November 13-14, 2013 Arizona Biltmore Phoenix, AZ Featuring the 2013 Program Excellence Awards recognizing the best in program performance and leadership! Top aerospace and defense program leaders come together to evaluate program performance — where money is being spent and best practices in tackling efficiency and cost, strategy, and supply chain. Focus on the impact of sequestration - how programs are being affected and where government is likely to place its bets.
A team including Aurora Flight Sciences is proposing unmanned flights of the company’s Centaur optionally piloted aircraft (OPA) over the Alaskan tundra in 2014, following the completion of manned flights to measure greenhouse gas released from thawing permafrost. On Aug. 30, the company-operated aircraft completed a month-long campaign led by Harvard University and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Div.
Northrop Grumman has begun company-funded development of a Directed Infrared Countermeasures (Dircm) system for fast jets, anticipating a requirement to protect the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter from heat-seeking air-to-air and surface-to-air missiles. “We believe the requirement is there, and coming quickly, and that the first opportunity will be on the F-35,” says Jeff Palombo, senior vice president and general manager of Northrop’s land and self-protection systems division.
While U.S. interest and investment in nanotechnology continues to increase, questions still remain about how much the federal government needs to shepherd such development, according to the Congressional Research Service (CRS).
LONDON — MBDA and Lockheed Martin have conducted an exploratory test of a MBDA-built missile from a Lockheed Martin-made vertical launcher. The trial, conducted in Bedford, U.K., on Sept. 10, tested the ability to eject MBDA’s Common Anti-air Modular Missile (CAMM) — also known as Sea Ceptor — from Lockheed Martin’s Mk. 41 Vertical Launching System (VLS) and the Extensible Launching System (ExLS). The test used MBDA’s soft vertical launch technology to eject the CAMM from its canister and position the missile for main motor ignition.
U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment Team (Ledet) 101 recently embarked with sailors on the Oliver Hazard Perry-class guided-missile frigate FFG-51 USS Gary for training and anti-drug smuggling operations off the California coast.
SAN DIEGO — SpaceX says unspecified issues prevented the planned static firing of its first upgraded Falcon 9 v1.1 at Vandenberg AFB, Calif., on Sept. 11, delaying the launch by several days.
HELO SAFETY: The Transport Committee of the U.K. Parliament has announced it will hold an inquiry into helicopter safety following the crash of a Super Puma into the North Sea on Aug. 23 that killed four oil workers. Committee chair Louise Ellman said: “We have heard worrying evidence that the workforce has lost confidence in the helicopters, which they have no choice but to use.
NEW DELHI — India on Sept. 11 unveiled its Mars Orbiter, which is due to launch later this year to search the red planet’s atmosphere for methane, considered a “precursor chemical” for life. “The Mars orbiter is in the final stages of testing for launch between Oct. 21 and Nov. 19 on board a rocket with five scientific instruments to conduct various experiments after a nine-month voyage to the red planet,” says S.K. Shivkumar, Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) satellite center director.
Recent ship trials for the fourth Littoral Combat Ship (LCS-4), the Coronado, indicate major progress being made with the Independence-class LCS variants, U.S. Navy officials say. “Coronado’s acceptance trials showed significant improvement in the LCS shipbuilding process, when compared to the results of the USS Independence [LCS-2] acceptance trials,” says Rear Adm. Jim Murdoch, LCS program executive officer.
LONDON — Thales U.K. says it is hopeful that its Watchkeeper UAV system will be certified by the end of the year. The process of certification by the U.K. Military Aviation Authority has slowed the UAV’s entry into service with the British army. The aircraft should have been operational some three years ago, but the complexity of certifying what is the first UAV to be certified by the MAA has affected its introduction into service.
The Sept. 17 return to flight of Russia’s Proton rocket was postponed Sept. 11 for technical reasons associated with the Russian launch vehicle. Marketed by International Launch Services (ILS) of Reston, Va., the commercial mission was slated to loft The EADS-Astrium-built Astra 2E satellite for fleet operator SES of Luxembourg. “The launch date will be determined at a later time,” ILS said in a Sept. 12 statement.
While the need for submarines and related forces is on the rise, U.S. Navy officials say they are facing a shortfall of such forces that needs to be addressed now by Congress. “As the threat grows from advances in sensors and weapons such as cruise missiles, anti-ship ballistic missiles and integrated air defense systems, more pressure will be placed on undersea forces,” Undersea Warfare Director Rear Adm. Richard Breckenridge said Sept. 12 in spoken and written testimony during a House Armed Services Committee seapower subcommittee hearing.
November 13-14, 2013 Arizona Biltmore Phoenix, AZ Featuring the 2013 Program Excellence Awards recognizing the best in program performance and leadership! Top aerospace and defense program leaders come together to evaluate program performance — where money is being spent and best practices in tackling efficiency and cost, strategy, and supply chain.
NEW DELHI — India’s longest-range, nuclear-weapons-capable Agni-V ballistic missile is scheduled to be tested for a second time on Sept. 15. The missile, designed to hit targets at distances of up to 5,000 km (3,100 mi.), will be test-fired from Wheeler Island off the eastern coast of Odisha. Agni-V was first test-fired in April 2012, with the guidance systems — one of the most critical elements in determining the efficiency of a missile — working as expected.
A top executive at Saab sought to deflect speculation Sept. 12 that its Gripen fighter would be offered for the U.S. Air Force’s T-X future trainer requirement.
LONDON — Following in the footsteps of their land-based brethren, U.K. maritime force planners are mulling how to apply architectures to ship design and construction. The U.K. has a new standard for all land vehicle purchases stipulating that new vehicles must seamlessly integrate subsystems that troops control from a standardized flat-screen crew station. The now-mandatory Generic Vehicle Architecture has cut costs, boosted innovation from smaller companies and helped land forces respond more quickly to shifting threats.
LONDON — The head of the U.K. Royal Air Force says a requirement for a new maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) could re-emerge. Air Chief Marshal Sir Andrew Pulford, who took over the post as Chief of the Air Staff in July, told delegates at the Defense Services Equipment International (DSEI) exhibition on Sept. 11 that the air force had to “tidy up one or two loose ends that we left out of the last SDSR [Strategic Defense and Security Review] in terms of where we wish to go as a nation, with the likes of our maritime patrol capability.”
LONDON — Nexter introduced an all-new armored personnel carrier called Titus (Tactical Infantry Transport and Utility System) at the Defense & Security Equipment International show Sept. 11 in London. Aimed at the export market, Titus is designed as a compact, agile vehicle using commercial off-the-shelf components to reduce acquisition and operating costs.
THIRD SITE: The U.S. Missile Defense Agency issued its shortlist for a potential third missile defense site in the U.S. The sites are Camp Ravenna Joint Military Training Center in Ohio, Camp Ethan Allen Training Site in Vermont, the Navy Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape training site in Portsmouth, Maine, Fort Custer Combined Training Center in Michigan and the Army’s Fort Drum in New York. While politicians in New York and Maine have openly sought to host the Ground-based Midcourse Defense System, Vermont Sen.
