ARLINGTON, VA. – While the U.S. Navy wants to field a fleet that can do battle today, it needs forces that stick around for the long haul , says Vice Adm. Richard Hunt, service staff chief.
WASHINGTON – While the Pentagon has done well in making sure it bought and received Defense Advanced Global Positioning System (GPS) Receivers (DAGR), the military has lost track of how it stored and moved some of those DADRs, a recent Defense Department Inspector General (IG) report says.
Washington – As of Nov. 19, 877 Hamas rockets had been fired into Israel, according to Israeli Defense Forces count. Of those, 570 landed in Israel and 307 were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system. However, the 570 that hit Israel and were not intercepted does not mean that Tel Aviv’s prize new Iron Dome short-range missile defenses failed. It means the system’s ability to determine which missiles are headed toward populated areas – and which are not – is working as designed.
The San Diego-based General Dynamics Nassco shipyard this month launched the U.S. Navy’s first Mobile Landing Platform (MLP)-class ship, less than two years after the start of fabrication. Designed to provide logistics movement from sea to shore, the future USNS Montford Point (MLP-1) will be the lead vessel for a new class of ships providing the Navy with a dedicated seabasing capability.
Once spy agencies drove development of advanced investigative cybertechnology, but now banks, credit card companies, PayPal, Google and Yahoo are driving development. The change is benefiting intelligence, military and law enforcement agencies because this new generation of investigative platforms is designed to deal with massive amounts of data. Elbit's Intelligence and Cyber Solutions unit is aiming its Wise Intelligence Technology (WIT) data manipulation platform at the growing dual-use market that this trend has created.
The defector they all talk about here is the 18-year-old North Korean soldier who, on Oct. 6, shot his two superiors at a guard post near the border and then ran 400 meters (1,312 ft.) to freedom while being cheered on with a megaphone by South Korean counterparts at their border post.
Russia's legendary Kalashnikov assault rifle may get a new lease on life as its designers try to improve the weapon's operational parameters and attract orders from the country's defense ministry and paramilitary agencies.
money men: Rep. Peter Visclosky (Ind.) is the likely successor to Rep. Norm Dicks (Wash.) as the leader of Democrats on the House Appropriations defense subcommittee. Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.) says he will not contest the top spot, which is Visclosky’s in terms of seniority. “He’s a good friend. I have no interest in jumping over good friends,” Moran says of Visclosky. But Moran, whose district is home to a vast concentration of defense contractors, will remain a key player on the small, bipartisan committee that controls the Pentagon’s purse strings.
Indonesia's new offsets law is about to be put to the test. The Southeast Asian nation, which has woefully inadequate radar surveillance coverage, is poised to select a supplier for long-range, ground-based radar for its air force. “I have told my staff 'if they are ready to select a supplier for the ground-based radar, I am ready',” Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro told Aviation Week Nov. 6 on the eve of the IndoDefense exhibition here.
Most in the District of Columbia and parts of Maryland and Virginia (DMV) appear to be employed to tell the government what to do. However, it's also important to identify, for a new or re-elected administration, strategies that have proven to be unworkable. The first of these is to wish for miracles. I will not belabor that, because it was discussed here last month (Oct. 15, p. DT2). Adding capability to a system or a force costs money, so you have to spend more, reduce numbers, or both.
Boeing used the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) convention in Washington last month to provide more details about its new Joint Air-Breathing Multi-Role Missile (Jabmm) concept originally intended for the U.S. Navy's Littoral Combat Ship (LCS). The new, small, modular missile payload was revealed in early 2012. Boeing is pitching the concept as a “turbine-air-breathing missile solution to countering proliferating anti-access threats.” At AUSA, Boeing revealed that Jabmm now consists of two yet-undesignated cruise missiles.
SINGAPORE — With the type certificate in hand for the combat version of its T-50 jet trainer, manufacturer Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) is more confident of its export appeal. International customers increasingly want to see that combat aircraft have airworthiness certificates “to verify the safety of the aircraft,” the company says. South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration issued the type certificate for the combat version, known as the FA-50. It took two years to get, KAI says.
Sweden's parliament will probably decide to approve launch of the JAS 39E/F Gripen program in December, with a development contract to be issued in January, according to Lt. Col. Rickard Nystrom, head of aircraft programs in the requirements office at Sweden's armed forces headquarters.
There may be no better time to diagnose and reprogram an aircraft than during aerial refueling. Technicians have the full attention of a pilot or, in the case of a UAV, an operator. There is no waiting for results, and glitches can be fixed or mission changes made on the spot. This may have been part of the thinking behind development of the IconIC hose system for inflight refueling by Icon Polymer of Nottinghamshire, England, a specialist in engineered polymer products for military aviation and other industries.
SEATTLE — Boeing plans by year-end to announce the medium-size business-jet platform for its Maritime Surveillance Aircraft (MSA), which is being pitched for a market that company officials say could reach $10 billion over the next 10 years.
Avic President Lin Zuoming said in April that the Chinese aeronautics group's first priority was engine development. As if to show that the boss was serious, group propulsion specialist Avic Engine unveiled two new turbofans at Airshow China here last week, one of them aimed at freeing the country from reliance on foreign engines—and therefore exposure to a foreign veto—in its quest to become a major military aircraft exporter.
Rheinmetall and Textron's Canadian subsidiary last month signed a €160 million ($207 million) contract for the Canadian Forces Tactical Armored Patrol Vehicle (TAPV) project. Work will be performed by Rheinmetall Canada in Quebec. The deal, which runs from July 2014 to March 2016, also fulfills a portion of Textron's participation in Canada's Industrial and Regional Benefits Policy—i.e., local offsets—after the government's purchase of 500 Textron TAPVs.
Israeli defense companies are presenting several new tactical radars, with a combination of technology and weapons incorporated into a mobile system for infantry units. Israel Aerospace Industries subsidiary Elta is unveiling two multisensor systems designed to support battalion formations and provide timely alerts and warnings of imminent attacks with ballistic or direct weapons—mortars, rockets, missiles, or snipers and guns. Green Rock is a compact, mobile mortar and rocket detection, tracking and localization sensor.
A common central idea in defending military, government and commercial networks from cyberattack involves “operating through the attack.” To do so, the defender needs near-real-time awareness of an attacker's methods and targets and the ability to manage consequences on the fly.
