The U.S. Office of Naval Research (ONR) is seeking proposals to develop an affordable solid-state laser weapon prototype for Navy ships. The service’s broad agency announcement (BAA), released this week, is part of a continued Navy effort to develop and deploy laser weapons aboard its ships — one that has been hampered by vessel size and weight limitations, coupled with the lasers’ enormous power needs.
Click here to view the pdf Australian Submarine Spending Australian Submarine Spending 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 Totals Annual Fiscal Totals $30,700
GREEN FUEL: NASA has picked Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. of Boulder, Colo., to lead an orbital demonstration of a “green” spacecraft propellant alternative to hydrazine. While an efficient and storable propellant, hydrazine is highly corrosive and toxic. The team will develop and fly a high-performance green propellant, demonstrating and proving the performance of the integrated propulsion system. The agency’s Green Propellant Infusion Mission is expected to fly in about three years.
With Australia on course to replace its Collins-class submarines, the country is looking to significantly increase spending on sub programs through the mid part of this decade, according to analysis and data provided by Avascent 050, an online market analysis toolkit for global defense programs.
LAS VEGAS — With the prospect of unmanned aircraft owned by one country flying through airspace controlled by another, as manned aircraft routinely do today, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is working to develop global standards for their certification and operation. The first package of standards for what ICAO calls remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) will become applicable on Nov. 15. “This is the tip of a complete regulatory framework,” says Leslie Cary, secretary of ICAO’s unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) study group.
The U.S. Air Force has to do a better job of organizing, funding and fielding its intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) programs, according to a National Research Council (NRC) panel. “The responsibility for evaluating and informing decisions about Air Force ISR capabilities is diffuse, overly personnel-intensive, and divided among many organizations, resulting in an excessively lengthy process,” the NRC says in its report, released earlier this month.
LAS VEGAS — Sensing the market is ready, Protonex Technology has introduced a commercial fuel-cell power system for long-endurance unmanned aircraft and ground vehicles. The UAV-H500 proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell runs on compressed hydrogen and is a variant of the unit that powered the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory’s (NRL) Ion Tiger unmanned aircraft to a flight endurance record of more than 26 hr.
When it comes to defense spending, plans presented by presidential hopeful Mitt Romney and his new running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), diverge in ways that typify an ongoing rift within the Republican Party.
A control fin that had functioned correctly on two previous flights malfunctioned on the Aug. 14 third flight of the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory’s (AFRL) Boeing X-51A Waverider, causing the hypersonic demonstrator to lose control before its scramjet engine could be ignited.
RUSSIAN LOSSES: A botched Russian launch junked two multimillion-dollar satellites last week that were to provide Indonesia and Russia with telecommunication services, adding to a series of failures that have dogged its space industry. Reuters reported that Russia’s space agency acknowledged the Aug. 7 failure of the upper stage of the launcher atop its workhorse Proton rocket. The error after takeoff from the Russian-leased Baikonur launch pad in Kazakhstan replicates a mishap that scrapped the $265 million Express AM-4 satellite last summer.
LOS ANGELES — NASA is on track to move the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity rover for the first time on the red planet’s surface around the middle of next week, according to controllers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab in California. Preparations for the move come midway through Sol 9 on Mars (Aug. 14), as the MSL team nears the halfway point in the lengthy process of checking out and commissioning the rover’s 10 major science instruments and other avionics and mechanical systems.
TANKER TANKS: Embraer Defense and Security has awarded Cobham a $30 million contract to develop and supply the auxiliary fuselage fuel tank (AFFT) for the KC-390 tanker aircraft. Cobham’s AFFT will help increase the aircraft’s range for search and rescue operations and maximize fuel offload for air-to-air refueling, the company says. The Brazilian air force is the launch customer for the KC-390, which is scheduled to enter service in 2015.
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Lockheed Martin is planning to boost the production rate of its Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (Thaad) interceptors owing to an agreement between the Pentagon and the United Arab Emirates to bundle their buys. The company currently produces three-four Thaad interceptors monthly for the U.S. Lockheed recently delivered the 50th Thaad missile to the U.S. Army to round out the magazine for its first two Thaad batteries, says Mat Joyce, the program’s vice president.
NEW DLEHI — British military firm BAE Systems will pay £6.5 million ($10 million) in damages to India for supplying defective components and fixtures for Hawk Mk-132 advanced jet trainers to state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL), which delayed delivery of the aircraft to the Indian air force (IAF).
As efforts to introduce routine UAV operations into the U.S. National Airspace System gain momentum, work is progressing to make the system safer and more secure from potential hacking, according to FAA and industry officials.
LAS VEGAS — Northrop Grumman’s ZPY-1 STARLite radar is being prepared for flight testing on the U.S. Army’s AAI RQ-7B Shadow, giving the tactical unmanned aircraft system (UAS) an ability to track people on foot through weather. The STARLite is deployed on Army Persistent Threat Detection System surveillance aerostats protecting bases in Afghanistan and is in production to equip the service’s General Atomics Aeronautical Systems MQ-1C Gray Eagle medium-altitude UAS.
TEL AVIV — Israel’s unmet aerial refueling requirements are being highlighted as the country mulls possible air strikes against Iranian nuclear sites, and although a U.S. offer of surplus KC-135s would help, it is not a long-term solution.
LAS VEGAS — Boeing subsidiary Insitu is field-testing improved sensors for its ScanEagle as more capable payloads become available for small unmanned aircraft systems (SUAS). The 44-lb. ScanEagle normally flies with either an electro-optical (EO) or infrared (IR) turret, but Insitu is flight testing a sensor that combines the current EO camera with a mid-wave infrared (MWIR) imager.
