Singapore – Indonesia appears to be moving toward signing a contract to have some older Lockheed Martin F-16s upgraded to the Block 52 standard, a move that comes after the country’s populist president weighed into the debate about defense procurement processes.
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The first Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) jam-proof communications satellite finally reached its proper orbit Oct. 24 after officials nearly lost the spacecraft due to an onboard engine failure last year.
An interesting peek at top cyber-defenses comes from a list of “best anti-malware” assembled by Government Security News, a homeland security trade publication. Criteria for the list were electronic capabilities aimed at “sniffing out bad things that already lurk” in cyberspace. The toolbox provides an interesting survey of digital dirty tricks. The following highlights four new capabilities:
NASA hopes to use commercial vehicles to match the cost of flying astronauts to the International Space Station on Russian Soyuz vehicles or to do slightly better. But even if U.S.-built commercial vehicles are ready to fly crews in 2016 as planned, the agency probably will need a longer exemption on the law that otherwise would keep it from doing business with Moscow.
LONDON – Days after unveiling sweeping cuts to Germany’s defense modernization plans, the country’s defense minister, Thomas de Maiziere, is stressing the importance of sustaining a healthy industrial base for the country. Having its own industrial competencies is critical for Germany to play a role in the integration of Europe’s defense industrial base, de Maiziere said during an address in Berlin. Only countries with a meaningful industrial base will have the weight to influence decisions among partners, he adds.
A member of the secretive congressional committee in charge of finding ways to rein in the U.S. government from its staggering deficit is already asking about ways to get around the harshest penalty associated with failure: $600 billion in automatic cuts to the Pentagon budget.
Ten years to the date of the F-35 development contract being signed, the Pentagon is playing hardball with Lockheed Martin, its prime contractor for the roughly $300 billion Joint Strike Fighter, the largest program on the Defense Department’s books.
Boeing dominated the 2011 winners of Aviation Week’s annual Program Excellence awards, announced Oct. 25 in Phoenix. Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and Rockwell Collins also walked away with recognition of their recent programmatic performance, as did Finmeccanica’s DRS Technologies.
HOUSTON – NASA’s asteroid analog mission aboard the Aquarius undersea laboratory off Key Largo, Fla., came to an early end on Oct. 26, as Hurricane Rina gained strength and forecasters predicted movement toward South Florida.
As the U.S. Marine Corps slackens its efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, the service is shifting its priority to the Pacific, where the Marines will focus more on expeditionary operations than ground forces, says Gen. James Amos, the Corps Commandant. The shift will determine how the Marines train and what they invest their money in, Amos says.
LONDON – Elbit’s AEL Sistemas subsidiary will have a key role in providing self-protection equipment for the Embraer KC-390 tanker/transport, including the directed infrared countermeasures (Dircm) system. As part of its latest subcontract announcements, Embraer notes that AEL will also work on other aspects of the self-protection system and the head-up display. It already has been named to supply the aircraft’s mission computer. AEL’s work will likely build on expertise gained from developing the Music fiber-laser infrared countermeasures system.
Boeing is confident that a $60 billion U.S. arms deal with Saudi Arabia that includes the sale of 84 F-15 fighter jets is heading for the finish line more than a year after it first became public.
SPENDING BILLS: The chairman of the House Appropriations Committee told reporters Oct. 26 that if the Senate can by next week send the House of Representatives a bill that contains spending for NASA and the FAA, the House and Senate versions can be reconciled before the current spending bill for the entire government runs out Nov. 18. Rep.
So far, there is no foolproof cyber-security, but ideas are emerging to soften the impact of Internet attacks. They include setting up parallel Internets, creating faster fixes to problems in existing networks and practicing the basics of digital hygiene. Such discipline could solve 85% of network attack problems, according to a recent government study. Well-monitored cloud computing appears to be an intermediate option.
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Navy is making good on its intentions to put more resources and effort into maintaining and repairing its ship fleet. “We currently have 49 ships receiving some form of depot-level maintenance in our public and private shipyards,” says Adm. J.C. Harvey, commander of U.S. Fleet Forces Command, in his most recent blog.“For every ship deployed forward, we have one back home conducting critical maintenance and training,” he says.
With the U.S. unemployment rate at 9.1% and President Obama pushing for a costly jobs bill, the Aerospace Industries Association is framing its don’t-cut-defense-spending message in terms that may resonate with politicians. If the worst-case budget scenario unfolds and the “supercommittee” and/or Congress fails to reach an accord on pinpointing ways to trim at least $1.2 trillion from the federal deficit, the Pentagon would automatically lose $600 billion over the next decade in addition to an initial cut of about $450 billion.
POSEIDON AWARD: Boeing says the P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol program will receive its second low-rate production award from the U.S. Navy next month. LRIP-2 will be for seven aircraft and is expected to be followed by an LRIP-3 award for another 11 aircraft next spring, Boeing P-8 Program Manager Chuck Debundo says. Speaking at Aviation Week’s A&D Programs Conference in Phoenix, Debundo said the program expects to see a rate increase from one aircraft every three months to one per month within the next three months.
LONDON – Germany has begun examining its long-term air and missile defense needs even as it has joined the U.S. in forgoing acquisition of the Medium Extended Air Defense System (Meads).
New flight-control software meant to help aircraft “stick” aircraft carrier landings more cleanly could lead to major aircraft redesigns that would save costs, reduce wear and tear on future aircraft and improve their overall performance, according to the Office of Naval Research (ONR), which has been spearheading the technology’s development.
