The Buk-M1 (SA-11 Gadfly to NATO) can be used by minimally trained operators to deliver a lethal attack, without the safeguards built into other comparable ground-based air defense systems.
ABOARD THE HNOMS FRIDTJOF NANSEN and USS INDEPENDENCE — The Norwegian frigate HNOMS Fridtjof Nansen has proved that Norway’s Naval Strike Missile can operate in warm weather as well as it does in the cold, says Cmdr. Per Rostad, the ship’s commanding officer. That is good news for the U.S. Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) community. The Kongsberg-built Strike Missile is now the leading candidate for the ship’s surface warfare package, says Cmdr. Joseph Gagliano, commanding officer of LCS 2 USS Independence.
ABOARD THE HNOMS FRIDTJOF NANSEN — By name, the Norwegian ship HNOMS Fridtjof Nansen is a frigate. But with its Aegis combat system, weaponry and size, the vessel is much more powerful and capable than what the U.S. Navy would put in that category. “This is really a destroyer,” says Cmdr. Per Rostad, the ship’s commanding officer. And yet, it’s a destroyer with a crew of only 120, compared to the listed U.S. Navy DDG 51-class Arleigh Burke destroyer crew size of 276.
Italian business aircraft manufacturer Piaggio Aero has furthered the flight test regime of its medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle derivative of the P.180 Avanti.
FARNBOROUGH — Investment by GE Aviation in next-generation military engines will increase by 50% next year even as military budgets decline in the U.S. and around the world. The goal: to develop a sixth-generation fighter engine for the U.S. Air Force and Navy, and an advanced engine for helicopters. They will all incorporate ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) in the hot section, and 3-D printing (additive manufacturing) for difficult-to-make parts.
Wall Street is playing second fiddle in finding innovative “new space” ventures, as startup space companies draw investors along with technology from California’s Silicon Valley. Representatives of three new companies making money (or at least positioning themselves to do so) told a July 17 Washington, D.C., symposium sponsored by the Future Space Leaders Foundation that once they have something to pitch, the best place to start looking for venture capital is on Menlo Park’s Sand Hill Road, the Silicon Valley version of New York’s financial center.
POINT OF ORIGIN: Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby says signs indicate that Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down by a surface-to-air missile system that may have been a Russian-made SA-11. The Boeing 777-200ER was shot down July 17 over the disputed eastern border of the Ukraine with Russia, where Russian separatists are fighting the Ukrainian military. All 283 passengers and 15 crew were killed. “It was hit by a surface-to-air missile at an altitude of about 33,000 feet,” Kirby says.
