“Fitted for but not with” is not a popular phrase with sailors. The idea of building a warship with only space and power reserves for important systems is attractive to budget managers, but it can leave navies facing sudden wars with weak and vulnerable ships. Yet when such ships' reserves are put to good use, the result can be a remarkable transformation. Australia's eight Anzac-class frigates are becoming a model example of that, as Canberra moves ahead with the next stage of their upgrade program.
At one level, the end of 2011 brought good news for Lockheed Martin's Joint Strike Fighter program, which for the first time was performing test flights and delivering aircraft on schedule—albeit a new schedule that was announced at the beginning of the year. Japan also selected the JSF as its next fighter aircraft, planning a long-term program of co-production and changing its policies to allow Japanese-made parts to be exported.
Two stories that broke in the last few weeks of 2011 flag what is likely to become an ever-more dominant concern for militaries and defense contractors in the years ahead: the security, or vulnerability, of mobile communications. The two developments underline the challenges that have yet to be overcome as the defense establishment seeks to reap the technological and economic advantages of using cheap, proven, off-the-shelf communications technology. The first item did not, at first, appear to have much to do with defense.
Countries are addressing budget shortfalls by slashing defense expenditures, the U.K. among them. Cutbacks will not affect all programs —sectors vital to countering evolving threats or achieving battlespace dominance will continue to receive funding, such as unmanned aerial systems (UAS). The Defense Ministry in late December awarded a four-year, £40 million ($62 million) research contract to BAE Systems for the Future Combat Air System. The results will “sustain and develop . . .
Over in China and Russia I'm sure that engineers at both Chengdu and Sukhoi will be raising their glasses in the New Year to the F-22 and the F-35 as doing more damage to the U.S. fighter world than all their fighter aircraft combined! —RSF in a comment about the F-35 on the Ares blog. Phabulous! I said it last time, but an F-4F-ICE full of Amraams and IRIS-Ts getting herded around by savvy Luftwaffe crew is very much a modern phormidable threat. —Frink-L in a comment about Phantoms
Portable radar that sees through walls is a growing area of development. A recent entrant is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory, which developed an ultra-wideband (UWB), multiple input/multiple output phased-array sensor with real-time acquisition and processing capabilities and video-like synthetic aperture radar imaging. The device is 8.5 ft. wide and 2 ft. high. When mounted on a mobile platform, it is 5 ft. tall. Importantly, the radar reduces through-wall data collection time to less than 100 millisec., an extremely fast rate.
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Air Force-run tests in New Mexico for the National Space-Based Positioning, Navigation and Timing Executive Committee were flawed, according to LightSquared. (GPS IIF image: Boeing)
AIR FORCE Raytheon Co., Missile Systems, Tucson, Ariz., is being awarded a $17,424,398 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to provide test integration of software to enhance the system performance of the AIM 120D missile. The location of the performance is Tucson. The work is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, 2013. AAC/EBAK, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity (FA8675-090C-0201 P00013).
LONDON — The Australian government is assessing how U.S. plans to reduce near-term F-35 purchases and mothball the C-27J Joint Cargo Aircraft may impact its own procurement plans. Following last week’s Pentagon announcement that the pace of F-35 purchases was under scrutiny, Australian Defense Minister Stephen Smith says, “We will now give consideration to whether the timetable for the purchase of those 12 Joint Strike Fighters should occur on the same timetable.”
The U.S. Navy’s only major satellite program, which is designed to provide unprecedented Ultra-High Frequency satellite communications to military personnel around the globe, has so far slipped through the round of fiscal 2013 budget cuts unscathed despite some development shortcomings. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced Jan 26 that he was terminating the Air Force’s Defense Weather Satellite System because it was “premature to need.”
The U.S. Navy has already altered its Freedom Class Littoral Combat Ship, LCS-1, to address problems uncovered in testing, but the ship still needs to be fundamentally redesigned, say leading defense analysts. They base their conclusions on briefings from the Aviation Week Intelligence Network (AWIN) revealing findings of Navy and industry reports detailing the vessel’s hull and deckhouse cracking and engine problems. AWIN was given exclusive access to the documents.
LONDON — The Hungarian government has extended its lease of Gripen fighters until at least 2026. The move comes as the Czech Republic, another Gripen user, considers its course of action, with air force officials suggesting they, too, would like to remain committed to Saab’s single-engine fighter. Prague is due to make a decision this year on how to sustain its fighter capacity after 2015.
U.S. Navy and Lockheed Martin officials contest the findings of service and contractor reports from last year indicating that the cracking and engine problems on the Freedom-class Littoral Combat Ship (LCS-1) were far worse than the program initially acknowledged, and say those issues have been fixed. The Aviation Week Intelligence Network (AWIN) was granted exclusive access to the reports, which service officials say they do not know about and could be outdated.
TOTAL CONTROL: Shortly after joining forces in defense electronics, Thales and Safran have moved to ensure their joint venture has full control of infrared detector maker Sofradir. The two French aerospace and defense companies have acquired Areva’s 20% stake in Sofradir for an undisclosed amount. The two buyers will each hold 50% in the company. Late last year, after prolonged discussion, Safran and Thales agreed to pool their electro-optical activities.
Over the next decade, the international market should produce about 5,500 main battle tanks worth more than $24 billion, according to a new analysis from the Forecast International Weapons Group.
PARIS — Eurocopter delivered the first operational NH90 Tactical Transport Helicopter (TTH) to the DGA French armaments agency on Jan. 30 for use by the French army air corps, the company announced. France has ordered 34 TTHs and is expected to exercise an option this year to purchase an additional 34 as the army gradually replaces its fleet of SA 330 Pumas.
Fifteen new Lockheed Martin F-35 fighters, some of which are participating in the flight testing so critical to moving the troubled Joint Strike Fighter program forward, have been grounded owing to improper loading of parachutes in their ejection seats.
