Most garments protect against contamination from chemical and biological agents by erecting fabric barriers between the body and toxins. The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is experimenting with specially spun fibers that incorporate such additives as quaternary ammonium salt biocides, polyoxometalates, fullerenes and phthalocyanines, which spontaneously decontaminate fabrics by neutralizing the chemical and biological agents they contact.
If South Korea builds its proposed KF-X stealth fighter, it will need to export it. So one key question hanging over the much-delayed project is whether the country can build the aircraft cheaply enough and attract adequate demand. Another is whether South Korea can build it at all.
For most of the Cold War, Britain built or tried to build large fighters and strike aircraft that it believed were needed to face the Soviet threat. France consistently built smaller, cheaper fighters that it could export. So whereas English Electric and its successor company made 338 powerful Lightning fighters, which had an empty weight of about 13 metric tons (29,000 lb.), Dassault made 1,401 contemporary Mirage IIIs, which were half as large.
In his recent Viewpoint, “Not Even Close: The Better Choice for LAS” (AW&ST April 15, p. 58), Fred George identifies “significant differences” between Beechcraft's AT-6 and Embraer's Super Tucano aircraft, both competing for the hotly contested U.S. Air Force (USAF) Light Air Support (LAS) bid. However, his opinion of those differences ignores significant facts and badly misuses others in an attempt to substantiate his view.
Brazil's armed forces are learning to adjust to the country's rapidly changing economic climate. While the country has experienced a slowdown in the last three years, its mining and huge oil and gas reserves have transformed the economy. But with a significant proportion of the wealth located offshore, Brazil is having to learn quickly about how to protect it, and has decided to take lessons from those experienced in the business.
MRO 50/50: Despite a potentially historic opportunity to refashion how the U.S. military seeks and acquires maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) of its equipment and systems, most executives voicing opinions at Aviation Week’s recent MRO Military conference in Atlanta said they expect the so-called 50-50 “core” mandate to remain in effect. Longstanding U.S. law requires the Defense Department to maintain a core logistics capability of its own, rather than outsourcing it all to the private sector, and that at least half of military MRO workload be provided in-house.
Beyond the immediate cuts of sequestration, the possibility of a fundamental, long-term reduction in public investment in national security will shape thinking on what defense capabilities should be developed, says Arati Prabhakar, director of the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa). While not forecasting a long-term decline in defense budgets, the agency “must consider what will be required to meet the nation’s security needs even in these circumstances,” she says.
A controversial debt-fighting law in the U.S. may be eating into the Pentagon’s ability to do many things, but backing up Israel is not one of them, according to officials in both countries who recently unveiled an unprecedented arms sales proposal designed to maintain the Jewish state’s “qualitative military edge” (QME), above all.
LONDON — Eurocopter has begun proving trials of its EC145 twin-engined helicopter with an optionally piloted flight control system. The self-funded demonstration program, revealed April 25, made its first flights in early April and has already carried underslung loads and performed what the company calls a “representative observation mission.”
POSTPONED FURTHER: The restart of the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS-4) Coronado’s pre-delivery builder’s trials has been pushed back to the week of May 6, U.S. Navy officials say. LCS-4 was being put through full-power trial tests on April 13 when problems developed with its port and starboard diesel engines, creating smoke and a small fire first on the starboard engine and then the port one, Navy sources said. Those sources initially expected to resume the trials April 15, and later the week of April 22.
SEOUL — South Korea’s proposed KF-X could emerge as the only alternative to the F-35 for prospective buyers looking for a fighter than can easily accommodate Western weapons and sensors.
An inability to properly configure a required reporting system is casting doubt on how financial statement data was captured and reported by the U.S. Missile Defense Agency and other defense-related organizations, a recent Pentagon Inspector General (IG) report says. The findings came during an IG review to determine whether the Defense Agencies Initiative (DAI) generated accurate and reliable financial data and reported it in compliance with requirements.
LONDON — Eurocopter has extended a deadline for the French government to buy an additional 34 NH90 helicopters for the country’s army. The government ordered 68 NH90 Tactical Transport Helicopters (TTH) in 2007 to replace the Army’s aging fleet of Puma utility helicopters. The order would be delivered in two batches.
The Brazilian air force has taken part in its first NATO exercise, deploying one of its new Lockheed P-3AM Orions to Scotland. An Orion and a crew from the Brazilian air force’s 1°/7° GAV unit based in Salvador deployed to RAF Lossiemouth in Northern Scotland for Exercise Joint Warrior, a major land, air, and sea exercise held April 15-26. The Brazilian crew worked alongside maritime patrol crews from other nations including France, Canada and the U.S., providing the top cover for surface vessels and assisting them in anti-submarine warfare exercises.
The strength of Boeing Defense, Space & Security’s first-quarter performance surprised analysts as the company continues to weather the downturn in U.S. spending with success in cybersecurity, UAVs, space and intelligence and reconnaissance accounts. While first-quarter revenues at Boeing Defense, Space & Security were $8.1 billion, off 1% from a year ago, operating margins climbed 1.3 percentage points to 10.3%, signaling continued strength in international markets fueled partly by concerns over rogue states.
DEFENSE DEFENDED: Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, the bipartisan co-chairs of the failed-but-popular 2010 presidential deficit-cutting commission, are offering up a new plan to try to help Washington reach a grand budget bargain that would halve the cut the defense sector expects to see compared with sequestration. Sequestration would cut around $450 billion from previously planned spending over a decade (on top of a $487 billion reduction implemented when the Act was passed).
The U.S. Air Force should be able to maintain 65 combat air patrols with Predator and Reaper UAVs by May 2014, according to Lt. Gen. Larry James, deputy chief of staff for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.
