UNDEPLOYED: The U.S. Navy is delaying the planned deployment of the aircraft carrier CVN-75 USS Harry S. Truman and the cruiser CG-64 USS Gettysburg to the U.S. Central Command (Centcom) area of responsibility because of financial concerns, the Pentagon acknowledged Feb. 6. “Facing budget uncertainty — including a continuing resolution and the looming potential for across-the-board sequestration cuts — the U.S. Navy made this request,” Pentagon spokesman George Little says. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta approved the Navy request. “This prudent decision enables the U.S.
Former Thales CEO Denis Ranque is emerging as a strong contender for the position of EADS chairman. Ranque is one of 12 candidates nominated by EADS for its future board of directors, which is to be confirmed by an extraordinary general assembly around the end of March.
Brazilian arms manufacturer Avibras has become a stakeholder in Harpia Systems, the joint company formed by Embraer and Israeli-owned AEL Systems to develop unmanned aircraft systems. The Falcao medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aircraft, under development by Avibras for the Brazilian air force, will become part of Harpia’s product line. The Falcao made its first flight in 2012.
The Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) has delayed its vote on the confirmation of former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) to be the next defense secretary. The vote, which was anticipated during a Feb. 7 SASC hearing on Benghazi, will be delayed as a growing number of Republicans on the committee await responses to questions about how speaking engagements and organizations for which Hagel worked were funded.
The U.S. Navy now wants bigger Fire Scout UAVs for its Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) fleet. While the service says no design changes are needed, industry is studying whether the LCS-2 USS Independence-class version will require wider elevators.
After years of general officers arguing for a more robust helicopter to provide security for nuclear missile fields in the U.S., the Air Force Global Strike Command chief says he has shelved a plan to replace aging Bell UH-1Ns for now.
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University has developed the nation’s first undergraduate degree program in commercial space operations, which it plans to introduce at the school’s Daytona Beach, Fla., campus next fall.
NEW DELHI — India’s indigenously developed Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) needs additional modification to fly in high-altitude areas and will not be ready for operational service until 2015, India’s air force (IAF) chief says.
The new partnership between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) on the Orion deep-space crew capsule opens the door for more international cooperation in human exploration beyond low Earth orbit, U.S. space officials say. Just as the “critical path” to completion of the International Space Station was shared by U.S. and Russian launch vehicles, future exploration missions based on the four-seat Orion capsule will require European hardware in the capsule’s service module.
TEL AVIV — Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has expanded its “Ehud” Autonomous Air Combat Maneuvering Instrumentation (AACMI) family to support Eastern fighter aircraft in addition to its Western-related advanced capabilities.
LONDON — Eurocopter is sending its new twin-engine medium helicopter, the EC175, on a short sales tour of the U.S. The move, which follows the successful exhibitions of its X3 technology demonstrator in 2012, will see the aircraft arrive in the U.S. later this month. It will make its first port of call to Bristow Group in Louisiana on Feb. 25-26. The aircraft will also visit Heli-Expo in Las Vegas before returning to the Gulf of Mexico, where it will be demonstrated to oil and gas operators PHi and Era Helicopters.
The budget mess in Washington may accomplish what potential adversaries and members of Congress have failed to do: knock a U.S. Navy nuclear-powered carrier out of the fleet rotation. The continuing resolution constraints and sequestration cuts — should they happen — would significantly delay the midlife refueling work and accompanying maintenance on CVN-72 USS Abraham Lincoln while also jeopardizing funding for the proposed next-generation CVN-79 Kennedy carrier, Navy officials say, unless the service gets authority to reprogram money for those projects.
LOS ANGELES — Production of the P-8 maritime patrol aircraft is at almost one per month, says Boeing, which anticipates a full-rate production decision from the U.S. Navy in July. The continued ramp-up comes as Boeing delivers the sixth aircraft to close out the first low-rate initial production (LRIP) batch of six P-8As for the Navy. A seventh aircraft, the first of seven more to be produced under LRIP-2, is set for delivery later this quarter, says the manufacturer, which also expects to hand over this year the first three P-8I variants to India.
President Barack Obama appealed to Congress to at least delay sequestration by passing a reduced package of spending cuts and tax reforms to buy still more time to reach agreement on how to bring down the federal deficit.
Despite opening procurement of small unmanned aircraft systems (SUAS) to competition for the first time, the U.S. Army has no plans in place to buy vehicles other than the AeroVironment RQ-11B Ravens and RQ-20 Pumas it already operates. Instead, the indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) umbrella contracts awarded to five companies in January are expected to allow other government agencies to acquire small UAS competitively through the Army’s procurement vehicle.
The U.S. Air Force should take actions to shore up its accounting of spare engines and uninstalled missile motors, the Pentagon’s Inspector General (IG) says. “Our examination disclosed deficiencies associated with aircraft and cruise missile engines managed by the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (Amarg),” the IG says in its January report. Amarg managed 694 — or 15% — of the 4,652 engines that the Air Force included in its spare engine assertion as of June 29, 2012, the IG says.
MONITORING AGENDA: The worldwide monitoring system set up to verify compliance with the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty is a potential untapped treasure trove for science, according to the American Association for the Advancement Of Science (AAAS). “Science is only beginning to discover the value of this $1 billion system for uses beyond the detection of nuclear tests,” AAAS says in announcing a Feb. 17 panel on the subject.
