LONDON — HMS Daring, one of the U.K. Royal Navy’s six new Type 45 air defense destroyers, tracked a ballistic missile in the Pacific during trials with the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA). Limited information about the trials has been released following the return of the ship into its homeport at Portsmouth, U.K. after a nine-month long cruise on Feb. 28.
MIDDLETOWN, Del. — Boeing is hoping a unique blend of sensor integration, automated cueing and open-source software will strengthen its burgeoning tactical intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft business. The company has already demonstrated its Reconfigurable Airborne Multi-Intelligence System (Ramis) for a variety of customers, including Army acquisition secretary Heidi Shyu and foreign customers.
TSUKUBA, Japan — Testing of Japan’s LE-X rocket engine technology demonstration program should be complete this month, with enough information already gathered to confirm that the country can use the simple and reliable expander-bleed operation mode for its next space launcher.
Small tactical unmanned aircraft manufacturer Arcturus has introduced a vertical-takeoff-and-landing (VTOL) capability for its fixed-wing air vehicles, and reports strong international interest in the flexibility to operate independently of a launcher and runway or recovery system.
The first two-seat, solar-powered aircraft has entered flight testing, with its developers describing it as the first such design “that might be suited for production.” Developed by Solar Flight, the Sunseeker Duo is being tested at Voghera in Italy. Designer Eric Raymond previously built the single-seat Sunseeker I, which flew across the U.S. in 1990, and Sunseeker II, which made the first solar-powered crossing of the Alps in 2009.
Some of the expense of the additional DDG-51 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers the U.S. Navy plans to buy is being offset by programmatic changes and expected reductions in some of the systems for the vessels, a recent Pentagon selected acquisition report (SAR) says. Overall program costs are increasing by about 3.1%—or by around $2.8 billion—to roughly $94 billion from about $91.2 billion, the SAR says.
MOSCOW — Russia is preparing for the Farnborough International Airshow this summer at full strength, despite fears that the country’s appearance at this major event may be restricted if further escalation of tensions in Ukraine induces new sanctions against Russian companies or individuals. During a special meeting April 18, the industrial conglomerate Rostec gave a green light to Russian companies to participate in the air show, a spokesman for subsidiary Rosoboronexport, the Russian government arms trading agency, confirms.
LONDON — The European Defense Agency (EDA) is pushing ahead with plans for a joint European aerial refueling tanker force as it moves to reduce Europe’s reliance on the U.S. military. The agency – which is promoting the wider use of pooling and sharing of military aircraft such as tankers and transport aircraft – is expecting replies in mid-May from Airbus Defense and Space and Boeing to a request for information it issued in January on the A330 multi-role tanker-transport (MRTT) and the Boeing KC-46.
TSUKUBA, Japan — The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and prime contractor Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) are aiming at halving costs with the H-X medium space launcher, which is due to enter service in 2020.
SHANGHAI — Australia is expanding its fast-jet force, following a decision to go ahead with a full purchase of 58 additional Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightnings despite a commitment last year to add 12 Boeing EA-18G Growler electronic attack aircraft to the fleet. Canberra’s move, announced April 23, means that Lockheed Martin has escaped the danger of losing more F-35 orders from Australia, which has already trimmed its immediate requirement for the fighter.
LOS ANGELES — Boeing’s defense and space units are set for long-term slow growth despite U.S. budgetary pressures, a declining tactical fighter business, greater international competition and the coming closure of the C-17 production line.
Commercial demand, on the rise in most markets, is showing particular strength in China and the Americas, giving United Technologies Corp. (UTC) optimism for both its new equipment and aftermarket lines while helping to offset continuing military market challenges.
The FAA faces another legal challenge to its ban on civil use of unmanned aircraft, with a voluntary search-and-rescue (SAR) organization filing a lawsuit appealing against an agency order to stop using radio-controlled model aircraft in its searches. On Feb. 14, the FAA ordered the company flying missions for the Texas EquuSearch Mounted Search and Recovery Team to stop using the unmanned aircraft as it is “an illegal operation regardless if it is…doing volunteer SAR.”
Lockheed Martin’s chief executive remains bullish on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, despite another round of bruising headlines recently, because the company sees non-U.S. demand increasing and mitigating order cuts from the U.S. military.
LONDON — Fighter pilots have built experience with refueling from a range of tankers during an exercise in the Netherlands. The European Defense Agency (EDA) and European Air Transport Command (EATC)-run European Air-to-Air Refueling Training (EART14) program took place between March 31 and April 11 at Eindhoven air base, Netherlands, alongside a major NATO exercise, Frisian Flag.
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — The U.S. Navy and aircraft carrier builder Huntington Ingalls’ Newport News Shipbuilding are preparing Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (Emals) and redesigned Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG) equipment for critical tests of the Ford-class technology. While Emals already has gone through extensive ground-based testing in Lakehurst, N.J., the Navy and contracting team has to get it properly installed and tested on the carrier CVN-78 Gerald R. Ford.
NASA has developed an approach its senior technical managers say can land humans on Mars in 20 years, with only a “modest” increase in its budget. Administrator Charles Bolden told the annual Humans 2 Mars (H2M) conference April 22 that while NASA “will not get 4% of the federal budget,” as it did during the Cold War Moon race, “1% would be a gold mine.”
A potential U.S. sale of 18 standard-configuration Sikorsky UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters to the Mexican army is working its way up the approval system in Washington, officials said April 21. The State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale (FMS) to Mexico, worth roughly $680 million. The Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency delivered required congressional notification to lawmakers April 17.
