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.
NEW DELHI — The Indian air force (IAF) is looking at acquiring about a dozen Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft, which could be based on the Boeing 767 or Airbus 330. India already has AWACS aircraft under development based on the Russian IL-76 with the Israeli Phalcon Radar, and three in service.
In a sign of movement in the epic legal battle over the A-12 Avenger II, the Obama administration is asking Congress to allow the Navy to accept a settlement in the case. In a letter outlining amendments to the administration’s fiscal 2014 request for appropriations, the Pentagon is seeking legislation that would “authorize the Secretary of the Navy to accept and retain in-kind goods and services in lieu of monetary payment, for the purposes of a settlement of the A-12 aircraft litigation.”
The chairman of the House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee is trying to push Congress and ultimately the Obama administration to tweak its evaluation criteria for Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) rocket providers — which could help Boeing and Lockheed Martin and be another hurdle for Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX).
SINGAPORE — New Zealand’s ministry of defense aims to decide by the end of next month whether to short-list multiple bidders for its primary trainer aircraft requirement or simply downselect to one company.
ISRAELI DEFENSE: Israel will cut its defense budget, though not as much as originally anticipated, as the Middle Eastern country tries to control its deficit. Israel now plans to spend NIS 52.5 billion ($14. billion) on defense in 2013, fending off NIS 1 billion in proposed reductions. Spending on the Israeli military is projected to dip slightly to NIS 51 billion in 2014, before rising steadily to NIS 59 billion by 2018.
MONT-DE-MARSAN, France — France’s two new Pleiades optical imaging satellites are generating more than 30 high-resolution images per day in support of military operations in Mali, where troops have been fighting Islamist rebels since the French-led intervention began in mid-January. The pictures, supplied to French forces using the Pleiades 1A and 1B spacecraft, supplement high-resolution optical imagery furnished by the French Helios 2 military reconnaissance satellite launched in 2009.
COCOMS GROW: The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has found that staff at joint combatant commands (cocoms) like U.S. Central Command increased by about 50% from fiscal 2001 through 2012, to about 10,100 authorized positions. Similarly, mission and headquarters-support costs at the cocoms more than doubled from 2007 through 2012, to about $1.1 billion. Both authorized military and civilian positions and mission and headquarters-support costs at the armed service’s component commands inside these cocoms also increased, GAO says.
