SMALL UAVs: The Danish armed forces have placed a $9.6 million order for AeroVironment’s Puma small UAV, following a competitive evaluation, the company announced June 12. The 13-lb. Puma AE is designed for both land-based and maritime operations. Eighteen nations outside the U.S. have purchased AeroVironment’s Puma AE, Wasp or Raven B small UAVs, according to the company. Denmark previously ordered the Raven B in 2007.
PARIS — MBDA is hoping to secure the full development and production contract for the MMP short-range, portable missile system by year’s end to maintain the scheduled first delivery in 2017.
LOS ANGELES — The U.S. Navy is investigating what caused the crash of a Northrop Grumman-built Broad Area Maritime Surveillance Demonstrator (BAMS-D) unmanned aircraft into swamps near Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. on June 11. The aircraft, a Block 10 RQ-4 version equipped with maritime sensors, was being used by the U.S. Navy as part of tests in the run-up to delivery of the initial purpose-built MQ-4C. The first of these is scheduled to be handed over to the Navy at a special ceremony at Northrop Grumman’s Palmdale, Calif., facility on June 14.
PARIS — Sagem has completed a series of 18 test flights of its long-endurance Patroller S drone in a multisensor, multimission configuration, the Paris-based company announced June 11. Designed for coastal surveillance and homeland security missions, the modular Patroller unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) can be fitted with pod-mounted payloads for flights lasting 20-30 hr. at a maximum altitude of 25,000 ft.
AIR FORCE Cessna Aircraft Co., Wichita, is being awarded a $12,377,992 (face value) firm-fixed-price contract to purchase four C-208B aircraft for the Special Defense Acquisition Fund inventory, as well as training for 16 pilots, and 14 maintainers for future international partner needs by exercising the option against the subject contract. The location of the performance is Wichita. The work is to be completed by Nov. 30, 2013. ASC/WNZI, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8617-11-C-6209 P0009).
AIR FORCE Rockwell Collins Inc., Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is being awarded a $12,437,659 (face value) firm-fixed-price and modification contract for the order of 4,592 Defense Advanced GPS Receiver (DAGR) units and assorted accessories through the exercise of 30 corresponding options on the DAGR follow-on contract. The location of the performance is Coralville, Iowa. The work is to be completed by May 2013. SMC/GPK, El Segundo, Calif., is the contracting activity (FA8807-09-C-0002, P00029).
The U.S. Air Force’s chief of staff warns planners not to expect an influx of remotely piloted vehicles to shift from Central Command to training organizations.
PARIS — The proliferation of low-cost unmanned aircraft has driven Thales back to embracing the concept of gun-based air defenses. “You cannot afford to use very expensive missiles” against such targets, says Laurent Dupont, in charge of advanced weapon systems at Thales. RapidFire also looks to take advantage of improvements in sensor accuracy and ammunition to enable the gun air defense concept.
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CAE is to provide a suite of ground-based training systems for BAE Systems Hawk Advanced Jet Trainers (AJT) ordered by Saudi Arabia, which the company identifies only as an “undisclosed customer.” The Saudis placed a ₤1.6 billion ($2.5 billion) order with BAE in May for 22 Hawk AJTs and 55 Pilatus PC-21 turboprop trainers. The Arab nation already operates earlier Hawk Mk.65s and PC-9s.
Iran’s threat earlier this year to close the Strait of Hormuz highlighted what many experts view as a longstanding fundamental weakness in U.S. naval strategy: the inability to effectively and economically spot and neutralize naval mines. Such mines can cost as little as $1,000 each and are relatively easy for Iran to put in place. Finding and neutralizing them might take U.S. naval forces a month or more, essentially allowing Iran to achieve its strategic goal of blocking trade in the narrow body of water.
PARIS — German unmanned aircraft maker EMT is working on an upgraded version of its Luna tactical unmanned aircraft and a replacement for its hand-launched Aladin system. The Luna NG (next generation) is still in the development and concept phase, but targets an emerging German army requirement to replace the current-generation Luna and KZO unmanned aircraft. A vehicle mock-up is making its debut at the Eurosatory arms exhibition in Paris.
TEL AVIV — The increased use of UAVs and light aircraft is spurring development of smaller precision-attack weapons, designed to better meet payload limitations of the manned, light-strike aircraft and UAVs.
Lawmakers are pursuing an investigation of leaks in the White House after a set of news stories detailing the Obama administration’s clandestine national security successes. The most recent story by David Sanger in The New York Times has drawn the most attention. The piece — a part of his book “Confront and Conceal: Obama’s Secret Wars and Surprising Use of American Power” — describes how President Barack Obama accelerated the use of cyberattacks on Iranian nuclear facilities.
The U.S. Defense Department needs to better analyze the effects of repositioning its force structure, especially in Europe, a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report says. “Although the Department of Defense (DOD) has conducted some analysis to support two recent global posture decisions, the full cost implications of these decisions are unknown,” GAO says in its report, “Force Structure, Improved Cost Information and Analysis Needed to Guide Overseas Military Posture Decisions.”
The first Bell OH-58D Kiowa Warrior armed scout helicopter upgraded from an OH-58A under the U.S. Army’s wartime replacement aircraft (WRA) program has been delivered by the Corpus Christi Army Depot (CCAD). The rollout comes as the Army prepares to release a request for proposals for the flight evaluation of potential off-the-shelf replacements for the OH-58D to meet the Armed Aerial Scout (AAS) requirement.
The Pentagon, FAA and NASA need to cooperate more fully to free up U.S. airspace to UAVs to nurture the market, says the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC).
LONDON — Australia’s order of 10 C-27s will help sustain production of the airlifter through 2015, with additional deals in the making that could keep the line alive until 2018-19, Alenia Aermacchi CEO Giuseppe Giordo says.
UNMANNED RESUPPLY: The U.S. Marine Corps Warfighting Lab is seeking information on available unmanned aircraft that could deliver at least 500 lb. of cargo to geographically distributed ground units from ships. Vertical-takeoff-and-landing capability is likely, but not mandatory, and the lab is interested in vehicles that could autonomously deliver at least two 250-lb.-plus packages to different locations from vessels up to 50 nm from shore.
