The loitering munition market kicked into high gear last year with the award in September of an initial $4.9 million Army order for AeroVironment Switchblade tube-launched lethal small UASs.
The Senate Armed Services Committee on May 24 passed a defense policy bill authorizing the Pentagon to spend $631.4 billion in fiscal 2013 that follows the House in putting a hold on the U.S. Air Force’s plans to scale back the Air National Guard. “We rejected the Air Force plan, and fully funded the equipment and personnel,” committee Chairman Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) told reporters in a press conference after the committee voted unanimously to approve the legislation.
After months of bedeviling technical challenges and scaling back the scope of work on the Blue Devil II airship project, the U.S. Air Force has finally shot the program down. The service has notified prime contractor MAV6 — a fledgling company managed by two retired general officers — that it must cease work on the program owing to poor performance. Originally envisioned for quick deployment to Afghanistan in February, 18 months after contract award, the program had yet to reach first flight.
U.S. officials are voicing worries about the involvement of Chinese civilian telecommunications companies in military and information warfare programs. Congress has questioned the relationship between Huawei Technologies — which has twice been blocked from buying into U.S. telecommunications companies — and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and the ministry of state security.
LONDON — BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce and Babcock have received a £350 million ($553 million) contract from the U.K. Defense Ministry to press ahead with development of a new nuclear-powered submarine armed with Trident ballistic missiles. London expects the contract to allow the first submarine to replace the Vanguard class to be delivered in 2028. A final decision on building it is not expected to be taken until 2016.
TOULOUSE — With its initial wave of A330-based tankers delivered and the first A400M customer handover nearing, Airbus Military is turning its focus to securing new orders. The A400M is being shown to more customers and talks will begin before year’s end with 10 potential buyers, says Domingo Urena, the head of Airbus Military. But some of those deals will take three-four years to materialize, he acknowledges. The A400M should achieve its civil type certification in July, with military certification to follow in August or September.
MOTOR RUNNING: Alliant Techsystems plans to test a GEM-60 solid rocket motor on May 31 at its test facility in Promontory, Utah. The 60-in.-dia. graphite epoxy motor (GEM) is designed to provide additional thrust to United Launch Alliance Delta IV medium rockets. The 90-sec. “cold motor” test, designed to evaluate performance at low temperatures, will see the motor produce a maximum thrust of 270,000 lb. Test objectives include verification of the motor’s new vectorable nozzle and its insulation.
SPACE SPENDING: As SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft makes its way toward its first rendezvous with the International Space Station, the Sunlight Reporting Group has tallied up the money the Hawthorne, Calif.-based company has spread around on Capitol Hill. SpaceX has spent $4 million lobbying Congress and given more than $800,000 in political contributions since its founding a decade go, the group says. Founder Elon Musk has donated $35,800 to President Barack Obama’s re-election committee, $15,000 to the National Republican Congressional Campaign Committee and $5,000 to Sen.
Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) is zeroing in on an advanced engine technology program to ensure that it is not used to resurrect the “second” engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter that Congress killed last year.
The defense industry supply chain is rife with counterfeit parts and efforts to police them are failing, increasing the risk that such parts could compromise the quality of U.S.-made defense systems, or even offer back doors to cybersnoops, escalating the threat of espionage and intellectual theft.
NASA and the National Space Biomedical Research Institute will distribute $26 million among 29 teams selected to investigate the range of health and performance issues confronting humans during long-duration spaceflight.
HOUSTON — The unpiloted SpaceX Dragon spacecraft sped toward its first encounter with the International Space Station May 23, on the eve of a crucial set of maneuvers and communication exchanges intended to bring the first U.S. commercial resupply ship within a mile and a half of the six-person orbiting science lab.
If the House was displeased by the U.S. Air Force’s plan to scale back the Air National Guard, the Senate is equally annoyed. In fact, one of the top senators on National Guard matters is bothered by the lack of analysis provided by the Air Force to support its Air Guard budget decisions. A May 23 hearing of the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee allowed Guard officials to vent as much as they could publicly about how the active duty Air Force overrode their suggestions on how to trim the budget.
The primary task of the joint Air-Sea Battle concept is “getting shooters to the fight in whatever dimension” they operate, U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Norman Schwartz says.
It is nearly 2-min.-warning time for the U.S. Navy’s competition for the Aegis Combat System Engineering Agent (CSEA), and the general consensus in the defense community is that the service is willing to grasp the opportunity to open up the vaunted program to contractor newcomers.
TOULOUSE — Airbus Military expects to finalize an initial in-service support contract with France for the A400M airlifter soon. Closing negotiations are ongoing to ensure support is available once the first aircraft is delivered around year’s end. Completing those talks “is a matter of some weeks,” says Stephan Miegel, head of the A400M customer services program.
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HOUSTON — SpaceX’s Dragon capsule thundered into orbit atop a Falcon 9 rocket early May 22, marking a successful start in the 10-year-old company’s bid to carry out the first U.S. commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS).
The F-35B conducted its first flight out of Eglin AFB, Fla., May 22, marking one of several steps needed to officially stand up pilot training for the Lockheed Martin stealthy jet there. The first F-35A conventional-takeoff-and-landing aircraft arrived at Eglin in July 2011 and the first B variant, optimized for the Marine Corps’ short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing requirement, arrived in January. Twelve F-35s are now at the base.
