HOUSTON — The U.S. is preparing to launch a developmental spacecraft designed to preview a long-delayed network of satellites for weather forecasting, storm tracking and climate-change studies.
NEW DELHI — Still recovering from repeated failures of its heavy-lift Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) in 2010, the Indian Space Research Organization is eyeing the next flight of the vehicle in 2012. “We have a major task ahead of us ... [the] development and perfection of [the] indigenous cryogenic stage,” ISRO Chairman K. Radhakrishnan says. “We are making good progress and we plan to have the next flight of GSLV ... in the second quarter of 2012.”
Operating AAI RQ-7B Shadow unmanned aircraft systems alongside Bell OH-58D Kiowa Warrior armed scout helicopters as part of a “full-spectrum” combat aviation brigade could lead the U.S. Army to revisit its stance on arming the tactical UAS.
Industry says it is ready to respond if the U.S. Army proceeds with plans for flight evaluations, as early as April next year, of potential off-the-shelf replacements for its Bell OH-58 Kiowa Warrior armed scout helicopter. Announcement of plans for a flight demonstration came as a surprise to manufacturers, who were waiting for the Army to release the results of a two-phase analysis of alternatives (AoA) for its Armed Aerial Scout (AAS) requirement.
More than 90 teams have registered to compete in the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (Darpa) UAVforge “global crowd-sourcing competition” to design and fly a small, vertical-takeoff-and-landing (VTOL), perch-and-stare unmanned aircraft. Videos of the concepts are appearing on the uavforge.net website as the competition nears its first milestone.
Pentagon weapons programs and operating costs will bear the brunt of military spending cuts aimed at reining in the federal deficit, the U.S. defense secretary says. In an Oct. 11 speech at the Woodrow Wilson Center, Leon Panetta said modernization and operations will be the “largest area” of change and vowed to scrub every program, contract and facility for savings. But his address provided no details about which programs the Pentagon’s ongoing review of spending might wipe away.
The U.S. Navy’s recent cancellation of a contract with ship repair contractor Earl Industries of Portsmouth, Va., won’t bar the company from future Navy competitions, according to Naval Sea Systems Command (Navsea), but the company’s past performance will be considered in future source selections.
The U.S. Army’s main priority for the upgrade of its ground vehicle fleet is still the Ground Combat Vehicle, but its number two choice might come as a surprise — the M113 infantry carrier replacement, also known as the Armored Multipurpose Vehicle (AMPV).
GENOA, Italy — The fate of Lockheed Martin’s Medium Extended Air Defense System (Meads) is far from assured, but the chances it will at least persist through its development phase are increasing. One decisive event is the upcoming flight test, the first of a planned series of three. After integration and testing at Pratica di Mare in Italy, and then at Lockheed Martin facilities in Dallas, the Meads battery was moved to White Sands, N.M., in preparation for the Nov. 17 test.
The U.S. Army is looking for “heavy and intense industry involvement” in its biannual testing program at Fort Bliss, Texas, known as the Network Integration Evaluation (NIE), according to Col. John Morrison, director of LandWarNet. The next round of testing is slated to begin at the end of this month, and will be focused on WIN-T (Warfighter Information Network-Tactical) network integration, which provides network integration down to the company level, Morrison said at the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual convention in Washington.
LONDON — The U.K. may establish a regulatory body to oversee sole-source defense procurements, although details of the changes will remain open for responses from industry and other interested parties until Jan. 6. The move to revise sole-source contracting rules is one of several reform efforts under way at the British defense ministry aimed at improving operations. The reform recommendations were developed by David Currie, a member of the U.K.’s upper house of Parliament.
G/ATOR SHOW: Northrop Grumman and the U.S. Marine Corps Program Executive Officer for Land Systems demonstrated the AN/TPS-80 Ground/Air Task Oriented Radar (G/ATOR) system to senior Department of Defense officials at the Pentagon on Oct. 5-6. Now performing live aircraft detection and tracking operations, G/ATOR is the first ground-based, multi-role radar to be developed for the Pentagon, according to a joint announcement from the company and the Marines.
LONDON — U.K. defense science and technology (S&T) spending is set for further contraction before a government-promised big funding jump toward the end of its five-year budget plans. Under current budget plans, detailed by the defense minister for equipment, support and technology, the nadir should come in the 2013-14 budget period, when the ministry’s S&T spending is due to hit £410 million ($640 million), or £109 million below the peak in 2007-08. S&T spending for 2011-12 is expected to be £435 million, and then decline to £420 million.
LOSS AT HAL: Baldev Singh, chief test pilot and director of corporate planning and marketing for Indian state-run defense powerhouse Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL), is dead in an apparent suicide. His body was found Oct. 11 hanging from a tree at the tourist spot Nandi Hills near Bengaluru, police say. The precise circumstances of his death are still not known. Singh, 58, was involved with the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) program from 1990 onward and was assigned to the Aeronautical Development Agency for this purpose.
To better meet budget, mission and capacity concerns, the U.S. Navy is gearing up to keep its vessels at sea longer. Vice Adm. John Richardson told the Associated Press this month the Navy is considering deploying submarines — especially attack boats — for longer periods to deal with the expected fleet shortfall in coming years. “As you try and maintain the same presence with fewer hulls, there are all sorts of variables in that equation,” Richardson told AP. “One would be extending deployment lengths.”
To avoid direct military conflict with China, the U.S. should adopt a parallel strategy that strengthens the defense capabilities of China’s neighbors while inviting China into cooperative security endeavors that benefit both nations, according to a new Rand Corp. study. Rand says any military conflict between the U.S. and China would be disastrous for both, but such a battle is unlikely as long as the U.S. can “deter behavior that could lead to a clash.” Still, Rand says China will gradually achieve local military superiority.
ITT SPINOFF: ITT Corp.’s board of directors has approved the spin off of the company’s defense unit, ITT Exelis, effective Oct. 31. The move is part of a break up of ITT into three separate units: the defense company; Xylem, a water technology company; and an engineering and manufacturing firm, which will retain the ITT name.
The Hawker Beechcraft AT-6 light attack and armed reconnaissance aircraft, designed to meet the U.S. Air Force’s Building Partnership Capacity needs including those of the Afghanistan air force, continues to move through its end-to-end weapons validation testing with the launch of four 500-lb. GBU-12 Paveway II precision-guided bombs last week, says Derek Hess, director of the AT-6 program for Hawker Beechcraft.
Lockheed Martin recently started informal system development and demonstration testing for the U.S. Navy’s proposed Consolidated Afloat Networks and Enterprise Services (Canes) program, and is on track for formal tests later this month to complete the SDD contract by December, the company says.
AIR FORCE Battlespace Flight Services LLC of Arlington, Va., is being awarded a $104,179,468 firm fixed price/cost plus award fee contract modification to fund extension of contract for organizational maintenance support for the predator MQ-1 aircraft and related systems at Creech Air Force Base, Nev., Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., and deployed sites worldwide. Air Combat Command Acquisition Management and Integration Center, Newport News, Va. is the contracting activity (FA4890-07-C-0006 PO0087).
