Rear Adm. Robert Wray President, U.S. Navy Board of Inspection Date of birth: May 6, 1957 Education: B.S., U.S. Naval Academy; M.B.A., Georgetown University Background: Appointed lead engineering officer for aircraft carrier prototype reactors; served as deputy commander of Military Sealift Command; named vice commander of Navy forces in Europe and Africa, and of the Sixth Fleet; assumed current position in March 2011.
The U.S. Army's Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation in Orlando, Fla., is expected soon to select a video game to replace its first-person shooter game, Virtual Battlespace 2 from Bohemia Interactive. The Army wants to take advantage of improvements in gaming technology, such as more memory, better hardware and advances in artificial intelligence, that increase the realism of such games. But do not expect the new video game to match the flash-bang graphics players see in commercial gaming technology.
It's difficult to smuggle explosives into areas that are monitored by sensors or bomb-sniffing dogs. Research at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), a U.S. Energy Department facility in Richland, Wash., could make it virtually impossible, especially with military-grade explosives that have extremely low vapor pressure. PNNL scientists developed a real-time vapor-detection technique for explosives that is reportedly accurate in the parts-per-quadrillion (ppq) range—similar to or more sensitive than a dog's sense of smell.
In the future, if a rogue nation is caught secretly testing a nuclear weapon, and is confronted with credible evidence about blast size, location, date and time of detonation, satellites and radio telescopes may get the credit. Researchers at Ohio State University and astronomers at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory have discovered that GPS and GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) satellites, along with the Very Large Array (VLA) of 27 radio telescopes in New Mexico, can detect atmospheric disturbances caused by nuclear blasts.
Crowdsourcing, which is increasingly popular for national security applications, may soon move into arms-control verification. The U.S. State Department's “Innovation in Arms Control Challenge” selected several ideas for new technologies and approaches to help with verification. One winning concept, proposed by an aerospace and defense consultant in Florida, enlists virtual armies of citizens to track “treaty limited items” (TLI) to ensure countries comply with arms-control obligations.
Lengthy testing by the U.S. Army confirmed the validity of an alternative armor technology for the Bradley Fighting Vehicle that meets performance criteria for protection and saves money. Army Contracting Command (ACC)-New Jersey has certified that reactive tile sets of aluminum can be installed on vehicles in place of the titanium tiles in use with no loss of protection. The reactive tiles withstand anti-armor threats from rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons.
U.S. Army soldiers could be shooting straighter if the benefits of a new weapons contract materialize. Last month, the U.S. Army Contracting Command of Warren, Mich., announced the award of a firm-fixed-price contract for procurement of up to 120,000 M4 and M4A1 carbines to FN Manufacturing of Columbia, S.C. The projected completion date for the order is Feb. 19, 2018. The maximum value of the contract, which is being allocated in stages, is $76.9 million. The initial stage involves 24,000 rifles and is worth $9.3 million. All eyes will be on the M4A1 side of the order.
The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) has selected Lockheed Martin to move forward with a program to build a “flying Humvee” that takes off and flies over roads planted with roadside bombs. Darpa narrowed the Transformer program to two competitors: AAI Textron and Lockheed Martin. Both companies' concepts used ducted fans, but took different approaches to the vehicle.
An Asian shipping company looking to boost its antipiracy defenses started the year by becoming the latest client of the LRAD Corp. of San Diego, maker of long-range acoustic hailing devices that can rumble sound over water for more than a mile and cause hearing damage from 50 ft. away. LRAD stands for long-range acoustic device, the general term for the acoustic systems the company makes.
A highlight of Aviation Week's Laureates gala is always the presentation of the award for heroism. This year, the recipients were the personnel of U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C., who rescued seafarers of the HMS Bounty caught in Hurricane Sandy in October 2012.
NASA has taken down a popular technical reports server after the chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee that funds the space agency complained the website was particularly popular in China. Shutdown of the NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) follows the March 16 arrest of a NASA contractor employee as he awaited takeoff at Dulles International Airport on a flight to his native China.
Immediately after Congress passed a spending bill last week to fund the government for the rest of fiscal 2013, lawmakers' attention has turned to the fiscal 2014 budget. While Congress continues to wrestle with how to reduce the federal deficit and overturn sequestration before its potential consequences become a chilling reality, that does not mean it will be any easier to agree on spending Pentagon dollars. Last year, Congress thwarted Air Force plans to put Global Hawk Block 30 aircraft in storage.
Inspired by two Roman palaces, the National Building Museum was constructed in the 1880s with the dual purpose of housing the U.S. Pension Bureau and providing “a suitably grand space for Washington's social and political functions.” On March 7, nearly 300 aviation and aerospace luminaries from around the globe gathered in the cavernous building for Aviation Week's 56th annual Laureate Awards.
For the second time in just over a year, Lockheed Martin's premier aeronautics division in Fort Worth is getting a new boss. Larry Lawson is leaving as executive vice president for Lockheed Martin Aeronautics—which oversees the F-35, F-22, C-130J and C-5 reengining programs—after only a year (see article above). His predecessor, Ralph Heath, who held that position for seven years, left last April.
In a budget environment where it is hard to find money for experimental aircraft, the 2013 Laureate for Aeronautics and Propulsion goes to a program that used a modest but sustained investment in ground demonstrations to mature technology, culminating in wind-tunnel tests of a model larger and more complex than many X-planes.
While heavily armored ground vehicles dominated attention and interest during the early years of the war in Iraq, the rugged and dangerous terrain of Afghanistan has since presented a more difficult challenge for commanders. This year's winner of the Defense Laureate rose to the challenge, rapidly developing an unmanned cargo helicopter known as K-Max to ease the logistical burden of war in one of the world's most challenging environments.
Most of the news about what will happen to aerospace and defense (A&D) spending as a result of congressional dallying on resolving its own pre-programmed cuts—sequestration—concerns lost jobs and program slowdowns. But sequestration also is likely to hit the way defense contractors fund independent research and development (IR&D), according to a study by the Fairmont Consulting Group.
The annual presentation of Laureates by Aviation Week recognizes intellect, discovery and heroism, and the organizations and programs that cultivate them in the aerospace and defense sector are honored with the Workforce Laureate. In the running for the Workforce Laureate this year were programs that are designed to attract a workforce to aerospace, as well as the individuals who continue to push this effort despite budget cuts and economic issues.
