HEAVY VEHICLES: The U.S. Army has awarded Oshkosh Defense a bridge contract to continue production and support of the Family of Heavy Tactical Vehicles (FHTV) through 2014. The Oshkosh FHTV includes the Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck (HEMTT), Heavy Equipment Transporter and Palletized Load System (PLS). The first $11 million order under the bridge contract was awarded Dec. 21, and includes more than 20 HEMTT Light Equipment Transporters, more than 10 PLS A1 trucks and more than 10 PLS A1 trailers.
The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is dropping down the operational ladder a rung or two as the platform of greatest interest for the Next-Generation Jammer (NGJ). The initial plan of making the F-35 — probably the Marine Corps B-mode — an early user of the NGJ is being de-emphasized in favor of a more intense focus on the EA-18G Growler as the initial platform for a fully-funded airborne electronic attack (AEA) program, followed by the jammer’s adaptation to both stealthy and nonstealthy unmanned aircraft designs.
LightSquared has rejected as rigged government testing of the potential for its L-band wireless network to interfere with GPS satellite signals, and vows to fight its case in court, if necessary.
The U.S. — long the global leader in support of science and technology R&D — is not yet in danger of being displaced from the top spot by any single nation, but the center of gravity is clearly shifting toward Asia. In its latest annual “Science and Engineering Indicators 2012” report, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) says 10 Asian nations — China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand — taken together, have edged past the U.S. in R&D.
While the U.S. Navy’s LHA-6 Amphibious Assault Ship being built by Huntington Ingalls Industries will likely meet most of its key performance parameters, the ship has some potential blind spots, according to the latest annual report from the Pentagon’s Director of Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E).
While the Aegis Combat System is proving efficient for missile defense, efforts to further develop and improve the equipment are experiencing a bumpy ride. Recent program briefings and the just-released annual report from the Pentagon’s Director of Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E) highlight the mostly successful Aegis efforts. The DOT&E report in particular shows that while the Aegis system’s aim has been mostly true thus far, it’s not a bull’s-eye every time.
Space Exploration Technologies Inc. (SpaceX) won’t be ready to fly its first mission to the International Space Station on Feb. 7 as planned, and may run into an upcoming space traffic jam in March that could delay a doubled NASA payout for the consolidated flight.
John Young, who took over as the CEO of Alenia North America in June 2010, has left the company, and a new top officer is evidently waiting in the wings. A company official says an announcement on a new CEO is forthcoming as soon as next week.
BORDER SURVEILLANCE: Thales, working with Spanish firm Aerovision, has demonstrated the Fulmar UAV system to Frontex, the European agency trying to coordinate border control. Fulmar weighs 19 kg (42 lb.), has an operating ceiling of 3,000 meters, and 8 hr. of endurance, the company says. The system was recently demonstrated during a Frontex trial at the Greek Aktio air base. Several other systems were also on hand.
PARIS — After more than two months stuck circling in low Earth orbit, Russia’s Phobos-Grunt spacecraft ceased to exist on Jan. 15, according to the Russian space agency Roscosmos, though details of the unmanned probe’s atmospheric re-entry remain unknown. Russian space and intelligence forces indicated the failed Mars sample-return mission disappeared over the Pacific Ocean at 17:45 GMT on Jan. 15, Roscosmos said in a statement posted on the agency’s website the following day.
AIR FORCE Boeing Satellite Systems Inc., El Segundo, Calif., is being awarded a $376,523,860 firm-fixed-price contract for the modification of the Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) Block II follow-on contract. This contract exercises the option to produce, process, launch, and activate on-orbit Satellite Vehicle 9 as previously negotiated. The location of the performance is Fort Worth. The work is expected to be completed by May 2013. SMC/PKJW, El Segundo, Calif., is the contracting activity (FA8808-10-C-001/P00020).
Feb. 14-16, 2012 Arlington, VA Shedding light on DoD’s future spending priorities and important technology areas! Hear from senior service leaders on what the customer wants and how requirements are shifting. For more information and to register visit www.aviationweek.com/events/dtar. Click here to view the pdf
After a review of the latest round of tests of the GPS interference potential of LightSquared’s proposed wireless network, the National Space-Based Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) Executive Committee has determined that “both LightSquared’s original and modified [plans] would cause harmful interference to many GPS receivers.”
Iran’s military ambitions mean that the U.S. is going to need more aircraft with stealth and more range, a new defense study argues, because access to nearby bases in the region can no longer be taken for granted. On Jan. 17, the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA) released its study, “Outside In: Operating from Range to Defeat Iran’s Ant-Access and Area-Denial Threats,” which outlines an “operational concept” to deal with the time when Iran could advance what military strategists call “Anti-access/Area denial” (A2/AD) in the Persian Gulf.
Pentagon officials are working to improve the fuze on the Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP), the largest conventional munition in the U.S. Air Force arsenal. The MOP project began in response to an urgent need in 2003 for a capability to penetrate deeper than with any current U.S. munition; at the time, U.S. forces were early in their Iraq campaign.
In the latest annual report from the Pentagon’s Director of Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E), the U.S. Air Force ranks last among the services in testing performance, with a mere 27% of programs reviewed meeting their reliabiliity thresholds. DOT&E chief J. Michael Gilmore writes that of the 311 Major Defense Acquisition Programs that his office scrutinized in fiscal 2011, 67 experienced either significant delays and/or Nunn-McCurdy breaches, with thirty-six actually breaching Nunn-McCurdy cost-growth caps.
AIR FORCE Lockheed Martin Corp., Space System Co., Newton, Pa., is being awarded a $238,489,236 cost-plus-incentive-fee with award fee contract for exercise option contract line item number 0016 to begin production of GPS III Space Vehicles three and four. The location of the performance is Newtown, Pa. Work is expected to be completed by Jan. 24, 2016. SMC/GPK, El Segundo, Calif., is the contracting activity (FA8807-08-C-0010).
While the Pentagon has made some progress in developing a procurement and operational plan for dealing with changes in the Arctic climate, more needs to be done, a recent U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report says.
To retain and maintain its strength in the Pacific as China grows as a naval force, the U.S. needs to augment its naval fleet size, a noted think tank asserts. The current stated objective U.S. Navy fleet size is 313 and current budget cuts threaten to slice that number. The U.S. will need more ships, the Center for a New American Security says in its January report.
