The Defense Department (DOD) should develop a better plan to gauge the effectiveness of the program managers for its major weapons systems, and the DOD should also guarantee a career path for those managers, a recent U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report says. “The DOD and the military services have taken steps to implement Product Support Managers (PSM) for major weapon systems, but certain aspects of the implementation process remain incomplete,” the GAO contends.
U.S. Navy amphibious assault ship LHD 2 USS Essex—the “Iron Gator”—left Naval Base San Diego April 28 for the first time in almost two years, to conduct sea trials after completion of a major 20-month Dry-Dock Planned Maintenance Availability (DPMA), which included a flight deck overhaul. The ship received more than $200 million worth of DPMA-related repairs and upgrades, including additional overhauls of boilers, communication systems and the hull.
HOUSTON — Mars One, the Dutch nonprofit established for a privately financed attempt to colonize the red planet in the mid-2020s, is inviting 705 candidates for interviews in the next phase of its multi-round selection process. The invited candidates – mostly male, predominantly from the Americas and Europe and aged 26 to 35 – emerged May 5 from a global list of applicants that totaled nearly 203,000 just eight months ago.
NEW DELHI — India has acquired a modified Dornier 228 lightweight aircraft for testing airborne radars and aerospace systems, senior defense officials say. The aircraft is called “Nabhrathna,” meaning a jewel in the sky. It will be used by the Bengaluru-based Electronics and Radar Development Establishment (LRDE), part of the Defense Research and Development Organization, as a “flying testbed” for assessing the performance of various radars being developed by LRDE.
The U.S. should develop a network-based cloud to keep track of information and other data, a recent Rand report says, or it risks reaching a “tipping point” at which intelligence analysts are no longer able to fulfil their responsibilities. “Today, as little as 5% of the data collected by ISR [intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance] platforms actually reach the Navy analysts who need to see them,” Rand says in its report, “Data Flood: Helping the Navy Address the Rising Tide of Sensor Information,” released earlier this month.
Beechcraft King Airs operated by the U.S. Army’s Task Force Odin in Afghanistan are being fitted with Northrop Grumman’s Vader ground moving target indication radar, which can detect and track individuals on foot. Installed in a pod, the Vader active electronically scanned array radar has been integrated onto the King Airs by Lockheed Martin under its contract to support the Army’s Medium Altitude Reconnaissance Surveillance System (Marss) platforms.
The FAA has made improvements to the En-Route Automation Modernization (ERAM) air traffic system after a U.S. Air Force U-2S surveillance aircraft, transiting through Southern California airspace at high altitude, triggered a computer shutdown and forced a temporary ground stop at Los Angeles International (LAX) airport.
Answering the U.S. Army’s request for information for Counter Unmanned Aerial Systems (CUAS), industry representatives met with counter UAS stakeholders during a two-day Technical Exchange hosted last week by the Army Aviation and Missile Research, Development, and Engineering Center (Amrdec) at Redstone Arsenal, Ala.
After delaying its first buy, Turkey has finally signed up for the purchase of its first two F-35As built by Lockheed Martin. Turkey’s Undersecretariat for Defense Industries was directed to order the first two single-engine, stealthy fighters in the Block 3F configuration on May 6, according to an announcement. Turkey joined the development program in 1999 along with eight other foreign partners. The country also is building its own center fuselages as a contribution to the program.
