A Sept. 2 story incorrectly identified the supplier of fuel-tank inerting systems on Airbus aircraft. Parker Aerospace supplies the inerting equipment for the A320, A318, A319, A321, A330, A340, A350, and A400M programs, among others.
LONDON — The French government’s defense procurement agency, the DGA, has taken delivery of the first of four newly converted Dassault Falcon 50s for the maritime patrol mission. The aircraft, which eventually will be used by the French navy for maritime surveillance, was handed over to the DGA on Sept. 6 by Dassault Aviation, which is converting the aircraft. The four Falcon 50Bs previously had been on the charge of the French air force’s ETEC VIP squadron.
A team including Aurora Flight Sciences is proposing unmanned flights of the company’s Centaur optionally piloted aircraft (OPA) over the Alaskan tundra in 2014, following the completion of manned flights to measure greenhouse gas released from thawing permafrost. On Aug. 30, the company-operated aircraft completed a month-long campaign led by Harvard University and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Div.
Northrop Grumman has begun company-funded development of a Directed Infrared Countermeasures (Dircm) system for fast jets, anticipating a requirement to protect the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter from heat-seeking air-to-air and surface-to-air missiles. “We believe the requirement is there, and coming quickly, and that the first opportunity will be on the F-35,” says Jeff Palombo, senior vice president and general manager of Northrop’s land and self-protection systems division.
While U.S. interest and investment in nanotechnology continues to increase, questions still remain about how much the federal government needs to shepherd such development, according to the Congressional Research Service (CRS).
LONDON — MBDA and Lockheed Martin have conducted an exploratory test of a MBDA-built missile from a Lockheed Martin-made vertical launcher. The trial, conducted in Bedford, U.K., on Sept. 10, tested the ability to eject MBDA’s Common Anti-air Modular Missile (CAMM) — also known as Sea Ceptor — from Lockheed Martin’s Mk. 41 Vertical Launching System (VLS) and the Extensible Launching System (ExLS). The test used MBDA’s soft vertical launch technology to eject the CAMM from its canister and position the missile for main motor ignition.
U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment Team (Ledet) 101 recently embarked with sailors on the Oliver Hazard Perry-class guided-missile frigate FFG-51 USS Gary for training and anti-drug smuggling operations off the California coast.
HELO SAFETY: The Transport Committee of the U.K. Parliament has announced it will hold an inquiry into helicopter safety following the crash of a Super Puma into the North Sea on Aug. 23 that killed four oil workers. Committee chair Louise Ellman said: “We have heard worrying evidence that the workforce has lost confidence in the helicopters, which they have no choice but to use.
Avicopter has joined the trend for developing high-speed helicopters. The Chinese manufacturer is building a technology demonstrator with a compound configuration that combines coaxial rigid rotors and nose-mounted, counter-rotating propellers.
Avicopter is in a hurry. It is racing against the clock to prepare a set of competitive products for an expected boom in Chinese civil helicopter demand by 2018. Having developed just one small civil helicopter substantially on its own, the rotary-wing subsidiary of Avic is rushing to design two additional projects: a second all-new type and an upgrade of the Eurocopter Dauphin so extensive as to be barely recognizable.
Aeros plans free-flights of its Dragon Dream rigid-hull hybrid airship after completing the first outdoor tethered evaluation of the subscale demonstrator on Sept. 7. This followed the award of an FAA experimental certificate allowing company-funded research and development flights. Previous testing of the 266-ft.-long vehicle under the Defense Department-funded Project Pelican was conducted inside the airship hangar at Tustin, Calif., and included a demonstration of Aeros's “control of static heaviness” variable-buoyancy system.
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity in the defense sector has been at a standstill in 2013 in the over-$100 million category. There have been several noteworthy commercial acquisitions announced by companies with defense operations: Rockwell Collins said last month it is buying Arinc from Carlyle, and Alliant Techsystems is purchasing Caliber Co. from Norwest Equity Partners and Bushnell from MidOcean Partners. But heading into September, the number of defense deals with prices in excess of $100 million is easy to add up: zero.
When the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) launched its Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (Lrasm) program in 2009, the threat to U.S. Navy warships from China's ballistic and supersonic anti-ship missiles looked serious. It still does, but now that the stealthy Lrasm has begun flight tests, mixed messages from the Pentagon have led Congress to cut back on funding for procurement.
Recent ship trials for the fourth Littoral Combat Ship (LCS-4), the Coronado, indicate major progress being made with the Independence-class LCS variants, U.S. Navy officials say. “Coronado’s acceptance trials showed significant improvement in the LCS shipbuilding process, when compared to the results of the USS Independence [LCS-2] acceptance trials,” says Rear Adm. Jim Murdoch, LCS program executive officer.
LONDON — Thales U.K. says it is hopeful that its Watchkeeper UAV system will be certified by the end of the year. The process of certification by the U.K. Military Aviation Authority has slowed the UAV’s entry into service with the British army. The aircraft should have been operational some three years ago, but the complexity of certifying what is the first UAV to be certified by the MAA has affected its introduction into service.
While the need for submarines and related forces is on the rise, U.S. Navy officials say they are facing a shortfall of such forces that needs to be addressed now by Congress. “As the threat grows from advances in sensors and weapons such as cruise missiles, anti-ship ballistic missiles and integrated air defense systems, more pressure will be placed on undersea forces,” Undersea Warfare Director Rear Adm. Richard Breckenridge said Sept. 12 in spoken and written testimony during a House Armed Services Committee seapower subcommittee hearing.
