U.S. Pacific Command’s interest in rapidly fielding a high-power microwave (HPM) counter-electronics weapon is revealed in a new National Research Council (NRC) report on U.S. Air Force directed-energy research and development. The report summarizes three workshops held from February to April, and does not address possible budget cuts, but provides new details of several Air Force directed-energy weapon R&D programs then under way.
As the U.S. Defense Department struggles with life under the full effect of the 2011 Budget Control Act and its annual sequestration cuts, the Pentagon’s acquisition chief is looking at allowing short-term cost exceptions for rotorcraft and post-Joint Strike Fighter research efforts. Frank Kendall, the acquisition chief, told the ComDef 2013 conference Sept. 4 that he is looking to follow in the footsteps of earlier defense officials in the 1990s who identified and fostered specific technology development efforts even as overall budgets dropped.
In the latest of a series of initiatives to identify and develop regional sources of aviation biofuels, Airbus as signed an agreement with Russian biotechnology firm RT-Biotekhprom for the first study to assess local feedstocks for their sustainability.
The Bell/Boeing MV-22 team is confident the tiltrotor can safely refuel F/A-18Fs in midair after conducting the first proximity test between the two last week. A Navy Hornet flew within 30 ft. of the MV-22’s drogue chute in a lateral offset position during an Aug. 29 flight trail, says Chad Sparks, advanced derivatives manager for Bell/Boeing. This was the fourth in a series of tests paid for by Bell/Boeing as the team examines alternative missions for the V-22.
LONDON — Members of the British Parliament have described the U.K.’s plan to purchase the Joint Strike Fighter for the carrier strike role as high risk because of the defense ministry’s lack of control of the program.
ARMY Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation, Stafford, Conn., was awarded a $25,582,725 firm-fixed-price, option-eligible, multi-year contract modification (P0004) of contract (W58RGZ-12-D-0212) for the overhaul of 250 UH-60 Blackhawk main rotor blades. Performance location and funding will be determined with each order. This contract was a non-competitive acquisition with one bid solicited and one bid received. The U.S. Army Contracting Command – Redstone Arsenal (Aviation), Redstone Arsenal, Ala. is the contracting activity.
LONDON — Rolls-Royce has completed the sale of its share in the RTM322 turboshaft program to Turbomeca. The two companies announced Rolls-Royce’s sale of its 50% share in the engine program in April, formally completing the €293 million ($382 million) transaction on Sept. 2.
AUDIT RISK: The U.S. Defense Department is still at “increased risk” of not having auditable financial statements, despite progress made under its Financial Improvement and Audit Readiness (FIAR) plan, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office. The National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2010 mandated that the department’s consolidated financial statements be validated as audit ready by Sept. 30, 2017.
LONDON — AgustaWestland has implemented a series of performance enhancements into its AW609 civil tiltrotor as the program slowly edges toward certification. The company has modified the Italy-based second prototype AW609 with a new vertical stabilizer and tail cone, as well as more aerodynamic engine exhaust nozzles and changes to the rotor-spinner cones. AgustaWestland says the changes have not only reduced drag on the aircraft by around 10% but also have produced a “significant” weight reduction.
TEL AVIV — Israel Defense Forces’ Land Forces Command has received the first pre-production version of the HoverMast 100 tethered surveillance UAV from manufacturer Sky Sapience. The system was delivered Sept. 2 at a proving ground on the slopes of Mt. Carmel, where the company regularly tests the systems. It will now begin a thorough evaluation by the IDF before entering operational use with front-line units.
The U.S. is underscoring its increased focus on the Asia-Pacific with regional exercises and operations. U.S. forces ended August and started this month with exercises in Australia and Singapore, and a combined American-Australian force recently worked together to recover the live ordnance emergency-jettisoned by two AV-8B Harriers in the South Pacific.
NAVY Lockheed Martin Corp., Missiles and Fire Control, Orlando, Fla., is being awarded a $33,996,000 firm-fixed-price contract for AN/AAQ-30 Target Sight Systems (TSS) and data. The TSS will be integrated into the AH-1Z Cobra Attack Helicopter and is part of the United States Marine Corps H-1 Upgrades Program for the remanufacture of legacy aircraft with state of the art designs incorporated into the existing fleet of AH-1Ws, converting them to AH-1Z. AIR FORCE
While China says it still seeks peaceful resolutions to the territorial maritime disputes it is embroiled in with some of its neighbors in the Asia-Pacific, the country still wants the debates to take into account China’s “historical” perspective, says Chinese Defense Minister Chang Wanquan. Such a perspective could be a significant hurdle, some regional geopolitical analysts say. Many of the disputes pit China’s historical claims against more accepted, modern-era international maritime limits.
The U.S. Navy can not afford further delays in the design, construction and delivery of its SSBN Ohio-class nuclear-missile submarines, says Rear Adm. Richard Breckenridge, director of Undersea Warfare. The coming year is critical to keeping that schedule, he says. “By all rights, we should have delivered a replacement Ohio class in 2011 but Ohio replacement will submerge on its first patrol in 2031,” Breckenridge says. “We have extended recapitalization, and thus avoiding cost, by 20 years. Each SSBN generation requires special, national attention.”
LONDON — The U.K.’s Joint Helicopter Command is considering basing options for its enlarged fleet of Boeing CH-47 Chinook transport helicopters. The Royal Air Force’s 46-strong fleet of Chinooks is currently based at RAF Odiham, Hampshire, but the air arm will soon be taking delivery of an extra 14 Chinooks in the Mk. 6 configuration currently being built by Boeing in Philadelphia. But the base at Odiham does not currently have the facilities to cater for 60 Chinooks, so commanders are exploring alternative options.
The Pentagon has added $12 million to its 2014 spending plans to equip its Boeing 737-based C-40s with a fuel-tank inerting system, the same upgrade mandated for U.S. operators of Boeing commercial aircraft. The 2013 spending plan anticipated spending about $1 million more than fiscal 2014-17 for various required modifications. In the fiscal 2014 request, the figure jumped $6.1 million for 2014 and another $6 million for the outyear estimates through fiscal 2017.
COPEHILL DOWN, U.K. — The U.K. Royal Air Force (RAF) is rapidly building up its fleet of modernized CH-47 Chinook transport helicopters upgraded through the £290 million ($450 million) Project Julius program. Sixteen of the RAF’s 38 Chinook Mk. 2 helicopters have now been updated to the Mk. 4 standard and the first aircraft will shortly be deployed to join the U.K.’s Joint Helicopter Force operating from Camp Bastion in Afghanistan. Several Mk. 4s are already in-theater, having arrived in December 2012 to support special forces operations.
These are among the 94 STOs and 95 VLs conducted thus far in Developmental Testing 2, a follow-on to a set of day-only DT trials in 2011. The trials, slated to end last week, are designed to open the envelope to include night flying around the ship, different approaches and headings for landings and conducting these operations in varying wind conditions. So far, testing has been conducted in headwinds of 35 kt and crosswinds of 15 kt, says Navy Capt. Kurt Kastner, executive officer of the Wasp, which was operating about 35 mi. offshore.
