U.S. Army aviation is offering industry a deal: Work with us to slow our procurement as budgets decline and we can continue to invest in the clean-sheet rotorcraft we both need; work against us to protect your individual programs and we will both get nothing. As the Army wrestles with its first budget cuts in more than 10 years, the aviation branch is trying to protect its long-term investment in advanced replacement rotorcraft under the Future Vertical Lift (FVL) initiative by slowing the near-term modernization.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Bell has received a U.S. Army contract for nonrecurring engineering on a “new-metal” cabin for the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior, with the first new-production cabin to be delivered late in 2014. Although the new cabin is planned only for wartime-replacement aircraft converted from OH-58As, restarting airframe production is a key element in Bell’s strategy to meet the Army’s Armed Aerial Scout (AAS) requirement to replace the OH-58D.
Despite deep divisions in the U.S. Congress, lawmakers are not missing an opportunity to express their support for the defense of Israel. The question is just how much they will provide in the end. The Pentagon recently said it would ask for more cash to purchase Rafael's Iron Dome short-range rocket and mortar defense system for Israel. And while some lawmakers are so enthusiastic about Iron Dome that they have already introduced a bill toward that end, there is no consensus about the amount of the allocation.
The U.S. Office of Naval Research (ONR) is funding a program to develop a fleet of “smart robocopters” to hunt down pirates in congested seas. A new sensor on unmanned aircraft will be able to distinguish small pirate boats from other vessels, ONR officials say. The Multi-Mode Sensor Seeker (MMSS) is a mix of high-definition camera, mid-wave infrared sensor and laser-radar (ladar) technology, ONR says.
That the BrahMos high-speed anti-ship missile is a formidable weapon is not in doubt, but its air-launch suitability remains a question. Now industry is pursuing a dual path to ease those concerns.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — MD Helicopters Inc. (MDHI) has made an unexpected bid to enter the race for the U.S. Army’s Armed Aerial Scout (AAS) requirement, with an upgraded version of its MD 530F light helicopter. First flown in March, the MD 540F has the six-blade rotor from the larger MD 600 and new composite blades, giving it a 4,000-lb. gross weight, up from the 530F’s 3,100 lb., and almost 500 lb. more useful load.
While the U.S. Navy says the “critical technologies” for the service’s proposed Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR) are “expected to be nearing maturity and demonstrated in a relevant environment” before the Navy has to make vital decisions about the program, those technologies are “currently immature,” the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) notes in its recent update on major Pentagon programs.
Relations between Thailand and its neighbors have been improving, but some border disputes with Cambodia and Myanmar remain unresolved. This means intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) will continue to be an important requirement. There were incidents last year in which Thai and Cambodian troops exchanged gunfire near the ancient Khmer temple of Preah Vihear. Thai and Myanmar troops, meanwhile, exchanged gunfire in 2001 along their border, near the Thai town of Mae Sai.
NEW DELHI — That the BrahMos high-speed anti-ship missile is a formidable weapon is not in doubt, but its air-launch suitability remains a question. Now industry is pursuing a dual path to ease those concerns.
The major tactical problems that analysts foresee in the Asia-Pacific theater are the anti-access, area-denial (A2AD) environments that could be created by the array of military products that China sells to other countries and incorporates into its own forces.
NORFOLK, Va. — BAE Systems is looking to leverage its expertise working on U.S. Navy cruisers and destroyers to develop relationships in Spain in the wake of the Pentagon’s plans to base four destroyers in Rota. “We’re trying to position ourselves with the Spanish shipyards in the area and with the Navy to execute maintenance on those ships,” says Russell Tjepkema, vice president and general manager of BAE’s Norfolk, Va., ship repair yard.
Boeing's decision to close its Wichita facility by the end of next year may be good for the company's books, but a senior U.S. Air Force official says it adds risk to its ability to execute the KC-46A aerial refueling contract.
The murky world of U.S. electronic warfare and its more esoteric airborne electronic attack (AEA) subset is being overtaken by a new generation of international threats. Cyberweapons and other sophisticated countermeasures can now attack aircraft, ships and ground vehicles through their antennas and sensors.
Along with expanded missions and larger force structures, U.S. Pacific Command has a new chief, Adm. Samuel Locklear, 3rd, who most recently oversaw NATO-led operations in Libya and commanded the U.S. Navy in Europe and Africa. Locklear's new problem set will not be smaller, but it may be significantly different. He will face two daunting issues: China and cyber. Sometimes they will be the same problem and sometimes not.
Operating the U.S. Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) will force the service to re-evaluate its traditional staffing paradigm, according to the LCS Concept of Operations (conops), which was obtained by the Aviation Week Intelligence Network. “Many existing Navy policies and regulations must be revised to accommodate LCS for various reasons, principally seaframe design and/or minimum manning,” says the current LCS “Platform Wholeness” conops, Revision C, dated September 2009.
That rearming after last year's NATO-led air war in Libya would bring some short-term financial benefits to weapons makers has been clear. Now, they are looking to build on those successes to generate additional business.
A recent report by Canada’s auditor general questions the process its government used to select the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to replace its F-18s. The auditor cites a lack of coordination among Canada’s relevant defense and procurement officials, a downplaying of the F-35’s actual cost and a seemingly fast-tracked process that led to a sole-source decision for the stealthy Lockheed Martin fighter.
Russian aero engines maker Salut has completed the climatic bench tests of new Al-31FM2 turbojet engine, which is a further development of the Al-31FM that powers the Sukhoi Su-27 fighter family. These tests have confirmed the static thrust increase of 4,080 lb. to 32,000 lb., compared with the basic engine. It also produces 2,200 lb. more thrust than the Al-31FM1, an earlier upgrade. An improved low-pressure turbine and full-authority digital engine control system are behind the FM2 improvement. Also, the engine has an assigned life of more than 3,000 hr.
The U.S. Navy this week officially started construction on DDG-1002, the third and final Zumwalt-class destroyer. “Designed for sustained operations in the littorals and land attack, the multimission DDG-1000 class destroyers will provide independent forward presence and deterrence, support special operations forces, and operate as an integral part of joint and combined expeditionary forces,” the Navy said in a statement about the start of the DDG-1002 ship.
Boeing officials say they plan to emulate the certification process used for its commercial aircraft as much as possible to speed acceptance of the KC-46A refueling tanker being designed for the U.S. Air Force.
Lockheed Martin and Raytheon/Boeing are awaiting guidance from the U.S. Army on the restructured Joint Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM) program, and are expecting technology work to continue in lieu of moving into development and procurement. “JAGM is not dead,” says J.R. Smith, Raytheon’s business development manager for advanced missiles and unmanned systems. The weapon is intended to replace Hellfire, air-launched Tow and Maverick missiles.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A program to develop a 3,000-shp turboshaft will transition to the U.S. Army’s utility helicopter program office this year, with the goal of fielding more powerful engines on the Sikorsky UH-60M Black Hawk in 2019 to improve hot-and-high performance. General Electric and Honeywell/Pratt & Whitney are developing competing turboshafts under the Affordable Advanced Turbine Engine (AATE) technology demonstration, which will wrap up in fiscal 2013.
