The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) has selected Lockheed Martin to move forward with a program to build a “flying Humvee” that takes off and flies over roads planted with roadside bombs. Darpa narrowed the Transformer program to two competitors: AAI Textron and Lockheed Martin. Both companies' concepts used ducted fans, but took different approaches to the vehicle.
Participants in a recent workshop on how to cut U.S. Air Force sustainment costs essentially concluded that the problem is not a lack of ideas, but a lack of leadership. The three-day workshop was convened last December by the National Academies to discuss Air Force weapon system sustainment costs and how science-and-technology (S&T) spending can help cut life-cycle costs.
Most of the news about what will happen to aerospace and defense (A&D) spending as a result of congressional dallying on resolving its own pre-programmed cuts—sequestration—concerns lost jobs and program slowdowns. But sequestration also is likely to hit the way defense contractors fund independent research and development (IR&D), according to a study by the Fairmont Consulting Group.
An Asian shipping company looking to boost its antipiracy defenses started the year by becoming the latest client of the LRAD Corp. of San Diego, maker of long-range acoustic hailing devices that can rumble sound over water for more than a mile and cause hearing damage from 50 ft. away. LRAD stands for long-range acoustic device, the general term for the acoustic systems the company makes.
SBIRS SEQUEL: The second Lockheed Martin Space-Based Infrared System (Sbirs) spacecraft is executing a series of six liquid apogee engine burns to raise it to geosynchronous orbit, following its March 20 launch on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket for the U.S. Air Force. The payload aboard the A2100-based satellite is scheduled to be activated about 30 days after launch. Sbirs carries both scanning and staring infrared sensors for detecting missile launches.
Rear Adm. Robert Wray President, U.S. Navy Board of Inspection Date of birth: May 6, 1957 Education: B.S., U.S. Naval Academy; M.B.A., Georgetown University Background: Appointed lead engineering officer for aircraft carrier prototype reactors; served as deputy commander of Military Sealift Command; named vice commander of Navy forces in Europe and Africa, and of the Sixth Fleet; assumed current position in March 2011.
A highlight of Aviation Week's Laureates gala is always the presentation of the award for heroism. This year, the recipients were the personnel of U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C., who rescued seafarers of the HMS Bounty caught in Hurricane Sandy in October 2012.
The annual presentation of Laureates by Aviation Week recognizes intellect, discovery and heroism, and the organizations and programs that cultivate them in the aerospace and defense sector are honored with the Workforce Laureate. In the running for the Workforce Laureate this year were programs that are designed to attract a workforce to aerospace, as well as the individuals who continue to push this effort despite budget cuts and economic issues.
CANBERRA and BEIJING — Operation of a relocated space-surveillance radar in Western Australia may be only the first step in expanded cooperation between the U.S. and Australia in space situational awareness. Separately, Australia also is looking at setting up an independent capability in the field, says a defense department spokeswoman in Canberra.
The U.S. Army's Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation in Orlando, Fla., is expected soon to select a video game to replace its first-person shooter game, Virtual Battlespace 2 from Bohemia Interactive. The Army wants to take advantage of improvements in gaming technology, such as more memory, better hardware and advances in artificial intelligence, that increase the realism of such games. But do not expect the new video game to match the flash-bang graphics players see in commercial gaming technology.
NASA has taken down a popular technical reports server after the chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee that funds the space agency complained the website was particularly popular in China. Shutdown of the NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) follows the March 16 arrest of a NASA contractor employee as he awaited takeoff at Dulles International Airport on a flight to his native China.
THE PENTAGON — While no program is guaranteed protection during these days of fiscal austerity, the U.S. Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) acquisition plans are as safe as any other from substantial cuts, says Vice Adm. Richard Hunt, director of Navy staff and the head of the special LCS Council of service admirals.
Contract-tower program supporters are appealing to the FAA to limit the number of airport tower closures set to start April 7 due to across-the-board budget cuts. Senate leadership rejected the efforts of Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) to keep the FAA from closing up to 189 contract towers and restore funding for the program in a short-term spending bill that passed Congress last week.
It's difficult to smuggle explosives into areas that are monitored by sensors or bomb-sniffing dogs. Research at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), a U.S. Energy Department facility in Richland, Wash., could make it virtually impossible, especially with military-grade explosives that have extremely low vapor pressure. PNNL scientists developed a real-time vapor-detection technique for explosives that is reportedly accurate in the parts-per-quadrillion (ppq) range—similar to or more sensitive than a dog's sense of smell.
Immediately after Congress passed a spending bill last week to fund the government for the rest of fiscal 2013, lawmakers' attention has turned to the fiscal 2014 budget. While Congress continues to wrestle with how to reduce the federal deficit and overturn sequestration before its potential consequences become a chilling reality, that does not mean it will be any easier to agree on spending Pentagon dollars. Last year, Congress thwarted Air Force plans to put Global Hawk Block 30 aircraft in storage.
Heavy-lift helicopter specialist Erickson Air-Crane is acquiring operators in the U.S. and Brazil in a move to diversify from its niche in firefighting into a global aviation services business. The acquisition of Oregon-based Evergreen Helicopter (EHI) and Air Amazonia of Brazil for up to $350 million will double Erickson’s revenues and operating earnings. The deals will also take the Portland, Ore.-based company into new commercial and government markets, halving its dependence on seasonal firefighting revenues.
Inspired by two Roman palaces, the National Building Museum was constructed in the 1880s with the dual purpose of housing the U.S. Pension Bureau and providing “a suitably grand space for Washington's social and political functions.” On March 7, nearly 300 aviation and aerospace luminaries from around the globe gathered in the cavernous building for Aviation Week's 56th annual Laureate Awards.
