The fourth Littoral Combat Ship (LCS-4), the Coronado, is expected to resume pre-delivery builder’s trials next week after minor engine-related problems prompted a temporary pause in testing April 13, U.S. Navy sources confirm. LCS-4 was being put through full-power trials before engine problems developed on port and starboard diesel engines, creating smoke and a small fire first on the starboard engine and then the port one, Navy sources said. There were no injuries and the ship returned to port so engineers could ascertain the cause of the problems.
AgustaWestland has unveiled its contender for the U.S. Army’s Armed Aerial Scout (AAS) as industry waits to find out whether plans to replace the Bell OH-58D Kiowa Warrior will survive budget cuts. The Anglo-Italian company took the wraps off a full-scale mock-up of its AW169 AAS on April 11 at a subdued Army Aviation Association of America convention in Fort Worth.
COLORADO SPRINGS — Inspiration Mars, the bold plan to send a man and woman on a 501-day trip around the Red Planet beginning in January 2018, reports individuals and industry are offering their services for the task, including “hundreds” of couples who have qualifications that would put them in the running.
The U.S. Navy is shifting funds around on some of its leading UAV programs, including Northrop Grumman’s Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) and MQ-8 Fire Scout programs, within the service’s proposed fiscal 2014 budget.
With the likelihood of U.S. Navy aircraft being grounded due to maintenance funding cuts, the service is looking at cutting some near-term training flying. Aircraft depot maintenance, which dropped from about $1.17 billion in fiscal 2012 to about $1.16 billion in fiscal 2013, is proposed for another dip to about $916 million in the fiscal 2014 budget. The percent funded of the total requirement is similarly dropping, from 100% in fiscal 2012 to 94% in fiscal 2013 and 79% in the proposed fiscal 2014 spending plan.
COLORADO SPRINGS — Boeing’s space business is in a “relatively healthy position” despite a flattening of the military space budget, says Roger Krone, president of Boeing Network and Space Systems.
With the majority of international sales opportunities for its ScanEagle small unmanned aircraft involving maritime operations, Boeing subsidiary Insitu is planning to qualify its larger Integrator vehicle for shipborne launch and recovery. The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps’ RQ-21A small tactical unmanned aircraft system (Stuas), which is based on the Integrator, conducted its first shipboard launch and recovery in February, on the amphibious transport dock USS Mesa Verde.
RIO DE JANEIRO—Saab’s leadership is ready to offer co-development of the carrier-based Gripen N under a fixed-price, five-year deal, according to company executives at the LAAD Defense & Security show here. The decision follows a detailed review of the design by a 35-member engineering team formed in the U.K. in 2011 to mature the concept.
Key players and timelines for a seminal, and perhaps unprecedented, report on the future of the U.S. Air Force — from roles and missions to force mix among active, reserve and Air National Guard units — are coming together, according to announcements made around this week’s release of the fiscal 2014 budget request.
Now that the U.S. Navy’s fiscal 2014 budget proposal is out and aircraft carrier acquisition, repair and funding is better defined, service officials expect to secure an agreement soon for inactivation work on the USS Enterprise, the nation’s first nuclear-powered carrier. “The Enterprise is funded and supported in this budget,” Rear Adm. Joseph Mulloy, deputy assistant Navy secretary for budget, said April 10 during a budget briefing. “In fact, Enterprise will go to contract sometime here in the spring.”
Pratt & Whitney aims by June to complete the investigation into the root cause of the turbine blade crack that temporarily grounded the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter fleet in February.
Pentagon plans to have the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) lead efforts to identify technologies required for the next generation of U.S. Air Force and Navy air-combat aircraft received a boost with the agency’s 2014 budget request. Funding sought for the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) study, which gets underway this year, would double in 2014 under the budget proposal released April 10. The study “will define the projected threat domains and capability gaps for the 2020-50 timeframe,” according to Darpa budget documents.
The U.S. Air Force has conducted maximum angle-of-attack testing of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, successfully recovering the aircraft from extreme attitudes and upsets.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) Apr. 16 - 18 — Aviation Week MRO Americas 2013 Conference & Exhibition, George World Congress Center, Atlanta, Ga. For more information go to www.aviationweek.com/events Apr. 17 - 18 — ISR 2013, "Focusing on PED (Process, Exploitation and Dissemination) of Data and Current Issues in ISR," Copthorne Tara Hotel, London, U.K. For more information go to www.smi-online.co.uk
The U.S. Navy’s proposed fiscal 2014 spending plan includes assumptions the service will be able to recoup money lost over the future years defense plan (FYDP) to keep key programs on track through fiscal 2018. Indeed the proposed spending plan appears a bit fluid. “In investment accounts, we’re still in a lot of analysis,” Rear Adm. Joseph Mulloy, deputy assistant Navy secretary for budget, said April 10 during a briefing on the budget proposal.
NO CONFLICT: French Prime Minster Jean-Marc Ayrault says there is no conflict between a new Europeanized variant of Soyuz and France’s plan to introduce a lighter, more modular successor to its Ariane 5 heavy-lift launcher, which will ultimately eliminate Europe’s need for the Russian medium-lift rocket.
NEW DELHI — India, one of the largest importers of defense equipment in the world, is letting supporters of the U.N.’s recently passed arms-transfer treaty know that it is not happy with their actions. The treaty, aimed at laying down common international standards and limiting the illicit sale of conventional arms, was passed by the U.N. General Assembly with an overwhelming majority of 154 votes on April 3. Iran, North Korea and Syria voted against the treaty, while China, India and Russia abstained.
France announced qualification of the Tiger EC665 Tiger multirole helicopter in the HAD support and attack configuration on April 11, paving the way for delivery of the first four HAD-standard, rotary-wing aircraft to the French army in late April. France has already received 40 Eurocopter-built Tigers in the standard HAP support and protection configuration, equipped with Mistral air-to-air missiles, a 30mm cannon and 68mm rockets.
LONDON — Bell Helicopter says it has taken lessons learned from the V-22 Osprey and is incorporating them into the third-generation tiltrotor it is offering for the U.S. Army’s Future Vertical Lift requirement.
