When it comes to trade in defense goods with the U.K., the relationship with the U.S. needs to be less lopsided, the U.K.’s ambassador to the U.S. says. To fix that, Peter John Westmacott suggested the U.S. purchase MBDA’s Brimstone missiles during a discussion at the Center for Strategic and International Studies that centered on ways the U.S. can foster more federated partnerships with allies.
The Swedish air force helicopter wing has taken delivery of the first of its latest batch of NH90 utility helicopters, 12 years after placing the order for the aircraft. The first of the new aircraft, locally designated HKP14D, was delivered to the Linkoping-based unit on Dec. 17, after testing by the country’s defense procurement agency, FMV.
U.S. senators voted this morning to allow debate on the so-called Ryan-Murray budget compromise to end, a key procedural decision that permits the upper chamber to pass the deal and — assuming no differences with the House’s version — to go to the White House to become law.
Japan’s 2014 defense budget request asks for a 3% increase over the 2013 budget, continuing the sudden upward trend set in motion by right-wing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe upon his December 2012 return to power. The previous center-left government planned a 1.3% decrease in defense spending, which had already seen 10 consecutive contractions since 2003.
U.S. senators Tuesday morning approved a key procedural move that clears the way for the upper chamber to pass the so-called Ryan-Murray budget compromise and — assuming there are no differences from the House's version — allow th measure to go the White House to become law.
HOMELAND SECRETARY: The U.S. Senate late Dec. 16 confirmed President Barack Obama’s nominee, Jeh Johnson, to become the next and fourth secretary of homeland security. Senators backed him 78-16 to take over the parent department of the Coast Guard, Customs and Border Protection and Transportation Security Administration, among other agencies. Johnson is known for having good relations with lawmakers from when he served as the top lawyer for both the Air Force and later the entire Defense Department.
Giving a strong signal that robotics development is heading toward machines that mimic the capabilities of humans and animals, Google has acquired Boston Dynamics, which has built several legged robots for the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa). Privately held Boston Dynamics has developed the Legged Squad Support System (LS3) for Darpa, a prototype robotic “pack mule” designed to follow a team of soldiers autonomously over a rugged terrain like a trained animal, carrying equipment and following verbal or visual commands.
Australia has withdrawn its AAI Corp. Shadow tactical unmanned aircraft systems from Afghanistan as it winds down combat operations, but has extended the deployment of Israel Aerospace Industries Heron 1 medium-altitude, long-endurance UAS to April 2014. The RQ-7B Shadows had been operating in Uruzgan province since 2012. Australia acquired two Shadow systems in August 2010 under an A$175 million ($155 million) contract, and they had recently passed 10,000 hr. of operations based at Tarin Kot in Uruzgan.
The United Nations has begun operating a Selex ES Falco unmanned aircraft in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the first time it has used a UAV to support peacekeeping operations. The tactical UAV is being operated from Goma, the capital of North Kivu Province, monitoring the border between DRC and Rwanda in support of the U.N. stabilization mission, called Monusco. U.N. peacekeepers are supporting DRC forces in operations against M23 rebels in the east of the country.
ABOARD THE USS FREEDOM — MH-60 Seahawk helicopters are key to the multi-mission capability of the U.S. Navy’s Littoral Combat Ships (LCS), but making the aircraft available to help swap out the vessels’ mission module packages presents a significant challenge.
Lockheed Martin is considering all options to continue increasing the production rate of the multinational F-35, though officials are not yet to the point where they must draw on company funds to forward finance the manufacturing line.
At least 74 Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives are calling on the Pentagon to continue pursuit of a replacement USAF combat rescue helicopter (CRH).
Sikorsky has revealed the Unmanned Rotor Blown Wing concept it is designing with Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works under Phase 1 of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s vertical-takeoff-and-landing experimental aircraft (VTOL X-Plane) program. Sikorsky has received a $14.4 million contract for the 22-month conceptual and preliminary design phase. Darpa plans to make up to four Phase 1 awards.
ABOARD THE USS FREEDOM — A core crew size of 53 appears to suit the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS-1) Freedom just fine, says Cmdr. Patrick Thien, the ship’s commanding officer. “This is the right crew size and I think we’ve got the right mix,” Thien said Dec. 13 as Freedom approached the Navy port in Pearl Harbor en route to San Diego to finish off the ship’s first Western Pacific deployment.
With $37 million of congressionally directed funding to spend on improving energy efficiency, the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is seeking proposals for fuel-saving technology demonstrations. The funding would help manufacturers and others conduct demonstrations to mature technologies to reduce fuel consumption, drag and weight to a manufacturing readiness level high enough for them to be considered for future acquisition programs, AFRL says in a new solicitation.
In a bid to boost the ability to track orbital debris that could endanger satellites, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) is seeking methods for the uncued detection of objects in low-inclined low Earth orbit (LILO). The LILO project is part of Darpa’s OrbitOutlook (O2) program to bolster the U.S. Space Surveillance Network (SSN) with new sensor, database and validation capabilities. The SSN is tasked with observing and tracking space objects.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) has demonstrated a complete sense-and-avoid system on its Predator B unmanned aircraft, generating test data that will help the FAA and industry develop standards for integrating UAVs into civil airspace. The test demonstrated both the short-term collision avoidance and longer-term self-separation functions required of an unmanned-aircraft sense-and-avoid architecture, the company says.
The Norwegian parliament has approved plans to accelerate the country’s procurement of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Ministers gave the green light to buy six F-35s for 4 billion Krone ($654.7 million). The approval means that Norway is now signed up for 16 F-35A Lightning IIs. Four were ordered back in 2011, and the other six earlier this year.
Lockheed Martin is to deliver a 60-kw ruggedized laser that will enable the U.S. Army and Boeing to demonstrate the lethal potential of the truck-mounted High-Energy Laser Mobile Demonstrator (HEL MD) in 2017, on the path to a 100-kw version planned to be tested by 2022. The HEL MD shot down both 60mm mortar rounds and tactical unmanned aircraft using a 10-kw off-the-shelf industrial laser in six weeks of testing at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., that ended on Dec. 12. This followed low-power testing with a surrogate laser in 2011.
The Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) remote minehunting system (RMS) recently successfully completed developmental testing, U.S. Navy officials say. The RMS consists of the remote multi-mission vehicle (RMMV) and the towed AN/AQS-20A variable-depth sonar. The system’s purpose is to provide detection, classification, and localization of bottom, close-tethered, and volume mines in a single pass, as well as provide identification of bottom mines.
