Navy officials are expected to report back to Congress by the end of this month on a plan for their strategy to address requirements for a next-generation anti-ship missile. At issue is whether and how the service will proceed with buying a new anti-ship missile capable of operating inside enemy ship defenses and without cues from the GPS system.
Sweden’s Maritime Administration (SMA) has taken delivery of the first of seven new AgustaWestland AW139s ordered for search and rescue. The aircraft were ordered in October 2012. They will replace several Sikorsky S-76s, operating in the same role from bases at Ronneby, Visby, Gothenburg, Norrtäljegatan and Umeå. The state-owned operator inherited the S-76s after the Swedish government nationalized private operator Norrlandsflyg, which flew the aircraft on SAR and air ambulance duties on behalf of the agency.
The U.K. Royal Air Force (RAF) is ending its association with the Vickers VC10 airliner this week, 47 years after the type entered service. The previous two VC10 tankers, Nos. ZA147 and ZA150, flew their last operational sorties on Sept. 20 with a farewell tour of U.K. airfields before returning to their home base at RAF Brize Norton. Designed during the 1950s, the four-engine airliner was built to operate from hot and high airfields to support services flown by British Overseas Airlines Corp.
Think “ram-air turbine,” and the pop-out propeller providing emergency power on an airliner comes to mind, or the air-driven prop powering the ALQ-99 jamming pod on a Boeing EA-18G Growler. But what if huge amounts of power are needed, for electronic attack, long-range sensors or directed-energy weapons—and not just in emergencies, but across the flight envelope?
BAE Systems’ Digital Electronic Warfare System (DEWS) has been installed on a Boeing F-15SA Strike Eagle, and flight tests should start shortly, BAE says. DEWS is the first new U.S.-developed EW system to be installed on the F-15 since the program started, replacing the Northrop Grumman ALQ-135. It is being developed for Saudi Arabia and is part of Boeing’s Silent Eagle package on offer to South Korea.
The U.S. Air Force is considering the premature retirement of the KC-10 tanker, C-5A strategic transports and some C-130s from its mobility fleet as officials search for ways to reduce spending in accordance with the Budget Act. The only cargo and transport platforms not under scrutiny for reductions are the C-17, the last of which was delivered last week, and the upgraded C-5M, says Gen. Paul Selva, who heads Air Mobility Command.
The U.S. Navy awarded Boeing’s Insitui unit a $300 million fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract this week for hardware and operational and maintenance services in support of the ScanEagle Unmanned Aerial Systems operated by the U.S. Special Operations Command.
Turkish missile manufacturer Roketsan has begun developing a variant of its Stand-Off Missile (SOM) that is compatible with the weapons bay of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The 1,345-lb. SOM-J, developed in conjunction with TUBI˙TAK-Sage, Turkey’s Scientific and Technological Research Council, will be the fourth variant of the Turkish indigenous weapon family, which was developed to meet the long-range strike requirements of the country’s air force.
A raft of large U.S.-India military deals worth billions of dollars are nearing completion and likely to be culminated in the next few weeks. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is preparing to arrive in Washington on an official visit starting Sept. 27, on the heels of a visit to India by U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter. And negotiations on pending acquisitions are in full swing. Top Indian defense ministry sources indicate one or more contracts could be finalized during Singh’s visit.
The Pentagon is continuing to keep BAE’s work crafting an alternate F-35 helmet on the side burner, though program officials indicate they are lining up in support of fixes designed to improve the performance of the primary helmet manufactured by Vision Systems International. F-35 Program Executive Officer Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan has not, however, taken the step to sole-source the work to VSI, a joint venture of Rockwell Collins and Elbit, in hopes that even the specter of competition will drive down the helmet’s cost.
U.S. military weapons systems and services acquisition will be slashed this decade across the armed services if the full effect of the 2011 budget law and its annual, widespread automatic budget cuts occur – as now expected.
AV-8 SUPPORT: The Boeing Co. has been awarded $16,497,835 for a delivery order under a previously issued contract to repair various parts in support of the AV-8 aircraft, the U.S. Navy announced Sept. 18. The work will be performed in St. Louis and is expected to be completed by Sept. 30, 2015. Fiscal 2013 Navy working capital funds of $8,248,917 will be obligated at the time of award. The Naval Supply Systems Command Weapon Systems Support, Philadelphia, is the contracting activity.
Navy Secretary Ray Mabus and Norman Polmar, a defense analyst and noted author of numerous books on naval matters, are trading barbs over the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) program. “I take strong exception to your rebuttal of my critique of the Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship program, as ‘published’ by Fox On Line,” Polmar says in a Sept. 5 email to Mabus recently released by the author, whose work includes “The Ships and Aircraft of the U.S. Fleet,” considered by many to be the informational bible of the nation’s naval force.
The Netherlands has finally decided to purchase the Joint Strike Fighter, but will buy fewer than half the number it originally envisioned. The Hague says it will now purchase 37 of the 85 Lockheed Martin F-35s it had intended to purchase when it first signed up with the program in 2002. It based the decision on the need to remain within the tight €4.5 billion ($6 billion) budget assigned for its F-16 Fighting Falcon replacement program and the €270 million annual operations budget for fighter types in the service’s inventory.
