LONDON — The Eurosam SAMP/T surface-to-air missile system has destroyed a representative theater ballistic missile during a test in France. The March 6 test saw a joint Italian and French team engage an aircraft-launched target using an Aster 30 missile fired from the Biscarosse missile test center on the Bay of Biscay coast.
The U.S. Air Force’s decision to move away from the Northrop Grumman Global Hawk program has not swayed the Navy’s allegiance to its $11.4 billion Triton unmanned aircraft program, which is based on the Global Hawk platform, says Vice Adm. Mark Skinner, military deputy to the Navy acquisition secretary.
LOWER CLEARANCE: The downturn in U.S. defense-related spending has finally hit a key niche of the government’s extended workforce: compensation for professionals with federal security clearances dipped 3% year over year to $88,447 in 2012, according to ClearanceJobs.com. The online career networking site for those with the heavily sought credential says the latest results of its survey mark the first time both average earnings and average salaries ($75,208, down 1%) fell in the same year. U.S.
FUTURE HELO: EADS North America has submitted a proposal for the U.S. Army’s Joint Multi-Role (JMR) advanced rotorcraft technology demonstration. EADS will not divulge what configuration it has proposed, but the Army Aviation Applied Technology Directorate’s requirement for a 230 kt. cruise speed could be met by an aircraft based on Eurocopter’s X3 high-speed compound helicopter demonstrator. Boeing and Sikorsky have teamed to offer a compound helicopter based on Sikorsky’s X2 coaxial-rotor, pusher-propeller configuration, and Bell Helicopter is proposing a tiltrotor.
The U.S. Army has yet to quantify or qualify how continuing resolutions (CRs) and sequestration will affect the service’s plans to cut its force size as the nation pulls back from overseas military conflicts, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) says in a recent report.
LAS VEGAS — Sergei Mikheyev, general designer of the Kamov Design Bureau, has revealed that the Russian helicopter company secretly designed the baseline version of the Z-10 attack helicopter for China in the mid-1990s.
Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) has new whistleblower information of possible technology leaks from NASA to China, this time at Langley Research Center, and is seeking a federal criminal investigation of the charges.
TEL AVIV — The radar used by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) during the first Gulf War has undergone renovation in the U.S. for nearly 30 technical modifications that improve its performance, safety and maintenance. A ceremony held last week introduced the “Radar 120” of the Patriot system in the IDF air defense — a radar that had been refurbished in a specially dedicated U.S. military program. The radar will now enter operational service in Israel in the PAC-2 missile batteries of the air defense wing.
The Department of Defense has been slowing down its contract obligations in both the domestic and foreign arenas, underscoring the U.S. shift away from combat operations, according to figures released in a recent Congressional Research Service (CRS) report. The report highlights the overall increase in military spending since the terrorist attacks of 2001, but notes the slowdown in the past half-decade.
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NEW DELHI — Delivery of Sukhoi Su-30MKI fighters from state-owned licensed manufacturer Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) to the Indian air force (IAF) is likely to be delayed due to development issues. HAL is currently undertaking the production of 222 Su-30 aircraft. HAL was supposed to start delivery of the all-weather air-dominance fighters to the country’s defense forces by 2015. But now this may not happen “as per schedule,” according to India’s junior defense minister, Jitendra Singh.
LAS VEGAS — MD Helicopters is working on modernizing its MD902 twin-engine light helicopter and expanding its military customer base. The Mesa, Ariz.-based company delivered 24 helicopters in 2012 and is currently flight testing its first new product developed since the company was taken over by billionaire industrialist Lynn Tilton in 2005. Speaking to journalists at the Heli-Expo 2013 here, Tilton said the company was now emerging from difficult times but the manufacturer was more “secure and stronger for it.”
Looking beyond sequestration and continuing resolutions (CRs), the U.S. Navy still apparently remains committed to most major shipbuilding programs, says Michael Petters, CEO of Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII), the nation’s largest military shipbuilder.
BEIJING — Growth in Chinese defense spending appears to be moderating in line with the national economy, despite the 10.7% nominal rise that was announced this week and widely reported in international news reports as underlining Beijing’s expanding military capabilities.
LAS VEGAS — BAE Systems is planning to conduct firings of its Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) laser-guided rockets from U.S. Army Apache and Kiowa Warrior helicopters later this year. The U.S. Army has a notional requirement for a low-cost, laser-guided rocket system, and BAE Systems is confident that the U.S. Marine Corps’ recent success with the weapon in Afghanistan might pique the Army’s interest. Furthermore, the company believes an Army order might also boost international opportunities through the Foreign Military Sales system.
As the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS-1) USS Freedom makes its way across the Pacific for its first Asian deployment in Singapore, the U.S. Navy is further anchoring its LCS program by picking up options worth about $1.4 billion to buy four more ships. The contract options fund construction of four ships in fiscal 2013 in the dual 20-ship block-buy award made to a shipbuilder team lead by Austal USA and General Dynamics, and another team led by Lockheed Martin, in December 2010.
The U.S. Air Force is considering seeking more flexibility in payment schedules on future fixed-price development contracts, to mitigate the growing risk that budget uncertainty could force the government to default on such deals and lose their favorable terms.
INDIAN PARTNERSHIPS: Indian Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai, speaking in Washington last month, has called for joint design and coproduction of weapons and defense capabilities with the U.S. During an event at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Mathai told an audience that the two countries should enter into joint defense projects — a sign that New Delhi is increasingly interested in more than just utilizing traditional “offsets,” i.e., local spending by Western defense companies, to build up its own industry.
NEW DELHI — India says it will go ahead with its program to buy 197 Light Utility Helicopters for its defense forces, contrary to speculation that the AgustaWestland bribery scandal had forced the government to put the much-awaited deal on hold. “The proposal for acquisition of 197 Light Utility Helicopters is due for consideration of the Defense Acquisition Council [DAC]. The procurement procedure has been conducted in accordance with the Defense Procurement Procedure,” Defense Minister A.K. Antony says.
LAS VEGAS — Pratt & Whitney says oil starvation tests have been conducted on the F135 to clear the engine in advance for the extreme phases of ongoing high angle-of-attack flight tests of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
