BRUSSELS — NATO is taking steps to bolster the credibility of its defense guarantee to Eastern European members, most visibly with air power, in the wake of Russia’s invasion and annexation of Crimea. NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen says, “Russia’s military aggression in Ukraine is the most serious crisis in Europe since the fall of the Berlin Wall,” and “follows a pattern of behavior of military pressure and frozen conflicts in our neighborhood: Transnistria, South Ossetia, Abkhazia, and now Crimea.”
WORK RELEASED: The Senate Armed Services Committee is expected to advance the nomination of Robert Work to replace Ashton Carter as the next deputy defense secretary. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) had placed a hold on his nomination regarding questions he had about delays to Littoral Combat Ship mission packages and integration challenges. While McCain remains disappointed in the answers he received from Work, the hold on his nomination has been lifted, according to a congressional aide.
The U.S. Navy should keep 11 aircraft carriers for global needs and build up its amphibious fleet in the Pacific, says Adm. Samuel Locklear, commander of the nation’s Pacific Command. “The 11 carriers are barely making it today,” Locklear said March 25 during a Senate Armed Service Committee hearing on North Korea and Pacific issues.
Raytheon and Norway’s Kongsberg Defense & Aerospace have jointly protested the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (Darpa) plan to award Lockheed Martin a $175 million contract to complete the Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (Lrasm) demonstration program. The Lrasm is a sea-skimming derivative of Lockheed’s stealthy Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile – Extended Range designed to counter heavily defended Chinese warships. Two successful flight tests were conducted in 2013 against moving ship targets.
As the U.S. Navy and nation consider whether to refuel or decommission the CVN-73 aircraft carrier USS George Washington, the chief executive of the company that does the work says skipping the fueling and complex overhaul (RCOH) on the ship will not disrupt the future carrier overhaul workforce.
With Seoul’s March 24 announcement of its long-held intent to purchase the F-35A, South Korea is likely securing an offset deal that will include a new military communications satellite and technical assistance in the country’s plans to develop an indigenous stealthy KF-X fighter.
Lower-than-expected reliability threatens the future of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, along with doubts as to whether the Pentagon can afford the planned production rate, according to the latest report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. The program’s continued failure to develop and test mission software on schedule will also either result in delayed initial operational capability (IOC) dates, or in further reductions to the capability delivered at IOC, the report predicts.
ARMY AAI Corp. Hunt Valley, Md., was awarded a $38,523,230 modification (P00120) to contract W58RGZ-08-C-0023 to purchase five tactical common data link retrofit kits and mobile maintenance facility spares sets for the Shadow unmanned aircraft systems for the U.S. Marine Corps. Fiscal 2014 other procurement funds in the amount of $38,523,230 were obligated at the time of the award. Estimated completion date is May 31, 2017. The work will be performed at Hunt Valley. Army Contracting Command is the contracting activity. NAVY
The U.S. Navy’s proposed fiscal 2015 spending plan continues to put a charge in programs meant to improve the service’s ability to conduct electromagnetic maneuver warfare. “In addition to the actions to improve air and missile defense and sustain our advantage in the undersea and information domains, our program enhances our ability to maneuver freely in the electromagnetic spectrum, while denying adversaries’ ability to do the same,” says Adm. Jonathan Greenert, chief of naval operations.
RADIO EQUIPMENT: The U.S. Navy has awarded Rockwell Collins an $8.2 million contract modification for the purchase of AN/ARC-210(V) electronic radios and ancillary equipment for a variety of aircraft, the Pentagon announced March 24. Equipment being procured includes 57 control radio sets, 57 high-power amplifiers, 57 low-noise amplifier diplexers and 62 receiver transmitters. The work will be performed in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and is expected to be completed by May 2015. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity.
MILAN — Israeli officials have said they are considering closer cooperation with Italy as part of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program. The two countries have widened their defense ties following the signing in 2011 of a deal for Israel to purchase the Alenia Aermacchi M-346 jet trainer, while Italy in return plans to purchase two airborne early warning aircraft and an optical reconnaissance satellite from Israeli companies. Senior Israeli military leaders are promoting further opportunities.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is using video playback of “previous incidents” of nose-wheel landings and pilot-induced oscillations as part of new required annual training for pilots of its General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aircraft. The action comes in the wake of an MQ-9 hard landing and excursion off the side of the 10,000-ft. “skid strip” runway at Patrick AFB, Cape Canaveral, Fla., after a routine patrol of the warning areas to the east of the launch facility in May 2013.
LONDON — Missile manufacturer MBDA says firing trials of its Dual-Mode Brimstone missile from the General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle were successful, but a final decision on whether the weapon will be integrated with the UAS is yet to be made. The trials, conducted at China Lake, Calif., during December 2013 and January 2014, were led by the U.K. Royal Air Force but also involved the U.S. Air Force’s Big Safari program office and General Atomics.
Autonomous collaboration could enable existing unmanned aircraft to operate more effectively in less-permissive environments, says the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa), revealing details of its new Collaborative Operations in Denied Environment (CODE) program. CODE aims to increase the capabilities of legacy and future unmanned aircraft through increased vehicle autonomy and collaboration between platforms. Industry will be briefed on the program April 11 in Washington.
LONDON and MILAN — The prospect of further cuts to Italy’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter buy have increased, with the publication of a report calling for “significant” reductions in the country’s agreement with Lockheed Martin. The document, signed by the ruling center-left Democratic Party earlier this week and published on March 19, comes just days after newly elected Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi suggested Italy could cut its JSF purchase, as the Italian government struggles to bring down state spending.
Fokker Technologies and the Dutch National Aerospace Laboratory (NLR) have signed a letter of intent to establish a highly automated manufacturing facility for composite landing-gear components. Under contract to United Technologies Aerospace Systems, subsidiary Fokker Landing Gear (FLG) is developing and qualifying a composite drag brace for the main landing gear of the F-35A conventional and F-35B vertical-lift versions of the Lockheed Martin Joint Strike Fighter.
MILAN — Alenia Aermacchi is examining new engine options for its M-345 High Efficiency Trainer (HET) aircraft. The company, which is developing the HET for a possible Italian air force requirement for a jet trainer with operating economies similar to a modern turboprop trainer, says it is looking at several U.S.-made engines for integration into the M-345, initially developed as the SIAI Marchetti S.211 back in the 1980s. The aircraft is currently fitted with the Pratt & Whitney JT15D-5C turbofan.
The U.S. Navy’s proposed fiscal 2015 budget plan underscores the service’s emphasis on precision-strike capability. “Our precision strike capabilities and capacity will be critical to success in any foreseeable future conflict,” says Adm. Jonathan Greenert, the chief of naval operations.
“USAF Prepares Industry for Cutbacks,” warned an Aviation Week & Space Technology headline, followed by a story that discussed the death of aircraft companies, shuttering of facilities, a Pentagon briefing to industry leaders with “a blunt warning of things to come” and a diminished role for manned aircraft in national defense. That article didn't appear recently, however. It was written in 1957—the first time the Laureate awards were presented.
Even as the Obama administration pushes to have the FAA fund itself with the traveler-paid Airport and Airway Trust Fund, the White House predicts the fund's balance will grow steadily over the next decade. White House budget documents lay out a road map to wean FAA from general-fund contributions. As of 2015, the FAA budget request would have the trust fund cover 93% of FAA's operations, as well as its Airport Improvement Program, facilities and equipment, and research, engineering and development accounts.
