LONDON – Higher-than-expected costs of converting its aircraft carriers to use F-35Cs has forced the U.K. to return to buying the F-35B short takeoff and vertical landing version. The U.K. abandoned the F-35B during the 2010 Strategic Defense & Security Review, arguing the catapult-launch and arrestor gear F-35C was a better fit.
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AVX Aircraft is to study fuel-efficiency improvements for the U.S. Army’s Bell OH-58D Kiowa Warrior armed scout helicopter under a contract awarded via the Vertical Lift Consortium (VLC). The study’s starting point is the Fort Worth-based company’s proposal to upgrade the OH-58D with coaxial rotors and dual ducted-fan propulsors to meet the Army’s Armed Aerial Scout (AAS) requirement.
ROME – The Australian government has opted to buy 10 Alenia Aermacchi C-27Js to meet its tactical transport needs. The aircraft is to replace the Caribou, retired in 2009. The first C-27J is due in Australia in 2015, followed in late 2016 by its initial operating capability. The aircraft will be based at RAAF Richmond.
Los Angeles – U.S. and Australian researchers say a rocket-boosted, hydrocarbon-fueled scramjet was successfully operated for around 12 sec. while accelerating from Mach 6.5 to Mach 8 during a test from the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Hawaii.
The House Armed Services Committee has approved a defense policy bill to authorize $554 billion in Pentagon spending during fiscal 2013 and that keeps in place a requirement for the Pentagon to start work on a new East Coast missile defense site. The bill, which authorizes $88 billion in war funding, also approved an amendment that will follow the House Appropriations Committee in putting a halt on the Air Force’s plan to scale back the Air National Guard with regard to C-130s.
The U.S. Navy is switching its focus on directed-energy weapons from the megawatt-class free-electron laser to less-powerful solid-state lasers, announcing plans to develop and demonstrate a prototype weapon aboard a Navy ship against aerial and small-boat targets. “We believe it’s time to move forward with solid-state lasers and shift the focus from limited demonstrations to weapon prototype development and related technology advancement,” say Peter Morrison, Solid-State Laser Technology Maturation (SSL-TM) program officer.
There are many indicators of House authorizers’ generous wishes for Pentagon spending in fiscal 2013, but the best might be this: $1.7 billion for 11 programs for which the Obama administration did not seek a penny.
ROME – The Italian military is taking another look at how to address its future airborne signals intelligence needs, although a tight budget environment makes it uncertain when a new platform will be fielded. The military is exploring its operational needs and future requirements through the use of an airborne sensor laboratory, says a senior Italian air force officer at the Association of Old Crows/Shephard Electronic Warfare Europe conference.
Boeing is looking ahead to a 2013 critical design review of the U.S. Air Force’s KC-46A refueler after wrapping up a monthlong preliminary design review (PDR) in April. The PDR, which took place March 21-April 27, validated that Boeing ’s design “meets system requirements [and] establishes the basis for proceeding with the detailed design,” according to an Air Force statement.
Hawker Beechcraft (HBC) and the Sierra Nevada Corp. (SNC)/Embraer team competing once again for a contract to supply light-attack aircraft to Afghanistan may both have reasons for concern with the U.S. Air Force’s revised request for proposals. An amended RFP for the Light Air Support (LAS) program was issued on May 4 after the Air Force decided to restage the competition following its decision to terminate the $355 million contract awarded to SNC in December to supply 20 Embraer AT-29 Super Tucanos.
The House Armed Services Committee fended off an amendment that could have withheld half of procurement funding for Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter in fiscal 2013 if it does not deliver to Congress the date the program is to reach an initial operating capability (IOC). Instead, the defense authorization bill being considered by the House will require the Defense Department to provide the IOC date without a penalty.
K-MAX EXTENDED: The deployment of two Lockheed Martin/Kaman K-Max unmanned helicopters in Afghanistan to resupply remote U.S. Marine Corps forward operating bases is to be extended by three months to September. The helicopters began operating in theater in December under the original six-month deployment and have passed a 1 million lb. mark in terms of cargo delivered to two forward bases from the main operating location. The helicopters are also performing unmanned retrograde operations, bringing cargo back from the forward sites.
A follow-up high-tech development program has caught the eye of a leading lawmaker on defense issues eager to ensure that the Pentagon does not resurrect an alternative engine program for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Last year, General Electric finally ceded an epic battle to try to make an engine for the program, leaving the engine made by Pratt & Whitney, whose parent company United Technologies is based in Connecticut, as the last engine standing.
Click here to view the pdf 2013 Defense Authorization Bill, Chairman's Mark: Changes from Request($ in millions) 2013 Defense Authorization Bill, Chairman's Mark: Changes from Request ($ in millions) Service Budget Acct:Line
Military unmanned aerial vehicles are coming to the U.S. National Airspace System (NAS), and House lawmakers want to know how the Defense Department plans to keep up training until new safety regulations allow routine access.
FIRE SCOUT BUY: Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Integrated Systems Sector, San Diego, has been awarded a $25,709,758 contract modification from the U.S. Navy to purchase three Fire Scout vertical takeoff and landing tactical unmanned aerial vehicles and one ground control station, the Defense Department announced May 8. The work will be performed in Moss Point, Miss. and San Diego, and is expected to be completed in December 2013. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command is the contracting activity.
ROME – Function and reliability testing of the Airbus MilitaryA400M airlifter will start about a month late due to concerns with one of the aircraft’s four TP400D turboprop engines.
Washington – House authorizers are determined to fund what the U.S. Air Force said it could not afford in fiscal 2013, putting back nearly $200 million for the C-27 airlift and directing a slowdown on terminating the C-130 avionics upgrade.
