The U.S. Air Force, by far the largest presumed user of the F-35 fighter, has agreed to declare initial operational capability with a much more limited software and weapons capability that initially planned, according to a report sent to Congress May 31.
DEFENSE/IT SPENDING: Exact numbers are nebulous, but the trends are clear: after peaking in fiscal 2011 and 2012, U.S. contract spending on defense and information technology (IT) will bottom out in fiscal 2014 and 2015, and then increase only 1-2% annually through the rest of the decade, according to consulting company Deltek.
The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on May 29 told federal agencies to prepare their fiscal 2015 budget requests with three levels of spending in mind, including 5% and 10% cuts from the projection laid down in April with the 2014 request. The budget-crafting guidance represents the first formal recognition of the long-term effects of the 2011 Budget Control Act (BCA), whose first round of widespread, automatic sequestration rescissions took effect in March and led to FAA furloughs and the threatened closure of 149 contract towers.
The second day of Boeing's pre-Paris media tour promised a new product, which turned out to have nothing to do with the Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike program, but to be a V-22-transportable vehicle called the Phantom Badger. On the last day we saw the International Multi-Intelligence Operational Laboratory Environment (I-Mole). Our final briefing was on the KC-46, so Boeing's “tanker toads” neatly completed the “Wind In The Willows” trifecta for the week.
A rotorcraft industry once characterized by rugged individuals flying simple machines is seeing an influx of technology not witnessed since the Vietnam War. Introduced at the top end of the market, in larger helicopters for demanding offshore oil-and-gas and search-and-rescue operators, new technologies are spreading down the size range as costs and weights fall so more customers can see the safety, performance and economic benefits.
A robotic albatross gliding at 200 mph is a dramatic demonstration of how wind power can be harnessed. But it is just one of several projects showing how unmanned aircraft can use air currents, from thermals and ridge lift to wind shear and even turbulence, to increase their endurance from hours to days.
John C. Bierwirth, who led the Grumman Corp. in the 1970s and '80s through the development of the U.S. Navy's F-14 fighter and other military aircraft, NASA space shuttle and space station work, and various diversification efforts, died May 26 in a hospice on Long Island, N.Y., of congestive heart failure. He was 89.
British and French industry partners are hailing a research program that intends to drive new technology into European missile development and production.
Michael Fabey (Singapore), Bill Sweetman (Washington)
The U.S. Navy's amphibious assault ships will have to undergo flight-deck renovations before the world's most sophisticated fighter, the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter, can be welcomed aboard. Five years after the first flight of the F-35B, significant work will need to be done on 50,000-ton ships to accommodate the intense heat of the fighter's exhaust.
The ability to deliver the first shot and then put distance between you and your adversary is a key survival tactic in beyond-visual-range air-to-air combat.
Globally, aerospace and defense merger and acquisition activity has been slow for quite awhile, but Curtis Reusser and Mike Dumais have had plenty to do. They have been heading integration teams for the exception to that rule—the new business unit created by United Technologies' $18.4 billion purchase of Goodrich Aerospace last September.
What better illustrates the unmanned-aircraft industry's urgent need for airspace integration? On the eve of Paris, Germany is abandoning the €1 billion ($1.29 billion) purchase of four EADS Euro Hawk signals intelligence platforms because the UAS cannot be approved to fly in civil airspace.
SINGAPORE — New Zealand’s defense minister, Jonathan Coleman, is starting to question whether his ministry may need to implement further procurement reforms, particularly for large, complex military programs.
A Sikorsky/Boeing team has been selected to build and fly a high-speed rotorcraft under the U.S. Army’s Joint Multi Role technology demonstration (JMR TD) program. The coaxial-rotor compound helicopter demonstrator is planned to fly in 2017 under Phase 1 of the JMR TD. The Army hoped to award contracts for two competing demonstrators, and industry sources say AVX Aircraft also has been selected to negotiate a cost-sharing agreement. Other known bidders were Bell Helicopter, EADS North America and Piasecki Aircraft.
The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on May 29 told federal agencies to prepare their fiscal 2015 budget requests with three levels of spending in mind, including 5% and 10% cuts from the projections given in April with the 2014 request.
Industry will submit proposals this month for “Phase 0” of a high-speed strike weapon (HSSW) demonstration program to be jointly conducted by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa). AFRL has been working toward an HSSW flight demo program, but on May 21 canceled a planned solicitation, telling Aviation Week it was “looking to an alternate strategy” for accomplishing a high-speed strike weapon demonstration.
Nearly a third of House lawmakers have signed off on a letter pressing U.S. Army leadership to fund production of the M1A2 Abrams tank System Enhancement Package in fiscal 2014, citing the “damaging impact to the highly specialized industrial base” if the line is not kept warm.
A modified Diamond DA42 is to be used for flights over Alaska later this year to measure greenhouse gas emissions from thawing permafrost. Aurora Flight Sciences has performed flights of its Centaur aircraft over the Chesapeake Bay to calibrate the specially developed measurement system. The twin-diesel Centaur was developed as an optionally piloted aircraft (OPA), but will be flown manned for the measurement flights over Alaska’s Northern Slope later this year, says Aurora. The research mission is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.
