Anticipating the long-awaited release of the U.S. Navy’s draft request for proposals for a new carrier-borne unmanned air system (UAS), one influential congressman is going on record to support a set of demanding requirements. This could, perhaps, counter a push by some Pentagon leaders, including Adm. James Winnefeld, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He is said to be supporting requirements that are less rigorous in the area of survivability than those backed by officials in the Navy’s aviation community.
TEL AVIV — Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) a is expanding its cyber activities internationally, with the establishment of a cybersecurity research and development center in Singapore.
India’s military procurement plans are likely to be hampered by a minimal raise in budget allocation for acquisition in the next financial year. Though India has proposed increasing its defense spending by 10% to 2.24 trillion rupees ($36.2 billion) in its 2014-15 fiscal year, which begins April 1, the capital allocation earmarked to buy new arms and weapons systems has been increased by only a paltry 3.2%, or 28.47 billion rupees, to 895.87 billion rupees. The remaining 1.34 trillion rupees will go toward payment of salaries and other expenses.
LONDON — The French defense ministry has taken delivery of its first upgraded E-3F Sentry airborne early warning aircraft to be modified by Boeing and Air France Industries. The aircraft was handed over to the French defense procurement agency DGA, which will carry out ground and flight tests at Avord air base before handing the aircraft back to the French air force later this year, Boeing announced Feb. 17.
U.S. Army contracting officers made questionable contract changes for work involving the Ground Combat Vehicle (GCV), a recent Pentagon Inspector General (IG) report says.
The U.S. Navy has further bolstered its Asia-Pacific profile by moving another submarine — the SSN-754 USS Topeka Los Angeles-class fast-attack submarine — to the region. The Navy detailed its plans this month to change the homeport for the submarine, now completing its Engineered Overhaul at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (PNSY) in Portsmouth, N.H., to Naval Base Guam. Topeka will move to Guam as part of the U.S. Navy’s long-range plan to put the most advanced and capable units forward in the region, the Navy says.
Three prominent Republican congressmen are imploring Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to continue funding the U.S. Air Force’s U-2 spy aircraft as he puts the finishing touches on a fiscal 2015-19 budget plan likely to gut the program. Hagel’s staff is considering abandoning support for the Lockheed Martin aircraft and capitulating to pressure from other lawmakers to funnel its money toward continued operation of the Northrop Grumman RQ-4B Global Hawk unmanned aerial system (UAS).
Despite a need for ship modifications and other programmatic hiccups, the U.S. Marine Corps still plans to be operating Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) F-35B models off amphibious ships within about three years, says Marine Maj. Gen. Robert Walsh, director of Navy expeditionary warfare. Marines will be at the forefront of operating JSFs off Navy vessels, Walsh said at a recent U.S. Navy Amphibious Warship Forum sponsored by the Amphibious Warship Industrial Base Coalition. “We will be flying F-35s on a big-deck amphib,” he said Feb. 11.
TEST BAN: The Obama administration still wants the U.S. Senate to ratify the long-standing Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), but officials are sounding increasingly sober in their expectations. “We are going to be patient, but we will also be persistent,” said Rose Gottemoeller, acting undersecretary of state for arms control and international security.
The U.S. Navy needs to better equip a self-defense test ship (SDTS) to more accurately gauge Aegis combat system abilities for its proposed Flight III DDG-51 destroyers, the recent report from the Pentagon’s Director of Operational Tests and Evaluation (DOT&E) says.
The second Northrup Grumman MQ-8C Fire Scout introduced into the test fleet will be used this spring for electromagnetic interference (EMI) testing, to ensure the unmanned rotorcraft can operate in the signal-rich U.S. Navy ship environment. The first MQ-8C conducted its initial flight Oct. 31, and it has flown 41 sorties culminating in 67 flight hours to date, says George Vardoulakis, vice president for medium-range tactical systems at Fire Scout prime contractor Northrop Grumman. The second of two MQ-8Cs conducted its first flight Feb. 12.
LONDON — The U.K. National Audit Office (NAO) says the country’s Defense Ministry has made great strides in its programs for new equipment required by the armed forces.
The U.S. Air Force and the United Launch Alliance are scheduled to launch GPS IIF satellite 5 Feb. 20 on a Delta IV rocket from Space Launch Complex 37 Cape Canaveral, Fla., the first of three planned launches through July 2014.
The Indo-Russian joint venture BrahMos Aerospace is considering adapting its miniature version of the supersonic BrahMos-M (Mini) to more platforms, and exporting it to friendly countries. The weight of other BrahMos missiles had blocked integration on other Indian air force (IAF) platforms, says Praveen Pathak, general manager for market promotion and export at BrahMos Aerospace. “That prompted us to develop the BrahMos-M.”
The Office of Naval Research Global (ONR Global) is looking to “improve understanding of conditions in the Indian Ocean, including validating satellite data on salinity, or salt, levels,” ONR officials say. Confirming satellite findings with actual field-level research is an area scientists have deemed essential to improving the Navy’s oceanographic models, officials note.
NEW DELHI — The Indian air force (IAF) may be within months of getting its intermediate jet trainer (IJT), which has been in development since 1999. The Sitara is being developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) for the IAF and the Indian navy. “The much-delayed Sitara IJT is likely to be operational this year . . . All efforts are being made by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. for achieving the final operational clearance by December 2014,” Defense Minister A.K. Antony says.
With the sting of recent reports blasting U.S. Navy surface ship maintenance programs still fresh, the service is fulfilling its stated commitment to make ship repair and improvements a priority. For example, the Navy allocated about $517.6 million in contracts and contract modifications to BAE Systems—mostly for such work on destroyers and cruisers—between January 2013 and January 2014, according to an Aviation Week Intelligence Network (AWIN) analysis of Pentagon contracting data.
The Asia-Pacific region is a critical area that could soon be hotly contested, with Russia, China and India vying for influence and others determined to protect their interests and maintain the maritime status quo. Many factors could upset the balance of power. China's ambitions in the Pacific possibly include establishment of sea-denial boundaries up to 2,700 km (1,678 mi.) from its coasts.
Northrop Grumman Laser Systems is licensing a celestial navigation subsystem, developed by Trex Enterprises Corp. of San Diego, for ground-targeting systems supplied to U.S. and allied forces. Neither company has disclosed details about the technology or products in which it might be used, but the Laser Systems business unit states that the Trex technology will increase the precision and accuracy of the laser-targeting hardware Northrop Grumman supplies for dismounted troops and vehicles. One possible application might be the Hand Held Precision Targeting Device (HHPTD).
Target-tracking systems rely on algorithms that plot the movement, speed and position of threats, while filtering background noise that obscures this data or produces false alarms. Algorithms have been formulated that address most tracking needs with varying degrees of success, but it appears that no single algorithm has thus far been able to meet every tracking need, especially when it comes to distinguishing one or more dynamic targets from background noise.
