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.
As the recent loss of two sailors’ lives and a Sikorsky MH-53E “Sea Dragon” helicopter off the Virginia coast shows, there are no routine U.S. Navy aviation missions. Daytime training mishaps such as the Jan. 8 MH-53E incident are far from uncommon, an Aviation Week Intelligence Network (AWIN) analysis of service accident data shows.
MERIGNAC, France — Dassault Aviation is beginning work on a four-year contract to develop a new F3-R standard for the Rafale combat jet. The $1.1 billion software upgrade will enable the integration of new weapons and a next-generation laser targeting pod on the multirole aircraft. The agreement was signed Jan. 10 by French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and Dassault Aviation CEO Eric Trappier during a visit to the company’s aircraft production facility in Merignac.
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.
BAE Systems has begun flight trials of three-dimensional printed metallic components on the Panavia Tornado combat aircraft, as the company explores the potential benefits of the method. A one-off component—a bracket made from printed stainless steel and designed to carry a fixed thermal-imaging camera—has been fitted to a U.K. Royal Air Force Tornado GR4 the company uses for flight testing. The bracket was produced in a fraction of the time and cost that similar items would have previously taken.
The first of two Boeing C-17 Globemasters destined for the Kuwait Air Force has emerged from the production line at Long Beach, Calif. Boeing has not yet formally announced Kuwait as a customer for the airlifter, but the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency detailed a request from Kuwait for a single C-17 in September 2010. The country registered interest in a second aircraft in April 2013. The aircraft, KAF342, is yet to make its initial flight and first appeared outside on Jan. 6.
Now it will be called Airbus Group, instead of European Aerospace, Defense and Space Co. (EADS), a name it used proudly for the last 13 years. This is a formidable rebranding initiative for a global 144,000-employee group headquartered in the Netherlands (for fiscal reasons only). The new title, which is scheduled to be ratified in May by the shareholders, has been in use since Jan. 1.
Details of closely held efforts to make the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet more stealthy have been revealed, perhaps inadvertently, by the appearance of a full-scale test specimen at the U.S. Air Force “boneyard” in Arizona. Lacking wings and its forward fuselage, it appears to be part of a radar cross-section (RCS) model to measure the effects of changes to the fighter's structure and engine nozzles.
Barely a decade ago, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) demonstrated that driverless vehicles could navigate desert roads and negotiate city streets. Now car manufacturers from Audi to Toyota are promising that autonomous driving technology will make their vehicles safer by the middle of this decade.
Textron's Scorpion two-seat advanced trainer is now in the flight-test phase. The company's public relations efforts remain minimal, although this is a valuable initiative, company-funded programs of such magnitude being a rare occurrence. But can an all-new military aircraft expect export success in the absence of domestic orders? Can Textron overcome such a handicap ? On the opposite side of the Atlantic, Dassault Aviation has not developed the Alpha Jet's long-overdue successor: Perhaps they should talk and jointly create a global product.
