The FAA could begin asking for unmanned aerial system test site proposals as early as Monday, industry officials tell Aviation Week. The FAA was charged with selecting the six sites by the end of 2012, but the process has been delayed by privacy concerns.
The U.S. government spends more on weapons development than any other nation on the planet, but its plans for doing so are caught up in a larger financial debate.
Poland has set its sights on a new fleet of heavy transport and attack helicopters as it renews its rotary-wing assets over the next decade. On top of plans announced by the Polish ministry of defense in 2012 to purchase 70 medium utility helicopters beginning in 2014, Warsaw is planning to purchase a further 130 helicopters to replace its aging fleet of Polish and Russian-built rotorcraft. This helicopter procurement program will be the largest in Europe in more than a decade.
The French request for a British Sentinel radar surveillance aircraft to support Operation Serval in Mali highlights France's shortage of tactical intelligence assets, which have advanced little beyond helicopters and targeting pods on jets, despite years of experience in Afghanistan.
India has moved a significant step closer in integrating its strategic submarines with ballistic missiles after the test launch of a medium-range missile from a submerged platform in the Bay of Bengal. The 10-meter-tall (33-ft.) nuclear-capable missile was launched from a depth of about 50 meters Jan. 27, says Defense Research and Development Organization Director General V.K. Saraswat. It met “every” mission objective, he says.
Crisis is a word often applied to the proposed defense “sequestration” cuts, now set to take effect on March 1. There is no dispute that these budget reductions could send powerful tremors through the U.S. military and defense industry.
In a sometimes painful confirmation hearing for defense secretary, former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) waded through questions about his past statements and misstatements as well as legitimate policy differences over nuclear weapons policy.
ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy’s proposed cuts in maintenance to accommodate funding shortfalls caused by the continuing resolution, combined with potential further belt-tightening that could be brought on by sequestration, could not come at a worse time, according to service officials.
Northrop Grumman and the U.S. Navy are ready to flight test the final software load for the X-47B unmanned combat air system demonstrator (UCAS-D), with all the features required to enable operation from an aircraft carrier later this year. Based at NAS Patuxent River, Md., the two X-47Bs are being used for carrier-qualification testing ahead of the at-sea demonstration planned for the summer. Tests have included land-based catapult launches at Pax and deck-handling trials at sea on the carrier USS Truman.
The Senate defeated by a vote of 79-19 an amendment that would have blocked the transfer of F-16 fighters and M1 Abrams tanks to Egypt. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) sponsored the amendment, arguing that it is a “grave mistake” to send Lockheed Martin F-16s and General Dynamics tanks to Egypt, now that the government has changed since the political upheaval there generated by the Arab Spring.
LONDON — The U.K. Ministry of Defense (MoD) has unveiled its spending plan for new equipment and support over the next 10 years. The U.K.’s Equipment Plan, published Jan. 31, outlines spending of £160 billion ($250 billion) for new equipment in what is called a “fully funded Defense Equipment Plan.” The plan sets aside £8 billion for what the MoD calls “a number of additional programs that are a high priority for defense.”
Boeing will not be housing its new intelligence gathering system, the medium-sized Maritime Surveillance Aircraft (MSA), on an Embraer platform, according to the Brazilian manufacturer’s defense chief Luiz Carlos Aguiar. He said the two are not in talks on the MSA project despite an agreement on other projects, such as the KC-390.
Tom Burbage, the single, consistent public face of Lockheed Martin’s F-35 program since its inception, is finally retiring, according to program sources. Burbage retires as the executive vice president and general manager of program integration for the F-35. As such, his primary responsibility has been to keep the international coalition of countries outside the U.S. on track and, where possible, chase new international business. Stephen O’Bryan is currently working under Burbage as vice president of program integration.
Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs) contractor Bluefin Robotics is gearing up to produce a variant of its Knifefish UUV for the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), the company says. Knifefish is a specialized Bluefin-21 UUV that is being developed for the Surface Mine Countermeasure Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (SMCM UUV) effort. Bluefin is under subcontract to General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems for that program.
Efforts to clear the hurdles to commercial-scale production of advanced biofuels are focusing on increasing yields from energy crops and reducing the costs of harvesting, transporting and processing the millions of tons of biomass required. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) plans to award $6 million in research contracts to enable delivery of lignocellulosic biomass, such as switchgrass, polar and waste wood, at the volumes and costs required for commercial-scale biofuel production.
LONDON — The Polish armed forces are planning to recapitalize their rotary-wing fleet and buy as many as 200 new helicopters over the next decade. The program, easily the largest helicopter procurement in Europe in more than decade, includes requirements for medium-sized utility, heavy transport, and a fleet of attack helicopters for use by the Polish army, navy and air force.
