HONOLULU, Hawaii — The just-completed first Western Pacific deployment of the U.S. Navy’s first Littoral Combat Ship (LCS-1), the USS Freedom, is yielding a raft of lessons learned that will likely result in maintenance-related tweaks of the LCS concept of operations (conops), service officials say. “We’re probably going to increase flexibility of [the] maintenance cycle,” Capt. J.R. Garner, LCS Squadron One commodore, tells the Aviation Week Intelligence Network (AWIN), referring to such operations as the “single-point” Achilles Heel.
“All” sounding and research rockets remain controlled under the U.S. Munitions List (USML) category covering launch vehicles, ballistic and guided missiles, according to final export control reform rules announced Dec. 31.
The U.S. Marine Corps and Navy are looking to enhance their expeditionary abilities by combining the utility of Bell-Boeing V-22 Ospreys with the flexibility of new ships being built and deployed, says Maj. Gen. Robert Walsh, director of expeditionary warfare. The services are looking to use mobile landing platform (MLP) and afloat-forward-staging-base (AFSB) ships as launching pads for V-22s and other aircraft in forward areas in ways not utilized now, Walsh tells the Aviation Week Intelligence Network (AWIN).
SOCOM SPENDING: Acquisition spending by U.S. Special Operations Command (Socom) should remain steady over the next few years despite overarching federal budget pressures, according to consulting company Frost & Sullivan. The consultants see Socom focusing spending on training and ground mobility vehicles. Technology spending will focus on incremental size, weight and power (so-called swap) improvements.
NEW DELHI — Pakistan’s efforts to sell its indigenous JF-17 Thunder multi-role fighter aircraft are getting a boost with the government’s vow to push defense exports. The Pakistan government is said to have given a positive response to a proposed initiative by the Pakistan air force (PAF) to export the JF-17 to prospective buyer states. The JF-17 was developed as a joint venture between the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC), Kamra and Chengdu Aircraft Industry Corporation (CAC) of China, which refers to it as the FC-1 Xiaolong.
In observance of New Year’s Day, Aerospace Daily & Defense Report will not publish on Jan. 2. The next issue will be dated Jan. 3. Aviation Week Intelligence Network subscribers can visit www.aviationweek.com/awin for updates.
Following Boeing Commercial Airplane’s recent decision to open engineering design centers away from its traditional Seattle base, parent company Boeing has announced plans to restructure its entire Research & Technology organization by establishing research centers in Alabama, California, Missouri, South Carolina and Washington.
LONDON — Poland has chosen the Alenia Aermacchi M346 jet trainer to meet its requirement for a new generation lead-in fighter trainer (LIFT). The €280 million ($383 million) contract for eight aircraft also includes training, technical and logistics support. The company will also provide simulators and other training devices and options for a further four aircraft. The contract is scheduled to be signed in early 2014. Some 48 M346s aircraft have now been ordered, by the Italian, Singaporean and Israeli governments.
Studies of “Super Earth” and slightly larger Neptune-class exoplanets using the Hubble Space Telescope are providing the first atmospheric characterizations of planet classes considered among the most common in the Milky Way as a whole. Those glimpses show evidence of clouds but little to describe their composition. Super Earths are characterized as having more mass than the Earth but less than Neptune.
HONOLULU, HAWAII — There likely will be more joint training exercises that combine U.S. Army helicopters and other air assets aboard Navy ships, and the two services are certain to be combing such platforms for future operations and missions, says Capt. John Banigan, the commanding officer of the guided-missile cruiser CG-70 USS Lake Erie.
SCIENCE PUSH: With a congressional budget framework in hand, considering passage last month of the so-called Ryan-Murray deal in Congress, advocates for federal spending on science endeavors are ramping up calls for lawmakers to follow through with greater appropriations for Earth and space science programs. “Federal science spending has plummeted by 16% over the last three years (fiscal 2010-13), the largest decrease in decades,” said Christine McEntee, CEO of the American Geophysical Union.
All services can play a major role in counterinsurgency (COIN), according to the latest U.S. Defense Department manual on the topic. Cyberspace operations provide security within the environment and help to isolate insurgents within the affected area or separate them from external support secured through cyberspace,” says the joint manual, titled simply “Counterinsurgency.” It was released in late November and represents an update to the guide published in October 2009.
LONDON — Eurocopter is requesting operators of all EC135 twin-engine light helicopters to carry out checks on the type’s fuel supply tanks and fuel monitoring systems. The move follows the recent short-term grounding of the U.K.-based fleet of EC135s operated by Bond Air Services after a series of what have been described as “supply-tank fuel-gauging errors on some aircraft.”
HONOLULU, Hawaii — As the U.S. Navy deploys its Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) and develops mission module packages for the vessels, the relatively small coastal combatants are catching the fancy of the U.S. Marine Corps. “I’ve been talking to the Marines for some time,” Capt. J.R. Garner, LCS Squadron One commodore, tells the Aviation Week Intelligence Network (AWIN). “We’re looking at how to integrate. There are some areas we’re going to dive into together over the next several months.”
2014 NOW HERE! Stop Guesssing What the Future Holds With Aviation Week's Military Fleet & MRO Forecast This 10 year, year-over-year forecast provides an in-depth understanding of what's to come so you can locate new business opportunites. To schedule a personal demo, call 866.857.0148 or +1.515.237.3682 Click here to view the pdf
HONOLULU, HAWAII — The U.S. Navy is making strong headway with its Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) countermine (MCM) and surface warfare (SUW) mission module packages, and their development remains a priority for 2014, says Rear Adm. Brian Antonio, LCS program executive officer. Indeed, further MCM testing will dominate the LCS-2 USS Independence’s time, Antonio tells the Aviation Week Intelligence Network (AWIN). This will make the ship unavailable for the type of Western Pacific deployment that LCS-1 USS Freedom just completed.
NEW DELHI — India will soon buy an additional 262 Barak-I Israeli anti-aircraft missiles for its navy, now that the Indian government has closed a bribery investigation that held up the deal for years. In an apparent bid to counter the growing naval power of neighboring China, the Indian navy has been insisting the government clear the Barak missile purchase as its warships equipped with the Barak anti-missile defense systems were low on missiles.
HONOLULU, Hawaii — Having proven their worth for antisubmarine warfare (ASW) operations, the MH-60R, or Romeo, helicopters are also impressing Pacific-based crews with their ability to fly when needed. “We’ve had great reliability with these new helicopters,” says Cmdr. Brannon Bickel, executive officer of the Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM)-37, stationed at Kaneohe Bay. The Romeo shift is mirroring the official shift to the HSM setup from the Helicopter Antisubmarine Squadron Light (HSL).
ROLLS PROBED: The U.K. Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has begun an investigation into Rolls-Royce’s activities in foreign markets. The company announced last week that a “formal investigation” had been launched by the SFO relating to “bribery and corruption in overseas markets.” The move follows a Dec. 6, 2012, announcement when the aero-engine manufacturer revealed it had passed details of an internal review to the SFO about allegations of misconduct in Indonesia and China. Several reports in the U.K.
BEIJING — A Chinese military utility helicopter roughly equivalent to the Sikorsky H-60 made its first flight on Dec. 23, state media report. The helicopter, with the unconfirmed designation Z-20, is a 10-metric-ton (22,000 lb.) aircraft suitable for operation from high-altitude fields, China Central Television says. For almost three decades, China has relied on 24 UH-60 Black Hawks bought in the 1980s for such operations.
