Efforts to clear the hurdles to commercial-scale production of advanced biofuels are focusing on increasing yields from energy crops and reducing the costs of harvesting, transporting and processing the millions of tons of biomass required. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) plans to award $6 million in research contracts to enable delivery of lignocellulosic biomass such as switchgrass, polar and waste wood at the volumes and costs required for commercial-scale biofuel production.
Proposed upgrades for the vaunted U.S. Navy Aegis missile shield for surface ships and abroad bases appear to be progressing as planned, but more testing is needed to gauge program success and address shortcomings, according to recent government and contractor assessments. The Navy and prime contractor Lockheed Martin are now upgrading the DDG destroyer and CG cruiser fleets with advanced Aegis baselines. At the same time, even more advanced Aegis systems—starting with Baseline 9—are being developed.
Poland has set its sights on a new fleet of heavy transport and attack helicopters as it renews its rotary-wing assets over the next decade. On top of plans announced by the Polish ministry of defense in 2012 to purchase 70 medium utility helicopters beginning in 2014, Warsaw is planning to purchase a further 130 helicopters to replace its aging fleet of Polish and Russian-built rotorcraft. This helicopter procurement program will be the largest in Europe in more than a decade.
ARMS CONTROL: After a Senate vote to reject a block on delivery of F-16 aircraft and M1 tanks to Egypt, Sen. Jim Inhofe (Okla.), the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, has introduced a bill that would put conditions on the transfer. The bill would delay transport of the Lockheed Martin jets and General Dynamics tanks until Egypt upholds commitments under the Camp David Accords and provides proper security at U.S. embassies there.
The U.S. Navy’s proposed maintenance cuts could corrode the service’s ability to deploy its surface fleet — literally. The reductions would cut into the proposed ship “availabilities” — shipyard maintenance periods — and the main concerns the Navy needs to address in those periods are sanding, chipping and otherwise cleaning up corrosion on the ships.
The French request for a British Sentinel radar surveillance aircraft to support Operation Serval in Mali highlights France's shortage of tactical intelligence assets, which have advanced little beyond helicopters and targeting pods on jets, despite years of experience in Afghanistan.
TAKING FLIGHT: The FAA could begin asking for UAV test site proposals as early as Feb. 4, industry officials say. The FAA was tasked with selecting the six sites by the end of 2012, but the process has been stretched out by privacy concerns. The test sites will help the FAA and industry establish rules, procedures and technologies for flying unmanned aircraft in civilian airspace.
India has moved a significant step closer in integrating its strategic submarines with ballistic missiles after the test launch of a medium-range missile from a submerged platform in the Bay of Bengal. The 10-meter-tall (33-ft.) nuclear-capable missile was launched from a depth of about 50 meters Jan. 27, says Defense Research and Development Organization Director General V.K. Saraswat. It met “every” mission objective, he says.
LONDON — The U.S. Air Force is deactivating the last Fairchild A-10 Thunderbolt II squadron in Europe. The 81st Fighter Sqdn. based at Spangdahlem AB, Germany, will shut down later this year as part of ongoing defense cuts. According to officials, deactivation became official upon “the termination of the continuing-resolution provision that prohibited the ‘retirement, divestiture, realignment and transfer’ of aircraft.”
LONDON — AgustaWestland is pushing ahead with the flight-test program of its AW169 twin-engine helicopter, with the first flight of the fourth prototype. AC4 took to the air on Jan. 31 at the company’s facilities at Vergiate, Italy, and will join the other three prototypes. According to the company, the aircraft performed as expected, with test pilots assessing general handling and basic systems.
Crisis is a word often applied to the proposed defense “sequestration” cuts, now set to take effect on March 1. There is no dispute that these budget reductions could send powerful tremors through the U.S. military and defense industry.
LONDON — The Swedish Armed Forces Helicopter Wing is making final preparations to deploy its new Sikorsky UH-60M Black Hawks for medevac missions in Afghanistan. The April deployment will come just 14 months after the arrival of the first aircraft and just more than two years after the Swedish government placed the foreign military sales (FMS) order with the U.S. government for 15 aircraft in October 2010.
Democrats and Republicans are uniting around the idea of reforming immigration, but one of the obstacles to an agreement will be how to open immigration to highly skilled foreigners without displacing American workers. A proposal in the Senate by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and others currently calls for expanding the H1-B visa process. And President Barack Obama gave the idea support during a speech in Las Vegas on Jan. 29. He talked about top technology companies that were started by immigrants who studied in the U.S.
ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy’s proposed cuts in maintenance to accommodate funding shortfalls caused by the continuing resolution, combined with potential further belt-tightening that could be brought on by sequestration, could not come at a worse time, according to service officials.
Northrop Grumman and the U.S. Navy are ready to flight test the final software load for the X-47B unmanned combat air system demonstrator (UCAS-D), with all the features required to enable operation from an aircraft carrier later this year. Based at NAS Patuxent River, Md., the two X-47Bs are being used for carrier-qualification testing ahead of the at-sea demonstration planned for the summer. Tests have included land-based catapult launches at Pax and deck-handling trials at sea on the carrier USS Truman.
The Senate defeated by a vote of 79-19 an amendment that would have blocked the transfer of F-16 fighters and M1 Abrams tanks to Egypt. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) sponsored the amendment, arguing that it is a “grave mistake” to send Lockheed Martin F-16s and General Dynamics tanks to Egypt, now that the government has changed since the political upheaval there generated by the Arab Spring.
LONDON — The U.K. Ministry of Defense (MoD) has unveiled its spending plan for new equipment and support over the next 10 years. The U.K.’s Equipment Plan, published Jan. 31, outlines spending of £160 billion ($250 billion) for new equipment in what is called a “fully funded Defense Equipment Plan.” The plan sets aside £8 billion for what the MoD calls “a number of additional programs that are a high priority for defense.”
Boeing will not be housing its new intelligence gathering system, the medium-sized Maritime Surveillance Aircraft (MSA), on an Embraer platform, according to the Brazilian manufacturer’s defense chief Luiz Carlos Aguiar. He said the two are not in talks on the MSA project despite an agreement on other projects, such as the KC-390.
