MARKUPS BEGIN: The House Armed Services Committee will hold its first markup hearings this week on the fiscal 2014 National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 1960). The subcommittees on strategic forces; intelligence, emerging threats and capabilities; seapower and projection forces; and military personnel will convene on May 22. The tacair and readiness subcommittees meet on May 23. The full HASC committee markup on the bill is scheduled for June 5.
NEW DELHI — Russia’s Rosoboronexport has proposed starting licensed production of its Ka-226T helicopter in India if it wins the contract to supply 197 reconnaissance and surveillance helicopters to the country’s military. “We are increasing exports both by deepening the relationship with traditional partners and expanding the geography of sales,” says Grigory Kozlov, head of helicopter exports at Rosoboronexport. “In particular, in India, where we are bidding the Ka-226T.
The U.S. Navy is seeking up to 90,000 gal. of alcohol-to-jet (ATJ) fuel to conduct testing and certification for use in naval aircraft. To be awarded in June, the contract will be another step along the path towards the Navy’s plan of meeting 50% of its fuel needs from alternative sources by 2020. The solicitation calls for delivery of 20,000 gal. of ATJ-5 fuel by September, with options for two further 10,000-gal. batches by January and March 2014 and up to another 50,000 gal. by March 2015. This will represent a significant scale-up in ATJ production.
With a record flight of more than 48 hr. on fuel-cell power under its belt, the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is looking at how to transition its Ion Tiger unmanned aircraft from an experimental vehicle to a tactical system. The 35-lb. Ion Tiger completed a 48-hr., 1-min. flight on April 16-18 with an electric fuel-cell propulsion system using liquid hydrogen stored in a cryogenic tank. The aircraft flew for 26 hr., 2 min. in 2009 using compressed gaseous hydrogen.
Air traffic controllers have guided an unmanned aircraft system (UAS) through U.K. airspace for the first time as part of the Astraea project. The Autonomous Systems Technology Related Airborne Evaluation & Assessment (Astraea) program was launched in 2006 to look at how unmanned aircraft could be integrated into airspace shared with other air traffic.
The Pentagon's ad hoc review of roles, missions and spending, due this month, will propose significant savings outside of the armed services, while tackling health care costs and services held dear by the active-duty personnel and veterans. But the review will deepen the ongoing weapons program alignment around the U.S. military's pivot to the Asia-Pacific region.
There was a full demonstration of unmanned, autonomous takeoff, landing and deck movement on the USS George Bush on May 14, courtesy of a sleek, well-fed urban pigeon. The white-jacketed safety crew caused a flurry on the deck as they tried to surround it. Standard operating procedure, I suspect, would have involved termination with extreme prejudice (which, as Tom Lehrer informed us, is not against any religion) but media presence complicated matters, as it usually does.
Republicans, who control the U.S. House of Representatives, and other supporters of Taiwan here have mounted a fresh push to persuade the White House to allow sales of advanced fighters to the island.
What a difference a decade makes. In 2000, China's labor rates were a fraction of those for U.S. workers, the dollar was strong, oil prices were relatively low, and the promise of access to the Chinese market had manufacturers hopping to get into China.
For an organization that exists to think decades ahead to prevent technology surprise and enable military superiority, the future for U.S. national security looks particularly uncertain to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa).
ROME and TURIN, Italy — Italy’s air force is awaiting a second C-27J transport outfitted with an anti-improvised explosive device (IED) system, known as Jedi, and plans to buy a total of six of the specialized jammers.
SINGAPORE — The Littoral Combat Ship (LCS-1) USS Freedom is scheduled to get under way May 17 for some of its initial operations here, says Cmdr. Tim Wilke, the vessel’s commanding officer. U.S. Navy officials say repairs were made to address power outages while the ship was in transit and coolant leaks when it docked in port. Asked to discuss any other existing or potential problems that could affect Freedom’s performance, officials declined, saying responding to such queries could endanger the vessel’s operational security.
LONDON — Trials to integrate MBDA’s Brimstone air-to-ground missile on the U.K.’s fleet of General Atomics MQ-9 Reapers are set to take place this fall, government ministers say. In written testimony on May 15, Philip Dunne, the under secretary of state for defense equipment, support and technology at the U.K. defense ministry, told Parliament that he expected the trials to “proceed in the autumn.”
SINGAPORE — Viking Air is developing a new surveillance variant of its Twin Otter Guardian 400 for the international market. The Canadian company has sold surveillance variants of the Twin Otter 400 before, but Joar Gronlund, non-executive director of Viking partner Field Aviation, argues the previous ones were really customized aircraft, and that Viking Air has decided to have a more standardized variant to make it easier and more cost-effective to support the aircraft later on.
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency has achieved its third successful test of the Raytheon SM-3 IB interceptor as well as its first flight demonstration of a new ballistic missile target designed by Lockheed Martin.
ARMS TRADE: The Obama administration expects to sign the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty, according to Thomas Countryman, assistant secretary of state for international security and nonproliferation, although the U.S. may not be among the first countries to do so when the treaty opens for signatures in New York on June 3. “I do expect that we will sign it in the very near future,” he told an Atlantic Council audience May 15. Countryman is the U.S. diplomat who led a diverse delegation in negotiating the treaty, which the U.N. General Assembly passed April 2.
