BUDGET DRAMA: With all the current budget uncertainty in Washington as the deadline for sequestration looms, the White House has delayed the submission of its fiscal 2014 budget. There is little indication at this point when the Obama administration will formally offer its budget to Congress. But last week, the Office of Management and Budget finally submitted budget paperwork to federal agencies; an event that typically happens in December.
The U.S. Army is fielding upgrades to the General Atomics MQ-1C Gray Eagle unmanned aircraft system and improving training in response to the findings of initial operational test and evaluation (IOT&E) last year. Based on the results of 1,090 hr. of IOT&E flying in July/August, the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation’s Beyond Low-Rate Initial Production (LRIP) report concludes the Gray Eagle “has demonstrated its effectiveness and is operationally suitable,” says Col. Timothy Baxter, Army program manager for unmanned air systems (UAS).
NEW DELHI — India has received the first two of 75 Swiss Pilatus PC-7 Mk. II turboprop aircraft purchased to replace its vintage fleet of HPT-32 basic trainers. Flown by Swiss pilots, the two aircraft were received at the Air Force Academy on Feb. 1 in Dundigal near the south Indian city of Hyderabad, a senior Indian air force (IAF) official says. Deliveries will take until August 2015. The IAF is likely to receive at least two aircraft every month, the IAF official says.
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
AIR FORCE Jacobs Technology Inc., Tullahoma, Tenn., (FA8721-13-F-8012) is being awarded a $12,500,000 firm-fixed-price, General Services Administration contract for Engineering and Technology Acquisition Support Services. The location of the performance is Hanscom AFB, Mass. The work is expected to be completed by May 14, 2013. The contracting activity is AFLCMC/PZE, Hanscom AFB, Mass. This award is the result of a sole source acquisition. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2011 through fiscal 2013. Contract involves Foreign Military Sales.
NEW DELHI — India’s first indigenously built light attack helicopter, Rudra, has received its Initial Operational Clearance (IOC), and will be showcased at the upcoming Aero India exposition. The armed version of the Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH), made by state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL), will be delivered to the Indian army at the 9th Aero India show in the Yelahanka air force base in South India. The show begins Feb. 6. IOC was granted by the Center for Military Airworthiness and Certification on Feb. 3.
As across-the-board reductions to federal spending draw closer, the military services are firming up their plans for major reductions in spending and sizing up the one-two punch of sequestration along with the possibility that they may have to continue subsisting on fiscal 2012-level funding in 2013. Not only will the spending cutbacks prompt mass furloughs of Pentagon civilians and potential damage to the industrial base, but they could also cause additional delays and cost increases for Pentagon procurement programs.
AIR FORCE Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co., Sunnyvale, Calif., (FA8810-08-C-0002, P00054) is being awarded a $58,408,979 contract modification for the Space Based Infrared Systems Follow-on Production Program. The location of the performance is Sunnyvale. The work is expected to be completed by April 28, 2016. The contracting activity is SMC/ISK, Los Angeles AFB, Calif. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2013.
A demonstration plant to scale up production of a 100%-biofuel drop-in replacement for use in aircraft is to be built in the U.S. by fuel developer Applied Research Associates (ARA) and biodiesel producer Blue Sun Energy. Biofuels so far approved for use in aircraft are limited to blends of up to 50% with conventional kerosene, but ARA’s ReadiJet can be used unblended. The first civil 100%-biofuel flight was conducted by the National Research Council of Canada in October with a Dassault Falcon 20.
Democrats and Republicans are uniting around the idea of reforming immigration, but one of the obstacles to an agreement will be how to open immigration to highly skilled foreigners without displacing American workers. A proposal in the Senate by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and others currently calls for expanding the H1-B visa process. And President Barack Obama gave the idea support during a speech in Las Vegas on Jan. 29. He talked about top technology companies that were started by immigrants who studied in the U.S.
After a bruising confirmation hearing, all former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) can do now is wait. The White House expects his confirmation to be the next defense secretary will proceed. Going into the hearing, Hagel was likely to be confirmed with mostly Democratic support. That may still be the case, but at this point, Republicans are not ruling out the possibility of imposing a 60-vote threshold on his confirmation—a move that could kill the nomination.
Efforts to clear the hurdles to commercial-scale production of advanced biofuels are focusing on increasing yields from energy crops and reducing the costs of harvesting, transporting and processing the millions of tons of biomass required. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) plans to award $6 million in research contracts to enable delivery of lignocellulosic biomass such as switchgrass, polar and waste wood at the volumes and costs required for commercial-scale biofuel production.
Proposed upgrades for the vaunted U.S. Navy Aegis missile shield for surface ships and abroad bases appear to be progressing as planned, but more testing is needed to gauge program success and address shortcomings, according to recent government and contractor assessments. The Navy and prime contractor Lockheed Martin are now upgrading the DDG destroyer and CG cruiser fleets with advanced Aegis baselines. At the same time, even more advanced Aegis systems—starting with Baseline 9—are being developed.
ARMS CONTROL: After a Senate vote to reject a block on delivery of F-16 aircraft and M1 tanks to Egypt, Sen. Jim Inhofe (Okla.), the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, has introduced a bill that would put conditions on the transfer. The bill would delay transport of the Lockheed Martin jets and General Dynamics tanks until Egypt upholds commitments under the Camp David Accords and provides proper security at U.S. embassies there.
The U.S. Navy’s proposed maintenance cuts could corrode the service’s ability to deploy its surface fleet — literally. The reductions would cut into the proposed ship “availabilities” — shipyard maintenance periods — and the main concerns the Navy needs to address in those periods are sanding, chipping and otherwise cleaning up corrosion on the ships.
The loss of a big Boeing-built Intelsat communications satellite in the first failure of a Sea Launch Zenit rocket since the multinational company emerged from bankruptcy protection is likely to make it more difficult for the equatorial launch provider to regain momentum. The company has no firm missions on its manifest beyond the one that failed Jan. 31, and relies on Russian hardware at a time when the reliability of that country’s launchers has been questioned through quality-control issues.
TAKING FLIGHT: The FAA could begin asking for UAV test site proposals as early as Feb. 4, industry officials say. The FAA was tasked with selecting the six sites by the end of 2012, but the process has been stretched out by privacy concerns. The test sites will help the FAA and industry establish rules, procedures and technologies for flying unmanned aircraft in civilian airspace.
BEIJING — South Korea’s first satellite is communicating with the ground, demonstrating initial functionality following a launch on a KSLV-1 rocket on Jan. 30. To follow the KSLV-1, which matches a South Korean second stage to a first stage based on Russian technology, South Korea aims at developing its own rocket engine of 10 metric tons (22,000 lb.) thrust by 2016 and a 75-ton-thrust engine by 2018, officials tell local media.
LONDON — The U.S. Air Force is deactivating the last Fairchild A-10 Thunderbolt II squadron in Europe. The 81st Fighter Sqdn. based at Spangdahlem AB, Germany, will shut down later this year as part of ongoing defense cuts. According to officials, deactivation became official upon “the termination of the continuing-resolution provision that prohibited the ‘retirement, divestiture, realignment and transfer’ of aircraft.”
