SEOUL — Four Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Block 30 Global Hawk surveillance aircraft should be delivered to South Korea between 2017 and 2019, acting as a primary sensor in the country’s preparations to hit North Korean missiles before launch. A contract from the U.S. government is likely in 2014, following an intergovernmental agreement by the end of this year, Northrop Grumman officials say, although the South Korean defense ministry expects the intergovernmental contract in the first half of next year.
FLOCKing BIRDS: An average of 115 satellites will be launched annually worldwide over the next 10 years (2013-2022), according to a new report from Euroconsult. “Revenues from the manufacture and launch of these 1,150 satellites over the decade will be worth $236 billion, up 26% from those generated by the 810 satellites launched in the past ten years (2003-2012),” Euroconsult says in a statement. Governments will be responsible for two-thirds of the 1,150 satellites to be launched and nearly three-quarters of the expected revenues.
Additive manufacture has the potential to improve the environmental sustainability of aircraft components in production and operation, concludes a study by EADS Innovation Works and EOS, a leader in direct metal laser-sintering (DMLS) technology. The study compared a current cast-steel nacelle hinge bracket for the Airbus A320 with an optimized titanium design additively manufactured on an EOS laser-sintering machine. DMLS builds up parts by using a laser to melt layers of powdered metal.
Australia’s location makes it ideal for potential bases for U.S. aircraft, which could prove key in the American strategy to shift more of its military resources to the Asia-Pacific, the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA) contends in a new report.
The U.S. Marine Corps must consider accepting Boeing EA-18G Growlers for electronic warfare (EW) missions rather than waiting for the F-35B to prevent a potentially lengthy aerial EW gap from developing, a service EW veterans association says.
The U.S. Senate confirmed Alan Estevez as the new deputy undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics last week, and this week it could confirm retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Frank Klotz as the administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA).
LONDON — The Netherlands is to deploy four Boeing AH-64 Apache attack helicopters to Mali at the request of the United Nations, The Hague has announced. The deployment, on behalf of the U.N. Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali, will begin at the end of this year and will tentatively end in 2015, according to the Netherlands defense ministry.
As part of its recent analysis of the U.S. Navy’s shipbuilding plans, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has envisioned a fleet size much different than what the service foresees. “CBO’s estimate of $21.2 billion per year for the full cost of the Navy’s 2014 shipbuilding plan is 34% higher than the $15.8 billion the Navy has spent on average per year for all items in its shipbuilding accounts over the past 30 years,” the report notes.
Northrop Grumman and the U.S. Navy are targeting the end of 2014 to have the extended-endurance MQ-8C Fire Scout unmanned aircraft ready for deployment on a DDG-51 Burke-class destroyer, to support special-warfare units operating under Africa Command. A modified Bell 407 light commercial helicopter, the MQ-8C, made its first flights from NAS Point Mugu, Calif., on Oct. 31, barely 18 months after the award of the $154 million rapid development contract.
LONDON — Air forces from across Latin America and the U.S. and Canada are deploying to Brazil for the region’s largest military exercises. Some 96 combat and support aircraft from nine countries are arriving at Natal airbase on Brazil’s eastern coast for Exercise Cruzex Flight 2013, running from Nov. 4-15.
TEL AVIV — The U.S. plans to fast-track the delivery of six V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft to Israel, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says. The Pentagon will reallocate part of the next production group originally destined for the U.S. Marine Corps to meet the Israeli request for six aircraft. The V-22 is produced under a multi-year procurement, with the fiscal 2014 budget plan funding the production of 18 USMC Ospreys and three for the Air Force Special Operations Command.
As the U.S. Navy continues to hone its submarine payload delivery systems, the service is searching for unmanned systems to deploy from those boats, including submerged and aerial vehicles. Recent research and development tests have combined submarines with unmanned undersea vehicles used for the oil and gas industry, such as the Lockheed Martin Marlin.
Curtiss-Wright Controls is working to turn South Korea from a customer to a supplier, exploiting the progress local manufacturers have made in gaining technology. Perhaps the most prominent opportunity is in actuation, the equipment that, for example, moves flight control surfaces, says Curtiss-Wright Controls Vice President Christopher Thomson. “South Korea has been a good market, growing faster than our other segments,” says Curtiss-Wright’s Tom Quinly. “We want to take it to another level.”
Additive manufacture has the potential to improve the environmental sustainability of aircraft components in production and operation, concludes a study by EADS Innovation Works and EOS, a leader in direct metal laser-sintering (DMLS) technology. The study compared a current cast-steel nacelle hinge bracket for the Airbus A320 with an optimized titanium design additively manufactured on an EOS laser-sintering machine. DMLS builds up parts by using a laser to melt layers of powdered metal.
A Senate panel on aviation led by Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) convenes this week to discuss how to keep aviation manufacturing in the U.S. competitive. But competition in the increasingly global airline and aerospace industries is in the eye of the beholder. U.S. unionized pilots and flight attendants are scrutinizing how Norwegian Air Shuttle proceeds with its latest round of contract negotiations. The contract talks represent a test case for the U.S.-EU Open Skies agreement in 2010, which allows more European flights into the U.S.
President Barack Obama entered office pledging to improve the nation's relations with key allies. But with ongoing UAV strikes, revelations of National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance of allies' leaders and continued detentions of terror suspects at the Guantanamo Bay prison, even Obama's supporters concede his image campaign hasn't worked out. “The level of support for the U.S. is back to where it was in the [George W.] Bush administration,” says Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.).
Picture this scenario: An adversary nation with an in-depth air defense system and counter-low-observable capability has tested and deployed an anti-satellite (ASAT) weapon, disabling a U.S. satellite in the process.
As the hard-won progress in hypersonic propulsion technology can attest, the road to sustained air-breathing engines that can operate above Mach 5 is littered with five decades worth of failed tests, some more dramatic than others.
