Raytheon is moving ahead to demonstrate more rapid and accurate close air support after finalizing a contract with the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) to continue the Precision Close Air Support (PCAS) program. PCAS has been modified to shift the emphasis from automating close air support by enabling ground forces to control the weapons on unmanned aircraft. Instead, the program has been focused on transitioning technology to manned CAS aircraft.
As the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS-1) USS Freedom works its way through deployment exercises in the Asia-Pacific, a recent U.S. Congressional Research Service (CRS) report underscores the still-precarious position of the LCS program, which Navy officials say has a promising future despite its troubled past. A Freedom visit, board, search and seizure (VBSS) team of sailors recently participated in a Southeast Asia Cooperation and Training (Seacat) 2013 exercise that included not only other U.S. ships and Brunei navy vessels, but a P-3C maritime patrol aircraft.
NEW DELHI — After a season of unusually acrimonious exchanges with India’s state-owned airframer Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) over delayed or redundant programs, the Indian air force (IAF) has for the first time sought permission from the government to directly support the creation of aerospace capacity in private industry, ostensibly as an alternative to HAL.
GAO APPROVES: Congressional auditors say the Pentagon’s decision to waive a requirement for competition of prototypes in the VXX presidential helicopter replacement program appears proper. The U.S. Government Accountability Office said in a Sept. 6 review that competitive prototyping would delay fielding an initial operational capability by 16 months and increase development costs by about $782 million to $3.38 billion (in 2011 dollars), depending on the type and number of prototypes, defense officials found. But life cycle cost benefits would amount to only $542 million.
The Office of Naval Research (ONR) is increasing its support of the Hawaii-based Energy Excelerator program that funds development of innovative energy technologies. The program, part of ONR’s Asia-Pacific Technology and Education Program (APTEP), is meant to support startup companies in bringing such technologies to the market, the Navy says.
The U.S. Navy is focusing on solving manpower and maintenance issues as it transitions its Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Force (MPRF) to the P-8A Poseidon aircraft from P-3C Orion and EP-3E Aries II aircraft.
The U.S. Navy is getting closer to testing and proving technology that will enable submarines to launch and recover a host of unmanned vehicles that swim or fly. One of the key systems for enabling unmanned undersea vehicles (UUVs) and UAVs is the Virginia Payload Module (VPM), a specially designed launch-and-recovery tube being developed not only for Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles (TLAM), but also configurable for many more platforms the Navy and special operations forces (SOF) have in mind for the future.
LONDON — BAE Systems is proposing air-to-air refueling as a new mission for its BAe 146/Avro RJ family of regional airliners. The company believes there is a potential market for a small, relatively inexpensive refueling aircraft either for use in the tactical mission or as a low-cost tanker trainer for countries with fleets of strategic tankers such as the Airbus A330 MRTT or the Boeing KC-135.
The U.S. Air Force’s 2014 spending plan for missile systems equipment is three times what planners were estimating just one budget year ago. The budget line, which procures equipment to supports missile systems such as the LGM-30 Minuteman, AIM-120 Amraam, AGM-86A Air Launched Cruise Missile (ALCM), and the AGM-88A HARM, has a combined 2014 request and 2015-2017 estimated funding of $304 million, up from the 2013 budget estimate of $98 million for the same period. (See charts pp. 7-8.)
LONDON — The U.K. government has advanced a plan to to encourage closer ties between government and the U.K. defense industry to boost international exports and competitiveness.
LONDON — A private initiative to supply a test, evaluation, demonstration and experimentation facility for beyond-line-of-sight (BLoS) unmanned air systems (UAS) operations in the U.K. took an important step forward with the formal launch of the National Aeronautical Center (NAC) Sept. 9.
BEIJING — Avicopter is testing a technology demonstrator for a vertical-takeoff-and-landing airplane with a central lift fan. The manufacturer, part of China’s state Avic group, exhibited the unmanned piston-engine aircraft at the China Helicopter Exposition in Tianjin this week.
NEW DELHI — India has issued a global request for information (RFI) to international airframers to supply structurally modified maritime aircraft for its coast guard. “The initial requirement is for six certified and modified aircraft,” says the RFI, issued by India’s Center for Airborne Systems (CABS). Phase II would feature an option for three more aircraft, plus a potential future requirement for another 10.
Aerospace & Defense Programs November 13-14, 2013 Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa, Phoenix, Ariz. Strategic Priorities in a Sequestration Era. Learn which programs are being affected and where government is likely to place its bets. Register Today www.aviationweek.com/events/adp
Planetary scientists are preparing for at least 100 days of intensive study in the Moon’s tenuous atmosphere, after a spectacular nighttime launch from Wallops Island, Va., on a solid-fuel Minotaur V rocket that was visible up and down the U.S. East Coast.
STENNIS space center, Miss. — Upgrades to NASA’s enormous Apollo-era test stand at Stennis Space Center are on track for ground runs of the core stage of the agency’s heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS) vehicle starting in 2016, according to engineers working on the project.
Bell Helicopter has announced Lockheed Martin as its first “investing team-mate” on development of the V-280 Valor tiltrotor aimed at the U.S Army. Other Tier 1 risk-sharing team members are to be revealed in coming weeks, the company says. Bell has completed negotiations with the Army’s Aviation Applied Technology Directorate (AATD) and expects to sign a cost-sharing contract this month to fly a V-280 demonstrator in 2017 under Phase 1 of the Joint Multi Role technology demonstration (JMR TD).
Aircraft and ships from the U.S. and Chinese navy plan to cap off a Hawaii port visit by the Asian leader’s vessels this week with a joint search-and-rescue (SAR) exercise. The port visit and exercise underscore the commitment made by both countries to bolster their naval relationships as the U.S. refocuses on the Asia-Pacific region and China continues to flex its military maritime muscle.
