With the upcoming widening of the Panama Canal catching the attention of the U.S. Navy brass—particularly Adm. Jonathan Greenert, the chief of naval operations—the annual regional exercise featuring the U.S. and its Latin American partners is taking on greater importance. This year’s Panamax-12 exercise, which wrapped up earlier this month, attracted even more attention with the debut of the Combined Enterprise Regional Information Exchange System (Centrixs) command-and-control suite, a first for the Southern Command (Southcom) area of responsibility (AOR).
TEL AVIV — Following its withdrawals from South Lebanon, Gaza and some of the West Bank, Israel must stretch its intelligence-gathering to leverage new technological capabilities that partly offset the loss of traditional human intelligence (humint). All of Israel’s top-tier defense companies are involved in this national effort, including Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), Elbit Systems and Rafael, as well as smaller companies specializing in sensor development, data fusion, information access and retrieval.
Eighty percent of likely voters in swing states believe that politicians in Washington should find a way to block potential across-the-board budget cuts that could take place in January, according to a Harris Interactive poll commissioned by the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA). But 66% percent of those voters were only somewhat or not at all aware of the measure known as sequestration—the self-imposed congressional penalty for failing to reach an agreement to reduce the deficit that set the $1 trillion in federal budget cuts in motion.
LOS ANGELES — NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover has returned images to Earth of Martian geological features that are completely “unexpected,” according to mission scientists at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif.
TALKING NEXTGEN: The FAA has awarded Harris Corp. a 15-year, $291 million contract to provide a secure voice communications network for U.S. air traffic control facilities as part of the NextGen air transportation system. Company officials expect that the program will proceed despite budget uncertainty on Capitol Hill. The system will replace the FAA’s 40-year old system of voice switches with one based on Internet Protocols that will support communications between air traffic controllers on the ground as well as from pilots in the aircraft to controllers on the ground.
BERLIN — A Michigan lab is exploring an idea for generating energy from low-frequency ambient sound using tiny ceramic piezoelectric generators — a concept of interest to military planners looking for ever-smaller, cheaper and more durable power sources for sensors. Researchers at the University of Michigan Center for Wireless Integrated Microsystems plan to publish a scheme for a low-frequency-powered ceramic piezoelectric generator in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems.
As the U.S. Navy targets greater ballistic missile defense (BMD) roles for its ships, radars and other assets, some in the submarine community are trying to generate interest in using undersea platforms for those missions.
Opponents of a controversial plan for the U.S.’s first offshore wind farm, in Nantucket Sound near Massachusetts, say they will appeal the FAA’s determination that the 130-turbine project does not pose a threat to air navigation. The FAA determined the proposed Cape Wind project would not interfere with three radar sites used for air traffic control within the Nantucket Sound area because the turbines will be beyond 2.4 nm from the radars.
MOSCOW — Sukhoi’s T-50 fifth-generation fighter prototype has undergone its first inflight refueling approach trials. According to Sukhoi, during a single flight earlier this month, the second flight prototype, T-50-2, accompanied by an Su-25UB aircraft, made nine contacts with an Ilyushin Il-78 flying tanker piloted by the Russian air force’s regular crew.
Unmanned surface vessels are proving to be quite capable hunters and destroyers of mines in recent tests and large-scale U.S. Navy exercises like Trident Warrior. Undersea mine protection has become a major mission concern for the Navy, especially as it operates in congested and dangerous waterways in the Middle East.
Sweden plans to buy 40-60 Saab JAS 39E/F fighters after reaching agreement on the joint development, acquisition and operation of the next-generation Gripen with Switzerland, which plans to buy 22. Initial operational capability is scheduled for 2023, and Swedish Defense Minister Karin Enstrom says the estimated life-cycle cost over 30 years for the new Gripen fleet will be SEK90 billion ($13.6 billion).
U.S. Air Force General Atomics Aeronautical Systems of San Diego, Calif. (FA8620-10-G-3038 0013) is being awarded an $87,338,761 firm fixed price, cost plus fixed fee contract for MQ-9 Reaper FY10/11 retrofit kits and installations for up to 80 aircraft. The location of performance is San Diego, Calif. Work is to be completed by August 17, 2016. The contracting activity is AFLCMC/WIIK, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio.
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U.S. AIR FORCE Raytheon Co., Missile Systems, Tucson, Ariz. (FA8682-12-C-0002) is being awarded $81,839,791 firm-fixed price contract for Miniature Air Launched Decoy Jammers. Work is to be completed by Aug. 31, 2014. The contracting activity is AFLCMC/EBJM of Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. U.S. NAVY
NEW DELHI — The Indian air force (IAF) will start taking deliveries of Swiss Pilatus PC-7 MK II turboprop aircraft beginning in February 2013. Deliveries of the 75 trainer aircraft will last until August 2015, Defense Minister A.K. Antony told the Indian parliament. The contract, signed in May, is worth more than 500 million Swiss francs ($520 million). It also covers an integrated, ground-based training system and a comprehensive logistics support package.
Raytheon officials are preparing for the second guided-test-vehicle flight of the developmental Small Diameter Bomb II after a successful, albeit delayed, first shot in July.
CYBERSECURITY REQUIRED: The Pentagon, NASA and the General Services Administration are proposing a new contracting requirement for the “basic safeguarding of contractor information systems that contain information provided by or generated for the government.” The proposal was announced Aug. 24 in the Federal Register; comments can be submitted at Regulations.gov through Oct. 23.
Click here to view the pdf Fiscal 2013 Senate Defense Appropriations Markup ($ in thousands) Fiscal 2013 Senate Defense Appropriations Markup ($ in thousands) Line Description Request SAC %
