Mention superconductivity in the context of aircraft propulsion and the skeptics come out in force. But NASA is convinced this technology—still exotic to aerospace—can reduce the fuel consumption and noise of future aircraft. The agency believes turboelectric distributed propulsion (TeDP)—gas turbines generating electricity to power many small fans embedded in the airframe—can meet its aggressive goals for a 2035-timeframe airliner, slashing fuel burn 60% from today's Boeing 737s and 777s.
Amy Butler (Stratford, Conn.), Graham Warwick (Fort Eustis, Va.)
Although it has yet to field a fly-by-wire (FBW) helicopter, the capabilities enabled by advanced digital flight controls are central to the U.S. Army's rotorcraft plans. Improved safety, maneuverability, survivability and durability as well as an optionally piloted capability are key advantages, but the Army has yet to determine whether it can bring those into its existing helicopters or must wait for an all-new aircraft.
Defense companies will not get rich from Latin America's military procurements. But at a time of severe budget pressures in many markets, the small opportunities in this part of the world still draw ample interest. The fact that many of these nations lack cash—Colombia, Chile and Brazil are among the few where the military spending outlook appears attractive to outsiders—is no deterrent. Instead, defense exporters are looking at what lower-cost offerings they can ply here.
Italy's Finmeccanica will establish a defense unit in 2013 set to combine all of its U.S. operations, including aeronautics, helicopters and defense electronics and U.S. subsidiaries. The new enterprise will be led by former U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn. The move, unveiled last week by CEO Giuseppe Orsi, is part of several significant changes to the beleaguered giant's strategy, structure and businesses. The changes are necessary, Orsi says, to return Finmeccanica to profit as soon as this year.
It is not quite cloaks and daggers and poison pills, but Italy is taking measures to make sure its flagship aerospace and defense companies stay Italian as European neighbors size up the struggling country. To stave off intervention by the European Union, Italy is rolling out new rules governing attempts to acquire stakes in its strategic companies. The rules will affect the proposed sale of shares in propulsion company Avio, as well as any future attempts to gain control of defense giant Finmeccanica.
Adm. Sir Raymond Lygo, the former chief executive of British Aerospace (now BAE Systems), died March 7. He was 87. The location and cause of death were not available. After retiring in 1978 from a 36-year career in the Royal Navy as a fighter pilot and ship commander, Lygo joined British Aerospace as managing director of its guided-missile manufacturing division. In 1983, he was recognized by Aviation Week & Space Technology for his efforts to promote private enterprise in the defense industry.
After more than a decade of study, the Pentagon is finally moving forward with the development of a new, stealthy, long-range bomber. But the catch is a self-imposed cost goal of $550 million per aircraft, which senior Air Force leaders say they recognize as being hard and fast. Given a lackluster record of cost performance for recent Pentagon procurement programs, is it possible that a department so large and so used to spending so much money can rein in its appetite for something as critical—and potentially cutting-edge—as a new bomber?
As the U.S. Army continues to simultaneously recapitalize its helicopter fleet and support the war in Afghanistan, talks with suppliers to purchase more workhorse Black Hawk and Chinook helicopters are dominated by a pressure to reduce their price. The Army, which has been hit hard by budget cuts, is thinning the number of soldiers in its ranks and associated ground equipment. Its aviation portfolio, however, is being increased, although at a slower pace than originally planned owing to financial pressure.
When international customers first signed up for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, they brought a love-at-first sight attitude to the table. But now that actual purchase decisions have to be made, a far more sober attitude prevails as a result of program delays, increased costs and budget realities. Anxiety still exists in many quarters but, one-by-one, the U.S. and Lockheed Martin are persuading partners to take the next big financial step and make purchase decisions, with the total foreign commitments now topping 100 fighters.
It is too early to tell if it just another case of engineering exuberance associated with hypersonics or something more substantive, but there is a palpable sense among French developers that high-speed missile and air vehicle concepts are ready for the development stage.
Getting Helicopter Development Right For The U.S. Army Getting Helicopter Development Right For The U.S. Army Getting Helicopter Development Right For The U.S. Army
Reviewed By Angus Batey 21ST CENTURY CYBERWARFARE BY WILLIAM T. HAGESTAD, 2nd IT Governance Publishing, 2012 348 pp., $119 In recent months, Bill Hagestad has become a familiar yet discomfiting figure on the cyberdefense conference circuit.
Over the next several years, more than a few big-ticket items in the Army's annual budget will reach major milestones—transitioning from new-build production to long-term sustainment accounts. Overall, 37 Army systems will make that switch, moving Army dollars away from the production line to the often more complicated—and very expensive—world of spare parts, upgrades and reset contracts.
The U.S. Navy plans carrier launch and recovery tests for its two X-47B unmanned combat air vehicles (UCAV) next year—but guiding UCAV on deck is a challenge. Work at MIT with gesture-recognition software could eventually enable personnel to direct UCAV via hand and body gestures as they do with manned aircraft. Doctoral candidate Yale Song is fine-tuning software he helped develop that recognizes gestures now in use by deck crews. Song uses a stereo camera to record body movements.
As missions expand for self-propelled unmanned underwater vehicles (UUV), efforts intensify to find routes that shorten travel, minimize energy use and increase data acquisition. Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers led by Prof. Pierre Lermusiaux developed an algorithm that plots optimal paths for swarms of UUVs. Previous efforts by other researchers were imprecise and did not fully integrate the complexity of ocean environments or the challenge of directing multiple vehicles in changing seas.
Tank: Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament Location: U.K. Profile: Dedicated to the end of U.K.'s independent deterrent Apart from beer, one area where the U.K. outclasses the U.S. is in antinuclear-weapon activists. The U.S. has mostly gray-ponytailed, Chomsky-spouting relics, while the U.K. Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and activists are a fount of useful data on British nuclear weapon programs, and, by association, U.S. developments.
By the end of this month, the U.K. may have performed one of the biggest flip-flops in the history of defense acquisition. In early March, London media were almost unanimous in reporting that the British government would reverse its October 2010 decision to dump the short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing (Stovl) F-35B variant of the Joint Strike Fighter in favor of the catapult-takeoff-but-arrested-landing (Catobar) F-35C. The volte-face was then predicted before Easter, but now no word is expected until after the holiday recess.
Passing time in London's Wallace Collection, the editor-in-chief saw these curious 17th century left-hand daggers (either side of the crossbow). Called “sword-breakers” the idea is to trap, twist and snap the opponent's weapon. The adage “if you're not cheating, you're not trying hard enough” apparently pre-dates air combat.
Elbit Systems' Large Area Display (formerly Cockpit NG) received an important endorsement last month when Boeing chose it to provide the advanced avionics systems for its fighter aircraft, including upgraded versions of the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and F-15SE Silent Eagle. The system integrates tactical data, mission planning and flight information into an 11x19-in. complete situational picture responding to specific mission phases and pilot controls.
It has been decades since the U.S. Army had the chance to define a clean-sheet rotorcraft. But an opportunity is approaching as the service heads toward the multi-year demonstration of configurations and technologies for next-generation utility/attack rotorcraft that could replace today's Sikorsky UH-60s and Boeing AH-64s, beginning around 2030.
India expects to induct its first Scorpene submarine beginning in 2015, three years behind the original schedule. All six submarines will be in service by 2018 at a revised cost of $4.7 billion, Defense Minister A.K. Antony told Indian parliamentarians last month. First delivery was expected in December 2012, with subsequent subs a year apart, Antony said. The six are being built at Mazagon Dock (MDL) under technology- transfer agreements with France's DCNS.
