The deadline of Sept. 30, 2015, for integration of unmanned aircraft systems into U.S. civil airspace, set in the new FAA reauthorization bill, is expected to be met using ground-based sense-and-avoid (GBSAA), a Pentagon official says. Using ground radars, GBSAA will allow “routine access” to airspace for unmanned aircraft transiting between their bases and restricted areas used for training, says Steven Pennington, U.S. Air Force director of bases, ranges and airspace.
Singapore – Boeing is busy ensuring its international customers in need can secure U.S. Export Import Bank support, while also keeping an eye on the global economic situation and U.S. defense cuts. The CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, Jim Albaugh, says there is no doubt that the European banks have less liquidity than they once had, but he adds that the Asian banks are coming in to help fill the void.
Special Operations Forces (SOF) could shoulder additional burdens due to the Defense Department’s new global strategies, a recent Congressional Research Service (CRS) report says. The Pentagon’s 2013 budget proposal makes SOF funding a bigger priority, and those forces can use the extra financial attention, according to the CRS report released earlier this month.
Anatoly Perminov, the former director general of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, has downplayed the prospect that Russia will have manned space missions to the Moon.
PARIS – Following a rough year in 2010, France remained the world’s fourth-largest arms exporter last year, behind the U.S., U.K. and Russia, reporting a 25% boost – from €5.1 billion to €6.5 billion – at the end of 2011. The French armaments agency DGA estimates the world’s top four arms exporters account for 90% of the global military export market, although anemic U.S. and European budgets are helping to stimulate the market entry of new players, including China and South Korea.
LOW AWARDS: NASA has picked Teledyne Brown Engineering Inc. and Sierra Lobo Inc. as the 2011 winners of the George M. Low Awards for contractor quality and performance. Teledyne Brown, of Huntsville, Ala., provides support services in science, operations and maintenance, space systems engineering and other areas to Marshall Space Flight Center, and payload and cargo integration to Johnson Space Center.
Chris Scolese will take over as director of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center on March 5, replacing Robert Strain, recently named chief operating officer at Ball Aerospace. Scolese’s NASA-headquarters position as associate administrator will be filled on an acting basis by Robert Lightfoot, currently the director of Marshall Space Flight Center. Gene Goldman, Lightfoot’s deputy, will become acting director of the Alabama center.
BUDGET BALANCE: Widely followed federal contracting analysts at Deltek near Washington think the 2013 fiscal year will be another flat-to-declining budget for most government contractors, with budget cancellations, additions and trims throughout. But they see “promising” growth in demand for contract services, as well as good news for contractors on the turning of the tide over insourcing, the practice of moving full-time positions onto government payrolls. Said Deltek, “This budget carries forward the themes of the last two ...
Washington – A Lockheed Martin-developed advanced foliage-penetration radar has been deployed operationally to South America, as the company expands the sensor’s ability to track moving ground vehicles and people on foot. Mounted under a U.S. Army Hawker Beechcraft C-12, the Tactical Reconnaissance and Counter-concealment-Enabled Radar (Tracer) is being used by Southern Command (SouthCom) to support anti-terrorism and other operations.
AeroVironment has secured another order for its Switchblade loitering munition as it works to expand its small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) business in the face of slowing U.S. orders for its workhorse RQ-11 Raven.
LONDON – The U.K. defense establishment may not be adequately recognizing the threat from space weather or weapons-induced electronic magnetic pulse (EMP), a new parliamentary report suggests. “An appearance is given that the [defense ministry] is unwilling to take these threats seriously,” Parliament’s defense committee says in a report entitled “Developing Threats: Electro-Magnetic Pulses.”
A multinational missile defense program scored two recent votes of confidence from the Pentagon, but Capitol Hill is likely to remain a thorn in the program’s side. Lockheed Martin’s Medium Extended Air Defense System (Meads), being developed by the U.S., Germany and Italy, scored $400.9 million for the program in the Pentagon’s fiscal 2013 budget request. And Defense Secretary Leon Panetta acknowledged the U.S. commitment to invest in another year of developing the system.
LONDON – To bolster Norwegian industry content on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, the Oslo government has set up a funding pool to help companies secure production workshare. The funding program will run from 2012 to 2015 and has a budget of around 50 million Norwegian kronor, or $8.8 million. The Norwegian defense ministry notes that other governments, notably those of Canada and Australia, have created similar funding support mechanisms.
Washington – The U.S. Air Force has scrapped its plan to buy a new helicopter for nuclear missile field support and executive airlift in favor of a cheaper option to use old Marine Corps UH-1N helicopters for the mission. The so-called Common Vertical Lift Support Helicopter (CVLSP) is among the many projects deferred by the Air Force in its fiscal 2013 budget proposal sent to Congress this month amid pressure for the Pentagon to cut spending by $487 billion over the next 10 years.
Houston – Founders of the Scientific Preparatory Academy for Cosmic Explorers, or SPACE, will preview plans for a four-year undergraduate institution structured to prepare a global student body for careers in space development with real-world experience and classroom instruction during a pair of conferences set for May and July. The formative school, which is patterned after the 25-year-old graduate level International Space University, was chartered on the Isle of Man in January.
Bad blood still reins between nuclear scientists and other Energy Department researchers at national laboratories and their Washington bosses, according to a new National Research Council report.
Washington – Avionics and communications specialist Rockwell Collins is expanding its presence in Canada as it bids for an increased role in the country’s defense programs, including the $33 billion National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy (NSPS) to re-equip the navy and coast guard. “We have some presence with the Department of National Defense [DND] on almost every platform, but we are looking to grow our business,” says Lee Obst, newly appoint managing director for Rockwell Collins in Canada.
