The Pentagon could release performance specifications as soon as this summer for a new vertical-lift aircraft that will be developed in the Joint Multirole (JMR) program. The program, led by the Army, is a consortium of all the services and industry, and has received input from sources such as U.S. Special Operations Command, NASA and the defense secretary. Two demonstrators have been developed and initial wind tunnel tests and other studies completed. Army Maj. Gen.
May was the cruelest month yet for the U.S. Air Force's F-22 Raptor, given the Lockheed Martin fighter's persistent problems with its oxygen-delivery system. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta placed restrictions on Raptor operations on May 15—including a noteworthy deployment to the United Arab Emirates—and ordered the Air Force to rush into place an automatic back-up system. The first retrofit is due in December, and starting in January, 10 aircraft will be retrofitted per month.
If special operations are the “point of the spear” in war, combat engineers are the ridges of the blade, eliminating hazards and obstacles for advancing infantry. The Israel Defense Forces' (IDF) combat engineering corps has added a number of technologies to facilitate this mission. Among those recently revealed by the IDF is a Puma armored personnel carrier (APC) that has been modified for mine-clearing operations. The Puma (see photo), which uses the chassis of a British Centurion tank, carries 20 missiles armed with thermobaric (i.e., fuel-air) explosives.
SHIP DEAL: The U.S. Navy awarded Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Ingalls Shipbuilding unit a $2.4 billion, fixed-price-incentive contract May 31 for the detail design and construction of the multipurpose amphibious assault ship LHA-7 Tripoli. LHA-7 is the second America-class amphibious assault ship. Measuring 844 ft. long and 106 ft. wide, Tripoli will displace 44,971 long tons. Featuring a gas-turbine propulsion system, the ship can travel at speeds greater than 20 kt.
The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) was seeking a partner for its project to find a faster, cheaper way to design and build military ground vehicles when the Pentagon dropped a bomb on the Marine Corps last year.
When you think of European robotics, Nexter does not jump to mind as a major player. But during this month's Eurosatory show in Paris, the French manufacturer of the VBCI and Aravis armored vehicles and the Leclerc battle tank, among others, plans to change that mindset.
After almost two decades in the making, NATO has finally awarded a contract to field an Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) system. The alliance has signed a $1.7 billion contract to acquire five Northrop Grumman Global Hawk Block 40s to address an operational shortfall first identified during the 1991 Persian Gulf war and validated during last year's Libya air campaign. An initial operational capability is due to be reached in 2016. The deal was signed during the meeting of NATO members' heads of government summit in Chicago last month.
After years of complaints about the U.S. having no cyber-attack plans, policies, weapons or legal guidance, the White House and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) are both announcing new initiatives. Plan X is a broad program being launched by Darpa to create cyber-attack schemes, define their operational employment and deflect counterattacks. The program is expected to put $110 million into research over the next five years to support offensive military operations.
Just as the U.S. Navy is preparing for production of improved Littoral Combat Ships (LCS), members of Congress are again taking aim at the program. The impetus for the renewed congressional attacks on the LCS program can be found in a recent spate of troubling press and watchdog group reports, including a recent guided tour by Aviation Week of USS Freedom (LCS-1) while it was in drydock that revealed far more severe problems than had been previously acknowledged publicly by the Navy or prime contractor Lockheed Martin.
The roar of jets being launched from aircraft carriers may be iconic, but the U.S. Office of Naval Research (ONR) is looking for ways of reducing the noise generated by tactical aircraft, to protect the hearing of sailors involved with flight-deck operations. ONR's ongoing Jet Noise Reduction project, jointly funded by NASA, recently awarded more than $4 million in grants to six universities and two companies for development of noise-reduction technologies, as well as measurement and prediction tools and noise-source models.
MALMEN AIR BASE, Sweden — India will build a stealthier version of its Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), but in the near term it is getting ready to build the Mk. 2 version of the aircraft, with the goal of reaching operational clearance in 2016.
Bill Sweetman (Washington), Michael Fabey (Washington), Christina Mackenzie (Paris)
“A revolution in air defense” is what Rafael Executive Vice President Lova Drori calls current trends in protecting ground and sea targets from all kinds of air-delivered threats
NEW DELHI — U.S. aerospace giant Boeing has extended a contract with India’s Bharat Electronics Ltd. (BEL) after it recently delivered to the U.S. Navy the first EA-18G Growler electronic attack aircraft with a cockpit subassembly made by the Indian company. The subassembly provides cockpit floodlighting compatible with the aircraft’s Night Vision Imaging System (NVIS). Boeing had awarded BEL an initial contract in March 2011 for work on F/A-18E/F Super Hornet cockpit subassemblies.
COMING HOME: Preparations for the mid-to-early June landing of the U.S. Air Force’s second reusable X-37B space plane mission are under way at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., the service says. The precise landing date and time depends on technical and weather considerations. “Space professionals from the 30th Space Wing will monitor the deorbit and landing of the Air Force’s X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle mission, called OTV-2,” the service said in an announcement. The spacecraft was launched on March 5, 2011, from Cape Canaveral.
EMBRAER LEADERSHIP: Jose Antonio Filippo on June 4 will become Embraer’s CFO, filling a position vacated in April with the departure of Paulo Pinto Marques to a previous employer just months after taking the role. Filippo, who Embraer notes is an engineer by training, joins the manufacturer from Brazilian retailer Pao de Acucar where he was CFO. “Filippo is a great addition to our team. His expertise and experience will be of real value to the process of growth and development of the company,” says Embraer President and CEO Frederico Fleury Curado.
While the U.S. Defense Department (DOD) has taken much-needed steps to reduce costs, the Pentagon should do much more, says the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) think tank. “In early 2012, DOD released new strategic guidance and a corresponding budget reflecting $487 billion in cuts over 10 years,” CNAS notes in its report, “Sustainable Pre-eminence Reforming the U.S. Military at a Time of Strategic Change,” released this week.
The U.S. Coast Guard is continuing to stake its claim for protecting the nation’s interests in Arctic waters. The USCG is better positioned for the job than its U.S. Navy partners, says Vice Adm. John Currier, Coast Guard vice commandant.
The newly discovered Flame computer worm is quickly replacing 2010’s Stuxnet as the offensive cyber weapon of greatest notoriety, but digital combat veterans in the U.S. say it has been effective and undetected for two years or more because the Middle Eastern targets were well chosen and the type of exploitation was tailored for a foe without top-of-the-line cyber defenses.
The Pentagon is wrangling with the question of how to reconcile its diverse intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) forces as the U.S. prepares to withdraw from Afghanistan and focus on preparing for a high-end, near-peer threat in the Pacific region.
