Small firm D-Star Engineering has received what appears to be the first contract, for $4.8 million, awarded under the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (IARPA) Great Horned Owl (GHO) program to develop a new class of quiet, small unmanned aircraft.
One of the biggest obstacles in pinpointing pirates in the coastal domain is trying to locate them in congested littorals and differentiate their vessels from the rest of the clutter in that environment.
SINGAPORE — Asia-Pacific nations have ordered ScanEagle UAVs from Boeing subsidiary Insitu as they seek to boost their reconnaissance and surveillance capabilities. Singapore’s navy has ordered the small UAVs, says Andrew Duggan, Pacific managing director for Insitu, adding that he could not disclose the number or their intended purpose.
Alicante, Spain — Spain might be sailing toward a financial hurricane, but the country’s new submarines are forging ahead below the turmoil. The focus of the Undersea Defense Technology show here this year was the host nation’s S-80 submarine. In the nearby Mediterranean city of Cartagena lies an assembly line of these vessels, with all four in various stages of completion at the Navantia shipyard.
While the U.S. is reconsidering a provision that requires its ready-reserve fleet (RRF) ships be managed by contractors that meet strict U.S. citizenship standards, that requirement does not violate other federal open competition contracting laws, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) says. The GAO finding came in a June agency decision denying a Maersk shipping line protest of contract offerings that included the provision.
Missions requiring Special Forces work or construction needs are stressing Navy resources, but of particular consideration so is the increasing need for ships to handle BMD operations.
SINGAPORE — Pakistan is interested in acquiring some of the Australian air force’s Lockheed Martin C-130H aircraft. The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) has 12 C-130Hs that are all due to be phased out in December as part of the Australian government’s program to cut its defense budget.
Lockheed Martin has completed its first series of captive-carry seeker tests in preparation for the first all-up-round flight test of the Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM).
The reduction to the federal budget is set to take place unless Congress agrees to reduce the federal deficit by $1.2 trillion or passes a law replacing one already on the books.
ARMY Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace, Kongsberg, Norway, was awarded an $85,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract. The award will provide for the modification of an existing contract to procure spare parts and services in support of the common remotely operated weapon station. The work will be performed in Johnstown, Pa., with an estimated completion date of May 31, 2013. The bid was solicited through the Internet, with one bid received. The U.S. Army Contracting Command, Picatinny Arsenal, Ala., is the contracting activity (W15QKN-07-D-0018).
ARMY Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., Stratford, Conn., was awarded a $2,827,576,695 firm-fixed-price contract. The award will provide for the procurement, as well as support services and technical data, of up to 916 UH/MH-60 Helicopters for the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy and Foreign Military Sales. The work will be performed in Stratford, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 30, 2016. The bid was solicited through the Internet, with one bid received. The U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., is the contracting activity (W58RGZ-12-C-0008).
TEL AVIV — Israel Aerospace Industries’ (IAI) new CEO, Joseph Weiss, will be sorting out four important international contracts as his first order of business, ranging from aircraft to satellite efforts. The first contract involves developing airport robotics — in particular the Taxibot aircraft tug — with Airbus. A second with Spacecom Satellite Communications is to produce the AMOS-6 communications spacecraft and ground station.
Improvements being made to U.S. Navy vessels in Mayport, Fla., will help pave the way for basing a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier there, says Adm. Jonathan Greenert, chief of naval operations (CNO). A carrier move to Mayport has been a political hot potato for some time. Virginia lawmakers, for example, have battled against moving a carrier’s home port from their state. The Navy blunted some of the criticism in this year’s fiscal 2013 budget request by delaying funding for the move.
FALLING SKIES: George Mason University economist Stephen Fuller will unveil his new report on the “staggering American job losses in 2013 and beyond resulting from the Budget Control Act of 2011” on July 17, according to an announcement from the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA), which commissioned the study. The report will update previous projections of “defense-dependent job losses, and provide the first comprehensive analysis of anticipated job losses in other sectors of the economy,” AIA says.
Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.), a member of the Democratic leadership team, says she is willing to sit down with anyone to discuss how to avoid the possibility of a $1 trillion automatic cut to the federal budget. But she is also prepared to let the penalty known in Washington as sequestration happen.
The Office of Naval Research (ONR) is working on a universal informational communications gateway that would allow U.S. Navy ships to share more accurate and secure real-time information. The gateway is expected to help ships share a real-time operating picture, marrying two vital networks: one for combat systems and the other for command and control, or C2, which also encompasses intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. There are 30 interconnections between the two networks.
Projected production expenses really ramp up in fiscal 2016 and 2017, with the Pentagon slated to spend at least $3.8 billion during each of those years.
Shock, disbelief, dismay, distrust. Stages of grief? No, these adjectives sum up the reaction to the news that Hawker Beechcraft has agreed to sell itself to a Chinese manufacturer for about $1.8 billion (see p. 40). It remains to be seen whether the property will actually change hands, although there is no reason at this point to doubt it will. Nonetheless, the announcement stunned aerospace professionals.
France carried out its first full test firing of the MdCN (missile de croisiere naval) equipped with an infrared seeker at the Biscarrosse test range in southwestern France July 9, simulating full-up engagement of the MBDA-built naval cruise missile in a frigate configuration.
