While touting improved relations with China and calling for more of the same, U.S. Defense Department officials are also pushing for peaceful resolutions of regional territorial disputes — a hot-button topic for the Asian giant and its neighbors. The territorial issues are becoming even more sensitive for U.S. relations in the area as the Pentagon refocuses its forces into the region as part of its Asia-Pacific “pivot.”
Buoyed by more than $6.1 billion in 2013 block-buy contracts for destroyers from both Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) and General Dynamics Bath Iron Works, Pentagon destroyer and cruiser expenses have taken off over the past year as the U.S. Navy follows through on its plan to restart the DDG-51 Arleigh Burke destroyer line as well as repair and modernize both ship types.
BEIJING — The first of Australia’s two planned Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) assault ships is due to begin sea trials within a few weeks, as prime contractor BAE Systems prepares to take delivery of the hull of the second unit.
The U.S. is sending its most advanced amphibious transport dock ships as well as its newest mine countermeasure ships to Sasebo, Japan. The moves, U.S. Navy officials says, demonstrate the U.S. commitment to the defense of Japan and the security and stability of the vital Asia-Pacific as the Pentagon continues its rebalancing of forces to that region.
The U.S. Navy is releasing or acknowledging more details about the initial Western Pacific deployment of the first Littoral Combat Ship (LCS-1), the USS Freedom, saying that while the ship missed some planned commitments with a relatively low operational tempo (optempo), it still proved the LCS operational concepts. Aviation Week Intelligence Network (AWIN) recently gained access to Freedom deployment information that showed the ship’s optempo was less than 40%—meaning the ship was essentially available to the fleet a bit more than third of the time.
Canada’s Conservative government plans to continue promoting the nation’s space industry, focusing on the technology niches where it excels and looking for new ones, but with a shift toward more commercial partnerships in step with the U.S. shift in that direction.
PROGRESS DOCKED: Russia’s Progress 54 re-supply capsule carried out a successful docking with the six-person International Space Station late Feb. 5, following a liftoff earlier in the day atop a Soyuz carrier rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The automated rendezvous with the ISS Russian segment Pirs module unfolded as planned, leading to a link up at 5:22 p.m. EST, as anticipated. The space freighter lifted off at 11:23 a.m. EST, or in darkness at 10:23 p.m. local time, in subfreezing temperatures. After reaching a preliminary orbit 9 min.
Retire active-duty A-10s, U-2 spy aircraft and old F/A-18C/Ds. These are three actions that four Washington-based think tanks uniformly agree should be taken if the Pentagon is required to shrink its budget in the coming years as expected.
NEW DELHI — India expects to roll out the first prototype of the Multi-role Transport Aircraft (MTA) in 2017. The Indo-Russian joint venture to develop a new multi-role military transport, using specifications developed by both countries, was signed in October 2012 between Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) and United Aircraft Corporation’s Transport Aircraft division.
PARIS — After a disappointing showing in 2012, French arms exports grew to €6.3 billion ($8.5 billion) in 2013, a 30% increase compared with €4.8 billion the previous year. French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian attributes the jump in orders to eight major contracts valued at more than €200 million signed in 2013. During the previous year France signed just three such agreements, he said.
NEW DELHI — India’s much-awaited purchase of 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) for the Indian air force from French firm Dassault Aviation will be further delayed as negotiations to calculate the life-cycle cost haven’t been settled and there is no money for any new buys, Defense Minister A. K. Antony says. “The MMRCA will materialize, [but] it will not be in this financial year [ending March 31],” Antony says. “The negotiations on life-cycle costs are continuing. I hope we will be able to close it [during the] next financial year.”
Canada has revamped its much-criticized defense procurement system to distance the military from acquisition decisions and ensure new programs bring technology and economic growth and provide export opportunities for its industry. Recent defense procurements have been attacked for limiting competition and the potential for Canadian industry to benefit from the billions being spent. Unveiled on Feb. 5, the new strategy provides for wider government involvement in acquisition decisions.
Boeing is expanding the B-52’s smart weapons capacity by 50% under a $24.6 million agreement with the U.S. Air Force to modify six launchers to allow them to carry precision-guided munitions (PGMs) internally.
NEW DELHI — India’s state-run Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Textron Systems Corporation to develop an unattended ground sensor (UGS) system for Indian security agencies.
Carter Aviation Technologies is seeking FAA approval to demonstrate its slowed-rotor/compound (SR/C) prototype as it designs a sea-based, unmanned variant of the concept for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa). The SR/C is a combination of autogyro and compound helicopter, with a propeller for propulsion, rotor for vertical lift and wing for forward flight. The unpowered rotor is slowed in flight to reduce drag and allow higher speed than a conventional helicopter.
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The Obama administration’s State Department is in the process of deciding new policy on foreign sales of UAVs, and the outcome could provide a long-sought boost to U.S. industry, according to a recently departed official.
LONDON — More than two and a half years since its rollout, the U.K. defense ministry has finally lifted the veil on the test program for the Taranis unmanned combat air vehicle demonstrator. Little has been heard of the £185 million ($300 million) program since the project went black shortly after its unveiling. But now, with the first phase of trials completed with flights of up to an hour in duration, industry and defense officials say the aircraft, claimed to be the most advanced ever produced in the U.K., has surpassed all expectations.
The Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division (Nawcwd) is redesigning its forward-firing miniature munition missile – called Spike – to address more recent threats. The guided missile was conceived, designed, tested, procured and delivered by Nawcwd, which owns and controls the weapon’s design, using modern modular designs and commercial-off-the-shelf components through “non-Department of Defense” U.S. companies, Navy officials note.
