The current battle over East China Sea airspace shows the need for even greater cooperation between U.S. and Chinese military forces and officials, U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says. “I would focus on one particular area . . . that is developing a stronger military-to-military relationship between the PLA [People’s Liberation Army] and the United States,” Hagel said Dec. 5. “We have been working at that—both sides.”
BEIJING — China is working on a ceramic matrix composite (CMC) but lacks practical applications of such material, says a leading Chinese researcher in the field. More than 4,000 CMC articles have been made for 360 types of parts in China, the researcher told attendees at the China Aeronautical Materials and Manufacturing Equipment Summit, organized by Galleon, in Beijing. Apart from work on parts for turbine engines, Chinese engineers have been applying CMC to ramjets and telemetry systems.
FIRST FLIGHT: The first Tranche 3 Eurofighter Typhoon has made its first flight in the U.K. The aircraft, BS116/ZK355, took off on Dec. 2 from BAE Systems’ Warton facility. The Tranche 3s are set to be the most advanced versions of the Typhoon and are equipped to provide more electrical power in preparation for the installation of the planned E-Scan radar, as well as the ability to potentially fit conformal fuel tanks on top of the rear fuselage.
When it comes to shipbuilding for the Pentagon, there are really two U.S. Navies to consider — nuclear and non-nuclear — says Mike Petters, CEO of Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII), the nation’s largest military shipbuilder. Both present their own set of challenges. “They certainly are different customers,” Petters said Dec. 3 during a presentation hosted by Credit Suisse. “The nuclear navy will try to engineer risk out of a program by making sure they ensure sustainability of the program,” he says.
LONDON — BAE Systems is set to begin flight trials early next year of the Panavia Tornado fitted with a Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS). Minister for Defense Equipment, Support and Technology Philip Dunne, in written answers to Parliament Dec. 3, said the system is being integrated on the aircraft by BAE under a £53 million ($87 million) contract.
Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) launched its first Falcon 9 v1.1 mission to geosynchronous transfer orbit Dec. 3, marking the Hawthorne, Calif.-based startup’s entry into the commercial launch market and positioning it to unseat United Launch Alliance (ULA), the Boeing-Lockheed Martin joint venture that launches most NASA, U.S. Air Force and intelligence community missions.
While the U.S. Navy would rather not see deficiencies in the ships that contractors deliver to the service, it makes more economic sense to fix the ships later than to refuse to accept the vessels until the problems are addressed, shipbuilding officials say.
LONDON — The Spanish air force is looking to purchase a trio of Airbus Military A330-200 multi-role tanker-transports (MRTTs) to replace its aging Boeing KC-707 tankers. The purchase of new tankers is now one of the air arm’s top priorities, according to Brig. Gen. Miguel Angel Martin Perez, head of the plans and policy division at the Spanish air force. He spoke at the Military Airlift – Rapid Reaction and Tanker Operations conference in Seville on Dec. 3.
The U.S. Army AH-64E Apache attack helicopter has achieved initial operating capability (IOC) with the 1-229th Attack Reconnaissance Battalion. “This is our initial operations capabilities check,” says Lt. Col. John Davis, battalion commander. “We’re a ‘Go.’” Designated as the Army’s first unit equipped with the newest attack helicopters, the Apache battalion, known as Tigersharks, was issued its first AH-64E Apache in January 2013.
ACTING DEPUTY: President Obama has appointed Christine Fox acting deputy secretary of defense, effective Dec. 5, according to a statement from Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel. “Christine, who until recently served as the department’s Director of Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation, is a brilliant defense thinker and proven manager,” Hagel said in a Dec. 3 statement.
BEIJING — China, now making a limited volume of high-grade carbon fiber that it cannot buy from Western countries or Japan, plans to build a plant with 20 times as much capacity. The cost of the fiber, of T800 grade, will be 1,600 yuan ($262) per kg, compared with the 4,200 yuan per kg cost of the established Chinese product, T300, the new plant operator told a conference in Beijing, although it was unclear whether the operator was referring to output from its present facilities.
In light of its problems with several major shipbuilding programs in recent years, the U.S. Navy is making some organizational changes to provide better quality assurance. Navy officials note that recent ship deliveries prove the service is doing a better job overseeing vessel construction. The proposed changes should strengthen that oversight, especially within Naval Sea Systems Command (Navsea) and the Supervisor of Shipbuilding (Supship), the service says.
NEW DELHI — India has approved a plan to spend 50 billion rupees ($792 million) for defense equipment, including night-vision devices and rockets for its armed forces. At a meeting earlier this month of the Defense Acquisition Council, the highest decision-making body for the country’s defense affairs, Defense Minister A.K. Antony approved the procurement of night-vision devices worth 38 billion rupees for infantry soldier carbines and 10,000 rockets worth 6.8 billion rupees, a defense official says.
With two new electronic warfare (EW) systems recently brought to market — Sage, which detects radio frequency emitters at distance, and Seer, a radar-warning receiver — Selex ES’s Electronic Warfare Operational Support (EWOS) center is becoming ever more important to the company’s EW business.
China, now making a limited volume of high-grade carbon fiber that it cannot buy from Western countries or Japan, plans to build a plant with 20 times as much capacity. The cost of the fiber, of T800 grade, will be 1,600 yuan ($262) per kg, compared with the 4,200 yuan per kg cost of the established Chinese product, T300, the new plant operator told a conference in Beijing, although it was unclear whether the operator was referring to output from its present facilities.
The Institute for Near East & Gulf Military Analysis (INEGMA) has announced the preliminary agenda for the 6th edition of the Dubai Air Chiefs Conference (DIAC).
LONDON — Eurofighter consortium partner Alenia Aermacchi has started flight tests to support the integration of the Storm Shadow cruise missile on the Typhoon combat aircraft. The company began flight testing the 1,230-kg (2,710-lb.) missile on Nov. 27 from the company’s flight test center at Decimomannu air base in Sardinia, in conjunction with partner companies BAE Systems and Cassidian.
About $13.5 billion will be spent through 2022 on the research, development, and production of land- and sea-based electro-optical (EO) systems, Forecast International predicts. Of the major EO systems covered in Forecast’s report, 296,036 units will be produced over the next 10 years. During the first half of the forecast period, from 2013 through 2017, 156,561 units will be produced, with 139,475 units expected to be produced between 2018-2022.
The first Littoral Combat Ship (LCS-1), the USS Freedom, recently arrived in Guam as it starts to wrap up its Western Pacific deployment with a transit across the Pacific Ocean that U.S. Navy officials hope will be free of power losses and other recent operational problems on the ship. Freedom arrived in Guam, the farthest western U.S. territory, as part of its return transit across the Pacific Ocean, on Nov. 29. The ship will receive fuel and supplies for the next underway period
Turbomeca and China’s Avic Engine have completed the first test bench runs of the new Ardiden 3C turboshaft that is destined for use on the Chinese version of the Eurocopter EC175. The tests, completed at Turbomeca’s Bordes facility in France, confirmed what the company called “good aeromechanical behavior and performance,” and allow the manufacturer to proceed to the test and certification phase of the engine’s development program.
