The U.S. Air Force has cleared the F-35A for initial flights at Eglin AFB, Fla., kicking off a process that will eventually lead to airborne pilot training.
LONDON — As the U.K. works on balancing its defense budget between now and 2015, the Defense Ministry’s long-term assumptions will leave room to make program adjustments.
The Air Force’s top officer says that the service’s mistake in selecting Sierra Nevada to build a small fleet of light attack aircraft for Afghanistan is a “profound disappointment.” The service announced it was terminating the $355 million contract to Sierra Nevada and restoring a proposal from Hawker Beechcraft “to the competitive range.” The Air Force disqualified Hawker Beechcraft from the competition in November and awarded the contract for an initial 20 Light Air Support aircraft to Sierra Nevada in December.
The Air Force chief of staff has put a rough estimate on the cost of the Next Generation Bomber – $550 million per copy for up to 100 aircraft. If the total program cost does equal about $55 billion, that would make the bomber a major acquisition program, though it would still be dwarfed by the cost of the Pentagon’s most expensive weapon system, Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. A recent Congressional Research Service report places the cost at $379.4 billion to develop and buy the aircraft.
RADAR RECEIVERS: Raytheon Co. Space and Airborne Systems of Goleta, Calif., has been awarded a $77,267,880 contract modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract to exercise an option to purchase 89 full rate production Lot 14 AN/ALR-67(V)3 radar warning receivers and nine countermeasure signal processor weapons replacement assemblies, the Pentagon announced Feb. 29. The AN/ALR-67(V)3 enhances pilot situational awareness by providing accurate identification, lethality, and azimuth displays of hostile and friendly emitters.
The U.S. Navy is considering a second round of concept studies for the planned Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (Uclass) system, after slipping service entry by two years to 2020 as part of its fiscal 2013 budget request. A solicitation notice posted on Feb. 24 says Naval Air Systems Command (Navair) is “considering the release of a competitive broad area announcement [BAA] for additional studies within the next 30 days.”
Aviation Week NextGenahead Air Transportation Modernization Conference April 23-25, 2012 Washington, D.C. Join leaders for discussions on moving NextGen forward in tough times and maximizing “NowGen” benefits for NextGen advancement. www.aviationweek.com/events/nextgen
LONDON – Cost increases resulting from the U.S. decision to cut near-term F-35 Joint Strike Fighter purchases and defer procurement do not appear to be affecting the U.K.’s budgeting for purchase of its aircraft. “The resultant increases in aircraft costs are currently judged to be within the provision that the [Defense Ministry] has made in the current budget planning round and therefore will not impact upon the introduction into U.K. service in 2020,” the defense minister for equipment, Peter Luff, tells Parliament.
FORT LAUDERDALE – The Army’s Ground Combat Vehicle program has made it clear that the vehicles it is sending to the White Sands Missile Range this spring for “non-developmental” technology assessments are not being considered as replacements for the two technology demonstration vehicles being built by teams being led by BAE Systems and General Dynamics. But the list of vehicles the Army wants to evaluate keeps growing.
Firings of the first of two prototype electromagnetic (EM) railgun launchers have begun as the U.S. Navy moves a step closer to deploying the long-range, high-speed projectile weapon on its warships. The Office of Naval Research is testing the prototype “advanced containment launcher” (ACL), produced by BAE Systems, at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Dahlgren, Va. In April, General Atomics will deliver its ACL prototype to the center for testing. Both railguns will be fired at 20 and 32 megajoules muzzle energy.
The Army was more than happy to talk about its new “Agile Process” acquisition strategy during last week’s Association of the United States Army convention in Florida, trumpeting its ability to evaluate new nondevelopmental technologies in an operational setting at Fort Bliss, Texas, where the service fields an entire brigade of infantrymen whose sole job is to put new gear through the wringer.
Planning for the European Space Agency’s 2019 Lunar Lander mission incorporates three-dimensional imaging lidar technology to steer the spacecraft’s descent through the hazards of the ridge and boulder-filled landscape at the Moon’s south pole. Jena-Optronik, of Germany, and NEPTEC, of Canada, are leading parallel development efforts in low-power, minimal-volume lidar hardware for the hazard detection and avoidance function.
LONDON – The Sentinel R1’s performance in Libya has bought the ground-surveillance system a stay of execution in the U.K., although a firm commitment to retain its capability is not expected until later. Near-term budget decisions, which still need to be finalized, are aimed at ensuring the system remains viable until 2015, Air Vice Marshal Mark Green, the Defense Ministry’s director of information superiority, tells IQPC’s Airborne ISR conference.
State-based leaders of the Air National Guard are starting to fight budget reductions to the reserve force. In a letter to the leaders of the congressional defense committees one day before the top leaders of the Air Force are scheduled to testify before the House Armed Services Committee, the adjutants general want lawmakers to put the brakes on the Air Force’s fiscal 2013 budget request.
Andrew Mellon Auditorium Washington, D.C. March 7, 2012 The Aviation Week Laureate Awards recognize individuals and teams for their extraordinary accomplishments. Their achievements embody the spirit of exploration, innovation and vision that inspire others to strive for significant broad-reaching progress in aviation and aerospace. Join us at this black tie dinner and celebrate the best of the industry’s best!
Aviation Week Events Engine MRO Forum April 2-3, 2012 Dallas, TX Dallas Convention Center Engine MRO comes to North America — the largest engine market!AmericasFree access to the exhibition! Registertoday! www.aviationweek.com/events Click here to view the pdf
The Pentagon and U.S. Navy are navigating a truer course for development of the Presidential VXX Helicopter, but hurdles still remain, a recent Government Accountability Office (GA) report says.
Congress doesn’t read its witnesses Miranda rights before they testify, but past Pentagon statements were certainly used against Air Force leaders during a Feb. 28 hearing. Given that the Air Force has rolled out a list of controversial cuts that gore oxen in congressional districts across the country for its fiscal 2013 budget request, Air Force Secretary Michael Donley and Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz had to expect some heat on Capitol Hill.
EXTENSION: NASA has awarded a contract extension and a pair of options worth a potential $46.6 million to Computer Sciences Corp. of Fort Worth for flight line service, maintenance and modifications of agency aircraft based at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., and Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va. Effective March 1, the accord extends a $162.1 million base contract between NASA and Computer Sciences that became effective Sept. 1, 2009.
Andrew Mellon Auditorium Washington, D.C. March 7, 2012 The Aviation Week Laureate Awards recognize individuals and teams for their extraordinary accomplishments. Their achievements embody the spirit of exploration, innovation and vision that inspire others to strive for significant broad-reaching progress in aviation and aerospace. Join us at this black tie dinner and celebrate the best of the industry’s best! www.aviationweek.com/events/current/lau/index.htm
New Delhi – India has approved a proposal to acquire 18 new aircraft worth more than $1 billion for the indigenous aircraft carrier (IAC) currently being built for the navy. The permission to procure nine Medium Range Maritime Reconnaissance (MRMR) aircraft and limited series production of another nine carrier-borne Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) was granted by the Defense Acquisition Council (DAC) headed by India Defense Minister A. K. Antony late last week, a senior defense official told Aviation Week.
