If sequestration takes place March 1, military furloughs are not expected to begin at that time. Rather, they would start around April 25, according to a proposed Pentagon timeline.
LONDON — BAE Systems is leading the Eurofighter consortium’s push to sell the Typhoon to the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF). RMAF officials are on the hunt for a new multirole combat aircraft (MRCA) to replace the country’s aging Mikoyan MiG-29 fleet. The Typhoon is up against Saab’s Gripen, the Dassault Rafale and Boeing’s Super Hornet. BAE is confident the U.K.’s ties with the country will give it an advantage.
LITTLE CREEK, Va. — While the U.S. Navy ponders canceling or delaying various deployments, repairs and other operations, the service plans to keep pace with the more robust inspection schedule that it recently implemented for a good part of its fleet. In order to do so, says Rear Adm. Robert Wray, president of the Board of Inspection and Survey (Insurv), the service may have to rely more on uniformed inspectors than civilian technicians to scrutinize the ships as well as the systems, equipment and components aboard.
A team of researchers from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) has developed a shipping resupply computer program that aims to save the Navy millions of dollars in fuel costs. Called the Replenishment at Sea Planner (RASP), the program creates a schedule that minimizes the distance supply ships have to travel and identifies routes that allow vessels to travel at speeds optimal for fuel conservation, says NPS research associate Anton Rowe of Honolulu, who wrote the detailed code that makes RASP work.
AIR FORCE Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Training, Orlando, Fla., is being awarded a $20,560,000 contract modification (FA8621-11-C-6288, P00020) for procurement of one C-130J weapon system trainer device for Air Mobility Command. The location of performance is Marietta, Ga. and Tampa, Fla. Work is expected to be completed by June 30, 2016. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2013. The contracting activity is AFLCMC/WNSK, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. NAVY
TEL AVIV — Israel’s defense ministry says it carried out a successful flight test of the Arrow 3 missile interceptor. The test was conducted in cooperation with the U.S. Missile Defense Agency. The interceptor was launched into space Feb. 25 at around 6 a.m. local time from a coastal military launching pad in central Israel. The missile flew for more than 6 min., testing Arrow 3’s fly-out capabilities at altitudes well more than 100 km (60 mi.). The test plan did not include an actual intercept, so no target was used.
AIR FORCE Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, is being awarded an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (FA8611-13-D-2850) with a ceiling of $6,900,000,000 for F-22 modernization. The locations of performance are El Segundo, Calif.; Scottsdale, Ariz.; San Diego.; Nashua, N.H.; and Wayne, N.J. The work is expected to be completed by Feb. 20, 2023. This award is a result of a sole source acquisition. The contracting activity is AFLCMC/WWUK, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio.
NEW DELHI — In a clear confidence-building measure amidst chronic last-lap delays, India’s homegrown Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) will be deployed for the first time in an air force exercise, code-named Iron Fist, over the Thar Desert in western India. Set to begin Feb. 22, Iron Fist will see the Tejas for the first time fire air-to-air and strike weapons while flying in battlefield conditions with other Indian air force (IAF) aircraft, including the Su-30 MKI, Mirage 2000H, Jaguar, MiG-21, MiG-27 and MiG-29.
BEIJING — Pratt & Whitney is working with IHI Corp. to determine how much of the F135 fighter engine can be built in Japan for local requirements. The U.S. manufacturer expects to go through the same process with Samsung Techwin in South Korea should that country follow Japan in ordering the fighter that the F135 powers, the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning, says Bennett Croswell, president of Pratt & Whitney’s military engine division.
NEW DELHI — The Indian army has decided to buy 20 Cheetal helicopters and associated equipment from state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) to fill a serious need for the multirole aircraft. “We have signed a contract worth [$77 million] with the defense ministry to supply 20 Cheetals to the army over the next four years, besides providing training to its pilots and technical crew,” a HAL spokesman said.
Sikorsky says its contender for the U.S. Army’s Armed Aerial Scout (AAS) requirement, the S-76 Raider, will have a $15 million flyaway cost, compared with an estimated $12 million for an off-the-shelf helicopter. The bold statement is being made to counter claims that the all-new Raider is unaffordable. “There are too many misperceptions out there. It’s time to put in print that this is a $15 million aircraft,” says Steve Engebretson, the company’s AAS program director.
Northrop Grumman is preparing to demonstrate its proposed replacement for the U.S. Air Force’s transportable air defense radars, drawing heavily on a mobile system already under development for the U.S. Marine Corps. Northrop, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon were awarded competitive contracts in August 2012 as a precursor to engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) of the Three-Dimensional Expeditionary Long-Range Radar (3DLRR).
ABU DHABI — The first batch of KAI Surion utility helicopters has joined the Republic of Korea army for trials. According to KAI officials at the IDEX exhibition in Abu Dhabi, four of the 8.7-ton aircraft, which are also known as the Korean Utility Helicopter (KUH), were delivered to the Korean army in November and are currently undergoing army flight trials in preparation for the beginning of operations later this year.
ORLANDO, Fla. — The U.S. Air Force’s KC-46 development contract with Boeing can survive sequestration at least for fiscal 2013, but its expected effects, combined with operating under a continuing resolution, will drive the service to break the fixed-price deal as soon as the fall.
Finmeccanica has named Daniele Romiti the new head of AgustaWestland following bribery allegations surrounding the sale of 12 helicopters to India in 2010. Romiti, who is currently the helicopter company’s chief operating officer, was named to the post on Feb. 21 as part of a wide-ranging reorganization. Romiti succeeds Bruno Spagnolini, who was placed under house arrest earlier this month. Finmeccanica CEO Giuseppe Orsi was also arrested. He was the head of AgustaWestland at the time the alleged corruption took place.
ORLANDO, Fla. — The U.S. Air Force could have to trim as many as three F-35As from its fiscal 2013 purchasing plans if sequestration takes effect March 1, according to Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh. This would affect deliveries for low-rate initial production (LRIP) Lot 5, a contract only finalized late in 2012 after a year of tough negotiations between the Pentagon and prime contractor Lockheed Martin. The $3.8 billion contract includes 32 U.S. aircraft, of which 22 are F-35As designed for the Air Force.
Research at Georgia Tech indicates that programming military robots for deceitful behavior against enemies is a way of protecting them along with materiel they might be guarding. In a program funded by the Office of Naval Research, Ronald Arkin led a team at Georgia Tech that applied this tactic in programming a robot. Arkin read studies showing how deceitful behavior aids animal survival and wondered if it could help robots thwart an enemy, robotic or human. Biologists, for example, found that a squirrel stores acorns in hiding places and routinely checks the stashes.
When teams of researchers at Germany's Technical University of Hamburg and Kiel University used chemical vapor and a high-temperature oven last summer to produce a new carbon-based lattice they call Aerographite, it immediately grabbed attention for its weight: At 75 times lighter than Styrofoam and six times lighter than air, it is billed as the world's lightest material.
The Taliban have a lot to worry about when it comes to Western military technology. The latest threat is easy to miss but potentially deadly in its effect: a 4 X 1-in. unmanned air vehicle (UAV) the British Army is deploying for intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance in Afghanistan. Called the Black Nano Hornet, the UAV weighs 16 grams (5 oz.) and has a camera with zoom function that transmits still images and full-motion video to a handheld monitor. The U.K.
