With advanced avionics and mission systems, the 1970s-era delta-winged fighter called Kfir could rank in the same class as contemporary “fourth-generation” fighter jets, say officials from manufacturer Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). The company can deliver up to 50 of the Mach 2+ Kfirs, configured to the newest Block 60 standard, using airframes retired from Israeli air force service in the 1990s, IAI officials report. These aircraft were mothballed in the southern Negev desert and are in good condition for refurbishment.
After the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles turned the tables on Russia's helicopter gunships and helped end the occupation. In the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan, missile jammers have largely neutralized the threat. But still only a fraction of the aircraft that could find themselves in combat zones is protected by directional infrared countermeasures (Dircm) systems.
Despite a series of public setbacks in recent years, AgustaWestland is embarking on a new civil certification program for its AW101, a medium/heavy helicopter that has experienced more than its fair share of strife since its development in the 1980s.
Lockheed Martin is designing a fix to address cracks found in one of four primary wing carry-through bulkheads on an F-35B ground-test article that was undergoing durability tests for a second life of service beyond 8,000 flying hours.
The European Defense Agency (EDA) is preparing for a second series of manned test flights of a sense-and-avoid (S&A) system under development to allow unmanned aircraft to operate in unrestricted airspace. The system is being developed under the four-year Mid-air Collision Avoidance System (MidCAS) program, which ends in 2014, by a consortium of 13 companies from five European nations, including Saab, Alenia Aermacchi, EADS Cassidian, Indra, Selex and Thales.
While the uncertainty of two years of budget cuts and stop-gap spending bills may still not seem tangible to the public, “sequestration” is creating “chaos” for defense contractors.
Hobbled by the government's partial shutdown, the National Transportation Safety Board is standing down, except for the most pressing cases. “The agency can engage in those activities necessary to address imminent threats to safety of human life or for the protection of property,” the board said Oct. 10. Though it is clear investigators would be recalled for a major transportation disaster, how the NTSB is defining other “imminent threats” is murkier.
Among advanced developments hindered by the ongoing budget saga on Capitol Hill is the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's proposed XS-1 experimental spaceplane. Darpa is polling industry for interest in developing a reusable hypersonic vehicle with expendable upper stages that can put as much as 5,000 lb. in space up to 10 times over 10 days. But Boeing, which has a lot of relevant technology in its X-37 spaceplane, isn't ready to commit. There is some uncertainty about what is and isn't going to be funded, Muilenburg says.
One way to try to escape cataclysmic budget uncertainty is to cover all the bases. Consider EADS's Lakota Light Utility Helicopter, one of the programs that fared poorly in President Barack Obama's long-term budget plans. The Army asked for just 10 this year and no more after that. But members of Congress appear to be persuaded by EADS's pitch of a low-cost, robust platform that delivers on time and is entrenched in the U.S. industrial base. The House's spending committee added funding to procure 31 Lakotas, and its Senate counterpart funded 20.
Five years ago, the U.S. rotorcraft industry was stagnant, fat and happy. It was building the same old helicopters for customers who did not think they needed anything better. Today, the industry is vibrant and developing new designs, but running the same risk of focusing on a single, dominant customer with a shaky record of making and sticking to procurement decisions.
With the technological developments of current and potential adversaries making it more difficult to gain access into certain maritime areas, the U.S. has to invest as much in tactics as it does in state-of-the art equipment and systems to implement air-sea-battle (ASB) concepts, military leaders say. Successful ASB does not require “totally technical” solutions alone, U.S. Marine Corps Brig. Gen. Kevin Killea, director of the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory, said Oct. 10 during a House Armed Services seapower subcommittee hearing on ASB.
LONDON — Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) has begun development of an indigenous helicopter. Details of the work, which began Sept. 6, have only just emerged from Turkey’s Undersecretariat for Defense Industries (SSM). The start of development follows the signing of an agreement with TAI at the end of June.
The Gallium Nitride (GaN) technology that represents the core of the transmitter-receiver (TR) modules underpinning recent radar development was key not only to winning the U.S. Navy’s Air And Missile Defense Radar (AMDR), but also to developing the Air Force’s upcoming Space Surveillance System, Raytheon officials say.
The U.S. government shutdown has claimed another victim — the christening of the DDG-1000 USS Zumwalt-class destroyer. “It is incredibly unfortunate that we are being forced to cancel the christening ceremony for this great warship,” says Navy Secretary Ray Mabus. “But the ongoing government shutdown prevents us from being able to honor Admiral Zumwalt’s memory with a ceremony befitting his and his family’s legacy of service to our nation and our navy.”
The European Defense Agency (EDA) is preparing for a second series of manned test flights of a sense-and-avoid (S&A) system under development to allow unmanned aircraft to operate in unrestricted airspace. The system is being developed under the four-year Mid-air Collision Avoidance System (MidCAS) program, which ends in 2014, by a consortium of 13 companies from five European nations, including Saab, Alenia Aermacchi, EADS Cassidian, Indra, Selex and Thales.
