The U.S. Navy wants to design better destroyer bows to make the ships more hydrodynamic. The efforts are meant, among other things, to reduce operational life-cycle costs for the ships, which are becoming the main component of the service’s — and nation’s — ballistic missile defense (BMD) strategy, especially in the international arena. The Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division (NSWCCD) researchers recently completed two weeks of hydrodynamics testing to optimize the size and shape of bow bulbs aboard DDG 51-class ships.
The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) has made progress improving its materiel distribution processes, though there is still room for improvement, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). GAO had previously identified Defense Department supply chain management as a “high-risk area, with materiel distribution as one focus area for improvement.” The congressional auditors have recommended improvements for decades, particularly when it comes to the distribution of materiel to personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan.
LOS ANGELES — Spacecraft component and control system specialist Moog remains on the acquisition trail after completing the purchase of American Pacific Corp.’s In-Space Propulsion (ISP) unit. “Our intent is to move up to providing complete systems, and that’s difficult if you don’t have engines,” says Moog Space and Defense Group President Jay Hennig. The In-Space Propulsion business, which Moog bought for $46 million, makes liquid propulsion systems and parts for satellites and missiles at sites in the U.S. as well as Ireland and the U.K.
BE PATIENT: India says it is still negotiating with France’s Dassault on the Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) program. “The proposal will be considered further after the Contract Negotiations Committee concludes its deliberations and submits its report,” Defense Minister A.K. Antony said in parliament Aug. 8. Dassault is expected to sign the Indian air force’s biggest-ever contract, worth more than $15 billion, to supply 126 Rafale fighters. India intends to induct the first squadron of 18 MMRCAs into its air force by 2016.
ATLANTA — Orbital Sciences Corp. says it is “two to three weeks” away from officially taking possession of the launch pad at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island, Va., which will give the company the green light to complete preparations for the first demonstration flight of its Antares rocket.
LAS VEGAS — Northrop Grumman has completed close-formation flight tests with two RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aircraft as it moves closer to an autonomous high-altitude aerial refueling demonstration for the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) under the KQ-X program. Two NASA-owned Global Hawks completed the flights on June 30, with the receiver ahead of the tanker in a reversal of normal hose-and-drogue aerial refueling.
LAS VEGAS — After flying an unmanned aircraft in a wind tunnel for more than 48 hr. by beaming laser power to the vehicle, Lockheed Martin has conducted outdoor flights to test the concept in an operational environment. The power-beaming system developed by LaserMotive was used with a Stalker hand-launched, electrically powered small UAV produced by Lockheed’s Skunk Works for use by special operations forces. The power system uses a ground-based laser transmitter, lightweight photovoltaic receiver and onboard power management hardware on the UAV.
LAS VEGAS — Boeing is to demonstrate advanced flight controls for the AH-64D Apache and CH-47F Chinook under Phase 2 of the U.S. Army Aviation Applied Technology Directorate’s advanced vehicle management system (AVMS) program. Boeing was selected over AVMS Phase 1 competitor Sikorsky for the $18 million contract, which will cover more than 100 hr. of flight testing in a modified H-6 helicopter as well as the AH-64 and CH-47.
SAO JOSE DOS CAMPOS, Brazil — Indonesia’s government aims to pass a law this year outlining offset and industrial cooperation requirements for foreign defense companies selling equipment to Indonesia. The country’s secretary general of defense, Air Marshal Eris Herryanto, says defense ministry policy already requires that foreign companies provide offsets. However, “we will put it into a bill.” He says the legislation is due to pass parliament this year.
SAO JOSE DOS CAMPOS, Brazil — Indonesia’s defense ministry is impressed with the capabilities of the Boeing AH-64 Apache attack helicopter, but is concerned about the price. The secretary defense of Indonesia, Air Marshal Eris Herryanto, says the ministry is evaluating the merits of ordering the Boeing Apache versus the Eurocopter Tiger. He says the Apache has great capability and is very technologically advanced, but cost is an issue.
The Senate’s defense spending bill takes an $8 billion wartime budget request for procurement and raises it $2.2 billion, using half of that increase to buy more aircraft for the U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force. The rest is for Guard and Reserve equipment. The fiscal 2013 request in the Overseas and Contingency Operations (OCO) budget for Guard equipment was zero, and House appropriators left it there.
Europe’s Meteosat Second Generation-3 spacecraft, launched July 5, has generated the first image of the Earth using its primary instrumentation. The first results from the Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (Seviri) mark a milestone in the six-month commissioning process, the European Space Agency announced Aug. 7.
SAO JOSE DOS CAMPOS, Brazil — Indonesia’s ministry of defense expects that South Korea will buy Indonesian-built CN-235 military transports to satisfy offset requirements relating to Indonesia’s decision to buy T-50 jet trainers from Korean Aerospace Industries (KAI). Indonesia has ordered 16 T-50s, and the first will be delivered next year, according to the Indonesian secretary general of defense, Air Marshal Eris Herryanto.
LAS VEGAS — Small-UAV maker MLB has teamed with industry leader AAI to build and fly a long-endurance, vertical-takeoff-and-landing (VTOL), unmanned aircraft for the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). The company’s tailsitter V-Bat, which combines shrouded-fan VTOL with fixed-wing endurance, has been selected for a Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) award. MLB will build and flight test a version of the vehicle with an 8-ft. wingspan, 10-hr. endurance, 55-lb. gross takeoff weight, and 70-mph cruise speed.
The Pentagon’s newest missile range instrumentation ship — the T-AGM-25 USNS Howard O. Lorenzen, which includes the Cobra Judy Replacement (CJR) radar system — recently started at-sea testing off Port Canaveral, Fla., as part of its yearlong integration and test phase. Lorenzen will replace USNS Observation Island (T-AGM 23) in 2014, whose mission is to provide dual-band radar data in support of ballistic missile treaty verification.
MDA CHIEF: President Obama has nominated U.S. Navy Rear Adm. (lower half) James D. Syring for appointment to the rank of vice admiral and assignment as director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency. Syring is currently serving as program executive officer for Integrated Warfare Systems at Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington. Syring will have to be confirmed by the Senate. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced the nomination Aug. 6.
NEW DELHI — India will penalize foreign military firms that fail to fulfill their defense offset requirements within the set time frame under revised guidelines. According to the amended defense offset policy, the “overall cap on penalty will be 20% of the total offset obligations during the period of the main procurement contract,” a defense official says. But there will be “no cap on penalty” if an international vendor falls short of meeting its obligations within two years of the main procurement contract, he adds.
0The U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif., plans to stage airborne combat with 50 small UAVs on each side by 2015, in an attempt to determine how future air defenses can cope with large numbers of attackers. Timothy Chung, an assistant professor of systems engineering at the school, is the mastermind behind the Aerial Battle Bots project. He argues that when dealing with potential “swarms” of attackers, low-cost defensive drones could be the answer.
