July 9, 2024 | International, Land
Ukraine industry chief sees bumper year for land-based drones
Kyiv's head of strategic industries said that the push for ground robotics was part of a bigger bet on "defense tech."
October 19, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval
Army Halts Apache Helicopter Deliveries
For the second time in two years, the Army had to stop accepting Boeing's attack helicopter. The exact reason remains unknown.
Marcus Weisgerber
The U.S. Army has stopped accepting Apache helicopters from Boeing after the company found that an employee kept “improper” records concerning parts installed on the aircraft.
It's the latest quality-control issue to bedevil America's largest planemaker, which is trying to shift its company's culture and repair its public image after two deadly airliner crashes and a production line that left tools and trash inside new tanker aircraft.
“At this time the Army is still conducting a comprehensive review of a number of Boeing processes, production, and manufacturing plans for critical safety items applicable to all AH-64E aircraft production,” Lt. Col. Brandon Kelley, an Army spokesman, said in an emailed statement.
When it learned of “improper record keeping” at its AH-64 Apache factor in Mesa, Arizona, Boeing “immediately notified the Army,” Steve Parker, vice president and general manager of Boeing Vertical Lift, said in a statement provided by a company spokesman.
“Boeing and the government are jointly reviewing our Mesa quality management processes and procedures,” Parker said. “Flight operations and deliveries will resume when Boeing and the Army are satisfied this issue has been resolved and appropriate corrective action plans have been implemented.”
Boeing no longer employs the worker who kept the improper records, according to a person with knowledge of the issue.
Boeing's Mesa operation builds new Apaches and overhauls old ones with more modern equipment — a process known as remanufacturing. The company continues to build aircraft amid the delivery stoppage, an industry source said.
“The Army will begin acceptance of aircraft once conditions have been satisfied to ensure production processes meet standards for safety and quality and the potential for future quality escapes has been fully mitigated,” Kelley said. “The Army will continue to work with Boeing in reviewing their quality processes and manufacturing of critical safety items and recommend changes as necessary to prevent future delivery of non-conforming product.”
Kelley said that soldiers' lives were not put at risk by the issues.
It's not the first time the Army has suspended Apache deliveries. From March to August 2018, the service halted acceptances after finding a flaw in a part that holds the helicopter's rotors to the aircraft.
Boeing quality-control practices have been called into question by both the commercial industry and the military. The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating potential manufacturing issues on 787 Dreamliner aircraft.
The U.S. Air Force had to halt deliveries of KC-46 tankers on numerous occasions after military inspectors found trash, parts, and tools left inside the aircraft. In March 2019, Will Roper, the head of Air Force acquisition, blamed the company's assembly line culture for the issues.
The coronavirus pandemic has only made things worse for Boeing and its suppliers as air travel evaporates and airlines cancel plane orders. Earlier this year, executives said the company's $34 billion defense business would outperform its typically lucrative commercial business for the first time in more than a decade.
Coronavirus-related factory shutdowns and production slowdowns started taking a toll on Boeing's defense business in the spring. Boeing delivered 54 fewer military aircraft and satellites so far this year when to the first three quarters of 2019, a 31 percent decline, according to company data.
This year, Boeing has delivered 10 KC-46 tankers, less than half of the 21 delivered through the third quarter of 2019.
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March 31, 2021 | International, Aerospace
As Engine Selection Nears, F-15EX Market Heats Up | Aviation Week Network
One of the bidders in the F-15EX propulsion competition thinks the U.S. Air Force’s plan to buy 144 aircraft is only the beginning.
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November 13, 2019 | International, Aerospace
Airbus expects updated industry call for Germany’s Tornado replacement contest
By: Sebastian Sprenger BERLIN — Airbus expects an updated industry solicitation for Germany's multibillion-dollar Tornado replacement program, for which the company will offer an electronic attack-capable Eurofighter. Wolfgang Gammel, the head of combat aircraft business development, said he learned about the impending update during conversations with Defence Ministry officials. A ministerial spokeswoman declined to comment beyond the official line that an announcement about the acquisition program is expected in the first quarter of 2020 and that Berlin is looking to quickly replace its aging Tornado fleet. The requirement for an electronic attack capability was absent from the original request for information when competitors placed their bids in the spring of 2018, Gammel told reporters Tuesday at the International Fighter Conference, a gathering of senior air force and industry leaders in Berlin. After Lockheed Martin and its F-35 were eliminated early this year, that left only the Eurofighter and Boeing's F-18 Growler in the race. An updated RFI presumably would reopen the competition between the remaining bidders as the acquisition process plays out anew on the question of electronic attack capabilities. Such a move would all but certainly result in a sizable delay, as German officials have been trying to be especially thorough in seeing the program through. Airbus said introducing so-called escort jammer pods to the Eurofighter fleet, to be carried under the belly or the wings of the aircraft, would require little effort because the proposed integration strategy is meant to piggyback on upgrade efforts already on the books. Complicating a pick between the Eurofighter and the F-18 is the requirement that Germany must keep a contingent of aircraft capable of carrying U.S. nuclear bombs under NATO's nuclear doctrine. That seemed to give Boeing's offering an advantage, German paper Süddeutsche Zeitung claimed in a report last month. For its part, the F-18 is known for its ability to counter enemy air defenses, an area where Airbus now seeks to lay down its own marker. https://www.defensenews.com/industry/2019/11/12/airbus-expects-updated-industry-call-for-germanys-tornado-replacement-contest/