What was once a strength has become a potential weakness, with the likelihood GPS will be jammed in a future major conflict, forcing the U.S. to look for alternate means to enable its precision-guided munitions (PGM) to find their targets in a contested environment.
Canada has formally accepted the first six Sikorsky CH-148 Cyclone maritime helicopters, achieving a milestone originally planned for November 2008 when the 28-aircraft contract was awarded in 2004.
Live RAM tests are rarely done, notes Fire Controlman 2nd Class Tyler Brozenick, the work center supervisor in charge of the fired missile. This was, however, the second conducted in the last five years aboard the Kearsarge.
“The PLA Navy remains at the forefront of the military’s efforts to extend its operational reach beyond East Asia and into what China calls the ‘far seas,’” the Pentagon says in its recent annual report on China.
LOCKHEED MARTIN will deliver 10 Sniper pods to Royal Jordanian Air Force (RJAF); integration and support beginning this year. NORTHROP GRUMMAN flew Open Mission Systems (OMS) architecture on NASA-owned Global Hawk UAV at NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center, CA, confirming ability for ground controllers to communicate with OMS payload via satellite.
The Pentagon Inspector General (IG) plans to audit U.S. Naval Air Systems Command to see if it is purchasing sole-source spare parts at fair and reasonable prices from Boeing Insitu for the company’s ScanEagle UAV. In a June 16 memo to the under secretary of defense for acquisition, technology, and logistics, the director of the Defense Contract Audit Agency, the director of the Defense Contract Management Agency and the Naval Inspector General, the IG says it will consider suggestions from management on additional or revised objectives for the audit.
The Anglo-French team studying the potential development of a joint unmanned combat air vehicle for the 2030s will make significant decisions on the air vehicle’s planform and powerplant this fall.
A Chinese company has been selected as one of five potential partners to help Turkey develop its TF-X indigenous fighter, officials close to the program have revealed.
The U.S. Air Force is touting more than $1 billion in cost avoidance through a redesign of the Space-Based Infrared System (Sbirs) early missile-warning satellite built by Lockheed Martin.
An Indian air force Jaguar fighter crashed in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh June 16, highlighting the poor maintenance and safety record of the jet that has been in service for more than four decades.
Turkish Aerospace Industries has chosen the Light Helicopter Turbine Engine Company’s (LHTEC) CTS800 turboshaft as the powerplant for Turkey’s twin-engine indigenous utility helicopter program.
Pratt & Whitney says retrofits of the F135 engine to enable unlimited operations in the F-35 are happening faster than originally planned and are on track for completion by early 2016.
LE BOURGET, France—Thales’ new Talios targeting pod should start flight tests on a fighter-type aircraft shortly, the company says, and development is continuing on schedule towards a 2018 service entry on the Dassault Rafale. Thales also is showing a related development: Image’Inn, a high-definition simulator that is being used to refine the pod’s operating modes and pilot interface.
PARIS—The increased tempo of operations by the Russian armed forces in the Baltic is putting a burden on the flying operations of the Swedish air force, the country’s air chief says. With Russian military aircraft operating in the Baltic close to Swedish airspace, the country’s Gripen fighters, airborne and ground radars are being more heavily utilized, Maj Gen Micael Byden told a meeting of the Swedish Air Force Fan Club in Paris June 14.
LE BOURGET, France—After developing and flying tactical UAVs for the U.S. military for years during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Textron is seeing export opportunities for the systems take off. Three years ago, the U.S.-based company was looking at five different international opportunities. Now they are tracking 25 across Europe, the Middle East and Asia. With declining U.S. defense budgets and a decreased operational tempo, demand there was beginning to flag.
Raytheon/Lockheed Martin Javelin Joint Venture, Tucson, Arizona, was awarded a $70,239,965 modification (PZ0022) to foreign military sales contract (W31P4Q-13-C-0129) that definitizes fiscal 2013 and 2014 production year lot for Army Javelin requirements included in letter contract and establishes option pricing for fiscal 2015
