AIR FORCE Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems, Linthicum Heights, Md. is being awarded an $87.8 million dollar firm fixed price contract a Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program which will provide an AN/APG- 68 (V) 9 radar systems for the Royal Thai Air Force (6), the Republic of Iraq (22) and the Royal Air Force of Oman (15) for a total of 43 radar systems. The location of the performance is Linthicum Heights. The work is expected to be completed by March 31, 2015. ASC/WWMK, Wright Patterson AFB, Ohio is the contracting activity (FA8615-12-C-6047).
NEW DELHI — India expects to induct its first Scorpene submarine beginning in 2015, three years behind the original schedule. All six submarines will be in service by 2018 at a revised cost of 235.62 billion rupees ($4.7 billion), nearly a 50-billion-rupee increase from the originally approved cost of 187.98 billion rupees, Defense Minister A.K. Antony tells the lower house of the Indian Parliament.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) new plan for acquiring border surveillance technology looks strikingly like the U.S. Army’s new acquisition plan: define capability gaps and then put the word out to industry to see what mature technologies exist that might fit the bill.
LONDON — The Australian government expects its plans to field a sixth Boeing C-17 will double the number of operational airlifters available for overseas duty to four from two.
While the U.S. Marine Corps and Special Operations Forces (SOF) are touting the operational performance thus far of the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor, recent upgrades are making the aircraft even better, according to a recent report from the Pentagon’s Director of Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E). Marine and SOF brass told Congress the Ospreys were performing at least as well as advertised in recent budget testimony meant to persuade lawmakers to keep or augment modernization and procurement funding as multiyear contracting draws to a close.
The Obama administration is re-emphasizing the U.S. focus on Asia in general and China’s growing military power in particular, in part through the new Air-Sea Battle concept. The refocused U.S. interest includes expanding alliances and the development of India as a strategic partner. Now Air-Sea Battle has become a priority for Chinese intelligence, some U.S. analysts say.
NEW DELHI — India plans to establish nine defense projects, including a surface-to-air missile (SAM) facility, with an investment of 70 billion rupees ($1.4 billion) in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. The SAM project is being built by state-run defense unit Bharat Dynamics Ltd. (BDL) at Ibrahimpatnam in Ranga Reddy district, near the state capital of Hyderabad. The site is likely to become operational in the next three years.
Even in this dismal fiscal environment, some businesses can thrive, says an executive at Modus Operandi, a software and information integration technology company. To stay alive at a time when the Pentagon stands to lose up to $1 trillion over the next decade, small businesses like Modus Operandi need to have a plan, says George Eanes, vice president of technology transition, who adds that the company aims to grow by 30% this year and even more the following year.
LONDON — China’s role in the global arms trade is changing, with a shift to becoming an exporter rather than a major importer of weapons, according to new figures from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri).
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) Mar. 19 - 21 — International Academy of Astronautics/American Astronautical Society's Conference on Dynamics & Control of Space Systems, Hotel Ipanema, Porto, Portugal. For more information go to www.astrodynamics.org.pt Mar. 19 - 22 — Introduction to Aeronautics, National Institute of Aerospace, Hampton, Va. For more information call (970) 887-3155 or go to www.practicalaero.com
BARCELONA, Spain — French researchers hope to complete a number of qualification tests over the coming months to clear the way for the start of hypersonic flight trials beginning late next year.
STRANGE BEDFELLOWS: Florida’s longtime Democratic senator and two recent tea party additions to the state’s congressional delegation are teaming to have the Space Coast designated a special zone in need of extra government assistance. The would-be Shuttle Workforce Revitalization Act, cosponsored by Sens. Bill Nelson (D) and Marco Rubio (R), looks to designate Brevard County as a “historically underutilized business zone,” or HUBZone. The designation gives small businesses in areas deemed economically challenged preference when the government doles out contracts.
The stealthy F-35 Joint Strike Fighter — as well as other advanced aircraft and ships — have a newly emerging vulnerability. Their continual, wide-angle field-of-view radars can be attacked with cyberweapons. Such electronic invasion devices form data-beams packed with malware and direct them into a target radar’s antenna. They are being developed in the Asia-Pacific region by several nations, particularly China, specifically to electronically attack, jam, invade and exploit high-value airborne targets, according to U.S. electronic warfare (EW) specialists.
SERVICE COMPETITION: According to the Government Accountability Office, in fiscal 2011, the competition rate for Pentagon dollars obligated on contracts and task orders for non-research and development services was 78% versus for 41% for products. The R&D services competition rate was 59%. A Defense Department procurement official explained that non-R&D services may be more commercial in nature than products, so there are more providers available to compete.
Jilted by NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) has decided to press ahead with its ExoMars program in partnership with the Russian space agency Roscosmos, which plans to contribute Proton launch vehicles and a new entry, descent and landing system to the ambitious two-pronged Mars mission in 2016 and 2018. Russia’s arrival as the savior of ExoMars is not without cost, however, as ESA now will have to fund development of a rover for the 2018 mission that NASA had previously planned to share.
BARCELONA, Spain — Thales is readying for the first flight trials of its Dual-Mode Airborne Seeker (Dumas), with the goal of validating the technology in the coming months before embarking upon a more extensive program later this year. An initial series of flights will focus on demonstrating the basic functionality of Dumas, which combines an imaging infrared sensor for wide-area search with a laser radar for target detection and identification. The lidar image will be used by automatic target-recognition algorithms.
After Lockheed Martin completes flights of the flying-wing X-56A for the U.S. Air Force, NASA plans to use the experimental unmanned aircraft to develop active control systems for slender, flexible wings on future, highly efficient transport aircraft. Transfer of the aircraft from the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is expected around the end of the year, with NASA flights planned to begin by the end of 2013, following development of a new research flight-control system, says NASA Dryden Flight Research Center engineer Starr Ginn.
Lockheed Martin is preparing for the first flight test of a low-cost interceptor designed to counter rocket, artillery and mortar threats. The control test vehicle flight, planned for May, is to be followed in late summer by the first intercept test. The vertical-launched missile is being developed under the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center’s Extended Area Protection and Survivability (EAPS) science and technology program.
NEW DELHI — Mirroring China’s military buildup, India is raising its defense spending by 13% to 1.93 trillion rupees ($38.6 billion) to fast-track the modernization of its armed forces. In real terms, the boost in defense allocation amounts to 224.7 billion rupees over the revised estimates of 1.71 trillion rupees for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2012. Discounting this increase of 65.22 billion rupees, the hike comes to 17.6% over the 1.64 trillion rupees originally allocated.
NEW DELHI — India’s budget for space projects will see a slight increase of just over 1% for the 2012/2013 fiscal year, as the country’s space agency prepares human spaceflight missions and readies its long-awaited Geostationary Launch Vehicle (GSLV) Mk. III, designed to make India self-reliant in boosting heavier communication satellites.
BARCELONA, Spain — The German defense ministry is considering an upgrade of the Taurus cruise missile currently operational on its Tornado fighter. A key element of the upgrade would be a data link to allow the missile to provide battle damage information, and possibly inflight retargeting, also providing an anti-ship capability to the weapon. The full scope of the upgrade package has not been set, however.
