The four-star admiral in charge of U.S. Pacific Command says that assuming Asia-Pacific requirements are prioritized in current and future Pentagon budgets, he expects the command will be able to fulfill its duties.
COLORADO SPRINGS — Boeing is developing a family of three small satellites ranging from 4 to 1,000 kg (9 to 2,200 lb.) in size to whet the growing appetite of commercial and government customers interested in pursuing lower-cost space platforms.
NEW DELHI — India’s ambitious Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) contract is facing hurdles at the negotiation table, as sources say Dassault it seeking to absolve itself of responsibility for the copies of its Rafale fighter to be assembled in India by state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL). Under an agreement, the Indian air force (IAF) is likely to get 18 Rafale aircraft from Dassault Aviation in fly-away condition.
While budget-related uncertainty continues to cloud the acquisition outlook for most U.S. defense programs, Lockheed Martin says it sees strong potential MH-60 Romeo sales on the international market, especially when the helicopter is married with the company’s Littoral Combat Ship (LCS).
The antisubmarine warfare (ASW) module for the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) will likely turn the ship into a faster sub hunter than other surface vessels, says U.S. Navy Capt. John Ailes, program manager for the LCS mission module integration effort. Ailes, recently selected to be rear admiral, says the ASW module “is particularly immune to noise” interference because of software development. That means the ASW module-equipped LCSs will be able to travel at higher speeds to check a similar area for submarines.
The U.S. “rebalance” toward Asia, including the military’s so-called pivot to the Asia-Pacific realm, is “durable” and will persist and grow regardless of automatic, widespread budget cuts this fiscal year and lower overall spending levels in future years, according to the Pentagon’s No. 2 official.
LONDON — Midlife updates and plans to deal with obsolescence in the AH-64 Apache attack and EH101 Merlin transport helicopter fleets are the top priorities for the U.K.’s Joint Helicopter Command. Air Vice Marshal Carl Dixon, commander of the U.K.’s Joint Helicopter Command (JHC), told Aviation Week that the Apache was now the Army’s “premier league fire contribution” and that the aircraft had more than proven itself in Afghanistan.
As U.S. forces pull back from Afghanistan, the K-Max unmanned cargo helicopter is busily carrying equipment and supplies that the Pentagon does not want to leave behind, contractor Lockheed Martin says. “As we withdraw, we’re seeing a lot of utility,” says Jon McMillen, Lockheed K-Max director of business development. “Most of that is for retrieval — bringing equipment back to take home,” he said April 5 during a Lockheed briefing of programs in advance of the 2013 Navy League Sea-Air-Space Symposium.
STAY TUNED: There will be “quite a bit” of information about the U.S.’s “limited” ballistic missile defenses in the fiscal 2014 budget request from the Obama administration on April 10, according to Rose Gottemoeller, acting undersecretary for arms control and international security at the U.S. State Department.
STUDY THIS: A trade group for the intelligence and defense sector is trying to drum up pressure for government officials to fund research in several key areas, including bio-inspired computing architectures, energy harvesting, advanced materials for computing, human-inspired “big data” and self-protecting data. The call comes from the Intelligence and National Security Alliance (INSA).
SEOUL — South Korea sees an opportunity for a large local production run by Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) as it considers the three contenders for its F-X Phase 3 fighter requirement, industry officials say.
As the investigation continues into power outages associated with the diesel engines generators aboard the first Littoral Combat Ship (LCS-1), the U.S. Navy is tallying the cost of the vessel’s initial Asian deployment.
Noting the common operational elements shared between the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) and the Joint High Speed Vessel (JHSV), the U.S. Navy has decided to place oversight of the latter’s development under the LCS Council of admirals shepherding the program. Adm. Jonathan Greenert, the chief of naval operations, directed the expansion in a March 29 memo. There is no indication that the charter change is the result of any problems with the JHSV program; indeed, Navy officials have touted the development and acquisition effort to date as successful.
LONDON — Thales and missile manufacturer MBDA say they have extended their partnerships as they work together to develop the U.K.’s new short-range naval and ground-launched surface-to-air missile.
In the final fiscal 2013 spending bill for the Pentagon, lawmakers added $711 million to the U.S. Air Force’s aircraft procurement account, mostly so the service can have five more Lockheed Martin C-130s. The total for the additional C-130J, two more HC-130s and two more MC-130s, is a half-billion dollars. Advance procurement for the C-130J had a zero request from the Pentagon; lawmakers plussed that to $180 million. The total request for Air Force aircraft procurement was $11 billion, so the increase is 7%.
The Obama administration’s imminent fiscal 2014 budget request for the Pentagon will ignore limits set by the 2011 Budget Control Act (BCA), try to partially undo the law’s sequestration cuts this year, perpetuate a “fog bank” of illusory budget-making sweeping Washington and is likely to be declared dead on arrival by congressional Republicans who control the House.
REPROGRAM IT: The White House Office of Management and Budget is urging federal agencies to consider exploiting so-called reprogramming authority — i.e., the ability to ask Congress to allow internal money movement within its budget — to deal with the Budget Control Act’s sequestration cuts this fiscal year. Agencies and departments have varying degrees of reprogramming authority, according to the Congressional Research Service.
