The French air force is responding to operational needs of special forces fighting Islamist rebels in Mali, speeding integration of a new laser-guided air-to-ground missile on the Rafale fighter and declaring initial operating capability for its use against moving targets.
With air threats to ground forces expanding beyond traditional manned aircraft and ballistic missiles, the U.S Army must decide how to counter lower-cost unmanned aircraft and cruise missiles, as well as rocket, artillery and mortar (RAM) threats at an affordable price.
The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory’s (AFRL) plans for a High-Speed Strike Weapon (HSSW) demonstration program to follow on from hypersonic flights of the Boeing X-51A WaveRider scramjet demonstrator are in flux. A notice issued on May 21 announced that a planned solicitation for the HSSW demo program had been canceled. AFRL held an industry day for potential bidders in June 2012, at which time the program was expected to begin this year.
Lockheed Martin has begun to equip and test the Aegis Ashore development facility in Moorestown, N.J., company officials say. The company has built a ship deckhouse near the so-called “Cruiser in the Cornfields” ship superstructure facility, to test vessel-installed Aegis equipment systems to run Aegis Ashore components through their paces before global operational installation. Use of Aegis Ashore is part of theU.S.’s strategy for ballistic missile defense (BMD).
Much of the focus lately on shifting U.S. resources to the Asia-Pacific has been on how Chinese ballistic anti-ship missiles may affect U.S. Navy aircraft carrier plans for the region. But there also continues to be rising concern about what effect the growing Chinese submarine fleet could have on naval operations in those waters. Navy officials say they own the undersea domain. But a recent Pentagon report on the Chinese submarine fleet underscores the growing might those ships represent for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy.
The U.S. Air Force and launch provider United Launch Alliance (ULA) have once again scrubbed the launch of the fifth Wideband Global Satcom (WGS-5) spacecraft, this time due to an issue with a helium pressurization line that is part of the Delta IV rocket’s ground support equipment. Launch from Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla., which had been targeted for a 30-min. window opening at 8:27 p.m. EDT May 23, has now been pushed back 24 hr. to the same window on May 24. Weather forecasts predict an 80% chance of favorable conditions for liftoff, according to ULA.
Buoyed by greater-than-anticipated activity in the single-utility turboprop market, Honeywell is supporting a range of additional applications for its TPE331 family, as well as studying potential new engine developments to compete with Pratt & Whitney Canada’s ubiquitous PT6 and its planned successor.
BEIJING — EADS is offering to invest $2 billion in South Korea’s KF-X fighter program if the country buys the Eurofighter Typhoon, local media report. The EADS offer also includes an aircraft maintenance facility and an aerospace software center, says Yonhap news agency, citing the European company and the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) of the defense ministry.
House Armed Services seapower subcommittee Chairman Randy Forbes (R-Va.) and ranking Democrat Mike McIntyre (N.C.) remain concerned that the U.S. Navy’s long-term shipbuilding plan is unaffordable unless the shipbuilding budget is increased by several billion dollars a year in the near future.
With House lawmakers marking up the fiscal 2014 U.S. defense authorization this week, the congressional challenge to the U.S. Air Force plan to kill the C-130 Avionics Modernization Program (AMP) begins its second year.
NEW DELHI — India’s long-delayed effort to acquire 197 light reconnaissance and surveillance helicopters for its army and air force is spiraling toward what might be the program’s second cancellation.
Officials at NASA on May 23 denied an account in the pending fiscal 2014 defense authorization bill that it disclosed the transfer of missile-defense technology to China, leaving a mystery clouded by the secrecy classification of part of the legislation. “NASA has no record of a voluntary disclosure being filed with the Department of State regarding the alleged transfer of controlled U.S. Missile Defense Agency defense technology to the People’s Republic of China,” an agency spokesman said after a day-long review of the matter at NASA headquarters.
The FAA is advising air carriers transporting “heavy vehicle special cargo loads” to review policy and guidance on weight and balance-control procedures due to the “potential safety impact” of carrying and restraining the equipment. The timing of the "Safety Alert for Operators," published on May 20, suggests that it may be related to the fatal crash of a National Airlines Boeing 747-400 freighter departing from Bagram AB in Afghanistan on April 29, though the FAA did not specify this.
NEW DELHI — India successfully test-fired the vertical-launch version of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile off the coast of its western state of Goa on May 22. The BrahMos was launched from the Indian navy’s latest Russian-built guided missile warship, INS Tarkash, BrahMos Aerospace chief Sivathanu Pillai says. The missile hit its target, Pillai says. “Today’s vertical launch configuration of BraMos will help improve the stealth abilities of the ship as the missiles are under the deck and not exposed,” Pillai says.
NASA LEAK: The House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee says NASA has conceded it may have leaked sensitive missile defense technology to China, and the panel wants a top-level briefing on any damage done as a result. The subcommittee’s fiscal 2014 authorization bill includes notice that the panel “is aware” NASA issued a notice of voluntary disclosure “regarding the alleged transfer of controlled U.S.
The U.S. Navy’s quest to open up new seagoing roles for unmanned aviation took another major step forward on May 22 with the first flight of the unmanned Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton high-altitude maritime surveillance aircraft from the company’s Palmdale, Calif., facility.
A low-cost cargo glider that would allow transport aircraft to stand off a safe distance and still airdrop supplies precisely in contested airspace has been tested by a small California startup. Logistic Gliders’ LG-1000 would deliver 1,000 lb. of cargo over distances up to 130 km (70 nm), compared with 20 km for the guided parafoils now used.
TURIN, Italy — Though the young M346 transonic trainer fleet remains grounded pending the results of a crash investigation, Alenia Aermacchi is working on plans to garner more customers. Poland’s tender is the most near-term. Warsaw is asking for proposals by June 7, though Alenia plans to request additional time to submit its offer. Poland has short-listed the Lockheed Martin/Korea Aerospace Industries T-50 and Aero Vodochody’s L 159, a Czech model, along with the M346.
The U.S. Navy had to cut short the first extended underway in Singapore for the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS-1), the USS Freedom, apparently because of continuing issues with the ship’s coolant system, service officials say. The problem appears to be a minor one, the Navy says, with the ship returning to the Singapore Changi Naval Base on its own power.
The long-running saga over paying off the U.S. Army’s part of the tri-national Medium Extended Air Defense System (Meads) appears set for an encore on Capitol Hill as at least one leading House Armed Services Committee (HASC) Democrat plans to push lawmakers to stop a final payment on the Lockheed Martin-led program.
The U.S. and its defense partners in the Asia-Pacific region are discussing what the air-sea battle mindset means for the region, says Adm. Jonathan Greenert, chief of naval operations. “We are sitting down in a series of meetings with Australians, Japanese and Koreans to talk about air-sea battle,” Greenert said during a May 14 media briefing at the International Maritime and Defense Exhibition (Imdex) Asia 2013 here. “There needs to be more discussion on air-sea battle,” Greenert says.
To better meet mission needs in the Arctic, the U.S. Coast Guard needs to improve awareness, foster better regional governance and help build area partnerships, the service says in its Arctic strategy, released this week. The Coast Guard’s strategy comes in the wake of the U.S. government’s national Arctic strategy, released earlier this month.
Boeing and General Electric are offering the U.S. Navy an upgrade plan for the F/A-18’s F414 engine that will deliver more wartime thrust while saving the service $5 billion over the life of the Hornet/Growler fleet, the two companies claim. The upgrade supports an increasingly aggressive Boeing campaign that aims to continue F/A-18 production for the Navy in response to delays in Lockheed Martin’s F-35C program.
