The U.S. Navy’s Northrop Grumman X-47B unmanned combat air system (UCAS) demonstrator completed its first arrested landing at NAS Patuxent River, Md., on May 4. The shore-based test paves the way for operations from an aircraft carrier later this month. Arrested landings are the final step in shore-based testing before the X-47B deploys for sea-based testing, “catapulting from the carrier deck and potentially completing landings” on the USS Bush, says Naval Air Systems Command.
U.S. Air Force officials are preparing by year’s end to begin flight testing of a communications gateway technology designed to solve the vexing problem of allowing stealthy aircraft to communicate with legacy fighters, though they operate using different protocols.
The U.S. Office of Naval Research (ONR) has developed something “similar to a master remote control for military ground, air and undersea unmanned systems that will work across the services,” the Navy acknowledged earlier this month. The data model is based on software that enabled development of the Common Control System, which is comprised of many different common control services, ONR says.
EXELIS POSITIONED: ITT’s defense information and technical services spin-off Exelis believes it is positioned to meet the Pentagon’s move toward sustaining legacy systems as it shies away from major new programs, but it does have its hopes up over one new weapons system, according to Wall Street analysts who met with Exelis management recently.
The U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) needs to do a better job overseeing its Global Battlestaff and Program Support (GBPS) contract, a recent Pentagon inspector general (IG) report says. “The lack of appropriate contract award and administration put USSOCOM at risk of not getting the best value for GBPS services and improperly executing future task order options, valued at $206 million,” the IG says in its April 26 report. The contract is worth about $231 million.
The U.S. Navy this month officially marked the establishment of the service’s first composite expeditionary helicopter squadron to include both manned and unmanned helo components. Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM)-35 has been officially established to include both the MH-60R Seahawk and the MQ-8B Fire Scout Vertical Take-off and Landing Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (VTUAV) on Naval Air Station North Island in California.
The NASA researcher alleged to be spying for the Chinese was exonerated by a U.S. federal court charge of lying to federal investigators. The charge against Bo Jiang was dropped after a six-week investigation by the FBI in which nine computers and storage devices were examined. Computer files that Jiang tried to bring to China in March 2013 did not contain classified, export-controlled or proprietary NASA information, according to a statement from the National Institute of Aerospace.
BEIJING — China is planning development of a cargo aircraft under the designation Y-19 with a payload of 30 metric tons (66,000 lb.), according to new research that confirms and expands on earlier, unsubstantiated reports.
The U.S. Navy is basing its investments on how they best fit in the “kill-chain” strategy, Adm. Jonathan Greenert, chief of naval operations, says in a recent blog. “You’ll hear me speak about a ‘kill-chain’ approach,” he says. “We use ‘kill chains’ to help decide how we should invest our time, money, and other resources to build our capabilities and gain an advantage over our adversaries.”
CARTER SPEAKS: This week, the U.S. military industrial complex should get some insight into what its future could look like with Deputy Defense Secretary Ash Carter’s highly expected speech May 7 at the National Press Club at 10 a.m. The deputy defense secretary, formerly the Pentagon’s acquisition czar, will speak about the ongoing Strategic Choices and Management Review he is leading for relatively new Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, as well as efficiency initiatives the Defense Department is undertaking.
LONDON — The Italian army has taken delivery of its first NH90 in the Fully Operational Capability (FOC) configuration. On May 2, the 21st NH90 utility helicopter — from an order of 60 placed in June 2000 — was delivered to Italian army aviation. Until now, the army’s aircraft have been delivered in Initial Operational Capability (IOC) and IOC+ configurations, which have some limited systems.
LONDON — The U.K. Royal Air Force is looking to integrate MBDA’s Brimstone air-to-ground missile on its General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper UAV fleet. The work, which will require trials to be conducted in the U.S., was described during a speech by U.K. Minister for Defense Equipment, Support and Technology Philip Dunne at the McKenna, Long and Aldridge law firm in Washington on April 23. Dunne said that the U.K. is “currently working together through the Big Safari Group in rapid prototyping a U.K. weapon, Brimstone, on a U.S. platform.”
BEIJING — Australia is bringing forward naval construction programs to fill a gap in local shipbuilding, while reaffirming its commitment to building 12 large diesel submarines. As part of a program to preserve the naval industrial base, the government also is reallocating construction of hull blocks for three air-defense destroyers, giving more work to the Williamstown dockyard of BAE Systems in Melbourne.
The U.S. Navy is bulking up its Port Hueneme, Calif., facility with additional power stations to support the final drydocking of the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier before its nuclear fuel is removed.
BEIJING — Australia will buy 12 Boeing EA-18G Growlers instead of converting some of its current 24 F/A-18F Super Hornets to that electronic-attack configuration, the government says in its 2013 defense white paper. The government remains committed to “three operational squadrons” of Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightnings entering service from around 2020, according to the white paper. That may mean that it has decided not to further cut its requirement for that type as it adds Growlers, but the paper is unclear on that point.
To help meet the environmental and energy-saving goals of NextGen, the FAA plans to establish a cost-sharing partnership between academia, industry and the government to advance alternative fuels development and reduce emissions and noise. The university-based Center of Excellence (COE) for Alternative Jet Fuels and Environment is planned to be operational by late this year to carry on research conducted by the Partnership for Air Transportation Noise and Emissions Reduction (Partner), which has run for 10 years.
China's aero-engine development effort keeps looking bigger. It turns out that four indigenous high-bypass turbofans are being developed, not two, as previously thought. A major turboshaft, exhibited two years ago, is now revealed as a candidate engine for a new tactical airlifter, the Y-19. And an engine is in the works for a medium-large transport helicopter in the class of the AgustaWestland AW101.
