A recent Director, Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E) report said the EA-18G Growler program is risky, but prime contractor Boeing says the risks are being addressed and the program remains on schedule and in some areas ahead of its development timetable. DOT&E called the Growler program "aggressive," but said testing is adequate to support low-rate production decisions. "Primary EA-18G risks center on integrating the AEA (Airborne Electronic Attack) weapons onto the F/A-18F platform," the report said.
With Boeing's Feb. 12 announcement that offers the KC-767 aircraft as the Air Force's next tanker, the company set the stage for a stark and distinct competition. Boeing's medium-sized tanker entry will take on the Northrop Grumman team's large Airbus 330 derivative, the KC-30. Boeing's KC-767 focuses on runway access to smaller airstrips - 8,000 feet or possibly even smaller - and the ability to put "more booms in the air," said John Sams, Boeing Air Force programs vice president, during a briefing.
PLEDGELESS: Defense Secretary Robert Gates says he is not aware of any efforts to formalize an agreement with Russia to underline the Bush administration's claim that an Eastern European-based element to the U.S. ballistic missile defense system would not be a threat to the former Cold War adversary. "We've made quite clear to them that it's not directed at them, and in fact, in India, the deputy prime minister acknowledged that it posed no threat to Russia or to its strategic deterrent," Gates maintains. "This was a few weeks ago.
PRESSURE POINT: Top Northrop Grumman and EADS officials struggled until the last minute last week to create a competitive KC-30 tanker bid that trims airframe costs and highlights the design's greater cargo, passenger and fuel capacity. They now expect a strong showing against Boeing's smaller, less expensive KC-767 for the Air Force tanker contract. But experienced Air Force acquisition officials say there is a deeper game afoot.
HLR CENTER: The U.S. Marine Corps Heavy Lift Replacement helicopter, the CH-53K under contractor Sikorsky Aircraft, will cut operating and support costs by 50 percent compared with the legacy CH-53E, program leaders assert. Total lifecycle costs reach almost $71 billion, they said early last year (DAILY, Jan. 6, 2006). Sikorsky and the Marines will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the $18.8 billion project's development center on Feb. 12 in Stratford, Conn.
NOT A HOBBY: FAA plans to publish a notice in the Federal Register next week reiterating that unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can't be flown commercially in the national airspace (NAS) using the guidelines developed for remotely controlled model aircraft.
GREEN EYESHADE OPTIONAL: One of the new members of the Senate Armed Services Committee is putting Defense Secretary Robert Gates on notice that moving contract numbers around is no longer a good way to avoid scrutiny. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) says she will delve into numerous defense contracts that were issued through other agencies without competition.
SCIENCE ADVISORS: The next head of the U.S. Central Command promises to task his science advisor to work "closely" with the broader scientific community, particularly the military services' laboratories and the Pentagon's head office for defense research and engineering, to make sure CentCom benefits from the best technical advice available.
The U.S. Air Force is hoping to resume flights of the Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) from Beale Air Force Base, Calif., on Feb. 13, nearly three months after the November communications loss incident that prompted the suspension of Global Hawk flights at the base.
SUPER HORNET DEAL: The Pentagon has spelled out details of Australia's proposed purchase of 24 F/A-18E/Fs. The deal would include six spare engines and 12 joint mission planning systems. The aircraft would feature the APG-79 radar, Multifunction Information Distribution System data terminals, 30 ALR-67(V)3 radar warning receivers and an equal number of night-vision goggles. Australia also is looking to buy ALE-47 expendable dispensers and the Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System.
Air Force Research Laboratory, AFRL/PR Propulsion Directorate, Wright Research Site is soliciting technical and cost proposals to help develop revolutionary and innovative technologies to make dramatic increases in affordable turbo-propulsion capabilities. The AFRL wants to increase those capabilities 10-fold by 2017, compared to the 2000 state-of-the-art baseline engine, according to a Jan. 29 Broad Agency Announcement solicitation.
Feb. 12 - 14 -- Aerospace Lighting Institute's Aerospace Vehicle NVG and Glass Cockpit Lighting Seminar, Los Angeles Marriott Hotel, Los Angeles, Calif. For more information call (727)791-07990 or go to www.aligodfrey.com. Feb. 13 - 15 -- Undersea Distributed Networked Systems Conference, "Undersea Distributed Networked Systems... A Key Enabler to New Warfighting Paradigms," Newport, R.I. For more information call (703) 247-2578 or go to www.ndia.org/meetings/7280.
Military aviation analysts say the U.S. Marine Corps' decision to ground its 46 MV-22 Ospreys because of a computer chip malfunction will likely disrupt, but not derail, the tiltrotor aircraft's development and procurement program. An engineering check identified a fault caused by a computer chip in the Flight Control Computers (FCC) of some Ospreys, Marine Lt. Col. Scott Fazekas said Feb. 9. 'A few hassles'
NASA PAYBACK: Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), chairman of the Senate appropriations subcommittee that funds NASA, says she's still trying to find a way to "reimburse" the agency for costs it incurred in returning the shuttle fleet to service after the Columbia accident four years ago. She and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Tex.) introduced legislation that would have added $1 billion to NASA's fiscal 2007 funding for that purpose, but it died at the end of the past Congress.
MINOR ANOMOLIES: Eumetsat says instrument checkout on Metop-A, the new polar-orbiting weather satellite launched on Oct. 18, is proceeding nominally, despite a couple of minor anomalies. The instrument package and ground segment are functioning to specification, says project manager Marc Cohen. All instruments are operating at providing pre-operational level-one data except for Metop's most innovative instrument, the infrared atmospheric sounding interferometer, which is expected to begin doing so by March.
BANDWIDTH NEEDED: The incoming chief of the U.S. Central Command, U.S. Navy Adm. William Fallon, believes that one of his top challenges in the Middle East and Persian Gulf is efficiently managing information technology bandwidth to maximize impact from intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities. What military leaders have access to now is "sufficient," but the shortfalls are in sight.
FAA's five-year road map for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) should be complete by the end of March and made available for industry comment by April, according to Doug Davis, manager of FAA's Unmanned Aircraft Program Office.
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) says it's still very important to have a large U.S. naval presence around the world. "My constant thought is that we need to rebuild the United States Navy. Presence means so much," Skelton told AVIATION WEEK in a Feb. 9 interview.
NASA's Space Operations Mission Directorate is changing its approach to maintaining the International Space Station over the long haul, now that it knows it won't have the space shuttle's unique capabilities after September 2010. But some of the new "spares philosophy" may also apply to future exploration vehicles traveling to the moon and beyond, says William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for space ops.
The four key areas the Army wanted to target in its proposed fiscal year 2008 budget are gathering intelligence, communications, force protection and moving people and materiel, says Lt. Gen. David Melcher, military deputy for budget, office of assistant secretary of the Army.
The Turkish defense ministry is launching a competition for medium-range anti-tank weapon systems (MRAWS). The government plans to buy 80 MRAWS. Each of the systems consist of 10 missiles -- for a total of 800 -- one weapon unit and tripod and ancillary devices. The equipment will be for the Turkish army. Turkey wants to field all of the equipment by the end of 2009. First deliveries should take place no later than the end of next year.
