General Dynamics (GD) recently reached an agreement to buy the ship repair and coatings division of Virginia-based Earl Industries, in a move that extends GD’s reach into the burgeoning naval ship-repair business, especially in the hotly contested mid-Atlantic region.
The Littoral Combat Ship (LCS-1) USS Freedom recently completed the first stage of developmental testing for the LCS surface warfare mission package, a major milestone for the ship and module-development program, both of which have come under more congressional scrutiny recently for cost and other issues.
Under the offset policy, any international vendor landing an Indian defense deal worth more than 3 billion rupees ($53 million) must reinvest 30% of the value with Indian industry.
MICA NG: The French military is moving forward with plans to field an updated version of its Mica air-to-air weapon, with an in-service date planned around 2023. The exact performance details of the weapon are not set, although it is likely to retain the existing airframe to minimize the cost of systems integration. Subsystem selections are still being made, with a variety of French vendors looking to provide key components.
SOFTWARE VIOLATION: United Technologies Corp. and its subsidiaries Pratt & Whitney Canada and Hamilton Sundstrand will pay more than $75 million to the U.S. government to settle criminal and administrative charges related to accusations that it sold China software enabling its authorities to develop and produce their first modern military attack helicopter, the Z-10. The U.S. State Department further is imposing a partial disbarment of PWC for new export licenses, although it can request them on a case-by-case basis.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) JULY 9 - 10 — Military Airlift Asia-Pacific, “The perfect opportunity to discuss current airlifting capabilities and operations that are happening across Asia-Pacific,” Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel, Singapore. For more information go to www.www.militaryairliftasiapac.com <http://www.militaryairliftasiapac.com
QATAR’S CHOICE: Qatar is looking at modernizing its helicopter force and is examining a range of options for naval rotorcraft. Options include the NH Industries NFH90, which has suffered from a dearth of new orders of late, with the U.S. offering a combination of 10 MH-60Rs and 12 MH-60S helicopters; six more MH-60S with the armed helicopter modification kit are offered as an option. The Pentagon, in notifying Congress about the potential deal, puts the price at an estimated $2.5 billion.
OSPREY PAUSE: The Pentagon is moving forward with the delivery of the MV-22 Osprey aircraft to III Marine Expeditionary Force in Japan, but the Bell-Boeing tiltrotor will not fly there until the Japanese government receives the full results of investigations into recent V-22 mishaps in Morocco and Florida. Those findings are expected to be delivered in August.
Exactly how Congress will navigate the fiscal minefield it laid for itself between now and the end of the year is a mystery even to lawmakers. But that does not stop anyone in Washington from trying to influence the process or play it for political advantage. Last August, lawmakers passed the Budget Control Act, which required the government to reduce the federal deficit by $1.2 trillion over a decade. Without a new congressional agreement, the government will face an across-the-board budget cut of about $1 trillion on Jan. 2, 2013.
AZERIS DENIED: The U.S. State Department will not approve the sale of military equipment to Azerbaijan, according to a key U.S. lawmaker who opposed helping the central Asian nation. State had proposed adding Azerbaijan to the authorized sales territory for military equipment that would be used in helicopter-borne border surveillance and “police-type” activities. Rep.
FORT WORTH APPROVES: Lockheed Martin’s union workers in Fort Worth and elsewhere who build the F-35 and F-16 voted June 28 by an 80% margin to accept a new four-year labor contract that will provide yearly pay increases of 2.5-3% and bonuses.
Fleet size matters, but so does capability when it comes to deciding the right ship mix for the Pacific-pivot focus of the U.S. Navy in the coming years, the chief of naval operations (CNO) says. While the Navy will be looking to put more ships in the Pacific, the service also will be focused on plugging in the right kind of ships, according to CNO Adm. Jonathan Greenert.
NROL-15: A United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket carrying the National Reconnaissance Office’s third of four planned classified satellites for the year lifted off from Space Launch Complex-37 at Cape Canaveral at 9:15 a.m. EDT June 29. The flight of NROL-15 marked the second launch for the NRO in nine days. The Delta IV Heavy featured a center common booster core along with two strap-on common booster cores, each powered by an RS-68A Liquid Hydrogen/Liquid Oxygen engine producing 797,000 lb. of thrust.
Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee are leaning on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to push for an agreement to avoid a potential $55 billion reduction in defense spending early next year.
BEIJING — A tightly wrapped object the size and shape of a combat aircraft was hauled along Chinese highways in June, sparking speculation that the country was deliberately revealing a new twin-engine fighter from Shenyang Aircraft. Although a real fighter would not normally ride about 1,800 km (1,100 mi.) on a truck with its wings attached, a full-scale model for testing its radar cross section or another purpose might.
Rafael's Trophy Light active protection system (APS) made its debut at Eurosatory in Paris last month, demonstrated on a Rheinmetall Gavial light armored vehicle. The vehicle also carries a Samson Junior weapon station adapted for the 14.5-mm KVPT machine gun. Trophy Light was developed to protect light armored vehicles. As with other Trophy family systems, Trophy Light uses two sensors operating in unison—a network of four sensors covering 360 deg. and distributed electro-optical sensors that trigger the relevant countermeasure unit at close range.
The successful intercept of a cruise missile target on April 26 by a Lockheed Martin PAC-3 missile at the Utah Test and Training Range adds momentum to the Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor (Jlens) integrated missile-defense program. Jlens, from Raytheon, deploys two aerostats, one with surveillance radar and the other with a fire-control radar, to detect and track multiple cruise missiles, as well as low-flying aircraft, ground vehicles and ballistic missiles.
With a new president in power, Yemen is once again receiving military assistance from the Pentagon, including training and equipment. “We are gradually resuming our suspended military assistance on a case-by-case basis to assist components of the Yemeni military that are actively engaged in the fight against Al Qaeda,” says USAF Lt. Col. Wesley P. Miller, 4th. While the U.S. military has provided training and equipment for several years, security assistance was suspended last year amid political turmoil that led to the departure of the previous president.
Battlefield medicine often leads to major medical breakthroughs and the war in Afghanistan is no exception. The Mobile Oxygen Ventilation and External Suction system, or Moves, was developed and designed by Canada's Thornhill Research for $7 million for the U.S. Marine Corps. The life-support system comprises a ventilator, oxygen concentrator, suction system, patient monitoring, and display module and mounts for up to three infusion pumps or a defibrillator, and is contained in a box that weighs just 24 kg (53 lb.).
Boot-centric warfare (BCW) is a resilient idea. It holds that the war is not truly engaged in, let alone won, until a rifleman's boots are on the ground. But BCW doctrine does not withstand historical analysis. While believers remind you that World War II was not won from the air, they forget how close it came to being lost in the North Atlantic. And the Cold War was decided without a single steel-capped toe crossing the East-West divide in anger.
Composite aircraft design challenges traditional operations in a number of areas. One is maintenance and repair, where new techniques are often necessary to spot impact damage in structures where cracks and other flaws are not as apparent as in metal. GKN Aerospace of the U.K. says it might have a solution: a “smart” coating that reveals damage under ultraviolet light. The company has partnered with the University of Bristol in the U.K. to solve the problem, and the solution seems promising.
