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Recent News Analysis:
- Annapolis
2007: Roadmap into a Dangerous Dead-End
Despite the happy faces portrayed in official photo opportunities
on Condoleezza Rice's last visit, the Bush sponsored Annapolis
summit is doomed to failure. Marc Otte, the European Union's
(EU) Special Representative to the Middle East Process warns
that failure to advance the peace process at next month's conference
in Annapolis could trigger worse violence than the second intifada
that followed the failed Camp David talks in 2000.
- What
is really behind Putin's unprecedented hop to Tehran? New!
Is it only a coincidence that Israel's Prime
minister Ehud Olmert rushed to Moscow two days after the Russian
president meeting with Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Is it only an attempt to ease Israel's growing concern over
Iran's nuclear ambitions? The Russian should be concerned, after
the alleged failure of their top notch air defenses in Syria.
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 Intelligence
Analysis and Processing., 22 - 24 Oct. Washington
DC USA
Border
Management Summit., 22 - 25 Oct. Washington DC, USA
 NATO/EU
Air Systems Requirements Conference, 24-25 Oct. Riga,
Latvia
 Heli-Asia
2007., 24 - 25 Oct. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
 Energizing
Indian Aerospace., 25 - 26 Oct. New delhi, India
MILCOM
2007., 28 - 31 Oct. Orlando, FL, USA
DARPA
Urban Grand Challenge, Nov. 3, 2007 - Victorville,
CA USA
UV
North America 2007, Nov. 6-7, 2007 - San Diego,
CA, USA
 Heli-Power
2007, Nov. 7-8, 2007 - Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
 Defense
Security 2007, Nov. 7-10, 2007 - Bangkok, Thailand
Aviation
Nation 2007, Nov. 7-10, 2007 - Las vegas, NV,
USA
 Dubai
Air Show 2007, Nov. 11-15, 2007- Dubai
Light
Armored Vehicles Summit, Nov. 13-15,
2007 - Arlington, VA. USA
 Expomil
2007, Nov. 20-23, 2007 - Bucharest, Romania
IDGA's
Helicon 07, Nov. 26-28, 2007 - Huntsville,
AL, USA
I/ITSEC
(Training & simulation), Nov 26-29, 2007 -
Orlando, FL, USA
 Central
European Aerospace, Nov. 28 - Dec 1, 2007 - Budapest,
Hungary
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Russia,
Saudi Arabia Finalize a Multi-Billion Arms Deal
Saudi Arabia and Russia have finalized an agreement to
supply more than 150 Russian-made Mi-35 Hind and Mi-17 Hip
helicopters to Saudi Arabia. The deal, expected to be worth
over $2.2 billion. Riyad favored the Russian offer over
French proposals to supply 148 helicopters to the kingdom
- reports the French based Defense
Aerospace publication. According to the magazine, the
deal signed last month in Riyad, reflects the shift of power
from Saudi Arabia’s decision to retain Russia as a
major arms supplier is the result of recent policy decisions
made by King Abdallah bin Abd al-Aziz Al Saud, particularly
his decision to take direct control of major arms purchases,
which were previously largely the domain of the defense
and aviation ministry headed by Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz,
the Saudi Crown Prince and deputy prime minister who is
also Abdallah’s half-brother. (read the full
article at Defense Aerospace)
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 Iran
Expects to Receive 24 Chinese J-10 Fighters by 2010
Iran is buying two squadrons of
J-10, China's most advanced strike fighter. The deal
worth over US$1 billion will include 24 aircraft. The J-10
follows the design of the Lavi developed at Israel Aerospace
Industries in the late 1980s. The development was aborted
under US pressure and according to press reports the plans
may have leaked to China and provided the foundation for
the J-1 design. The J-10 is powered by a single AL-31FN
engine, an upgraded version of the Russian Saturn AL-31F
turbofan (two such engines power the Su-27 Flanker). Integration
of an indigenous engine (known as WS-10A Taihang) is currently
underway to equip three squadrons (36 aircraft) of J-10
aircraft destined to Pakistan. The maximum range of the
J-10, when equipped with maximum internal and external fuel
is 2,940 km., some 800 km beyond the reach of Iran's current
MiG-29s. Theoretically, Iranian J-10s will have the range
to attack targets in Israel.
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Egypt,
Israel to Buy New TOW Missiles
Raytheon is expected to receive two major orders for TOW
IIA missiles. According to the Defense Security Cooperation
Agency, both Egypt and Israel are interested in acquiring
the missiles. Israel is planning to introduce 2,000 of the
latest radio frequency
TOW IIA (also known as TOW-ER), replacing earlier wire-guided
versions of the BGM-71 missile. The Egyptians are also planning
to buy 2,000 TOW IIA missiles, to replenish aging stocks.
The value of the Egyptian package is estimated at US $99
million. The value of the Israeli package is unknown, as
it was reported as part of a much larger $1.3 billion package,
including 100 Patriot Guidance Enhanced Missile Plus (GEM+)
surface to air missiles, some 1,700 Hellfire missiles of
various types (Longbow, blast-fragmentation and HEAT), and
different types of medium and heavy ammunition.
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Sensors
Unlimited Wins DARPA's Micro FLIR Program
Sensors Unlimited Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Goodrich
Corp., Princeton, N.J., was awarded on October 25, 2007,
a $1,256,000 increment of a $5,724,055 cost plus fixed fee
contract to develop extremely small, lightweight shortwave
infrared imaging sensors on a chip under DARPA's "Micro-Sensors
for Imaging (MISI)" program. The new sensors could
be used in various military and aerospace applications including
helmet-mounted and micro vehicle applications.
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British MOD has launched the Assessment Phase of Project
LISTENER, a program aimed at integrating various sensor
to provide actionable intelligence against selected targets.
LISTENER will be interoperability with British ISTAR assets
and other Coalition information and intelligence systems.
Under this assessment phase, the British MoD awarded L3
Communications (NYSE: LLL) a £1 million contract
for the 10 months engineering effort which will focus on
risk reduction and solution definition.
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Vision Systems International, LLC (VSI), a joint venture
between Elbit Systems Ltd. (NASDAQ: ESLT) and Rockwell Collins,
recently added over $60 million in new contracts for some
300 units of its flagship product the Joint Helmet Mounted
Cueing Systems (JHMCS). The recent award represents the
eighth production contract since 1996. Since 2000, Boeing
has contracted for more than 2,500 systems. VSI is the JHMCS
subcontractor for Boeing, acting as the prime contractor
for the joint services program.
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Upgraded
US Navy Hawkeyes Could Enhance Egypt's AEW Fleet
Egypt Egypt is interested in acquiring two E-2C Hawkeye
Airborne Early Warning Command & Control Aircraft (AEW&C2)
from US Navy surplus. The total value of the transaction,
funding refurbishment and upgrading of existing platforms
by Northrop Grumman, could be about $75 million. Egypt currently
operates six E-2C aircraft, which are being upgraded to
Hawkeye 2000 configuration. It is anticipated that the new
Hawkeyes will be delivered with such configuration as well.
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President Bush sent today to the US Congress an update
of funding requirements for 2008 to continue funding the
Global War on Terror and address other urgent national security
needs. The request includes an amendment of $45.9 billion,
added to the pending request for $150.4 billion, totaling
$196.5 billion of which $189 billion are destined to fund
the Department of Defense war effort. Force protection and
MRAP vehicle sustainment, reset programs and force protection
are among the major spending items.
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Singapore
Exercises an Option to Buy for Additional Strike eagles
Singapore is buying four additional F-15SG strike fighter
aircraft, in addition to the dozen already contracted for.
The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] announced today that the Singapore
Ministry of Defence has exercised an option to purchase
eight F-15SGs and has ordered four additional aircraft.
The Boeing F-15SG is a derivative of the U.S. Air Force
F-15E Strike Eagle. Next month (November 2007) the aircraft
will begin undergoing integration and flight testing at
the Boeing facilities in St. Louis and in Palmdale, California.
The new aircraft will be first to deploy Raytheon's new
APG-63(V)3 active electronically scanned array (AESA) radars.
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The US Marine Corps announced yesterday the release of
new orders worth $1.2 billion, for a total of 2,288 new
Mine Resistant, Ambush Protected
(MRAP) armored vehicles destined for delivery by the
end of April 2008.
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Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) and Patria announced today a
teaming agreement to offer the US Marine Corps Patria's
Advanced Modular Vehicle (AMV) to compete for the Corp's
next generation armored troop carrier known as Marine Personnel
Carrier (MPC). The service is expected to release a request
for proposals during the second quarter of 2008. Lockheed
has expanded its military vehicle offering with the recent
introduction of a company funded, production ready JLTV
technology demonstrator, as well as prime movers and command
vehicles for the USMC, and a rocket carrier and an improved
Warrior combat fighting vehicle, both considered for future
British army programs.
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