HONOLULU, Hawaii — As the U.S. continues to rebalance its naval forces to the Asia-Pacific region, one potential threat still looms large—the development of a Chinese anti-ship ballistic missile. “Known as the DF-21D, this missile provides the PLA [People’s Liberation Army] with the capability to attack large ships, including aircraft carriers, in the western Pacific,” the Pentagon says in its most recent annual report on Chinese military capabilities. “The DF-21D has a range exceeding 1,500 km [930 mi.] and is armed with a maneuverable warhead.”
India ranks as the leading naval ship supplier for Asia-Pacific partners and allies of the U.S., according to an Aviation Week Intelligence Network (AWIN) analysis of data provided by Avascent Analytics. The analysis indicates that India will sell about $24.5 billion worth of naval ships and related equipment—including development services and production—to Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand over the period 2009-2023.
The U.S. Navy wants to take to sea the kind of robust simulations it gets on land at its Fleet Integrated Synthetic Training and Testing Facility (Fist2fac) operated by the Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division Keyport, located on Ford Island, Hawaii.
HAPPY NEW YEAR: Wall Street analysts at RBC Capital Markets see the large, publicly held, global aerospace sector enjoying a more “straightforward” year than 2013. “Across the various markets, we expect revenue growth, improved margins and good cash generation, with a notable recovery in the aerospace aftermarket and a belated pick up in business jet demand,” they say of 2014.
U.S. Transportation Command (Transcom), Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) and the related military services offices last week changed to an automatic identification technology that the Pentagon expects will save millions of dollars annually in transportation and distribution costs. The Pentagon is migrating Active Radio Frequency Identification, or aRFID, tags to the ISO 1800-7 standard.
NEW DELHI — India’s Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV), capable of assisting in maritime security and deep-sea operations, is readying for more sea trials. The AUV will be capable of a variety of missions including surveillance, sensor deployment and mine countermeasures, as well as ammunition delivery. It operates via a mother ship from which it is launched, controlled and recovered.
The U.S. Navy should take steps to help it weather enemy “surprise” capabilities, a recent National Research Council (NRC) report says. “U.S. naval forces as a whole do not seem to be utilizing the best methodologies for assessing surprise,” NRC says in a prepublication version of its report, released in December.
NEW DELHI — India’s Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) may have finally been cleared for entry into squadron service, but the coming year ushers in a critical round of testing for the Mk. 1 fighters to meet a final deadline of December 2014 to be fully operational. The tests are crucial to how the Indian air force (IAF) will deploy the jet, built chiefly to replace large numbers of MiG-21 interceptors still in service with frontline squadrons.
After shortlisting 25 proposals from 24 states, the FAA has selected six test sites across the U.S. to conduct civil unmanned aircraft system (UAS) research. Geographic and climatic diversity were key requirements for the selection. The six selected operators are: the University of Alaska, the state of Nevada, New York’s Griffiss International Airport, North Dakota Department of Commerce, Texas A&M University, and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
EADS has formally rebranded as Airbus Group, retaining its Airbus commercial aircraft identity and renaming its other two divisions as Airbus Defence and Space, and Airbus Helicopters. This means the group’s Cassidian, Astrium and Airbus Military defense and space activities have now been united under the Airbus Defence and Space division. Airbus Group is also planning to change its legal status, subject to regulatory and shareholder approvals, although its organizational structure and operations will remain the same.
NEW DELHI — India on Jan. 1 canceled its $770 million contract with AgustaWestland for the purchase of 12 AW101 helicopters, following a bribery scandal. “The government of India has terminated the contract on grounds of breach of the pre-contract integrity pact and the agreement by AgustaWestland,” a defense ministry spokesman says. The order to cancel the contract was signed by Defense Minister A.K. Antony, who earlier in the day met with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
LONDON — The French air force has conducted its first operational mission with an Airbus A400M airlifter, taking cargo to Mali. The air arm used its second delivered aircraft to conduct the flight from Orleans-Bricy AB, France, to Bamako, the Malian capital, on Dec. 29 to support Operation Serval, the ongoing intervention of French forces against Islamic militants in the region.
HONOLULU, Hawaii — The just-completed first Western Pacific deployment of the U.S. Navy’s first Littoral Combat Ship (LCS-1), the USS Freedom, is yielding a raft of lessons learned that will likely result in maintenance-related tweaks of the LCS concept of operations (conops), service officials say. “We’re probably going to increase flexibility of [the] maintenance cycle,” Capt. J.R. Garner, LCS Squadron One commodore, tells the Aviation Week Intelligence Network (AWIN), referring to such operations as the “single-point” Achilles Heel.
“All” sounding and research rockets remain controlled under the U.S. Munitions List (USML) category covering launch vehicles, ballistic and guided missiles, according to final export control reform rules announced Dec. 31.
The U.S. Marine Corps and Navy are looking to enhance their expeditionary abilities by combining the utility of Bell-Boeing V-22 Ospreys with the flexibility of new ships being built and deployed, says Maj. Gen. Robert Walsh, director of expeditionary warfare. The services are looking to use mobile landing platform (MLP) and afloat-forward-staging-base (AFSB) ships as launching pads for V-22s and other aircraft in forward areas in ways not utilized now, Walsh tells the Aviation Week Intelligence Network (AWIN).
SOCOM SPENDING: Acquisition spending by U.S. Special Operations Command (Socom) should remain steady over the next few years despite overarching federal budget pressures, according to consulting company Frost & Sullivan. The consultants see Socom focusing spending on training and ground mobility vehicles. Technology spending will focus on incremental size, weight and power (so-called swap) improvements.
EADS has formally rebranded as Airbus Group, retaining its Airbus commercial aircraft identity and renaming its other two divisions as Airbus Defence and Space, and Airbus Helicopters. This means the group’s Cassidian, Astrium and Airbus Military defence and space activities have now been united under the Airbus Defence and Space division. Airbus Group is also planning to change its legal status, subject to regulatory and shareholder approvals, although its organizational structure and operations will remain the same.
NEW DELHI — Pakistan’s efforts to sell its indigenous JF-17 Thunder multi-role fighter aircraft are getting a boost with the government’s vow to push defense exports. The Pakistan government is said to have given a positive response to a proposed initiative by the Pakistan air force (PAF) to export the JF-17 to prospective buyer states. The JF-17 was developed as a joint venture between the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC), Kamra and Chengdu Aircraft Industry Corporation (CAC) of China, which refers to it as the FC-1 Xiaolong.
Following Boeing Commercial Airplane’s recent decision to open engineering design centers away from its traditional Seattle base, parent company Boeing has announced plans to restructure its entire Research & Technology organization by establishing research centers in Alabama, California, Missouri, South Carolina and Washington.
LONDON — Poland has chosen the Alenia Aermacchi M346 jet trainer to meet its requirement for a new generation lead-in fighter trainer (LIFT). The €280 million ($383 million) contract for eight aircraft also includes training, technical and logistics support. The company will also provide simulators and other training devices and options for a further four aircraft. The contract is scheduled to be signed in early 2014. Some 48 M346s aircraft have now been ordered, by the Italian, Singaporean and Israeli governments.
HONOLULU, HAWAII — There likely will be more joint training exercises that combine U.S. Army helicopters and other air assets aboard Navy ships, and the two services are certain to be combing such platforms for future operations and missions, says Capt. John Banigan, the commanding officer of the guided-missile cruiser CG-70 USS Lake Erie.
All services can play a major role in counterinsurgency (COIN), according to the latest U.S. Defense Department manual on the topic. Cyberspace operations provide security within the environment and help to isolate insurgents within the affected area or separate them from external support secured through cyberspace,” says the joint manual, titled simply “Counterinsurgency.” It was released in late November and represents an update to the guide published in October 2009.
