As much as the U.S. Navy depends on its destroyer fleet now for a host of missions, the service will expect even more from its ships once they are outfitted with the proposed air-and-missile-defense radar (AMDR) suite to perform integrated missile defense, according to Adm. Jonathan Greenert, chief of naval operations. Keeping the right mix between the cruiser and destroyer fleets is important now, Greenert says. “We need 88 large-surface combatants — cruisers and destroyers,” he testified last week before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The U.S. Navy is considering buying 12 Seabird SB7L-360A Seeker light single-engine observation aircraft with electro-optical and infrared (EO/IR) sensors and downlink systems for the Government of Yemen. According to a draft statement of work published April 30, the project is being managed by the Navy’s Counter Networks and Illicit Trafficking Project Office, which works with U.S. partner nations to “deter criminal and terrorist networks and illicit trafficking activities” and tackle “rapid response and irregular warfare challenges” anywhere in the world.
ROLLS BUYS: Rolls-Royce has bought Hyper-Therm High Temperature Composites of Huntington Beach, Calif., a supplier of heat-tolerant composite materials for gas turbine engines. Terms were not disclosed. Hyper-Therm specializes in ceramic matrix composites (CMC). Rolls is expected to apply the technology to new and existing civil and military engines.
The U.S. Navy is investigating options for a next-generation mid-air collision avoidance system that could be operational in its fleet of AH-1Z, UH-1Y, MH-60R and MH-60S helicopter models by fiscal year 2020.
Republicans who control the U.S. House of Representatives and other Taiwan boosters in Washington have mounted a fresh push to get the White House finally to allow sales of advanced fighters to the embattled island nation.
NASA and the National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI) are backing studies to address a range of health and performance issues confronting astronauts assigned to long-duration spaceflight, ranging from the vision impairments that have surfaced recently with International Space Station crew members to fundamental concerns like nutrition. The $17 million in grant awards to 23 principal investigators associated with 18 U.S. university, government and private-sector institutions will span from one to three years.
Sending the first Littoral Combat Ship (LCS-1) USS Freedom to Singapore — or four destroyers to Rota, Spain — is more than just waving the American flag in more places more often than was done before. It marks a major mindset change for the U.S. Navy and nation, according to Adm. Jonathan Greenert, chief of naval operations (CNO).
Submarines remain a chief shipbuilding concern for the U.S. Navy and top service officials worry sequestration could hamper the programs. At the same time, some federal lawmakers worry that the Navy’s long-term shipbuilding plan may come up short and hurt the nation’s efforts to “pivot” military focus to the Asia-Pacific region.
In response to a social media message making the rounds this week about sea-water intrusion into Littoral Combat Ship (LCS-1) USS Freedom on the port side, U.S. Navy officials said the vessel has been experiencing problems with coolers designed to bring water into the ship, but there was no flooding occurring.
INTEL CLOUD: The director of national intelligence “abruptly” canceled a multiyear effort to set up a single, consolidated data center for the entire U.S. intelligence community about a year ago in favor of migrating such services to cloud computing, according to a U.S. Senate Select Intelligence Committee’s report. Cloud-computing advocates have been pushing the government to use their services, claiming savings over the license and hardware costs of the legacy method of buying information technology services.
LONDON — GKN says it hopes to have fully integrated Volvo Aero into the GKN structure by the end of 2013 following the takeover of the engine component company in July 2012. “The integration was never a 90-100 day program,” said Mike McCann, CEO of GKN’s Aerospace Engine System division, speaking at the company’s pre-Paris Air Show briefing in London. McCann said it was now transitioning from the systems of its old owner Volvo AB and moving into the GKN organization.
The five-segment solid rocket booster under development by ATK and Marshall Space Flight Center as part of NASA’s Block 1 Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket has completed a Preliminary Design Review that supports an unpiloted test flight with the Orion crew vehicle in 2017.
Sequestration-related funding cuts are driving the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps to train more with simulators, top brass tell lawmakers. But continued funding cuts will bite into operations and maintenance, service officials warn. “During this phase we went through with the continuing resolution and sequestration, we turned to simulators to help keep our folks current, as current as feasible,” Adm. Jonathan Greenert, chief of naval operations, testified last week before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
U.S. AIR FORCE Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Aerospace Systems Sector, San Diego, Calif., is being awarded a $35,696,841 contract modification (P00490) of F33657-01-C-4600 for Global Hawk engineering and manufacturing development. The total cumulative face value of the multi-year contract is $2,297,747,550. Work will be performed at San Diego, Calif., and is expected to be completed by January 2017. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2013 and 2014. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center/WIGK, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio is the contracting activity.
PARIS — France unveiled a new national defense strategy April 29 that calls for spending €179 billion ($233 billion) over the period 2014-19, a proposal that would keep the defense budget relatively flat at €31 billion per year, but which in real terms represents a slight decrease in spending through decade’s end.
NEW DELHI — In the latest of a raft of unmanned system requirements, the Indian army has announced interest in an unspecified number of tactical short-range UAVs to bolster its small fleet of IAI Searcher Mk. 2 drones.
LONDON — Boeing has apparently demonstrated the C-17 Globemaster aircraft to the Algerian Air Force (AAF) as part of a sales push to the North African state.
