The U.S. unmanned aviation system (UAS) commercial market could be boosted as the Afghanistan war cools and new federal mandates spur business interest in the platforms, according to a leading aviation law firm. “Today, over 300 businesses produce over a 1,000 different unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) ranging in size from a medium-sized passenger jet to a small winged insect,” notes a paper released this month by Michael Goldman of the firm Silverberg, Goldman and Bikoff. “They are mostly banned in U.S.
A research advisory group is cautioning the FAA “to avoid the temptation to compromise safety” as the agency attempts to meet a congressionally mandated 2015 deadline to integrate unmanned aircraft into the national airspace system (NAS). The observation highlights what appears to be growing frustration with the FAA over a range of research and organizational issues as the mandate nears.
U.S. Air Force Honeywell International Inc., Tempe, Ariz., (FA8208-07-C-0001, P00048) is being awarded a $57,829,544 contract modification for repair, overhaul and logistics sustainment of F-15 secondary power assets under the secondary power logistics solution contract. The location of the performance is Hill Air Force Base, Utah. Work is expected to be completed by January 2020. The contracting activity is 748 SCMG/PKBA, Hill AFB, Utah. U.S. NAVY
NEW DELHI — An Indian navy Chetak helicopter crashed Oct. 15 in the western state of Goa, killing three people on board, a defense official says. The navy has been planning to replace its vintage Chetaks and released a global tender in August for roughly 60 utility helicopters. Sikorsky, Eurocopter, Kamov and AgustaWestland are among the likely respondents.
The increase in Chinese defense spending dwarfs the growth in military investment across the rest of Asia, growing by 13.4% between 2000 and 2011, according to a new report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The report examined the five Asian nations that spend most heavily on defense: China, South Korea, Japan, India and Taiwan. South Korea ranked second, posting growth of 4.8%. Chinese defense spending could be even higher, the report notes, because of the country’s secrecy regarding defense.
The U.S. Navy is kicking off a program to recapitalize the Northrop Grumman C-2A Greyhound carrier onboard delivery (COD) fleet that will pit a remanufactured C-2 against the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey tiltrotor, with no other obvious candidates. Modernizing the Greyhound would allow the Navy to converge its small C-2A and E-2D Advanced Hawkeye airborne early warning fleets for significant operating and support cost savings while leaving the COD mission essentially unchanged.
Teams led by Aurora Flight Sciences and Lockheed Martin plan to demonstrate in 2014 that an untrained marine can use a smartphone application to call up an unmanned resupply helicopter, which will pick out a landing site, negotiate obstacles and threats, land to be unloaded and then take off—all autonomously. The 2014 fly-off between the two teams is the first of series of increasingly challenging annual flight demonstrations planned under the U.S. Office of Naval Research’s (ONR) Autonomous Aerial Cargo Utility Systems (Aacus) program.
U.S. Air Force Lockheed Martin Corp., Fort Worth, Texas, (FA8615-13-C-6048) is being awarded a $94,700,000 firm-fixed-price contract for retrofit of 12 F-16 C/D Block 60 multi-role fighter aircraft. The location of the performance is Fort Worth, Texas. Work is expected to be completed by May 16, 2016. The contracting activity is AFLCMC/WWMK, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. Contract involves Foreign Military Sales for the government of Oman. U.S. Navy
NAGOYA, Japan — Tight budgets and the rejection of obvious replacements are likely to push Japan to operate its 201 F-15J and F-15JD Eagle fighters for 30 more years, with major upgrades likely necessary.
CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS: Despite U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s vow to increase defense spending, the employees of defense companies continue to invest in incumbent President Barack Obama. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the defense sector has contributed $660,800 to Obama’s presidential campaign and $574,841 to the Romney effort. Boeing’s employees have given $110,383, nearly double the amount they provided to Romney, which was $58,020.
NETANYA, Israel — At one time spy agencies drove development of advanced investigative cyber technology, but nowadays it is banks, credit card companies, PayPal, Google and Yahoo that are steering the design and functionality of new investigative tools.
COLLISION PROBE: The U.S. Navy and the Pentagon are investigating the damage and cause of a weekend collision between an attack submarine and an Aegis-equipped cruiser. The USS Montpelier submarine and San Jacinto collided about 3:30 p.m. Oct. 13 during an anti-submarine training exercise off the U.S. East Coast, Navy officials say. No one was injured and both ships were able to continue to operate under their own power.
NEW DELHI — Indian state-run defense manufacturer Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) and Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) gave the go-ahead Oct. 12 to their long-delayed project to develop a Multirole Transport Aircraft (MTA). “With this HAL and UAC-TA will start the preliminary design work immediately at Moscow,” HAL Chairman R.K. Tyagi says.
NEW DELHI — Russia has further delayed the delivery of the refurbished aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov to India. “We have detected a malfunction in the boiler and power plant of the ship. We have given the revised schedule of the delivery of the aircraft carrier to the Indian side,” visiting Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov says. “We believe it will happen in the fourth quarter of 2013. We need to test everything so that we are sure we are transferring an aircraft carrier of perfect quality,” Serdyukov says.
Japan plans to begin development of its next homegrown fighter within five years, with the aim of beginning production under the designation F-3 around 2027. While the schedule suggests Japan may want to merge the F-3 into the U.S. Next Generation Tacair effort, Japan is laying the groundwork for going its own way by investing in stealth technology and building its own powerful fighter engine. IHI Corp. is to develop a technology-demonstrator engine of 15 metric tons (33,000 lb.) thrust, according to an official document.
A new House Intelligence Committee report recommending U.S. companies and the government steer clear of two Chinese telecommunications companies is sending a shudder through the business community, with a recommendation for Congress to consider expanding federal reviews of international business deals. The bipartisan report starts a conversation about a very real problem facing U.S. companies as well as the nation’s security — how to protect classified and proprietary information in a massive global supply chain.
Additional aerostat-mounted wide-area surveillance systems are being deployed to protect forward bases in Afghanistan, with the prospect that the systems could be redeployed for border surveillance once they are returned to the U.S. Logos Technologies will supply an additional 22 Kestrel day/night optical surveillance systems under a $111.8 million U.S. Navy contract awarded earlier this month. The first batch of 16 Kestrels were delivered by July.
The Office of Naval Research’s (ONR) Electromagnetic (EM) Railgun program recently started to evaluate the second of two industry railgun prototype launchers at a facility in Dahlgren, Va., officials announced Oct. 10. General Atomics has delivered its prototype launcher to Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Dahlgren Division, where engineers have engaged in a series of tests similar to the evaluations conducted on the prototype demonstrator made by BAE Systems which arrived on Jan. 30.
The Pentagon is on the cusp of finalizing new rules of engagement for activities in the cyberdomain, including how to defend domestic networks and respond in the event of an attack.
