Surveillance aircraft and systems are receiving big funding boosts from Congress to pay for advanced sensors, thanks to a one-item unfunded requirements list from U.S. Special Operations Command (Socom). House appropriators did it first: Big pluses for three aircraft that are platforms for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR): U-28, MQ-1 and MQ-9. Five supporting ground systems are also all on the receiving end. All the increases are for adding high-definition video sensors (Aerospace DAILY, June 1).
Rolls-Royce is buying out the 50% stake that Goodrich Corp. holds in the Aero Engine Controls (AEC) joint venture. United Technologies Corp. (UTC), which is in the process of acquiring Goodrich, has approved the divestiture, but completion of the transfer of AEC shares still awaits the closing of UTC’s Goodrich acquisition and its own antitrust review.
SINGAPORE — Japan intends to buy two ScanEagle UAVs for its army, a further sign the government recognizes the growing importance of unmanned aircraft. The funds for the purchase are part of the country’s third supplemental budget for post-tsunami disaster relief, according to a Boeing spokeswoman in Japan. Boeing subsidiary Insitu makes ScanEagle, which is launched via catapult. This is the first time Japan has ordered ScanEagle, the spokeswoman says, adding that Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) is Insitu’s partner in this deal.
T-6 SUPPORT: U.S. Air Force Materiel Command has awarded DynCorp International a contract worth up to $432 million to provide support services for T-6A and T-6B trainer aircraft at various Air Force and Navy bases throughout the U.S. The contract has a base period of one year with four one-year options. The company will establish, operate and manage Contractor Operated and Maintained Base Supply facilities to provide spare parts and equipment to support the training aircraft.
Few attributes are more important to a U.S. Navy submarine than stealth. But U.S. Navy Seals also need to get to their job site from the subs undetected as well. And that is an increasingly difficult task as technology improves for active sonar, making good systems affordable in areas where Seals are likely to try to conduct missions.
The miniature hit-to-kill interceptor is being developed under the U.S. Army’s Extended Area Protection and Survivability (EAPS) integrated demonstration.
The Littoral Combat Ship (LCS-1) USS Freedom moved a step closer toward the U.S. Navy’s 2013 goal of a Singapore deployment by passing special operational tests that are atypical for a Navy warship. The Freedom — the first of the class for the new LCS fleet — in May passed a special trial (ST), which the Navy says is “basically a modified version of the final contract trials (FCT) that a ship undergoes prior to the end of the builder’s guarantee period.”
Faced with a huge shortfall of anti-tank missiles and the delayed induction of the indigenous Nag missile, India has been scouting for adequate offensive systems.
Other federal programs should fashion themselves after the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program run by the Small Business Administration (SBA), says Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), who sees SBIR as a template for fostering national technological advancement while promoting small businesses.
SINGAPORE — Japan’s government has appointed Satoshi Morimoto as defense minister, the first time since World War II that a Japanese defense minister has not been a member of parliament. Morimoto is Japan’s third defense minister in recent months. His immediate predecessor was Naoki Tanaka, who served from January to June. Before Tanaka, Yasuo Ichikawa held the post from September 2011 to January 2012. Tanaka and Ichikawa were both ousted following pressure from the opposition party.
The financial belt-tightening is only going to get worse with the demands for U.S. Navy likely to grow greater, warns Adm. J.C. Harvey, Jr., commander of U.S. Fleet Forces Command. But the past may hold some lessons learned. “We [are] headed for permanent white water; that is, an environment in which our overall defense budget would very likely decrease, while our costs to own and operate the fleet [increase],” Harvey says in a blog from earlier this month.
The U.S. Coast Guard’s proposed fleet plan could still cost far more than the service anticipates, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) says. The Coast Guard completed a two-phased Fleet Mix Analysis that intended to eliminate uncertainty surrounding the future mission performance of the service’s fleet and produce a baseline for the acquisition of a majority of its assets, the GAO notes in a May 31 report.
LOSING LUSTER: The global airborne anti-submarine warfare (ASW) sensor market is due for a dip, according to consultancy Forecast International. The market has a projected worth of $429.42 million in 2012, but then drops in value to $238.85 million in 2016 — a roughly 44.37% ($190.57 million) drop, according to a new study that examines 50 of the leading airborne ASW sensor programs around the world.
With news reports saying that defense companies will begin issuing layoffs related to potential military budget cuts before the November presidential election, Republican senators interested in defense are building a legislative case for preventing them. If Congress fails to reach a deal to reduce the deficit by $1.2 trillion, then in January 2013 cuts of the same amount will be applied to the entire federal budget — with about half targeted at the Pentagon.
SINGAPORE — New Zealand’s air force plans to lease five used Beechcraft KingAir 200 aircraft from Australian company Hawker Pacific to replace five KingAir 200s it currently leases from another company. “We are currently in negotiations with Hawker Pacific to conclude a contract to lease five secondhand KingAir 200s to replace the fleet currently leased from Aeromotive,” New Zealand’s air force chief, Air Vice Marshal Peter Stockwell, says in an emailed response to a query from Aviation Week.
ARAB SUMMER: With the Egyptian presidential election close at hand, U.S. experts on the region see an opportunity to redefine the diplomatic relationship but are divided about what that means for the relationship with the Egyptian military — long a source of stability in the Middle Eastern center of influence. Since the 1980s, the U.S. has extended billions in military aid to Egypt. Frank Wisner, a former U.S. ambassador to Egypt, told the Center for American Progress on June 5 that the Egyptian military will remain critical to U.S. relations there.
The protracted pace of the U.S. Forest Service’s plan to replace aging firefighting air tankers is expected to come under renewed scrutiny following two accidents on June 3. Both events, one of which was fatal, involved Lockheed P2V Neptunes engaged in fighting wildfires in the Western U.S. The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the loss of a 1962-built Neptune Aviation Services P2V while tackling a blaze in the Hamblin Valley area of western Idaho close to the Nevada border.
Beacons enabling autonomous aircraft to deliver cargo with greater accuracy, particularly at night and in poor weather, are to be deployed to Afghanistan, where two Lockheed Martin/Kaman K-Max unmanned helicopters are resupplying U.S. Marine Corps remote forward bases. The K-Max conducted precision autonomous cargo drops using the electro-optical navigation beacon to guide the aircraft in April under a U.S. Army technology demonstration.
The State Department is wrestling with how to refresh a treaty that has governed peace in Europe since 1992. The Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty (CFE) that limits the number of conventional weapons that can be deployed on the continent was signed in 1990, following the collapse of the Soviet Union. But participation in the treaty has gradually eroded. Russia suspended its implementation in 2007. By late 2011, the U.S. and 21 NATO allies ceased carrying out their CFE obligations with respect to Russia.
NEW DELHI — Pakistan on June 5 successfully test-fired a multi-tube, indigenously developed, nuclear-capable cruise missile, the Hatf-VII (or Babur), which has a range of 700 km (435 mi.). “[The] Babur cruise missile is a low-flying, terrain-hugging missile with high maneuverability, pinpoint accuracy and radar-avoidance features,” a Pakistan defense ministry official says. “The missile can carry both nuclear and conventional warheads and has stealth capabilities.” This was the fifth missile test by Pakistan since late April.
ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy is investing in research that could make its submarines even stealthier, using cloaking technology that seems to come straight out of a Tom Clancy thriller or Star Trek script. Developed by New York-based Weidlinger Associates with U.S. Navy Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) funding, the technology involves the carving up and altering of aluminum to give it “elastic properties” — a form of what the company calls “metal water,” according to Jeffrey Cipolla, a Weidlinger senior associate.
A new report attempting to cut through the persistent vagueness and wide variation in U.S. nuclear weapons spending estimates has arrived at a figure of at least $30 billion spent annually. The study, “Resolving Ambiguity: Costing Nuclear Weapons,” was released June 5 by the Stimson Center’s Budgeting for Foreign Affairs and Defense project. Russell Rumbaugh says he and co-author Nathan Cohn hope the report’s methodology and data granularity can set a starting point for budget and policy discussions about U.S. nuclear weapons spending.
