The U.S. Navy is considering Hellfire missiles to complete the surface warfare mission module package for its Littoral Combat Ships, says Capt. John Ailes, program manager for the LCS mission module integration effort. Ailes, recently selected to become a rear admiral, says that while the program of record still calls for the LCS fleet to use the Griffin IIB missile, the Hellfires are being tested and evaluated for the role.
ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Army is hoping to retire 898 old Bell Kiowa and TH-67 helicopters in favor of shifting newer Sikorsky Black Hawks, Boeing Apaches and Airbus Helicopter Lakotas into a variety of missions. The measure, likely to be included in the fiscal 2015 budget request going to Capitol Hill next month, was devised to reduce the cost of Army aviation with a minimal effect on mission capability, says Maj. Gen. Kevin Mangum, commanding general of the Army Aviation Center of Excellence at Ft. Rucker, Ala.
ALT FUELS: U.S. alternative fuel research will continue to have a bright future under the fiscal 2014 omnibus appropriations bill being considered this week in Congress. The giant bill, providing spending for the whole government through Sept. 30, includes language supporting the development of alternative fuels, according to aides for Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.), a leading Democrat in the upper chamber and a key budget negotiator across Capitol Hill.
A biofuel supply sufficient to meet up to 1% of aviation’s fuel needs could be available “instantly,” and at a price competitive with petroleum jet fuel, if green diesel is approved for use in aircraft, Boeing says. The company is working with partners to gain approval by the end of 2014.
A biofuel supply sufficient to meet up to 1% of aviation’s fuel needs could be available “instantly,” and at a price competitive with petroleum jet fuel, if green diesel is approved for use in aircraft, Boeing says. The company is working with partners to gain approval by the end of 2014.
U.K.-based Reaction Engines has signed an agreement with the U.S. Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) to explore the potential of the company’s Sabre advanced cycle air-breathing rocket engine. The company announced the signing of the cooperative research and development agreement (Crada) on Jan. 13 with AFRL’s Aerospace Systems Directorate. Reaction Engines says the agreement gives AFRL “a framework to assess the performance, applications and development paths” for the Sabre engine.
Now that Lockheed Martin has decided to drop its protest against the recent award of the U.S. Navy’s Air And Missile Defense Radar (AMDR) contract to Raytheon, the next step for the company is to find a way to stitch its vaunted Aegis combat system together with the service’s future radar. Jim Sheridan, the director of Lockheed’s Aegis U.S. Navy program, says discussions have not yet started with Raytheon, but the name for the Aegis system to be incorporated into AMDR will be Advanced Capabilities Build (ACB)-Next.
The U.S. Navy surface fleet must steer away from depending on defensive missiles and must move toward becoming more offensively lethal, says the admiral in charge of those ships. “The surface force must greatly improve its offensive lethality,” says Vice Adm. Thomas Copeman, commander of the Naval Surface Force and U.S. Pacific Naval Surface Force.
The Belarus air force has introduced into service a radar that is claimed to be able to detect stealth targets at 350 km (220 mi.) range. Developed domestically by the KB-Radar company, the Vostok-D radar was declared operational with the air force’s 49th Signals Intelligence brigade in November, the Belarus defense ministry announced last week. Vostok-D is intended to replace the Soviet-era P-18 early-warning radar (known as Spoon Rest to NATO) and will be used to cue surface-to-air missile systems.
The fifth and final next-generation narrowband communications satellite being built for the U.S. Navy by Lockheed Martin has entered its first system test phase. The Lockheed Martin team recently mated the Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) system module, which carries mission system equipment, and the core—which houses propulsion—with a key antenna for the satellite.
The National Defense Industrial Association, a top lobbying group for the U.S. aerospace and defense sector, said Jan. 13 it is spearheading its own industrial base review, which will be led by recently retired Pentagon industrial base czar Brett Lambert. “Brett will lead a team of industry stakeholders to provide fact-based perspectives on how we can best manage and preserve our critical industrial capacity,” said NDIA Chairman Arnold Punaro, a former Marine Corps major general and himself a well-known veteran of numerous blue-ribbon panels.
NEW DELHI — India is hoping to launch its Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) so-called fifth-generation fighter by 2018, a senior defense official says. “The product design work of AMCA has been started” by the Defense Research and Development Organization, says K. Tamilmani, director general of India’s Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), based in the southern city of Bengaluru. The vehicle is expected “to be ready” within next four years, he adds. The multi-role fighter was developed by the ADA at the request of the Indian air force (IAF).
NEW DELHI — India is trying to expedite the long-stalled process of acquiring 145 Ultra Light Howitzer artillery guns for its army. The government is proposing buying the guns through the U.S. Foreign Military Sales route. Last August, the U.S. Department of Defense notified the U.S. Congress of a possible sale of 145 155mm towed Howitzers in response to a request from India. The deal’s estimated cost is $885 million, which also includes providing associated equipment, parts, training and logistical support.
Proximity to congested northeast U.S. airspace is one reason Griffiss International Airport in central New York state has been selected to operate one of six unmanned aircraft system (UAS) test sites selected by the FAA. Partnered with the Northeast UAS Airspace Integration Research Alliance (Nuair)—a consortium of public entities, private industry and academic institutions—Griffiss will operate test ranges in New York and Massachusetts.
BEIJING — South Korea is going ahead with its LCH-LAH light helicopter program, following parliamentary and ministerial approval of full-scale development for the 4.2-5.3 ton (9,300-11,700 lb.) aircraft in cooperation with a foreign partner. Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) will handle the South Korean side of the development and has beefed up its program office for the project, making it one of the main divisions of the company.
LONDON — Aero-engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce is planning to cut 400 jobs in its defense business in both the U.S. and U.K. The company says the moves are in response to ongoing reductions in defense budgets in the U.S. and Europe as well as part of a drive to reduce costs and boost competitiveness.
BEIJING — The South Korean parliament has approved limited 2014 funding for the KF-X indigenous fighter subject to conditions that implicitly threaten to kill the program if it goes off the rails. Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), meanwhile, is restructuring its internal organization to sharpen its focus on the KF-X and the LCH-LAH helicopter program.
OMNIBUS: Top U.S. House and Senate appropriators said Jan. 10 they are confident they can introduce an omnibus spending bill for fiscal 2014 this week, but they need more time for it to pass both chambers of Congress before the Jan. 15 deadline to keep the government running. In turn, they are pushing a short-term extension of stopgap funding, which continues 2013 appropriations, until Jan. 17. Congress has to pass at least a continuing resolution (CR) of 2013 spending by Jan. 15, the day the current CR expires.
With the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) satisfied that a variant of Lockheed Martin’s newest stealthy cruise missile can accurately attack moving and protected ship targets, program officials are focusing on fielding the system on the B-1B and F/A-18 Hornet and laying the foundation for mating it with the U.S. Navy’s ship-launch canister system.
