Leading senators on defense matters are divided over the issue of whether to provide weapons to those fighting against the government of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) argue that it is time for the U.S. to lead other nations in aiding the fight against the Syrian government, including providing weapons and financing to the Syrian people.
The U.S. Navy recently awarded Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Newport News Shipbuilding division a $383 million contract option to continue planning work for the refueling complex overhaul (RCOH) of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, underscoring the Defense Department’s carrier investment plan. If all contract options are exercised, the cost-plus-fixed-fee, level-of-effort for CVN-72 could reach $678 million.
FORT LAUDERDALE – Spend a little time around Army acquisition staffers these days and you’ll hear the term repeated again and again: the Agile Process. Unlike some of its more obtuse cousins, however, this latest bit of Pentagonese is actually pretty easy to wrap your head around. Once the Army identifies a capability gap that it decides it needs filled, it kicks off the acquisition process by first sitting down with industry to determine what mature capabilities they already have that might fit the bill.
LONDON – Ultra Electronics is continuing its search for acquisition opportunities as the defense and aerospace supplier looks to tap growth areas in the declining U.S. and U.K. defense markets. The focus on high-end, niche capabilities is largely behind the company’s ability to deliver organic revenue growth of 2% – overall revenue was up 3% to £731.7 million ($1.16 billion).
Singapore – Thailand’s air force is seeking to buy search-and-rescue helicopters to replace its aging Bell UH-1s. The air force is expected to issue a request for proposals (RFP) next week, initially for four helicopters, says a report in The Bangkok Post. The service eventually plans to order a total of 16.
A new open avionics standard developed by a government-industry consortium has been boosted by U.S. Army plans to develop open architectures for aircraft survivability systems and future vertical-lift aircraft. The Army Aviation and Missile Research Development and Engineering Center (AMRDEC) has released a request for information to develop a prototype avionics platform based on the Future Airborne Capabilities Environment (FACE) standard published in January.
New Delhi – India’s defense research agency on Feb. 23 announced plans to develop electronic warfare technologies to help paramilitary and police forces across the country. G. Elangovan, the Chief Controller Research and Development (Avionics) at the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO), says a department for Low Intensity Conflict (LIC) was introduced for internal security due to rising incidents of violence in India.
Washington is doing everything it possibly can to prevent Israel from attacking Iran on its own, says a former U.S. Air Force chief of staff. “We’re trying to force Israel to think about the consequences of war in the Middle East,” the veteran combat pilot says. However, if the mission were done by the U.S., the blowback on Israel and Arab partner nations would be far less.
Tokyo – Japan is moving into a large-scale upgrade program that appears to be enormously enhancing the air-to-air capabilities of the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries F-2 fighter with an improved radar and advanced medium-range missile. The work is going ahead in two parallel areas: integration of the Mitsubishi Electric AAM-4B missile and an upgrade of the company’s J/APG-1 radar to the J/APG-2 standard.
Paris – The French air force will upgrade the intelligence-gathering capability of the Mirage 2000D through a program with Thales to modify the Astac tactical electronic intelligence pod for use on the fighter, enabling some of the combat aircraft to take on the role now assigned to the Mirage F1CR.
Singapore – Malaysia has too few military aircraft, but there is another problem that poses an even greater threat to the country’s defense capability – a dearth of military pilots.
New Delhi – An Indian air force Mirage 2000 combat jet crashed in central India on Feb. 24. Both pilots ejected safely. Engine failure is suspected to be the cause of the crash, an IAF officer said. The crew was on a routine flight-training sortie. India last year signed a $2.4 billion deal with Dassault Aviation to upgrade 51 Mirage 2000s in the IAF fleet. The first set of aircraft are already in France for the project. The IAF has ordered an inquiry into the accident.
MUOS-1 LAUNCH: A United Launch Alliance Atlas V lifted off from Cape Canaveral on Feb. 24, carrying the U.S. Navy’s first Mobile User Objective System (MUOS-1), an ultra-high frequency communications satellite based on the Lockheed Martin A2100 spacecraft bus. The initial phases of the 3-hr. mission to get the big satellite into its geostationary transfer orbit went nominally.
The deadline of Sept. 30, 2015, for integration of unmanned aircraft systems into U.S. civil airspace, set in the new FAA reauthorization bill, is expected to be met using ground-based sense-and-avoid (GBSAA), a Pentagon official says. Using ground radars, GBSAA will allow “routine access” to airspace for unmanned aircraft transiting between their bases and restricted areas used for training, says Steven Pennington, U.S. Air Force director of bases, ranges and airspace.
Ever since Charlie Taylor hand-built the first four-cylinder piston engine for the Wright Flyer in 1903, most of the step-change advances in aviation propulsion have been driven by military-led research and requirements.
The budgets for at least three air-launched, directed-energy weapons are being fully protected by the U.S. Air Force in fiscal 2013 budget plans, says a senior Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) official. Plans for U.S. Army anti-electronics weapons are less developed, but basic research in associated disciplines continues.
With a pared-down fiscal 2013 budget request on Capitol Hill and delays in the massive Joint Strike Fighter program, the U.S. Air Force is having to abandon a decade's worth of modernization plans for its workhorse airlifter and fighter fleets. Instead of buying hundreds of new F-35s early this decade and retiring F-16s and A-10s, the service is trying to avoid a possible gap. And, rather than embracing an ambitious, decade-long $6.4 billion upgrade for its C-130 fleet, the service is taking an appetite suppressant.
The U.S. Air Force, in its ongoing battle with cybertheft, is concerned about industries that are victimized by digital attack, but it is unwilling to subsidize those losses by allowing those costs to be added to its weapons programs.
