NAGOYA, Japan — Tight budgets and the rejection of obvious replacements are likely to push Japan to operate its 201 F-15J and F-15JD Eagle fighters for 30 more years, with major upgrades likely necessary.
U.S. Air Force Honeywell International Inc., Tempe, Ariz., (FA8208-07-C-0001, P00048) is being awarded a $57,829,544 contract modification for repair, overhaul and logistics sustainment of F-15 secondary power assets under the secondary power logistics solution contract. The location of the performance is Hill Air Force Base, Utah. Work is expected to be completed by January 2020. The contracting activity is 748 SCMG/PKBA, Hill AFB, Utah. U.S. NAVY
CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS: Despite U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s vow to increase defense spending, the employees of defense companies continue to invest in incumbent President Barack Obama. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the defense sector has contributed $660,800 to Obama’s presidential campaign and $574,841 to the Romney effort. Boeing’s employees have given $110,383, nearly double the amount they provided to Romney, which was $58,020.
NEW DELHI — An Indian navy Chetak helicopter crashed Oct. 15 in the western state of Goa, killing three people on board, a defense official says. The navy has been planning to replace its vintage Chetaks and released a global tender in August for roughly 60 utility helicopters. Sikorsky, Eurocopter, Kamov and AgustaWestland are among the likely respondents.
NETANYA, Israel — At one time spy agencies drove development of advanced investigative cyber technology, but nowadays it is banks, credit card companies, PayPal, Google and Yahoo that are steering the design and functionality of new investigative tools.
The Office of Naval Research’s (ONR) Electromagnetic (EM) Railgun program recently started to evaluate the second of two industry railgun prototype launchers at a facility in Dahlgren, Va., officials announced Oct. 10. General Atomics has delivered its prototype launcher to Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Dahlgren Division, where engineers have engaged in a series of tests similar to the evaluations conducted on the prototype demonstrator made by BAE Systems which arrived on Jan. 30.
In a scene that has become common on the evening news, police cars and other emergency vehicles swarmed a residential street Sept. 10 in the Detroit suburb of West Bloomfield, Mich. A gunman suspected in the fatal shooting of a police officer had barricaded himself in a house.
The Pentagon is on the cusp of finalizing new rules of engagement for activities in the cyberdomain, including how to defend domestic networks and respond in the event of an attack.
Although France's relationship with its last monarchs was not a happy one, the nation's navy is fondly referred to as “La Royale.” This has little to do with the service's history that goes back to France's royal past, but more to do with the fact that naval headquarters are (for another two years at least) in a splendid building on the Rue Royale in Paris. There, Aviation Week Contributing European Editor Christina Mackenzie caught up with Adm.
TURKISH INTERCEPTION: Given the international impasse over the conflict in Syria, “practical measures,” such as the interception of civilian aircraft, will become increasingly important for neighboring countries seeking to restrict Syrian forces’ access to military goods from external sources, say analysts at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri). “Turkey is well-placed to stop illicit arms shipments,” Sipri says.
UAVs have largely been used for passive tasks in controlled skies such as surveillance and reconnaissance. The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a three-year, $649,999 grant to researchers at Drexel University of Philadelphia to examine the feasibility of attaching dexterous limbs to hovering UAVs, with the idea of using them in situations ranging from search-and-rescue to emergency response and infrastructure repair. Engineering Prof.
Iran on Sept. 21 revealed four copies of its Ra'd (Thunder) surface-to-air-missile system, with each transporter carrying three Taer (Bird) missiles. Iranian military officials told the Fars News Agency that the Taer has a range of up to 50 km (31 mi.) and can reach an altitude of 75,000 ft. They said it was in production for the Iranian armed forces. However, Iran likely did not develop this missile indigenously, and while its configuration defies clear determination of its parentage, Western missile experts believe it is likely either Russian or Chinese.
Poland recently announced plans to replace some of its Soviet-built fighter aircraft with armed UAVs. “By 2018, we should have three squadrons [of armed UAVs],” says Waldemar Skrzypczak, Poland's vice minister of defense. He adds that the country's armed forces might purchase up to 30 combat UAVs. Since joining NATO, Poland has already upgraded its air force with 48 U.S.-built F-16C/D Block 52 aircraft, but the country still has more than several dozen aging Su-22 fighters.
The U.S. Army has gained a tool in its efforts to combat improvised explosive devices (IEDs): software that uses algorithms based on geospatial abduction to predict where IED caches in Afghanistan are hidden. The information is based on attacks and other intelligence. The software is called C-Scare/A – as in Combat-Scare/Afghanistan, with Scare an acronym for Spatio-Cultural Abductive Reasoning Engine. The software was fine-tuned by students and faculty at the U.S.
NEW DELHI — Indian state-run defense manufacturer Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) and Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) gave the go-ahead Oct. 12 to their long-delayed project to develop a Multirole Transport Aircraft (MTA). “With this HAL and UAC-TA will start the preliminary design work immediately at Moscow,” HAL Chairman R.K. Tyagi says.
Combat medicine has traditionally focused on stabilization and transport, to get casualties back to a treatment center. However, a group of European researchers, universities and technology companies are developing systems and imaging equipment to move the way forward in robotic and remote surgeries—complex automated and machine-assisted operations that could deliver the surgeon's skills closer to the battlefield.
