Congressional auditors tell U.S. lawmakers that the Pentagon may have more work to do justifying its acquisition of the high-profile Next Generation Jammer (NGJ), given its overlap with other military efforts. “Redundancy in some of these areas may, in fact, be desirable,” the Government Accountability Office (GAO) says in its Aug. 20 report to the Democratic chairman and ranking Republican on the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee.
DORNHEIM AWARD: The National Press Club in Washington presented its annual Michael A. Dornheim Award to Bart Jansen of USA Today for stories on air turbulence, airport security and the widely different regulations on passenger cell phone use around the world. An honorable mention went to Alan Levin of Bloomberg News for articles about air traffic controller problems, errors that led to airliners taking off over weight restrictions and how leaded gas in general aviation accounts for the majority of lead emissions in the U.S.
PALM BEACH and PANAMA CITY, Fla. — The Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) mission-module-and-package components are much further along than the U.S. Navy has publicly acknowledged. But government analysts worry the integration work for those systems will be more difficult than anticipated and operational testing could reveal problems that could prove costly and time-consuming, especially over the life of the ship class.
PANAMA CITY, Fla. — While some defense and government analysts continue to doubt the survivability and firepower of the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) fleet, there’s one aviation asset that few question the need for: the MH-60 Seahawk. The LCS mission-module packages rely heavily on either the MH-60R (Romeo) or MH-60S (Sierra) models, depending on whether the ships are conducting surface warfare (SUW), mine countermeasures missions (MCM) or antisubmarine warfare (ASW) missions.
NEW DELHI — India’s Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) has signed a contract worth 30 billion rupees ($475 million) with the country’s defense ministry to supply Invar anti-tank guided missiles to the Indian army. “The deliveries are expected to be completed over the next five years,” a defense ministry spokesman says. In 2011, India approved the purchase of 25,000 Invar missiles to be carried on the army’s T-90 tanks.
U.S. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert is underscoring the U.S. Navy’s priorities, even under the cloud of possible further rounds of sequestration, with the release of his “navigation plan” for service acquisitions and operations in the coming years. The Navy, he says, “focuses in particular on deterring and defeating aggression and assuring access by implementing the Air-Sea Battle (ASB) concept.” The service intends to maintain a carrier strike group and amphibious ready group in both the Asia-Pacific and Middle East regions.
LOS ANGELES and HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. — Boeing hopes by year’s end to secure its first sale of a new family of small satellites unveiled by the company this year and dubbed Phantom Phoenix. Executives declined to say whether this first customer would be commercial or supporting national security missions for the U.S. government. But Craig Cooning, vice president of Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems, says talks could culminate in an announcement by the end of the year.
Recent shipboard tests of the Griffin missile prove that it will work with the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) surface warfare (SUW) mission module package, but the U.S. Navy is still looking at alternatives that could provide a better weapon, says Capt. John Ailes, the Navy officer recently selected to be the admiral in charge of LCS integration efforts.
USAF COMMISSION: Members of the U.S. Air Force community continue to wrestle with tense issues being raised by the congressionally mandated National Commission on the Structure of the Air Force, which will next meet Aug. 27 in Arlington, Va. “It is both unfortunate and fortuitous that the Congress saw fit to establish this commission,” retired Gen. Ronald Fogleman, the 15th chief of staff, told the group last month.
PALM BEACH and PANAMA CITY, Fla. — U.S. Navy officials says the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) fleet can meet its requirement to swap out its mission-module packages in 72 hr. But beating that clock all depends on how time is kept.
Far from being the culprit of U.S.-aimed cyber-attacks, China has been a victim of similar assaults, the country’s top military leader says. Furthermore, Gen. Chang Wanquan, China’s defense minister, says the country will defend its maritime territorial rights even as other Asian nations hope the U.S. rebalance of forces to the region will help them in their battles against Chinese claims.
The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) failed to close and consolidate some of its facilities as it was required to under the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) law, a recent Pentagon Inspector General (IG) report says.
Aviation Week A&D Programs 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
Northrop Grumman is looking at the potential of “really large” unmanned airships for commercial freight transport, Tom Vice, president of the company’s Aerospace Systems segment, said in Washington Aug. 20. Comparing the effect of such a system on air freight to the advent of the 747 freighter in its day, Vice said that while there is “a lot of work to do” on the concept, the company has looked at promising technologies, and said that the company would continue the work — if it does so — in partnership with a large air freight hauler such as FedEx or UPS.
EADS STAKE: Vnesheconombank (VEB), Russia’s Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs, has sold its 5% stake in EADS. VEB reduced its stake to just under 3% at the end of July and has now divested its entire shareholding, industry sources tell Aviation Week. The sale is understood to be part of a broader plan to address the ongoing financial difficulties at Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company (SCAC), the producer of the Superjet 100. SCAC has debt amounting to around $2 billion, $1 billion of which is owed to Vnesheconombank.
