SBIRS SEQUEL: The second Lockheed Martin Space-Based Infrared System (Sbirs) spacecraft is executing a series of six liquid apogee engine burns to raise it to geosynchronous orbit, following its March 20 launch on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket for the U.S. Air Force. The payload aboard the A2100-based satellite is scheduled to be activated about 30 days after launch. Sbirs carries both scanning and staring infrared sensors for detecting missile launches.
CANBERRA and BEIJING — Operation of a relocated space-surveillance radar in Western Australia may be only the first step in expanded cooperation between the U.S. and Australia in space situational awareness. Separately, Australia also is looking at setting up an independent capability in the field, says a defense department spokeswoman in Canberra.
THE PENTAGON — While no program is guaranteed protection during these days of fiscal austerity, the U.S. Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) acquisition plans are as safe as any other from substantial cuts, says Vice Adm. Richard Hunt, director of Navy staff and the head of the special LCS Council of service admirals.
Heavy-lift helicopter specialist Erickson Air-Crane is acquiring operators in the U.S. and Brazil in a move to diversify from its niche in firefighting into a global aviation services business. The acquisition of Oregon-based Evergreen Helicopter (EHI) and Air Amazonia of Brazil for up to $350 million will double Erickson’s revenues and operating earnings. The deals will also take the Portland, Ore.-based company into new commercial and government markets, halving its dependence on seasonal firefighting revenues.
Beechcraft is showing little sign of backing down from its fight for the Light Air Support (LAS) contract, filing suit in the Court of Federal Claims to object to the U.S. Air Force’s decision to move ahead with work on the program during a Government Accountability Office (GAO) review of the LAS contract award.
Obstacles challenge robots, but researchers at Harvard may overcome them by engineering robots to jump. Tests on silicone robots advance this capability. Robert Shepherd, a former postdoctoral researcher and now an assistant professor at Cornell, describes work that he and colleagues are conducting in the Feb. 6 Angewandte Chemie. The team uses controlled explosions generated by methane and oxygen to make a robot jump (see photo). The Y-shaped robot, with each limb about 6 in. long and less than 1 in. thick, leaps 12 in., at 13 fps.
The International Defense Exhibition—IDEX—in Abu Dhabi last month saw the first public appearance of the massive Multiple Cradle Launcher (MCL), a product of the Abu Dhabi-based Jobaria Defense Systems, which company officials told Aviation Week is in service with the United Arab Emirates army. The MCL uses an Oshkosh Defense 6 X 6 Heavy Equipment Transporter with an armored cab, pulling a 10-wheel trailer. On the trailer are mounted four multiple-rocket launchers, each with three modular pods of 20 122-mm rockets, for a total of 240 rockets.
The first clear photos of China's new ICBM appeared on Chinese web pages this month, probably taken by a motorist on his cell phone—a common way of revealing new Chinese weapons. The Dong Feng-41 (DF-41) is likely the first mobile Chinese ICBM to be equipped with multiple independently targeted reentry vehicles (MIRV), possibly 10. Citing a U.S. government official, the Washington Free Beacon reported that the DF-41 was tested from the Wuzhai (Xichang) missile test and space launch center last July.
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.
