The U.S. Air Force is balancing between losing capability and meeting an urgent request to equip Air National Guard Lockheed Martin F-16s assigned to homeland defense with active electronically scanned array radars to detect small radar cross-section targets, such as cruise missiles.
A consortium of oil and gas companies have committed £60 million ($88 million) to providing a search and rescue helicopter capability for the oil and gas platforms in the North Sea.
THALES and BAE SYSTEMS have Maritime Mine Counter Measures (MMCM) drone system contract from French and U.K. defense ministries. Contract covers development of two prototype systems (surface and underwater) by 2019. U.K. ROYAL NAVY conducted sea trials with Merlin Mk. 3 helicopters aboard Royal Fleet Auxiliary Lyme Bay, operating from Cornwall Base. AUSTRALIA provided initial approval for replacement air search radar for Anzac frigates, being developed by CEA TECHNOLOGIES of Canberra.
FIGHTER RADAR: The U.S. Navy has awarded Raytheon Co. a $16.3 million firm-fixed-price delivery order against a previously issued basic ordering agreement for the procurement of six AN/APG-79 Active Electronically Scanned Array radar systems in support of the F/A-18 E/F aircraft, the service has announced. The work will be performed in Forest, Mississippi; Andover, Massachusetts; and El Segundo, California; and is expected to be completed in March 2017. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.
Honda Aircraft has received a provisional type certificate from the FAA for its HondaJet, which represents a milestone in the program and for the company.
U S. astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko rocketed into Earth orbit on March 27, initiating the first “yearlong” mission to the International Space Station, where they will serve as subjects in a range of medical experiments intended to nurture plans for future human deep space exploration.
U.S. Air Force officials are confident the unique approach they have taken leading up to a request for proposals for a forthcoming competition to replace the T-38 advanced pilot trainer has sparked enough competition to drive cost for the system down, a brigadier general says.
While the U.S. Navy is hoping for more positive tests with the redesigned Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG) being placed aboard CVN 78 Gerald R. Ford-class carriers, the service also needs to see more reliability from the equipment.
It may be time to review the command structure of the U.S. military as constructed under Goldwater-Nichols legislation during the Reagan Administration, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz) says.
The Chinese DH-10 and recently unveiled Iranian Soumar cruise missiles have many similarities since both have common origins – Iran and China obtained a number of disarmed Russian KH-55 air-launched cruise missiles (ALCM) from Ukraine in the early 2000s.
Looking to deploy for the first time since 2004, the amphibious assault ship LHD 1 USS Wasp successfully completed its recent combat systems ship qualification trial (CSSQT).
The U.S. General Accountability Office has followed an encouraging 2015 assessment of NASA’s stewardship of major spacecraft development efforts with some frank warnings about the future.
The U.S. is fully justified in its decision to rebalance its interests and military forces back to the Asia-Pacific region, Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) says. But the country has failed to follow through with those plans.
There will likely be two next-generation fighter X-plane prototypes, one for the U.S. Air Force and one for the Navy, under the Pentagon’s Aerospace Innovation Initiative (AII), a senior Darpa official says.
Recent claimed and demonstrated advancements in nuclear weapon and delivery technology by certain nations has the attention of the U.S. Strategic Command, says Adm. Cecil Haney, its commander.
Adding flexibility and resilience to maritime systems is an area of focus for Darpa, says Deputy Director Steve Walker. He cites the Upwards Falling Payloads (UFP) program to develop a globally distributed undersea payload-dispensing architecture on the deep ocean floor.
