FISCAL DESPAIR: Last week saw the chiefs of staff of the U.S. Air Force, Army, Marine Corps and Navy testify for the second time on Capitol Hill about the “insidious” effect of the automatic, widespread budget rescissions known as sequestration, as well as the problem for national security under continuing resolutions of past appropriations. This week will see the second public meeting of the second so-called super committee of lawmakers charged with crafting any kind of budget deal. The Nov.
Littoral Combat Ship (LCS-1) USS Freedom is in need of yet another set of repairs in order to leave its Singapore pier and get to sea, U.S. Navy officials say. The ship has been plagued by problems during its first Western Pacific deployment.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) Nov. 12 - 13 — Armament and Munitions Forum, "Industry/Govenment Partnerships Ensuring Readiness and Innovation during Budget Uncertainty. Lindner Conference Center, Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey. For more information go to www.ndia.org/meetings/4050/Pages/default.aspx
The U.S. Navy is searching for even greater Electromagnetic Spectrum Maneuver Warfare (EMMW) capabilities. “Our initial focus on mastering EMMW has been on the cyberspace mission area, putting in place the required manpower structure and creating the necessary organizational constructs,” Vice Adm. Ted “Twig” Branch, deputy chief of naval operations for information dominance, says in a recent electronic post.
The Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) Surface Warfare Mission Package successfully completed the second phase of its developmental testing recently aboard LCS-3 USS Fort Worth, Naval Sea Systems Command confirms. The Fort Worth finished the testing at the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Div.’s Point Mugu range off Southern California Oct. 1-25, Navy officials say.
The U.S. Marine Corps is not adjusting its plans to buy a fleet of Lockheed Martin KC-130Js refuelers, despite recent testing and interest in outfitting its Bell/Boeing MV-22 Osprey with an aerial refueling system. Forty-six of 79 planned KC-130Js have been delivered, says Lt. Col. Richard Roberts, KC-130J requirements officer for the Marine Corps. Those plans have not changed since flight trials in August where a MV-22 Osprey outfitted with a hose-and-drogue refueling system conducted close approaches with an F/A-18C receiver.
A U.S. land-based anti-ship missile (ASM) network in the Asia-Pacific could help neutralize China in the region, a recent Rand report says. “A land-based ASM capability would be relatively easy to create in the U.S. armed forces and could be seen as a 21st-century extension of the Army’s earlier coastal defense role,” Rand says in its report, released earlier this month.
U.S. Air Force officials hope to finalize negotiations on a multibillion dollar contract for up to 50 Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) cores by the middle of next month, according to the program’s manager.
The U.S. Navy started its first E-2 Hawkeye and C-2 Greyhound Field Carrier Landing Practice (FCLP) operations at Wallops Flight Facility, Va., earlier this month, in the wake of an agreement with NASA to support FCLP training for squadrons operating from Naval Station Norfolk Chambers Field, also in Virginia.
For the second time, Lockheed Martin has tested the unique fairings that will shield radiators and other delicate hardware on the Orion crew capsule’s service module during launch, using pyrotechnics and release mechanisms to jettison the hardware with simulated ascent heating. Engineers at the company’s facility in Sunnyvale, Calif., heated one of the three fairings to 200F and achieved what they termed “successful separation of all three fairings while under flight-like thermal and structural conditions.”
Europe’s Sesar air traffic management (ATM) modernization program has funded nine projects to demonstrate the integration of unmanned aircraft systems into non-segregated airspace. The projects will support plans to begin integration of UAS into European airspace in 2016. Backed by €4 million ($5.4 million) in funding from the Sesar Joint Undertaking (JU), the demonstrations include integrated pre-operational flight trials and are expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2015.
U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command recently formally established a Regional Maintenance Center detachment in Rota, Spain, to support four Arleigh Burke-class destroyers scheduled to be forward-deployed there starting in 2014. The detachment will provide management, industrial, engineering, technical and contractor oversight services for the vessels. Proper maintenance will be key in establishing U.S. destroyer basing plans in Spain.
ODDS ON SEQUESTRATION: A month into the second so-called super committee of lawmakers in Congress, many aerospace and defense observers in Washington still expect a full-year continuing resolution and for the next, larger round of sequestration budget cuts to take effect early next year. United Technologies’ lobbyists and government affairs consultants expect as much by a ratio of 2 to 1, according to Jay DeFrank, vice president for communications and government relations at the conglomerate’s Pratt & Whitney engine maker. DeFrank spoke Nov.
PARIS — Paris is investing in a major upgrade of its nuclear deterrent force through 2030, with plans to modernize strategic submarine and aircraft fleets, missiles, warheads, communications networks and production facilities. Since the end of the Cold War, France has roughly halved its nuclear arsenal and eliminated the option to conduct land-based strikes. It now has 300 warheads in its stockpile.
LONDON — France and Peru discussed Lima’s plans to buy an Earth observation satellite in the coming months during an official visit by French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian to the Andean nation Nov. 4-5.
HOUSTON — Staffing of the International Space Station (ISS) temporarily surged to nine astronauts on Nov. 7, with the launch and docking of the Soyuz TMA-11M spacecraft carrying three astronauts, including Japan’s first ISS commander.
The top acquisition policymaker in the U.S. Defense Department says new, internal research shows the Pentagon has paid higher contracting reward fees for relatively poor program performance.
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LONDON — Mobile satellite fleet operator Inmarsat of London says NATO and so-called “five-eyes” countries will have access to the military Ka-band payload on its new Global Xpress commercial communications satellites.
Key documents laying out the path to integration of unmanned aircraft in national airspace have been released by the U.S. government, but achieving the goals will require “predictable and reliable” funding for the NextGen airspace modernization program, cautions FAA Administrator Michael Huerta.
Engine manufacturer GE Aviation plans to buy 500,000 gal. of biofuel annually for engine testing, beginning in 2016. The company uses more than 10 million gal. of jet fuel a year at its engine test centers. GE Aviation has signed a 10-year agreement with the D’Arcinoff Group to purchase synthetic jet fuel made from a combination of cellulosic biomass and natural gas using the Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) process.
