LONDON – The Future Anti-Surface Tactical Missile that is being considered by France and the U.K. as a collaborative development program would have both helicopter and attack aircraft roles.
The U.S. strategy to reorient its forces to the Western Pacific Ocean is coming under pressure from financial, force structure, personnel and technology changes. For example, greatly desired, high-reliability, long-range active, electronically scanned array (AESA) radars installed in the Air Force and Navy’s best warplanes – including the F-22, F-35 and EA-18G – are vulnerable to cyberattack.
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 Click here to view the pdf
Palo Alto, Calif. – Virgin Galactic will be able to offer the potential of a “seamless” transition for scientists doing long-term microgravity experiments on the International Space Station and short-term suborbital flights aboard Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo under an agreement with NanoRacks.
Efforts to commercialize algae-derived renewable fuels are to receive a $14 million boost from the U.S. Energy Department, which aims to fund projects to improve the sustainability and accelerate the availability of algal-based biofuels. The Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) is seeking proposals from small businesses, universities and national laboratories to modify existing facilities into long-term testbeds for new production processes to commercialize algal biofuels.
Houston – NASA’s emerging plans to consolidate “arc jet” testing of spacecraft thermal protection systems at Ames Research Center at Moffet Field, Calif., by closing a 46-year-old facility at Johnson Space Center in Houston are drawing protests from Texas lawmakers, who believe a dual capability is essential to the nation’s efforts to develop future commercial as well as government piloted and robotic spacecraft.
Hawker Beechcraft has welcomed the U.S. Air Force’s Feb. 28 decision to cancel Sierra Nevada Corp.’s $355 million contract to supply Embraer Super Tucanos for the Afghan air force, but whether the competition will be restaged remains unclear. Although Hawker Beechcraft (HBC) says the service has reinstated the company “to the competitive range” under the Light Air Support (LAS) procurement, the Air Force says no decision has been made on whether to restage the competition.
LONDON – Having declared an initial operating capability with the Lockheed Martin AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile in December, the Royal Australian Air Force is planning to reach full operating capability this year. The operational status is a sharp turnaround for the missile program that, in 2010, was added to Australia’s name-and-shame “Projects of Concern” list, before being removed late last year.
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
SLEP: L-3 Unidyne Inc. of Norfolk, Va., has been awarded a $31,395,509 contract modification for the Service Life Extension Program of four landing craft, air cushioned craft, the Pentagon announced Feb. 27. The LCAC SLEP will extend the service life of LCAC from 20 to 30 years; sustain/enhance craft capability; replace obsolete electronics; repair corrosion damage; reduce life-cycle cost by improving reliability and maintainability; increase survivability; and establish a common configuration baseline.
LONDON – Global arms sales continued to increase, but only at 1% real growth, in the latest figures published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri). The figures, reflecting 2010 data, show total sales of military arms and services of $411.1 billion. One of the main trends is “a continuing increase in the sales of military services – including systems support, training, logistics, and maintenance, repair and overhaul,” Sipri notes.
Leading senators on defense matters are divided over the issue of whether to provide weapons to those fighting against the government of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) argue that it is time for the U.S. to lead other nations in aiding the fight against the Syrian government, including providing weapons and financing to the Syrian people.
The U.S. Navy recently awarded Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Newport News Shipbuilding division a $383 million contract option to continue planning work for the refueling complex overhaul (RCOH) of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, underscoring the Defense Department’s carrier investment plan. If all contract options are exercised, the cost-plus-fixed-fee, level-of-effort for CVN-72 could reach $678 million.
FORT LAUDERDALE – Spend a little time around Army acquisition staffers these days and you’ll hear the term repeated again and again: the Agile Process. Unlike some of its more obtuse cousins, however, this latest bit of Pentagonese is actually pretty easy to wrap your head around. Once the Army identifies a capability gap that it decides it needs filled, it kicks off the acquisition process by first sitting down with industry to determine what mature capabilities they already have that might fit the bill.
LONDON – Ultra Electronics is continuing its search for acquisition opportunities as the defense and aerospace supplier looks to tap growth areas in the declining U.S. and U.K. defense markets. The focus on high-end, niche capabilities is largely behind the company’s ability to deliver organic revenue growth of 2% – overall revenue was up 3% to £731.7 million ($1.16 billion).
Singapore – Thailand’s air force is seeking to buy search-and-rescue helicopters to replace its aging Bell UH-1s. The air force is expected to issue a request for proposals (RFP) next week, initially for four helicopters, says a report in The Bangkok Post. The service eventually plans to order a total of 16.
A new open avionics standard developed by a government-industry consortium has been boosted by U.S. Army plans to develop open architectures for aircraft survivability systems and future vertical-lift aircraft. The Army Aviation and Missile Research Development and Engineering Center (AMRDEC) has released a request for information to develop a prototype avionics platform based on the Future Airborne Capabilities Environment (FACE) standard published in January.
