Ground control stations and the Fury tactical unmanned aircraft are the key reasons behind Lockheed Martin’s acquisition of small Huntsville, Ala.-based defense company Chandler/May. Chandler/May manufactures the OneSystem ground control station (GCS) for AAI Corp., which is used with the U.S. Army’s AAI RQ-7B Shadow tactical UAV and General Atomics MQ-1C Grey Eagle medium-range UAV.
The abrupt departure of CIA Director Gen. David Petraeus due to an extramarital affair and a war on Capitol Hill over the Obama administration’s performance in Benghazi, Libya, over the summer are overshadowing President Barack Obama’s efforts to replenish his national security team for a second term. Asked this week whether he will stay on as defense secretary for another four years, Leon Panetta quipped to reporters: “Who the hell knows?”
GILLIAM COUNTY, Ore. — The U.S. Navy is wrapping up the land-based portion of developmental testing of the Insitu Integrator unmanned air system (UAS) and preparing to shift to shipboard testing as company officials begin to look at new payload options for the platform.
The U.S. and Australian militaries have agreed to place two key U.S. space systems in Australia. A U.S. Air Force C-band space-surveillance radar – which can track up to 200 objects a day and can help identify satellites, their orbits and potential anomalies – will move from Antigua to Western Australia in 2014 and will increase coverage of space objects in the Southern Hemisphere, the Pentagon says. It will be the first low Earth orbit space surveillance network sensor in that hemisphere and will help track “high-interest” launches from Asia.
The U.S. Navy is so confident that it is on track with repairs necessary to deploy the first Littoral Combat Ship (LCS-1), the USS Freedom, to Singapore next year that the service has already begun to focus more on honing the overall LCS program and the development of the ship’s mission modules, says the admiral in charge of the effort.
Örnsköldsvik, Sweden — The CV90 tracked infantry fighting vehicle, which is in service with six nations and produced here by BAE Systems Hägglunds, is about to be delivered in a range of new variants that include medical evacuation, mortar carrier and cargo transport.
The defense authorization bill could be debated on the Senate floor just after Thanksgiving, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee told reporters Nov. 13. “I would like to lay it down this Friday,” says Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.). “But the leaders assured me it would be the first thing after Thanksgiving.”
LOS ANGELES — A two-seat production derivative of Northrop Grumman’s secretly developed Firebird medium-altitude optionally piloted vehicle (OPV) demonstrator has begun test flights for an unidentified customer. Flown by two Northrop test pilots, the OPV made its first flight from Mojave, Calif., on Nov. 12. Powered by a single Lycoming TEO-540E piston engine, the twin-boom configured aircraft climbed to 3,880 ft. and reached a maximum speed of 100 kt. during a short, 6-min. circuit.
Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) appears to have found the best defense against the looming specter of sequestration feared by other major prime defense contractors — multiyear shipbuilding programs favored and nurtured by the U.S. Navy. Those programs are also helping shield the shipbuilder, too, from some of the Pentagon budget-busting, although HII is a bit concerned about the current financial climate on its suppliers.
As it lays out plans to demonstrate technology for the Future Vertical Lift Medium (FVL-M) rotorcraft to replace the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk after 2030, the U.S. Army has decided not to fly advanced mission systems in the planned demonstrator aircraft. The Army’s Aviation Applied Technology Directorate (AATD) plans to award contracts to begin design of demonstrator rotorcraft in September 2013 under the Joint Multi Role Technology Demonstrator (JMR TD) program.
KLEINE-BROGEL, Belgium — The European Defense Agency (EDA) has been organizing a series of multinational helicopter exercises and instructional courses to increase the number of interoperable crews available for operations. The latest training event, Exercise Green Blade 2012, was held in eastern Belgium from Sept. 18 to Oct. 5. The exercise was hosted by the Belgian defense ministry at Kleine-Brogel air base, together with the Special Operations Forces Exercise Pegasus 2012, organized by the Belgian Special Forces Group.
Örnsköldsvik, Sweden — Now entering its 20th year of service, the CV90 tracked infantry fighting vehicle is at the heart of BAE Systems’ ambitious program to develop a multiuse adaptive camouflage system. The CV90, which is in service with six nations and produced here by BAE Systems Hägglunds, is about to be delivered in a range of new variants that include medical evacuation, mortar carrier and cargo transport.
DOD ON AMOS: The U.S. Defense Department will use leased communications capacity on two Israeli Amos satellites under a pair of contracts awarded to Amos operator Spacecom by DRS Technical Services Inc. The U.S. military will use Ku-band capacity from Spacecom’s Amos-3, located at 4 deg. W., and C-band capacity on Amos-5, positioned at 17 deg. E. The capacity enables reliable two-way communications with U.S. armed forces stationed in Europe who are training for missions in the Middle East, according to the companies.
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
Click here to view the pdf 2013 U.S. Defense Spending: Current Funding Outlook: Defense-wide RDT&ELines where 2013 request differs from the 2012 enacted amount by more than 20% ($ in thousands) 2013 U.S.
AIR FORCE General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Poway, Calif., (FA8650-13-C-1543) is being awarded a $7,034,404.00 cost-plus-fixed fee, research and development contract for the continuous look/attack management for the Predator software updates. The location of the performance is Poway. The work is expected to be completed by Nov. 7, 2016. The contracting activity is AFRL/RQKSR, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY
AIR FORCE Lockheed Martin Corp., Fort Worth, (FA8611-08-C-2897, P00161) is being awarded an $11,902,915 contract modification for additional work for the automatic backup oxygen supply in the F-22 life support system. The location of the performance is Marietta, Ga. The work is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, 2014. The contracting activity is AFLCMC/WWUK, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio.
