It is not certain that the U.S. national airspace system (NAS) will be ready to accommodate unmanned aircraft by the deadline set by Congress, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) says. In February, Congress set a series of deadlines to accelerate the integration of civil unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) into the NAS. In a recent report, GAO says FAA “has missed one deadline and could miss others.”
The U.S. Coast Guard needs to get a better handle on its major development and spending plans, a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report says. “The planned cost and schedule of the Coast Guard’s portfolio of major acquisitions is unknown because of outdated acquisition program baselines and uncertainty surrounding affordability,” says the Sept. 20 report.
Thanks to early supervision and a tight working relationship between the U.S. Navy and contractor General Dynamics NASSCO, the service’s Mobile Landing Platform (MLP) vessel is set for manufacturing, the service says. “The Navy worked very closely with General Dynamics NASSCO to identify cost savings early in the MLP design work while pursuing a concurrent design and production engineering approach,” the Navy says in a recent blog.
If budget sequestration hits, the U.S. Defense Department will protect wartime funding first, driving higher cuts to the base budgets. And next, more than 2,000 account lines and their contracts will have to be scrutinized, according to Pentagon officials. It’s not something the Pentagon wants to do, the department comptroller and four generals told the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) Sept. 20. They want to avoid it, not plan for it.
With fuel consumption and thermal management concerns increasing as power demands on combat aircraft escalate, the Pentagon is seeking industry input on a national plan for research to address the energy, power and thermal needs of military platforms. A centerpiece of the Energy Optimized Aircraft (EOA) national plan will be the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory’s Integrated Vehicle Energy Technology (Invent) program already under way to develop adaptive smart aircraft power systems.
The secret to making sure the U.S. Navy’s restarted VXX presidential helicopter replacement effort is not canceled like its previous iteration will be setting a ceiling on requirements early, says Scott Winship, vice president of advanced programs for Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems. Northrop is partnered with AgustaWestland, a Finmeccanica company, to compete for the proposed Marine One presidential helicopter. The companies will offer a U.S.-built variant of AgustaWestland’s 101.
NEW DELHI — India successfully conducted a development test of its nuclear-capable, surface-to-surface Agni-IV missile on Sept. 19 from a military base in the eastern state of Odisha. The missile will be introduced into service next year after undertaking one more developmental trial, a defense ministry official says.
NEW DELHI — The Indian air force (IAF) aims to spend $37 billion over the next 10 years to step up its modernization program, according to a defense official. “We are on [a] path of modernizing our assets,” says Air Marshal R.K. Sharma, IAF’s deputy chief. “In the last five-year plan [2007-12], IAF procurements were around $27 billion. We envisage [purchasing] assets worth more than $37 billion over the next two plan periods [by 2022].”
Northrop Grumman and AgustaWestland, a Finmeccanica company, recently signed a comprehensive teaming agreement to compete for the proposed U.S. Navy’s Marine One presidential helicopter. The companies will offer a U.S.-built helicopter based on AgustaWestland’s 101 platform for the so-called VXX program, Northrop says. AgustaWestland and then-partner Lockheed Martin won an earlier iteration of the VXX competition with another 101 variant. That program was canceled earlier this decade after cost overruns and schedule slips.
New Delhi – India is considering buying 20 additional Hawk advanced jet trainers (AJTs) from BAE Systems to equip the Indian air force’s aerobatics team. The aircraft, to be built by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) in Bengaluru, are expected to cost more than 20 billion rupees ($340 million). “Upon successful conclusion, this would be [our] third contract for the supply of materials and equipment for the Hawk Mk. 132, building upon previous orders of 66 aircraft in 2004 and a further 57 aircraft in 2010,” says a senior BAE official. .
The U.S. and Japan have reached a deal for the Marine Corps to start flight operations with the V-22 Ospreys deployed to the Asian nation. The Corps had delayed operating the aircraft until the U.S. allayed fears about the tiltrotor’s safety because of recent accidents, including a fatal one earlier this year.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is failing to get the support he wants from fellow Republicans in his quest to cut off U.S. assistance to the governments of Pakistan, Egypt and Libya, with a key member of his own party calling the idea “ill-conceived.”
Despite earlier government reports questioning the speed and quality of some components of the latest Aegis upgrade efforts, the newest rendition — Baseline 9 — is moving along just fine, says one of the key U.S. Navy officers overseeing the program. In a report released earlier this year, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) said recent Aegis upgrades were proving more costly and time-consuming than the Navy had initially planned or hoped.
The U.S. Navy and elements of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) participated earlier this month in the first bilateral counter-piracy exercise ever conducted between the two global giants. The guided-missile destroyer USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG-81) and “other U.S. Navy assets” practiced fighting pirates with the Chinese frigate Yi Yang (FF 548) in waters near the Horn of Africa on Sept. 17, Navy officials say. During the exercise, the two naval forces combined for visit, board, search and seizure (VBSS) operations.
Rolls-Royce has begun testing a high pressure-ratio compressor for a future fuel-efficient engine for subsonic military transports, patrol aircraft and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) platforms. The announcement comes after news that Rolls has not been selected for the next phase of a U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) program to demonstrate adaptive engines for post-2020 combat aircraft (Aerospace DAILY, Sept. 18).
LIMITED CONFIDENCE: Financial analysts at Lazard Capital Markets have “limited confidence” that Congress will be able to avoid the budget penalty known as sequestration, which is due to be triggered Jan. 2. “Investors should view the sequestration threat as real,” the analysts say in a research note. But they think sequestration is unlikely to be the law of the land for very long.
Lockheed Martin officials are creeping closer to a solution to problems with the tailhook design for the U.S. Navy F-35C. The original design failed to snag the arresting wire in early testing owing to two problems: the point of the hook was not sharp enough to scoop under the wire and securely grab it, and a dampener device was not sufficient to maintain a hold on the wire. Essentially, the hook was bouncing upon landing, reducing the likelihood of a successful arrested landing.
