The U.K. Royal Air Force (RAF) has used its first deployment of Eurofighter Typhoons to a Red Flag exercise to start conceptualizing how it might use the fighter in conjunction with the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II.
Does it make sense to keep pursuing a goal that has eluded industry for decades? Not surprisingly, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) believes that it is, and has launched yet another bid to build a vertical-takeoff-and-landing (VTOL) vehicle that combines the low-speed agility of a helicopter with the high-speed capability of a fixed-wing aircraft.
Citing an increased threat in North Korea and Iran, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says the United States now plans to purchase 14 additional Ground-based Interceptors and eliminate a developmental missile defense system that the U.S. had planned to deploy in Europe. The Pentagon also will deploy a second TPY-2 radar in Japan and begin conducting environmental impact studies for a third Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system site in the continental U.S. to counter the threat.
The U.S. Air Force's interest in its most expensive white-world unmanned air vehicle, the Northrop Grumman Global Hawk, is flagging, at best, and at worst, diminishing to zero. Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy continues to dance a stately pavane around the idea of a carrier-based UAV.
STOP START: Kansas lawmakers late March 15 called on the Department of Defense to reinstate the stop-work order on the U.S. Air Force’s Light Air Support Program (See related story). In a letter to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, Sen. Pat Roberts (R), Sen. Jerry Moran (R) and Rep.
AgustaWestland is using an unconventional tiltrotor fan-in-wing demonstrator, flown in secret in Italy since 2011, as a self-funded technology incubator for advanced rotorcraft concepts. Measuring several meters in span, the “Project Zero” sub-scale demonstrator has two electrically driven, tilting rotors embedded in the wing. Surprising attendees at the Heli-Expo 2013 show in Las Vegas this month by revealing the program, newly installed CEO Daniele Romiti says the flying wing represents how the manufacturer is “thinking today of how we could fly tomorrow.”
The U.S. Air Force instructed Sierra Nevada Corp. (SNC) to restart work to deliver 20 Embraer A-29 Super Tucano Light Air Support (LAS) aircraft to the Afghan air force early in 2014, overriding the stop-work order it was required by law to issue after losing bidder Beechcraft protested the award of the $427 million contract.
LONDON — The German government and Eurocopter have come to an agreement on the number of Tiger and NH90 helicopters to be purchased for the German armed forces. Months of negotiations between the two parties came to an end March 15, with the signing of an agreement to purchase a reduced number of helicopters. As part of the deal, Germany will now buy 82 NH90s rather than 122 originally planned, while the number of EC665 Tiger UHT attack helicopters will fall to 57 from 80.
The deficit-reduction measure that went into effect March 1 cuts 7.9% from discretionary defense spending and 5.3% from non-defense discretionary spending. Surely, Washington's latest manufactured crisis will not do any serious damage, will it? Well, consider this:
The Brazilian government has selected Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) to convert two Boeing 767-300ERs into multi-role tanker transports for the country’s air arm. Brazilian air force (FAB) commanders announced the decision March 14. The two aircraft will be used to conduct refueling, strategic transport of troops and cargo as well as aero-medical evacuation, according to the requirements set down by the FAB. The will replace the 1960s vintage Boeing KC-137s currently in use.
LONDON — China’s defense spending is on course to be in parity with the United States in as soon as a decade, according to analysts with the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). The IISS says that if China’s defense spending continues at its current 15% annual rise, including the military’s research and development efforts, China could be on parity with the U.S. as early as 2023, although this could be pushed back to as 2032 based on projections about the country’s economic growth.
China denounces suggestions that its aircraft industry simply copies others' successful designs. But another reason for its rapid advances has been revealed by Kamov general designer Sergei Mikheyev, who says the Russian design bureau secretly designed the baseline version of the Changhe Z-10 attack helicopter for China in the mid-1990s.
The U.S. Navy is trying to get a handle on the best technology or combination of technologies for ship self-defense, says Vice Adm. Richard Hunt, the director of Navy staff and the head of the special LCS (Littoral Combat Ship) Council of leading service admirals empowered to get the program back on track. Asked whether the LCS would employ chaff, decoys or other ship-defense measures, Hunt said, “We’re looking at all of that. It’s bigger than LCS.”
NEW DELHI — India’s state-run Bharat Electronics Ltd. (BEL) plans to develop an advanced aerostat and communication system to boost military air defenses and enhance surveillance. BEL director S.K. Sharma says the Bengaluru-based defense firm will jointly work with U.S.-based aerostat and airship maker TCOM to design and develop the aerosatat system. “The partnership will augment the surveillance capabilities of our defense services, security services and law enforcement agencies,” Sharma says.
U.S. Army aviation officials are to brief industry on the results of flight demonstrations conducted late last year as they await a decision on whether they can acquire the new Armed Aerial Scout (AAS) helicopter to replace the Bell OH-58D/F Kiowa Warrior. Aviation-branch officials briefed Army and Pentagon leadership on the results of its AAS study earlier this year, recommending a new acquisition program rather than extending the service life of the 1980s-vintage Kiowa Warrior.
Raytheon has received a subcontract from Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) to deliver a fifth-generation, medium-frequency, hull-mounted sonar system as part of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (Darpa) Anti-Submarine Warfare Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel (Actuv) program.
The additional crewmembers the U.S. Navy decided to put aboard its first-of-class Littoral Combat Ship (LCS-1), the USS Freedom, on its first deployment are working well, says Vice Adm. Richard Hunt, the director of Navy staff and head of the special LCS Council of leading service admirals empowered to get the program back on track.
