SAN DIEGO — A stern-side view in a dry dock is the best way to really appreciate the differences between the two different classes of the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS).
HASC AIDE PASSES: Doug Roach, who served the House Armed Services Committee since 1991, died Jan. 11 due to complications from cancer. Roach was the staff lead for the tactical air and land forces subcommittee since 2001, serving the majority party whether Republicans or Democrats were in charge. A retired Air Force colonel, Roach flew F-15 and F-4 aircraft and was an operational test pilot. Roach watched the first “Great Engine War” up close and became a firm believer in the need for a competitive engine process.
LONDON — Chile has become the fourteenth country to accept the increased gross weight exemption for the Bell 429 light helicopter. The country’s civil aviation authority, the DGAC, cleared the exemption to raise the maximum gross weight of the light-twin from 7,000 lb. (3,175 kg) to 7,500 lb. (3,402 kg). The DGAC has also certified the type’s operation in Chile. The move follows Venezuela’s green light to the weight exemption, announced early this month.
While more budget cuts would hurt the U.S. Navy, the service would still be able to adapt if it had better control of where and how those cuts occur, Secretary Ray Mabus says. Unfortunately, he says, neither sequestration nor an extended continuing resolution (CR) would afford the Navy that type of control. Indeed, he says it is not so much the loss of funding under either scenario — or both — that could scuttle Navy operations, but rather the “mindless way both things operate.”
With the threat of potential sequestration and concerns over an extended continuing resolution (CR), the U.S. Navy brass has a real quandary: whether to try to retain its fleet force at its current size, or scale it back to better maintain the ships it has.
HOUSTON — NASA’s Orion project will pursue an aggressive strategy to reduce the mass of the four-person capsule that serves as a centerpiece of U.S. efforts to develop a new human deep space exploration capability, according to participants in the first phase of a long-running integrated systems definition review of the multi-element initiative that kicked off this week.
Alenia North America and General Dynamics are teaming up to vie for a U.S. Air Force contract to build 350 T-38 fast jet trainer replacements. The teaming agreement, announced today, is likely to round out the field of would-be competitors for the so-called T-X competition. The competition is not likely to start until 2014 at the earliest, but the announcement comes as the Air Force plans to conduct a T-X industry day later in the month.
SAN DIEGO — Cmdr. Dave Back begs pardon for the appearance of his ship. “It looks like a computer garage sale at the moment,” says the commanding officer of the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS-2) Independence, which is now dry docked for a scheduled period of repairs. “They’re yanking everything out.” Soon, technicians will be loading his ship’s computers with CDs and other program-package upgrades to operate the ship’s mission modules, including the increasingly important mine counter-mine mission (MCM) module.
The U.S. Army expects to complete its transition to modular designs by the close of fiscal 2013, which ends Sept. 30, and has received “substantial” funds to restructure and rebuild its forces, according to a new report from congressional auditors.
Kuwait conducted a successful live-fire test of its upgraded Aspide missile last month that destroyed two remotely piloted Banshee targets, prime contractor MBDA said Jan. 13. Launched from a Skyguard air defense system at the Kuwait air defense brigade’s Adeira test range Dec. 18-19, the medium-range radar-guided Aspide 2000 destroyed one Banshee with a direct hit and the other via a proximity explosion.
GCV DELAY: Pentagon leaders are extending the technology development phase of the Ground Combat Vehicle family’s leading Infantry Fighting Vehicle by six months, according to an undated Defense Department memo reported widely Jan. 17. The Army is also being told to pick just one contractor for the engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) phase, as well as plan for Milestone B decision-making in fiscal 2014 and Milestone C in 2019. The armed service must return to the Defense Acquisition Board for approval before issuing the EMD request for proposals.
ARMY MODULARIZATION: The U.S. Army expects to complete the transition to modular designs by the end of fiscal 2013, which ends Sept. 30, and has received “substantial” funds to restructure and rebuild its forces, according to a new report from congressional auditors.
The skipper of Littoral Combat Ship (LCS-1) USS Freedom is thankful for an additional 10 sailors to help man the ship for its deployment to Singapore next year, while the commanding officer of the LCS-2 USS Independence is weighing the potential benefits of more bodies — should they be added to his vessel — while his ship gets a makeover at a San Diego dry dock. The LCS ships have a core crew of 40, but the U.S. Navy has embarked on a pilot plan to add 10 sailors in the wake of lessons learned following initial operations, especially by the Freedom.
Aviation Week Events - Defense Technology And Affordability Requirements March 5-6 2013 Hilton Arlington Arlington, VA Join senior defense officials and discover where priorities and opportunities exist beyond the FY 2014 budget and hear First-hand how programs are implementing affordable and effective designs! Register now at www.aviationweek.com/events/dtar
The emerging focus and theme of this year’s Surface Navy Association National Symposium is going a long way to dispel any lingering doubt about the support of the U.S. Navy brass for its embattled Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) effort – even as the program took another hit from the Pentagon Director, Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E). Not only does the symposium feature a special LCS roundtable discussion, but program references dominate the exhibits and other briefings as well.
Jesco von Puttkamer, a protégé of Wernher von Braun whose NASA career ranged from the Apollo manned lunar landing project to the International Space Station, died Dec. 27 of a flu-like illness. He was 79. At his death he was still active at the U.S. space agency, producing a daily online rundown of activities on the ISS.
Operation Pillar of Defense opened in November 2012 with a tremendous “surgical” strike, eliminating a prominent leader of Hamas. Ahmed al Jabri was a longtime terror mastermind in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, and his death was a severe blow to the organization. The strike, which pinpointed midstream traffic in downtown Gaza City, was carried out through real-time intelligence and ultra-rapid closing of the sensor-shooter cycle. It used only “reduced” advanced precision guided munitions, which caused no collateral damage in the surrounding area.
