F-35 MILESTONES: The F-35 program achieved two milestones this week. AF-1, an F-35A conventional takeoff-and-landing aircraft, jettisoned its first munition, a 2,000 lb. Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) Oct. 17 during a flight test at Edwards AFB, Calif. This is the second weapons drop for the program. While weapons testing continues, the U.S. Marine Corps is continuing to prepare for standup of its first operational F-35B squadron.
An information technology trade group foresees Pentagon spending declining about 3% in inflation-adjusted dollars during the next decade. TechAmerica Foundation’s latest annual forecast, highlighted in an Oct. 16 Washington briefing, sees base spending following a gradual downward slope from $525 billion in fiscal 2013 to $506 billion in fiscal 2023, as measured in constant 2013 dollars. Current projections from Pentagon planners and the White House Office of Management and Budget project a slight upward slope to $553 billion in the same period.
Poland has recently announced plans to replace some of its Soviet-built fighter aircraft with armed UAVs. “By 2018, we should have three squadrons [of armed UAVs],” says Waldemar Skrzypczak, Poland’s vice minister of defense. He adds that the country’s armed forces might purchase up to 30 combat UAVs.
A research advisory group is cautioning the FAA “to avoid the temptation to compromise safety” as the agency attempts to meet a congressionally mandated 2015 deadline to integrate unmanned aircraft into the national airspace system (NAS). The observation highlights what appears to be growing frustration with the FAA over a range of research and organizational issues as the mandate nears.
Given a second chance to compete for a U.S. Air Force air defense radar program, Northrop Grumman is proposing a system based on an active, electronically scanned array (AESA) mobile radar under development for the U.S. Marine Corps. The company re-entered the Three-Dimensional Expeditionary Long-Range Radar (3DELRR) competition in August, when the Air Force awarded contracts each worth around $35 million to Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and Northrop Grumman.
CYBER BILL: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has pledged to bring up cybersecurity legislation that was previously blocked by Republicans during Congress’s lame-duck session. The question remains, however, whether the bill has any better chance of passing than it did when blocked this summer by Senate Republicans and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Bill co-sponsor Sen.
Neither of the two men running for Virginia’s open U.S. Senate seat this November — Republican George Allen and rival Democrat Tim Kaine — can match the military experience of their predecessors. The state has been represented by former Navy secretaries since 1979 and is one of the nation’s most defense-rich states. Prime contractors in Virginia earned more than $54.85 billion in 2011, according to the Center for Security Policy’s study of defense contracting dollars, making oversight of the federal defense procurement process a key issue for the job.
Guatemala’s congress has approved the purchase of six Embraer A-29 Super Tucano light-attack aircraft for counter-narcotics missions, funded by a $170 million loan from banks in Argentina and Brazil. According to local reports, the deal will include the aircraft, a tactical command and control center and radars, including three supplied by Argentina, for a project to build a system to monitor and protect the Mayan biosphere.
NETANYA, Israel — As Israel prepares for advanced network war, it is readily apparent that cyber situational awareness systems — supported by event-management capabilities since digital warfare can never be a fully automatic process — has become a key part of the country’s defense. Capabilities being commercialized by Elbit Systems’ land and C4I solutions branch provide a number of clues about how cyber defenses are being developed here.
U.S. Air Force Honeywell International Inc., Tempe, Ariz., (FA8208-07-C-0001, P00048) is being awarded a $57,829,544 contract modification for repair, overhaul and logistics sustainment of F-15 secondary power assets under the secondary power logistics solution contract. The location of the performance is Hill Air Force Base, Utah. Work is expected to be completed by January 2020. The contracting activity is 748 SCMG/PKBA, Hill AFB, Utah. U.S. NAVY
NEW DELHI — An Indian navy Chetak helicopter crashed Oct. 15 in the western state of Goa, killing three people on board, a defense official says. The navy has been planning to replace its vintage Chetaks and released a global tender in August for roughly 60 utility helicopters. Sikorsky, Eurocopter, Kamov and AgustaWestland are among the likely respondents.
The increase in Chinese defense spending dwarfs the growth in military investment across the rest of Asia, growing by 13.4% between 2000 and 2011, according to a new report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The report examined the five Asian nations that spend most heavily on defense: China, South Korea, Japan, India and Taiwan. South Korea ranked second, posting growth of 4.8%. Chinese defense spending could be even higher, the report notes, because of the country’s secrecy regarding defense.
The U.S. Navy is kicking off a program to recapitalize the Northrop Grumman C-2A Greyhound carrier onboard delivery (COD) fleet that will pit a remanufactured C-2 against the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey tiltrotor, with no other obvious candidates. Modernizing the Greyhound would allow the Navy to converge its small C-2A and E-2D Advanced Hawkeye airborne early warning fleets for significant operating and support cost savings while leaving the COD mission essentially unchanged.
Teams led by Aurora Flight Sciences and Lockheed Martin plan to demonstrate in 2014 that an untrained marine can use a smartphone application to call up an unmanned resupply helicopter, which will pick out a landing site, negotiate obstacles and threats, land to be unloaded and then take off—all autonomously. The 2014 fly-off between the two teams is the first of series of increasingly challenging annual flight demonstrations planned under the U.S. Office of Naval Research’s (ONR) Autonomous Aerial Cargo Utility Systems (Aacus) program.
U.S. Air Force Lockheed Martin Corp., Fort Worth, Texas, (FA8615-13-C-6048) is being awarded a $94,700,000 firm-fixed-price contract for retrofit of 12 F-16 C/D Block 60 multi-role fighter aircraft. The location of the performance is Fort Worth, Texas. Work is expected to be completed by May 16, 2016. The contracting activity is AFLCMC/WWMK, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. Contract involves Foreign Military Sales for the government of Oman. U.S. Navy
NAGOYA, Japan — Tight budgets and the rejection of obvious replacements are likely to push Japan to operate its 201 F-15J and F-15JD Eagle fighters for 30 more years, with major upgrades likely necessary.
