U.S. Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus and Chilean Undersecretary of Defense Marcos Robledo agreed earlier this month to continue, through their respective navies, discussions on research, development and use of advanced drop-in alternative fuels to power surface ships and aircraft.
HOUSTON — NASA’s unpiloted first test flight of the Orion crew capsule promises to turn a page for the control of human space flight, with upgrades and changes to the agency’s mission control center that build on lessons learned from Apollo through the space shuttle era. The agency has slated Dec. 4 for the launch of Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, an uncrewed 6 1/2 hour flight with a Pacific Ocean splashdown off the California coast.
Proving affordability is the biggest challenge facing Bell Helicopter and a Sikorsky/Boeing team as they build and fly advanced rotorcraft demonstrators aimed at the U.S. Army’s requirement to replace its Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters from the mid-2030s. The two teams have been chosen to fly high-speed rotorcraft in 2017 under the Joint Multi Role (JMR) technology demonstration, a precursor to the planned Future Vertical Lift Medium (FVL-M) program to replace the UH-60.
GALILEO LAUNCH: Europe’s first two Galileo full operational capability (FOC) navigation system satellites launched Aug. 22 on a European variant of Russia’s Soyuz from the European spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. Dubbed “Doresa” and “Milena,” after the young winners of a European Commission painting competition in 2011, the spacecraft are the first in a series of 22 Galileo FOC satellites to be launched on both Soyuz and European Ariane 5 rockets managed by commercial launch consortium Arianespace over the next three years.
Given North Korea’s interest in developing missile capability, regional missile defense is a critical component of the U.S. alliance with the Republic of Korea, Deputy Defense Secretary, Robert Work, says. “North Korea’s always had an awful lot of artillery,” Work noted Aug. 21 during a press briefing at Osan Air Force Base in the Republic of Korea. “And this artillery ranges Seoul, which is one of the greatest cities in the world.”
As U.S. Navy officials make their rounds before Congress these days, three things are clear: they want to maintain U.S. Marine Corps amphibious operations; they think there will be a gap in needed amphibious-ship construction; and they’re not sure how to ride that trough in the current economic climate.
The U.S. Navy is on course to add a series of “small surface combatants and reconfigurable support ships” to the fleet in the coming years that combines the capabilities of Littoral Combat Ships, Joint High Speed Vessels and Mobile Landing Platform Afloat Forward Staging Bases (MLP/AFSB).
Over the last four years, the Pentagon transferred at least $2.2 billion in military gear to state and local governments, including the exchange of at least $10.5 million in observation and utility helicopters between 2011 and 2013, according to documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by Muckrock.com. The transfers are facilitated by a program run by the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), known as 1033, which has been in place since 1997.
In his recent “Navigation Plan” for the U.S. Navy, Adm. Jonathan Greenert outlines his funding priorities, including the need to “sustain a credible, survivable, and modern sea-based strategic deterrent.” The service’s budget plans through 2019 “support today’s force of 14 Ohio-class SSBNs, the Trident D5 ballistic missile and support systems, and associated Nuclear Command, Control, and Communications,” Greenert writes.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. ( Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) aug. 25 — 4th International Technical Specialists’ Meeting on Vertical Lift Aircraft RDT&E Patuxent River, Maryland. For more information go to www.vtol.org/pax aug. 26-29 — 2014 Pacific Operational Science and Technology Conference, Hilton Hawaiian Village, HOnolulu, Hawaii. For more information go to www.ndia.org/meetings/4540/Pages/default.aspx
