The Wharton School's Aerospace & Defense Blog

Report Archive

November 2009

• Air Force Readies for the Gorgon Stare
• Pentagon Eyes Crash Analysis on 1,300 Satellites

October 2009

• Security Experts Worried about Military Chips from Offshore
• RFID Tracks Military Supplies
• U.S. Woos India to Get Onboard for American Transport Aircrafts
• Congressional Budget Office Projects Rising Defense Costs
• Pay for What You Get: Putting Performance-based Contracting to the Test
• Authorization Bill Is a Clear Sign of Refocused Military Priorities
• Pentagon Weapons Buyer Considers More Fixed-Price Contracts
• U.S. Army Pushing for an R&D Budget to Improve Body Armor
• Contest for Refueling Tanker Heats Up Once Again
• Soldiers in Afghanistan Say MRAPs Have Their Weak Points
• The Rise of Robotics in Warfare
• French Arms Sales Spike

September 2009

• The Air Force Wins Back Control of Tanker Bids
• Small Inventions with Big Impact Recognized by the Army
• Navy Raises Fuel efficiency with a Hybrid Electric Ship
• Defense Industry to Face Shortage of Key Materials
• Boeing Engineers Cite Time Spent Fixing Errors in Outsourced Work
• Personal Cooling Units Work to Reduce Heat
• Boeing's Commercial Airplane Division Faces a Major Shake-up
• With Kennedy's Passing, New England Defense Industry Loses a Major Supporter

August 2009

• Without Software, Britain's Chinook Helicopter Fleet Idled
• Middle Eastern Countries to Spend More Than $100 Billion on Arms over Five Years
• Procurement Cuts to Pay for Troop Increase
• U.S. Army to Unveil Modernization Plans That Replace Its Canceled Future Combat System
• New Hand-held Device Identifies Targets Three Miles Away
• Classified Acquisition Budget Hits $36 Billion
• Boeing Unveils Sub-hunting Poseidon Jet
• 2008 Shows Decline in Arms Exported by U.S.

July 2009

• Senate Votes to Slash Funding for Alternate F-35 Jet Engine
• Airbus A400M Development Problems Should Have Been Expected
• Raytheon to Redesign Tomahawk Cruise Missile to Strike Moving Targets
• As the Pentagon Shifts Spending Priorities, Some Defense Contractors Gain While Others Lose
• Auto Law Firms Tap Defense Business
• India Considers Raising the Limit on Foreign Direct Investment for Defense
• Aging Satellites Could Weaken GPS Signal
• Cyber Attacks Target White House, Pentagon and South Korean Government Agencies
• Huge Orders for Jet Fighters May Force Consolidation for Contractors
• Boeing Takes Hit on Two Fronts
• Innovation: Sometimes It Takes a Village

June 2009

• Quick Analysis: The Repercussions of the Litigious Tanker Competition
• Congress Wants A Better Tracking System for Weapons Supplied to Pakistan, Afghanistan
• Low-cost Warplanes See Rising Popularity
• Space Junk on Defense Department’s Radar
• UVAs Join the War against Drugs
• Military Spending Sets New Record
• The Push to Expand Defense Acquistion Workforce
• Navy Defends Aviation Orders

May 2009

• Obama Announces Strategy to Thwart Cyber Attacks
• Cancellation Costs for President's Copter Likely to Soar
• India Invites Bids to Replace Its Aging Soviet-era Helicopter Fleet
• Gates Says Next-Generation Bomber Might Be Unmanned
• U.S. Air Force Selects Base for Its New Cyber Command Center
• Army Steers towards New Combat Vehicle
• Hard Drive Purchased on eBay Revealed Highly Sensitive Missile Launch Procedure
• New Consensus Security Audit Guidelines
• Military Wants More Armored Vehicles in Afghanistan to Deal with Road-side Bombs
• Navy to Focus on Cybersecurity by Protecting Undersea Internet Cables
• Pentagon Funds a $400M Blimp Project

April 2009

• Measure to Fight War Profiteering Moves to Full Senate
• Pentagon Seeks to Shrink Weapons
• Air Force Might Control Cargo Aircraft Program
• Gates Urges Movement on Arms Buyer Nomination
• Rival Contractors Agree to Work Together on Stealth Destroyer
• High-tech Cocaine-loaded Mini-subs
• Senator Levin Considers Defense Exec Pay Cuts
• Military Has Alaska in Its Target for Synthetic Fuel Project
• Airbus Military Transport Plane Might Get Its Wings Clipped
• Making Robots More Like Us

March 2009

• Cybersecurity Ringing Alarm Bells
• Northrop Advance Brings Era of Laser Gun Closer
• Canceling Marine One? Perhaps Not
• Storing Heavy Equipment in the Gulf Region
• Obama Seeks to Delay Tanker, Cancel Bomber, but Lawmakers Insist They Are a Priority
• Body Armor Making Marines Too Slow
• Severe and Persistent Delays Might Lead to A400M Airbus Order Cancellations
• Army Seeks to Update Its Electronic Warfare Capabilities

February 2009

• Defense Budget to Scrutinize Weapons Development Costs and Schedules
• Pentagon Tester Questions U.S. Missile Defense Effectiveness
• Fixing the Weapon Systems Acquisition Pipeline
• GAO: Lost U.S. Weapons Might Be Slipping into Taliban Hands
• India Hikes Defense Spending by 24 Percent
• GAO: DoD Must Assess How Efficiently It Uses Service Contractors
• Aerospace Companies Vie for Contracts in Indian Air Show
• Top Arms Buyer: Sharing Tanker Contract Is a Bad Idea
• New Vehicles Being Built to Meet Afghan Terrain's Challenges

January 2009

• U.S. Military Hopes to Be Energized by Alternative Fuels
• Military Seeks Help from Biometrics to Secure Domestic Bases
• Thrift-store MP3 Player Exposes Data on U.S. Soldiers and Equipment in Afghanistan
• DoD to Standardize UAV Data Transmission
• Defense Companies Pitch Jobs to Protect Projects
• Wharton Aerospace Conference
• The Software Challenge: Balancing Costs and Security Risks
• U.S. Army Has $3.6 Billion in Excess Spare Parts
• Top U.S. Naval Officer Calls for an Increase in Fleet Size
• The Cost of Cleaning Up After the Navy's "Electronic Spillage"
• Defense Spending May Come to the Rescue of the Economy
• Brazil’s $12 Billion in Military Purchases from France Aimed at Building an Arms Industry
• Pentagon Reduces Guidelines, Contract Amount for Communications Satellites

December 2008

• FAA Approves Construction of World’s First Commercial Spaceport
• New Design Hopes to Challenge Osprey's Vertical-Horizontal Capabilities
• A $27 Billion Amphibious Vehicle Program Must Pass Critical Test to Survive
• Despite Economic Turbulence, U.S. Aerospace Industry Shows Resilience
• Balancing the Pentagon's Focus Between Conventional and Non-Conventional Warfare
• Reforming the Procurement Process
• Northrop Loses Bargaining Chip in Refueling Tanker Competition
• Opening Doors but Hiding Conflicts of Interest

November 2008

• Navy Calls for New Air Fleet in Hawaii
• Vice Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Urges More Weapons Flexibility
• Pentagon to Reduce Procurement of Unmanned Aerial Craft by a Third over the Next Decade
• EADS to Outsource Components, Systems and Software to Indian Suppliers
• A View From Above: Chertoff Proposes Role for Government
• Influential Defense Business Board Recommends Cuts to Large Weapons Programs
• Rising Disaster Relief Missions Offer the Industry a New Marketing Opportunity
• Moonstruck: What Will India's Lunar Mission Achieve?
• The Ray Gun Is No Longer Science Fiction
• Defense Spending Cuts Coming with the Economic Downturn

October 2008

• Survey: Regulation Compliance Now the Top Priority for California Aerospace and Defense Manufacturers
• Decisions on Controversial Defense Contracts on Hold until Next Administration
• Military R&D: Hits and Misses
• Continuing Strike Grounds Boeing Profits
• Defense Contractors Look for New Markets
• Counterfeit Chips Threaten Weapons System Failures
• New Article: Outsourcing in Defense and Aerospace
• John McCain on Cost-Plus Contracting

September 2008

• Defense in Times of Economic Distress
• Welcome

Podcasts

• Marion C. Blakey, President and CEO of the Aerospace Industries Association: The Prospects for Space Exploration, Rising Global Competition, and the Defense Department’s New Approaches
• A View from Above: Jack Harrington, VP command and control systems, Raytheon Network Centric Systems
• A View from Above: Henry Hubschman, president and CEO, GE Commercial Aviation Services
• A View from Above: Justin Ryan, VP, Strategic Planning and Marketing, Honeywell Aerospace
• A View from Above: Stan Szemborski, VP of Corporate Strategy, Northrop Grumman

More

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