The Japanese Ministry of Defense will ask parliament for 95 billion yen to upgrade 22 F-15Js and buy parts for a further 38 in the budget year that begins April 1, 2009. The move was foreshadowed as an interim response to U.S. refusal to sell Japan – or any ally – the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor, which has delayed the order for and introduction of a new advanced fighter.
LONDON – British defense technology company Qinetiq is aiming to fly another design iteration of its Zephyr high-altitude long endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) within the next 12 months. The revised design will have a new wing section and a slightly different wing plan-form. Wind tunnel and subscale demonstration flights are already under way. The modifications are intended to help the UAV meet its endurance design goal of staying aloft up to three months.
The U.S. military is facing an era of discontinuity, forced to choose between devoting resources to the current fight and investing in novel technologies to meet future challenges, according to a new report from the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA) released last week.
HIGH ALERT: Lockheed Martin said it has successfully applied its Human Alerting and Interruption Logistics-Surface Ship (HAIL-SS) system to the newly commissioned USS Sterett (DDG 104). HAIL-SS is supposed to help sailors handle high rates of alerts and interruptions without too much distraction, as well as mediate between human users and the various mechanisms that generate alerts in increasingly complex combat systems like Sterett’s Aegis platform. Lockheed hopes to work it further into the U.S.
The German and the Netherlands defense ministries have set up a partnership to jointly work toward improving the survivability of their ships by reducing their signatures. A recent agreement between the two countries calls for the establishment of the Center for Ship Signature Management. The German defense armaments agency, BWB, says the cooperation will help not just with information sharing, but also with a shortage of skilled technical personnel. Moreover, the agency hopes to expand the knowledge base for ship signature management.
ARMY Hellfire Systems Limited Liability Co., Orlando, Fla., was awarded on Aug. 15, 2008, a $356,665,089 firm-fixed price contract for Hellfire II High-Energy Anti-Tank missiles. The work will be performed in Orlando and is expected to be completed by Oct. 31, 2011. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. One bid was solicited on Oct. 22, 2007. U.S. Army Aviation & Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., is the contracting activity (W31P4Q-08-C-0361).
The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) will host a public meeting Sept. 4 at its Washington headquarters on proposed U.S. amendments to the Convention of the International Mobile Satellite Organization (IMSO), according to an Aug. 25 announcement in the Federal Register.
A National Research Council (NRC) panel is faulting NASA for not systematically taking astronaut health and human factors into account in the early stages of its Exploration Technology Development Program (ETDP). “The committee did not find a high degree of awareness of the interdependencies between the ETDP technology projects and associated human health risks and human factor design considerations,” the panel says in its report.
FULL FIELDING: The U.S. Air Force has granted ITT a full-fielding recommendation for its Field Replaceable Connector System (FRCS), a jam-resistant weapon interface connector for use on F-16 MIL-STD-1760 weapons. The connector system was developed to mate with a high-performance umbilical assembly on the Air Force’s F-16 fleet. The FRCS and the umbilical assembly together offer low and consistent ejection loads, according to ITT.
NEW DELHI – A foundation stone was laid last week for the Strategic Electronics Manufacturing facility of Indian government-owned defense manufacturer Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL), at Seethangoli in Kasargod. Occupying 200 acres, the new unit is an extension of the Hyderabad division of HAL for assembly, testing, manufacturing, repair and maintenance of all types of the airborne computers and other systems.
The U.S. Air Force is considering – once again – delaying the retirement date for its workhorse intelligence collector, the U-2 Dragon Lady, as developers work out issues with integrating a signals intelligence payload onto the Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), according to service officials.
The U.S. Army extended its Hellfire II missile production contract with Lockheed Martin to the tune of $357 million, the largest Hellfire buy ever for the service. The contract also includes Greece, the Netherlands and France. France is a first-time Hellfire customer and is planning on equipping its Eurocopter with the laser-guided air-to-ground missile.
ACCIDENT EXPLAINED: Pilot error has been blamed for the midair collision of two U.S. Air Force Boeing F-15Cs over the Gulf of Mexico on Feb. 20 – just weeks after the prolonged grounding of F-15s ended – but investigators found insufficient evidence to determine whether loss of proficiency during the stand-down was a factor. One pilot was killed when the two Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla.,-based aircraft collided during air combat maneuver training.
Fuel suppliers and experts will gather with airline representatives Sept. 8-9 at the U.S. Commerce Department to discuss potential results of the pending certification of alternative fuels for commercial aircraft use. Certification of coal or natural gas-to-liquid synthetic, using the Fischer-Tropsch process, is possible as early as December if it is approved by members of the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), a standards-setting agency comprising the major engine manufacturers and fuel authorities.
NASA’s Kennedy Space Center reopened for the first shift Aug. 22 after being closed since Aug. 20 while Tropical Storm Fay stalled over Florida’s Space Coast. Workers at nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station were advised to continue to “shelter in place” while supervisors met at the site to assess conditions for a return to normal operations. A so-called ride-out crew that remained on site at KSC throughout the storm reported “minor damage” to some facilities and some “water intrusion that will require mopping up,” NASA reported.
BREAKING UP: The USS Bunker Hill’s Aegis combat system initialization Aug. 25 will mark the first step in a planned series of ship-activation milestones toward the U.S. Navy’s most modern Aegis-class cruiser, Naval Sea Systems Command officials are proclaiming. Industrial work on Bunker Hill’s combined combat system and hull, mechanical, and electrical modernization effort began in February and should wrap up in early 2009. The Advanced Combat Build 08 program will decouple the Aegis system’s hardware and software, allowing upgrades to them separately, says Rear Adm.
The U.S. Army is planning to wrap up testing of a new digital datalink (DDL) that is expected to reduce interference in controlling its Raven unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) by the end of fiscal 2009, according to Tim Owings, deputy project manager for unmanned aircraft systems for the service’s aviation program executive officer.
GEORGIA RELIEF: The chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee says Congress will take up assistance to the Republic of Georgia – including aid for its damaged military – when lawmakers return after their summer recess. “We will turn our attention to providing the assistance that Georgia needs to rebuild its infrastructure, provide humanitarian relief, aid its damaged military and help shore up its currency,” Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.) said during a trip to Georgia Aug. 22. Berman and Rep.
A controversial program to share classified satellite imagery with nonfederal agencies – including local law enforcement – is one of the unresolved issues Congress faces when it returns from its summer break early next month. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) last October delayed its planned launch of the new National Applications Office (NAO), following complaints from the House Homeland Security Committee about a lack of written guidelines to ensure privacy and civil liberties (Aerospace DAILY, Oct. 3, 2007).
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicated new calendar listing.) Aug. 30 - Sept. 1 — Cleveland National Air Show, “Featuring: U.S. Navy Blue Angels, U.S. Army Golden Knights, Military Demonstrations and Fly-bys, Exhibits, Simulators, Tanks, and More,” Burk Lakefront Airport, Cleveland, Ohio. For more information call 216-781-0747 or go to www.clevelandairshow.com
Rigorous trajectory requirements for a pair of NASA aeronautics experiments probably contributed to a loss of control that forced range-safety destruction of the experimental Alliant Techsystems ALV-X1 launcher early today. Kent Rominger, vice president for advanced programs at ATK, said the “very unique and demanding” trajectory imposed by the Hypersonic Boundary Layer Transition (HyBolt) experiment and the Sub-Orbital Aerodynamic Re-entry Experiment (SOAREX) may have overtaxed vehicle control systems.
