The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps are expected to out-spend each of their sister services roughly two-to-one on Electronic Warfare (EW) programs during the next decade. In a 10-year period starting in fiscal 2008 and ending fiscal 2017 the Navy and Marines have spent or are slated to spend a cumulative total of about $21.9 billion, based on a database provided by Avascent’s 050, an online market analysis toolkit for global defense programs.
Not only are Brazil and other countries interested in F-18s, but foreign militaries also are eyeing some of the console improvements being featured on the latest proposed Super Hornets.
FARNBOROUGH — With politicians not even close to a deal that would avert an automatic $1 trillion reduction in government spending at the start of next year — about half of that targeted at the Pentagon — state and local officials are aggressively courting the commercial aircraft and supply chain business, where the outlook is much brighter.
A U.S. Navy team tested communication software for the Unmanned Combat Air System Carrier Demonstration (UCAS-D) program aboard the aircraft carrier CVN-75 USS Harry S. Truman this month during its sea trials. The UCAS-D program, based at Naval Air Systems Command (Navair) at NAS Patuxent River, Md., is designed to demonstrate the ability of the unmanned, autonomous X-47B UAV to launch from and land safely on an aircraft carrier.
Excalibur Almaz, a human-spaceflight startup based on the Isle of Man that has purchased surplus Soviet-era hardware, plans to position one of its two Almaz 20-ton space stations at the Earth-Moon L2 lagrangian point for commercial operations. In a July 12 announcement, the company said it will refurbish the Almaz with up-to-date life support and other internal hardware, and use Hall thrusters to position it in a halo orbit at L2. The estimated 90-day trip could come as early as 2015, according to Art Dula, the company’s founder.
GRIPEN PARTNERSHIP: Collaboration between Sweden and Switzerland on the new JAS 39E/F version of the Saab Gripen fighter is expected to firm up in August with the signature of a framework agreement between Swiss defense procurement agency Armasuisse and Sweden’s defense export organization. That follows the signature of a ministerial-level letter of intent in Switzerland on June 29. On the same day, Saab hosted a business-to-business meeting to start the process of placing offset work in Switzerland, in advance of a formal development contract that is expected in 2014.
The crewed version of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft has completed primary and secondary safety and operational design review requirements outlined under the company’s Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) Round 2 agreement with NASA, the space agency and Hawthorne, Calif.-based commercial space transportation company announced July 12. The milestone completes nine of 10 requirements spelled out in NASA’s $75 million April 2011 agreement with SpaceX to focus development on an integrated launch abort system.
FARNBOROUGH — Alenia Aermacchi and Alliant Techsystems (ATK) are planning to begin testing the first MC-27J multimission C-27J airlifter — outfitted with a 30mm cannon for the gunship role — this fall. The test campaign comes as the manufacturer works to carve out more market share for the tactical airlifter in the wake of a U.S. Air Force decision earlier this year to walk away from it and shelve brand new hardware owing to budget pressure.
FARNBOROUGH — Europrop International (EPI) is confident that an issue with the TP400 engines that prevented the Airbus A400M from flying at the Farnborough air show will be solved promptly, and will not threaten the military airlifter’s scheduled 2013 entry-into-service. In the days prior to the show, a diagnostic system detected metallic chips in one of the engines on MSN006, the first production-standard A400M appearing at Farnborough. The debris indicated deterioration on one of the unit’s roller bearings, says Europrop president Simon Henley.
NASA’s role in developing new technologies and proving them in space is vital to industrial advances for the public sector, industry executives say. A House Science subcommittee on July 12 heard from four industry executives and NASA’s chief technologist about spin-off success stories from NASA, and what can be done to keep successes in the pipeline.
DARPA DIRECTOR: Pentagon acquisition and technology chief Frank Kendall has appointed Arati Prabhakar as the 20th director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, starting July 30. Prabhakar served a seven-year tour through Darpa starting in 1986, first as a program manager and then director of the Microelectronics Technology Office. In 1993 she was President Bill Clinton’s director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, before heading to Silicon Valley in 1997 to work for industry. Prabhakar received an M.S.E.E. and a Ph.D.
As the U.S. moves to strengthen defenses of digital networks and assets, agreeing on standards for cybersecurity will prove more difficult than reaching a consensus on privacy and information sharing, the head of the U.S. Cyber Command and the National Security Agency (NSA) believes.
FARNBOROUGH — Piaggio is teaming with Saab to develop a new maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) based on a highly modified version of its P.180 Avanti II business aircraft. At the Farnborough air show on July 10, Piaggio Aero announced that it signed a contract with Abu Dhabi Autonomous System Investments, a subsidiary of Tawazun, covering the development of the aircraft and the construction of two prototypes. The first is to fly in 2014.
Virgin Galactic has officially unveiled a low-cost, small satellite launch system that builds on elements of its space tourism development. The LauncherOne system will deliver payloads up to 500 lb. to low Earth orbit, and with a target price of under $10 million per launch, is aimed at dramatically cutting the cost of launching small satellites. Backed by Virgin Galactic’s partner Aabar Investments, the development of the “new vehicle will create a long-awaited shake-up of the satellite launch industry,” Virgin founder Richard Branson says.
As the U.S. Navy continues to search for the root causes of the rare engine issues that led to the April crash of an F/A-18D in Virginia Beach, Va., the service also is looking at changes in training and procedures the brass says likely could avert such future incidents.
FARNBOROUGH — Although Russia’s United Aircraft Corp. (UAC) intends to boost its civil business to 40% of the whole within the next two years, military aviation continues to figure strongly in the strategy being followed by President Mikhail Pogosyan. Speaking at the Farnborough air show this week, Pogosyan noted that of 485 aircraft to be built by UAC member companies in 2012-14, some 60% will be combat aircraft, trainers or military transports.
October 9, 2012 Amsterdam, The Netherlands Repair in New Generation Aircraft: Challenges and Opportunities Lightweight composites will soon rival metals as the primary material for airframes. Are you prepared? Aviation Week’s Aircraft Composite Repair Management Forum will highlight the latest developments, challenges, and best practices in aircraft composite repair and maintenance technology.
FARNBOROUGH — After a long flirtation with the concept of a partnership to offer a foreign fast-jet trainer to the U.S. Air Force as a T-38C replacement, Boeing will forgo an off-the-shelf bid in favor of a new-build design or opt not to bid at all.
FARNBOROUGH — Lockheed Martin has flown a small unmanned aircraft for 48 hr. using laser power beaming as the company works to grow its presence in the UAV market. The test took place in a wind tunnel and involved Lockheed’s hand-launched, battery-powered Stalker UAV and LaserMotive’s power beaming system. Stalker has an endurance of 2 hr. on battery power alone. In 2011, Lockheed flew an “extreme endurance” version able to stay aloft for more than 8 hr. on combined propane fuel-cell and lithium-polymer battery power.
With there no longer being an urgent need to quickly buy and build vastly up-armored vehicles to prowl the terrain in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, the Pentagon is returning to a more customary approach to developing and procuring its ground equipment. A case in point is the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV), a program about to enter its engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) phase.
FARNBOROUGH — Lockheed Martin is touting an export-friendly manned-unmanned teaming capability at the Farnborough air show, hoping to interest the U.K. as it ponders a midlife update for its AgustaWestland/Boeing WAH-64D Apache AH.1s. The VUIT system is based on equipment that was fitted to 48 U.S. Army AH-64Ds and deployed to Iraq to enable the Apaches to receive video from unmanned aircraft and send video to the ground.
