryborough.
Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack and federal member for Wide Bay Llew O’Brien were on hand to officially open the office, with the federal government committing $28.5m towards the forging facility. The commitment is being delivered through the Regional Growth Fund.
RNM said that through the new Project Office, the joint venture will deliver the construction of a $60m state-of-the-art munitions forging facility in the regional Queensland city, creating up to 100 new jobs in the Fraser Coast region.
“This is a very important first step. To now have our Project Office open in Maryborough allows us to ramp up local operations as we build momentum towards first site works,” Werner Kraemer, CEO Rheinmetall Waffe Munition and chairman of Rheinmetall NIOA Munitions, said. “We are fully committed to Maryborough and the project, through this commitment we want to create regional jobs and build a sovereign capability.”
Construction of the new facility is expected to commence in early 2020 and be fully operational by 2022.
NIOA also confirmed the employment of Jeff Crabtree as its project manager.
“Jeff, who lives in the region, will bring a wealth of local knowledge and be based in the Project Office and be responsible for the delivery of the project,” said Robert Nioa, managing director of NIOA and director of RNM.
“We want to create as many local opportunities as possible. We’re also looking to employ an office assistant in the near future, as well expressions of interest are currently being run through the ICN Gateway, we’d encourage local businesses to get involved where possible.” (Source: Defence Connect)
MARITIME
18 Nov 19. KHI building second 3,000-tonne submarine for JMSDF. Japan’s Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) has begun construction of the second of at least seven planned 3,000-tonne diesel-electric attack submarines (SSKs) to supplement the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s (JMSDF’s) fleet of Soryu-class SSKs, a company spokesperson told Jane’s at the 18-20 November DESI Japan 2019 defence exhibition in Chiba. Construction of the boat, which is currently being referred to as ’30SS’ and is expected to enter service in March 2023, began in the middle of fiscal year 2018 (FY 2018). The boat’s current designation refers to the year ‘Heisei 30’ in the Japanese calendar (2018 in the Gregorian calendar), during which the Japan Ministry of Defense (MoD) allocated JPY69.7bn (USD640.5m) for the construction of the submarine, which has been given pennant number SS 514. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
18 Nov 19. More details emerge about Japan’s new multi-mission frigates. More details have emerged about the new 3,900-tonne class of multi-mission frigates on order for the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF).
Representatives of Japanese company Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which is expected to build six of the eight frigates planned for the service, told Jane’s at the 18–20 November DSEI Japan 2019 defence exhibition in Chiba that the new frigate class will be 132.5m long, 16m wide, and have a beam of 9m and a standard displacement of 3,900 tonnes.
Powered by a combined diesel and gas (CODAG) propulsion system featuring two MAN 12V28/33D STC diesel engines and one Rolls-Royce MT30 gas turbine, the ships are expected to be capable of attaining a top speed of 30kt.
Armament on the frigates, each of which will be capable of embarking one helicopter as well as unmanned surface and underwater vehicles, is expected to include the navalised version of the Type-03 (also known as the ‘Chū-SAM Kai’) medium-range, surface-to-air missile, a 5-inch (127mm)/62-calibre gun, a vertical launch system, canister-launched anti-ship missiles, and a SeaRAM close-in weapon system.
The Japanese Ministry of Defense (MoD) is expected to place orders for all eight multirole frigates by fiscal year (FY) 2021, with two ships set to be built every year in an arrangement that will see MHI and Mitsui alternate for the first time as lead and sub-contractors.
MHI, which in November 2018 was awarded a contract to build the first ship, is expected to construct six frigates of the class (with Mitsui Engineering and Shipbuilding [MES] as subcontractor), while MES will build the remaining two (with MHI as subcontractor).
Construction of the first two frigates is taking place at MHI’s Nagasaki Shipyard & Machinery Works in Nagasaki Prefecture and MES’s Tamano Shipyard in Okayama Prefecture. These first two ships will be launched in November 2020 and are expected to be commissioned in March 2022. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
15 Nov 19. India launches 11th Sankalp-class vessel. India’s Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL) has launched another 105m improved Sankalp-class offshore patrol vessel (OPV) ordered for the Indian Coast Guard (ICG). The vessel was launched on 14 November at GSL’s facilities in Goa. It will be the 11th vessel in the Sankalp class, which is referred to in India as the Samarth class after the programme’s third ship, which features a longer beam than its predecessors.
The OPV is part of a five-vessel, INR20bn (USD275m) contract approved by the Indian government in August 2016. This contract is also referred to in country as the Samarth-class Flight II project.
It is a follow-on contract to the six 105 m Batch II Sankalp-class OPVs, also referred to as the Samarth-class Flight I, which GSL signed for in January 2012. The improved Sankalp class has an overall beam of 13.6 m, a draught of about 3.7 m, and displaces 2,450 tonnes at full load. The OPV is powered by two MTU 20V 8000 M71L diesel engines driving two controllable pitch propellers, and has a top speed of 23kt and a standard range of 6,500n miles (12,038km) at 12kt. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
18 Nov 19. FMM cuts steel on first MMSC ship for Royal Saudi Naval Forces. Fincantieri Marinette Marine (FMM) has cut the first steel on the first Multi-Mission Surface Combatant (MMSC) ship for Saudi Arabia.
The steel cutting ceremony was held on 24 October and marked the start of construction of the ship. FMM is building the MMSC under the US Navy’s foreign military sales (FMS) programme. The new surface combatant ship is based on the Freedom-class littoral combat ship.
US Navy International Small Combatants Program Office (PMS 525) programme manager Todd Tompkins said: “In this shipyard that has produced so many US Navy Freedom-variant littoral combat ships, the MMSC is the first ship based on an LCS variant to be built for a foreign partner.
“This event marks the culmination of years of collaboration between our countries.”
Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor for the programme and FMM is its shipyard partner.
The two firms have been working with the navy on the design of the MMSC. The programme involves the construction of four MMSC ships at FMM.
HMS Saud is the first MMSC of the Royal Saudi Navy. Saudi Arabia is procuring the vessels to modernise the navy’s eastern fleet.
The ceremony was attended by officials from the US Navy, Lockheed Martin, FMM and Royal Saudi Naval Forces. The ship will feature the COMBATSS-21 Combat Management System.
The US Government approved the sale of four MMSC ships and related equipment to the Kingdom as part of an $11.25bn deal. (Source: naval-technology.com)
AIR
18 Nov 19. The Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) LM-100J commercial freighter received its type design update certification from the Federal Aviation Administration on Nov. 15. This particular FAA certification allows the LM-100J to operate from any commercial airfield in the world.
In 2014, Lockheed Martin announced it would update its existing FAA A1SO type certificate for its Model L-382J aircraft to be marketed as the LM-100J, a civil-certified production variant of the military proven C-130J Super Hercules. The LM-100J is the modernized version of the Lockheed Martin L-100 freighter (Lockheed Model 382). More than 100 L-100s were produced from 1964-1992 at the then Lockheed-Georgia Co., facility in Marietta, Georgia, and many of these aircraft continue to support global operations today.
“Like its military counterparts, the worldwide L-100 fleet is a much tasked and much relied upon. As this fleet reaches the end of its operating life, customers told us the only replacement for the L-100 is an LM-100J,” said Rod McLean, vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martin’s Air Mobility & Maritime Missions line of business.
“This updated FAA certification enables the LM-100J to literally go anywhere in the world to fulfill the unique and demanding requirements it was built to support,” McLean added. “As the LM-100J enters into service, we are proud that it will continue to exemplify and expand the already unmatched capabilities of the C-130J Super Hercules family.”
Through select design changes, the LM-100J performs as a civil multi-purpose aircraft capable of rapid and efficient cargo transport and select specialized mission requirements. The LM-100J is an efficient and ideal airlift solution in delivering bulk and oversize cargo, particularly to austere locations around the world.
The LM-100J incorporates technological developments and improvements over the existing legacy L-100 freighters that result from more than two decades of C-130J operational experience, including more than 2 million fleetwide flight hours flown by crews in 19 nations around the world.
“We had the unique opportunity to design and build a completely new commercial airlifter with insights from a proven airframe,” said Marilou Franklin, director of the LM-100J Program at Lockheed Martin. “Our goal was to produce an airlifter that was as safe as it was capable as it was advanced. In partnering with our existing L-100 operators, our network of suppliers and the FAA, we did that ― and more ― with the LM-100J.”
Notable operational LM-100J enhancements compared to a legacy L-100s include:
- 14% more fuel efficient
- 20% improvement in payload/range capability
- Automated maintenance fault reporting
- Unmatched situational awareness with digital avionics and dual HUD
- Fully CNS/ATM compliant with the FAA Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen)
- Enhanced Cargo Handling (ECHS) system
- Carbon breaks
- An FAA-certified commercial maintenance program
In addition, the LM-100J operating community has access to Lockheed Martin’s Hercules Training Center (HTC) located at in Marietta, Georgia, adjacent to the Super Hercules production line.
Extending a legacy of air mobility training, Lockheed Martin’s HTC is a combined academic and simulator facility purpose-built for training efficiency. Training resources include dedicated LM‑100J initial qualification courses and a reconfigurable, FAA-certified Level D simulator. This training is provided by expert Lockheed Martin instructors who, combined, have more than 90 years of experience.
Next steps for the LM-100J program include the 2020 delivery of two aircraft to Pallas Aviation, the LM-100J launch operator.
15 Nov 19. Airbus Helicopters delivers first H145M to Luxembourg. Entry into service early 2020. Airbus Helicopters has delivered the first of two H145M multipurpose helicopters for defence and security missions to the Government of the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg. Together with the helicopters, Airbus also provides a training and support package to its customer. The delivery of the second helicopter is scheduled before the end of the year. The delivered H145M is the first H145 in Luxembourg. The helicopter is equipped with a hoist, a fast roping system, a high-performance camera, a search light, advanced communication systems, and will have provisions to install a light armour protection kit. The latest technologies to allow the helicopter to operate in adverse weather conditions and during nighttime are incorporated in the design. The helicopter will be operated and serviced at Luxembourg Findel Airport, where it has been presented to public today for the first time. With a maximum take-off weight of 3.7 tonnes, the H145M can be used for a wide range of tasks, including troop and passenger transport, surveillance, air rescue, reconnaissance and medical evacuation.
The H145M is a tried-and-tested light twin-engine helicopter that was first delivered in 2015 to the German Armed Forces and has since been ordered by Hungary, Thailand and the Republic of Serbia. Mission readiness of the H145Ms already in service is above 95 percent.
Powered by two Safran Arriel 2E engines, the H145M is equipped with full authority digital engine control (FADEC) and the Helionix digital avionics suite. It includes a high-performance 4-axis autopilot, increasing safety and reducing pilot workload. Its particularly low acoustic footprint makes the H145M the quietest helicopter in its class.
14 Nov 19. Belarus receives first pair of Su-30SM aircraft. Belarus received on 13 November the first two of 12 Su-30SM combat aircraft it ordered in 2017, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced on its website. The second pair is expected to be delivered next week. Belarus and Russia initially signed a contract in 2017 for the manufacture of the aircraft by JSC Irkut Corporation. The ministry explained that “the final outline of the three-year agreement was agreed during the 9th MILEX-2019 International Exhibition of Arms and Military Equipment, held in Minsk on 15-18 May, under which Belarus is receiving four aircraft a year. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
MILITARY AND GOVERNMENT
PERSONNEL
U.S. APPOINTMENTS
18 Nov 19. In a change-of-command ceremony, Navy Adm. Charles A. Richard assumed command of U.S. Strategic Command from Air Force Gen. John E. Hyten at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, today. Hyten has been confirmed by the Senate to become the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, replacing Air Force Gen. Paul J. Selva. Deputy Defense Secretary David L. Norquist and Army Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, presided over the ceremony. (Source: US DoD)
REST OF THE WORLD APPOINTMENTS
20 Nov 19. Many familiar faces in Canadian cabinet. All federal ministers of direct relevance to the Canadian aviation and aerospace sector have been retained in their portfolios by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose new cabinet was unveiled Nov. 20 at Government House in Ottawa.
Prior to the federal election, the AIAC wrote to all political parties to gauge their positions on the aviation and aerospace industries’ futures moving forward. Prime Minister’s Office Photo
Harjit Sajjan and Marc Garneau were respectively reconfirmed in the National Defence and Transport portfolios respectively, while Navdeep Bains is back in the government’s core industrial support portfolio.
However, Bains’ department has been rebadged slightly, possibly to give it more of an industry focus. It now is Innovation, Science and Industry as opposed to Innovation, Science and Economic Development. Responsibility for economic development has been added to the Official Languages duties of Melanie Joly, an MP from Montreal, the base for many major Canadian aerospace companies.
Smaller companies come under the umbrella of Mary Ng, a former Ontario bureaucrat and Ryerson University employee first elected to the House of Commons in a 2017 by-election. She remains minister for Small Business and Export Promotion.
Two other portfolios of interest to aerospace and aviation also are affected by the shuffle. Quebec MP François-Philippe Champagne, who speaks Italian as well as English and French, has been moved from the Infrastructure and Communities portfolio to Foreign Affairs. He replaces Toronto MP Chrystia Freeland, another 2015 newcomer to Parliament who has been named deputy prime minister and minister of Intergovernmental Affairs.
Then there’s the business aviation community’s particular interest in the Canada Revenue Agency, which can affect capital and operational costs. It remains in the hands of Quebec MP Diane Lebouthillier.
One of the few new faces in cabinet, as minister of Public Services and Procurement, the government’s purchasing arm, is that of rookie MP Anita Anand, a respected University of Toronto law professor who’s anything but a rookie in her profession. She succeeded Vancouver-area MP Carla Qualtrough, who was first elected in 2015 and is now minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion, another portfolio of interest to the aerospace sector.
Anand, now on leave from the faculty, where she held the J.R. Kimber Chair in Investor Protection and Corporate Governance, was associate dean from 2007-2009 and since 2010, served as the academic director of the Centre for the Legal Profession and its Program on Ethics in Law and Business. Earlier this year, the Nova Scotia native was recognized by the Royal Society of Canada for what are described as “outstanding contributions in governance” relating to private and public organizations.
Even before the Oct. 21 general election reduced Trudeau’s 2015 Liberal majority to a parliamentary minority which needs the support of the smaller parties, mainly the New Democrats, to remain in power, the industry was trying to get a grip on how it would be treated after the election and cabinet reorganization.
The Aerospace Industries Association of Canada (AIAC), which represents the manufacturing and other segments, wrote to all political parties about their positions on the industry’s future. There was no response from the Green Party but the other major parties were only too happy to indicate their priorities for an industry which contributes $25.5 billion annually to the economy and provides nearly 215,000 jobs.
Those two numbers were right at the top of the AIAC’s agenda at its 2019 Summit, held last week in Ottawa, where former Deputy Prime Minister Jean Charest’s seminal Vision 2025 report was a hot topic as the industry tries to recover from slipping export sales.
The AIAC is pressing its membership to mount a concerted lobby on the new government to revive the industry which Charest told Skies is too often taken for granted.
“The industry’s doing fairly well and we a have skills shortage, but . . . we are losing ground,” he reiterated in an exclusive interview. “It’s happening gradually and we are concerned about that and our membership is saying ‘let’s not allow this to happen, make sure that we renew that partnership with the government, which is what 2025 is about.
“Let’s do our own homework first, which we have done, and avoid losing ground for the wrong reasons. We do expect more competition; our traditional competitors are more aggressive but there’s new entrants, so it’s going to be a different world from the one we had before.”
Asked whether the government – unlike most if not all of its allies – is concerned or even afraid of being seen in an alliance with what postwar U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower called the “military-industrial complex”, Charest said he hoped that isn’t the case, “especially with the defence requirements we have, with the opening of the North.
“The challenge for the government will be to put its defence procurement commitments in the context . . . of the different threats that we have. If they do that, the way we’re trying to frame the discussion about the aerospace industry, there’ll be more public support than they had before on doing government procurement on defence.”
The AIAC Summit strongly endorsed a proposal that the new government include a ministry which could help to address the industry’s long-standing and mounting challenge of addressing labour shortages. Charest stressed that the AIAC was not suggesting that the federal government intrude on education, which is a provincial jurisdiction, but essentially as a facilitator.
The AIAC took Qualtrough’s appointment as proof that Charest’s Vision 2025 report clearly had an “impact” on Trudeau’s administration because Qualtrough had been “given a mandate to focus on workforce development.”
In a statement released after the cabinet’s unveiling, Jim Quick,. president and CEO of the AIAC said, “We are pleased to see Minister Qualtrough in a new portfolio dedicated to Workforce Development. Minister Qualtrough knows and understands our industry. Working together we can address the impending labour crunch – bringing together government, opposition parties, industry and workers to encourage, build and maintain the skilled work force that will be required to replace those set to retire.
“We are ready to work constructively with this government and minority parliament using our Vision 2025 report as the roadmap moving forward. The aerospace industry is calling on this new government to redouble efforts and implement the six key recommendations so Canada can continue to compete. If they don’t, jobs will be at risk and our global aerospace position will be in jeopardy.” (Source: Google/https://www.skiesmag.com/)