The U.S. Air Force’s chief of staff warns planners not to expect an influx of remotely piloted vehicles to shift from Central Command to training organizations.
PARIS — The proliferation of low-cost unmanned aircraft has driven Thales back to embracing the concept of gun-based air defenses. “You cannot afford to use very expensive missiles” against such targets, says Laurent Dupont, in charge of advanced weapon systems at Thales. RapidFire also looks to take advantage of improvements in sensor accuracy and ammunition to enable the gun air defense concept.
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CAE is to provide a suite of ground-based training systems for BAE Systems Hawk Advanced Jet Trainers (AJT) ordered by Saudi Arabia, which the company identifies only as an “undisclosed customer.” The Saudis placed a ₤1.6 billion ($2.5 billion) order with BAE in May for 22 Hawk AJTs and 55 Pilatus PC-21 turboprop trainers. The Arab nation already operates earlier Hawk Mk.65s and PC-9s.
Iran’s threat earlier this year to close the Strait of Hormuz highlighted what many experts view as a longstanding fundamental weakness in U.S. naval strategy: the inability to effectively and economically spot and neutralize naval mines. Such mines can cost as little as $1,000 each and are relatively easy for Iran to put in place. Finding and neutralizing them might take U.S. naval forces a month or more, essentially allowing Iran to achieve its strategic goal of blocking trade in the narrow body of water.
Surveillance aircraft and systems are receiving big funding boosts from Congress to pay for advanced sensors, thanks to a one-item unfunded requirements list from U.S. Special Operations Command (Socom). House appropriators did it first: Big pluses for three aircraft that are platforms for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR): U-28, MQ-1 and MQ-9. Five supporting ground systems are also all on the receiving end. All the increases are for adding high-definition video sensors (Aerospace DAILY, June 1).
Rolls-Royce is buying out the 50% stake that Goodrich Corp. holds in the Aero Engine Controls (AEC) joint venture. United Technologies Corp. (UTC), which is in the process of acquiring Goodrich, has approved the divestiture, but completion of the transfer of AEC shares still awaits the closing of UTC’s Goodrich acquisition and its own antitrust review.
TEL AVIV — The increased use of UAVs and light aircraft is spurring development of smaller precision-attack weapons, designed to better meet payload limitations of the manned, light-strike aircraft and UAVs.
Lawmakers are pursuing an investigation of leaks in the White House after a set of news stories detailing the Obama administration’s clandestine national security successes. The most recent story by David Sanger in The New York Times has drawn the most attention. The piece — a part of his book “Confront and Conceal: Obama’s Secret Wars and Surprising Use of American Power” — describes how President Barack Obama accelerated the use of cyberattacks on Iranian nuclear facilities.
The U.S. Defense Department needs to better analyze the effects of repositioning its force structure, especially in Europe, a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report says. “Although the Department of Defense (DOD) has conducted some analysis to support two recent global posture decisions, the full cost implications of these decisions are unknown,” GAO says in its report, “Force Structure, Improved Cost Information and Analysis Needed to Guide Overseas Military Posture Decisions.”
The first Bell OH-58D Kiowa Warrior armed scout helicopter upgraded from an OH-58A under the U.S. Army’s wartime replacement aircraft (WRA) program has been delivered by the Corpus Christi Army Depot (CCAD). The rollout comes as the Army prepares to release a request for proposals for the flight evaluation of potential off-the-shelf replacements for the OH-58D to meet the Armed Aerial Scout (AAS) requirement.
The Pentagon, FAA and NASA need to cooperate more fully to free up U.S. airspace to UAVs to nurture the market, says the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC).
LONDON — Australia’s order of 10 C-27s will help sustain production of the airlifter through 2015, with additional deals in the making that could keep the line alive until 2018-19, Alenia Aermacchi CEO Giuseppe Giordo says.
UNMANNED RESUPPLY: The U.S. Marine Corps Warfighting Lab is seeking information on available unmanned aircraft that could deliver at least 500 lb. of cargo to geographically distributed ground units from ships. Vertical-takeoff-and-landing capability is likely, but not mandatory, and the lab is interested in vehicles that could autonomously deliver at least two 250-lb.-plus packages to different locations from vessels up to 50 nm from shore.
The Littoral Combat Ship (LCS-1) USS Freedom moved a step closer toward the U.S. Navy’s 2013 goal of a Singapore deployment by passing special operational tests that are atypical for a Navy warship. The Freedom — the first of the class for the new LCS fleet — in May passed a special trial (ST), which the Navy says is “basically a modified version of the final contract trials (FCT) that a ship undergoes prior to the end of the builder’s guarantee period.”
Faced with a huge shortfall of anti-tank missiles and the delayed induction of the indigenous Nag missile, India has been scouting for adequate offensive systems.
SINGAPORE — Japan intends to buy two ScanEagle UAVs for its army, a further sign the government recognizes the growing importance of unmanned aircraft. The funds for the purchase are part of the country’s third supplemental budget for post-tsunami disaster relief, according to a Boeing spokeswoman in Japan. Boeing subsidiary Insitu makes ScanEagle, which is launched via catapult. This is the first time Japan has ordered ScanEagle, the spokeswoman says, adding that Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) is Insitu’s partner in this deal.
T-6 SUPPORT: U.S. Air Force Materiel Command has awarded DynCorp International a contract worth up to $432 million to provide support services for T-6A and T-6B trainer aircraft at various Air Force and Navy bases throughout the U.S. The contract has a base period of one year with four one-year options. The company will establish, operate and manage Contractor Operated and Maintained Base Supply facilities to provide spare parts and equipment to support the training aircraft.
Few attributes are more important to a U.S. Navy submarine than stealth. But U.S. Navy Seals also need to get to their job site from the subs undetected as well. And that is an increasingly difficult task as technology improves for active sonar, making good systems affordable in areas where Seals are likely to try to conduct missions.
The miniature hit-to-kill interceptor is being developed under the U.S. Army’s Extended Area Protection and Survivability (EAPS) integrated demonstration.
SINGAPORE — Japan’s government has appointed Satoshi Morimoto as defense minister, the first time since World War II that a Japanese defense minister has not been a member of parliament. Morimoto is Japan’s third defense minister in recent months. His immediate predecessor was Naoki Tanaka, who served from January to June. Before Tanaka, Yasuo Ichikawa held the post from September 2011 to January 2012. Tanaka and Ichikawa were both ousted following pressure from the opposition party.
