C-17s for Qatar

QEAF C-17

In 2008, Qatar’s military air transport assets would have involved pressing the Qatar Emiri VIP Flight at Doha into service, with its mix of Boeing aircraft (707, 727, 747), small Airbus models (320 family), and a Falcon 900 business jet. As the Gulf Cooperation Council begins to work together more closely, however, and members like the UAE begin to adopt specialty roles, improved air transport capabilities are a natural outgrowth.

Tactical airlifters like the C-130 Hercules serve in other GCC countries, and Qatar ordered 4 new C-130J-30s in October 2008, but they’re also reaching higher. In 2008, they ordered 2 C-17 Globemaster III strategic transport aircraft for the Qatar Emiri Air Force, via direct commercial sale, with a future option for another 2.

Australia’s Troubled E-737 “Wedgetail” AWACS Program

E-737 Wedgetail
over New South Wales

The island continent of Australia faces a number of unique security challenges that stem from its geography. The continent may be separated from its neighbors by large expanses of ocean, but it also resides within a potential arc of instability, and has a number of important offshore resource sites to protect. Full awareness of what is going on around them, and the ability to push that awareness well offshore, are critical security requirements.

“Project Wedgetail” had 3 finalists, and the winner was a new variant of Boeing’s 737-700, fitted with an MESA (multirole electronically scanned array) radar from Northrop Grumman. That radar exchanges the traditional AWACS rotating dome for the E-737′s “top hat” stationary antenna. That design, and the project as a whole, have run into severe turbulence, creating problems for Boeing earnings, the ADF, and other export orders for the type. DID’s FOCUS articles offer in-depth, updated looks at significant military programs of record. This one covers contracts, events, and key milestones within Australia’s E-737 program, from inception to the current day.

Rapid Fire Dec. 12, 2012: Australia’s Projects of Concern

• All contenders but Sikorsky announced their withdrawal of the US Air Force’s CRH competition yesterday. More coverage of this RFP implosion to follow.

• The Australian Department of Defence updated its Projects of Concern list. The Wedgetail AEW&C and JP 2070 lightweight torpedo projects have been taken off the list, while a propellant manufacturing facility in Mulwala, NSW, and the Light Weight Automatic Grenade Launcher (part of Land 40 Ph 2) have been added to it because of repeated schedule slippages.

• Some Republican congressmen such as Paul Gosar of Arizona are not reflexively against defense spending cuts, notes Politico.