ARMY Alliant Techsystems Operations L.L.C., Plymouth, Minn., was awarded a $41,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract. The award will provide for the procurement of high explosive incendiary with trace linked cartridges. The work location will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 30, 2018. The bid was solicited through the Internet, with one bid received. The U.S. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island, Ill., is the contracting activity (W52P1J-13-D-0021). NAVY
The Defense Department needs to better monitor contracts for the transportation of supplies, mail, and passengers in Afghanistan via helicopters, according to a recent report by the Pentagon Inspector General (IG). Some $3.5 billion worth of transactions could be at risk, the IG says.
LONDON — The U.K. Royal Air Force has appointed a helicopter pilot as chief of the air staff for the first time in its 95-year history. Air Marshal Sir Andrew Pulford will head the RAF starting in July 2012, taking over from Sir Stephen Dalton. Dalton had led the air arm since July 2009, taking it through one of its most challenging periods, including the Strategic Defense and Security Review and the conflict in Libya as well as ongoing operations in Afghanistan.
EADS is slowly preparing the composition of its administrative board, to be confirmed at an extraordinary general meeting likely to be held before the end of March. Anne Lauvergeon, ex-CEO of French nuclear energy group Areva, has received strong endorsement to become the next EADS chairman, succeeding Arnaud Lagardere. Jean-Claude Trichet, a board member since 2012, is expected to be re-elected.
The acceptance test campaign of Anka Medium Altitude Long Endurance UAV System, which was designed and developed by Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI), was successfully completed with the last test flights held between January 20-22 2013.
Alenia Aermacchi's upgraded turboprop – the SF-260TP primary and basic trainer- now equipped with a glass cockpit, an enhanced multi-spectral vision system and an upgraded air conditioning system has completed its first flight in Venegono, Italy.
Alenia Aermacchi's upgraded turboprop – the SF-260TP primary and basic trainer- now equipped with a glass cockpit, an enhanced multi-spectral vision system and an upgraded air conditioning system has completed its first flight in Venegono, Italy.
ARLINGTON, Va. — As the production line looks to ramp down for the LPD-17 San Antonio-class amphibious dock ship, Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Ingalls Shipbuilding unit is eyeing other possible variants for the ship that could perform such missions as ballistic missile defense (BMD), hospital work or sub tending.
LONDON — Airbus Military has marked the last delivery of Spain’s most successful indigenous aircraft— the C212. The company handed over the last C212-400 light transport to the Vietnam marine police on Dec. 28, marking the end of production of the type in Spain. The C212 was developed by CASA—now Airbus Military—during the 1960s and the type made its first flight in March 1971. Since then, 477 C212s have been built for more than 90 operators. Approximately 290 are still in service today.
HBC REORG: Hawker Beechcraft is hoping to receive U.S. Bankruptcy Court confirmation of a reorganization plan to exit Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this week after receiving approval from key creditors. The company announced Jan. 25 that the key creditors have overwhelmingly approved the proposed joint plan for reorganization, and that the confirmation hearing is scheduled for Jan. 31. The company, which filed for Chapter 11 on May 3, hopes to exit bankruptcy protection in the second half of February.
NEW DELHI — India will test fly its Nirbhay subsonic cruise missile in February, a top defense scientist says. “Nirbhay is at a final state of integration and we hope to flight-test its capabilities, including stealth and accuracy, next month” says V.K. Saraswat, head of state-run Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO). Nirbhay will be launched from Integrated Test Range at Chandipur in Odisha, in eastern India.
Aurora Flight Sciences of Manassas, Va., a developer of small unmanned aerial systems (SUAS), has upgraded its Skate vertical-takeoff-and-landing platform with the DL Micro digital data link and video processor from SRI Sarnoff of Menlo Park, Calif. The device significantly improves the quality and transmission of video captured by an electro-optical payload on the portable SUAS, increasing the Skate's value for surveillance, threat detection and other airborne operations. The system provides electronic image stability with H.264 encoding.
The Israeli air force (IAF) is gearing up to host its largest-ever multinational training exercise, “Blue Flag,” which will take place this spring. Hundreds of foreign pilots will participate. Although their air forces are not identified, countries that are close allies of Israel were invited. During the exercise, jets will conduct mock air battles and attacks, practice low-altitude flying and drop live ordnance. IAF combat squadrons have participated in joint exercises in Italy, Romania, Bulgaria, Cyprus and Greece.
Meprolight Ltd. of Or-Akiva, Israel, unveiled several military weapon sights at the Shot Show in Las Vegas earlier this month. The NYX 3X (see photo) is a compact, uncooled thermal weapon sight with 3X magnification. Weighing less than 2.2 lb., the sight withstands the recoil of 5.56- and 7.62-mm rounds and .338-cal. rifles. The sight extends the company's line of optics, which includes magnifications of 2X, 3X and 7X for a range of operational and tactical needs.
The U.S. Defense Department is at the mercy of the global supply chain when it comes to computers, routers, software, firmware and related electronic devices. Each has the potential to be compromised by malicious software and other vulnerabilities that could be used to hack classified information or sabotage operations. The notion that the millions of devices the department sources every year could be certified safe prior to use has been dismissed as impractical. But maybe not.
The U.S. Navy wants its new unmanned underwater vehicle, the Knifefish, to do more than remove humans from the dangers of mine hunting. The Navy also hopes Knifefish will replace the use of dolphins. Knifefish, which was unveiled last year, is to be fielded in 2017 as part of the Littoral Combat Ship's mine-warfare mission module. After being launched, Knifefish will use a low-frequency synthetic aperture sonar to scan for mines. The Navy believes that capability will replace trained dolphins, which use their natural echolocation abilities to hunt mines.
A team of researchers working with Hungarian air survey company Interspect has unveiled what is claimed to be the most detailed geo-referenced airborne image to be acquired from an airplane, versus helicopters or low-flying ultralights. The image has a resolution of 0.5 cm, which the team says is five times what has been achieved in other countries; the same group produced a 1.8-cm resolution image in 2009.
The next U.S. aircraft carrier, CVN-78, the Gerald R. Ford, is 90% complete. The Newport News Shipbuilding division of Huntington Ingalls Industries recently added three units to the ship, including two sponsons—structures that project from the side of the hull and provide the space needed for flight-deck operations. One sponson is 140 ft. long and weighs 391 metric tons, one of the largest ever erected. In addition, shipbuilders have installed 3 million ft. of the total 10 million ft. of cable. Workers add 10,000 ft.
Ceramic materials have become viable—even better—replacements for conventional metallic armor plates on tanks, personnel carriers and other armored vehicles. They not only resist penetration by most explosive projectiles encountered on a battlefield, but provide considerable weight savings, which in turn increase the agility and maneuverability of these multi-ton platforms. Ceramic plates, however, have one significant problem: weakness in the adhesive bond that connects them to their composite backing material, which reduces their effectiveness.
Angus Batey and Francis Tusa London and David Eshel Tel Aviv, Francis Tusa (London), David Eshel (Tel Aviv)
Infantry operations have evolved dramatically in the past decade, along with weaponry. The combat equipment that many soldiers now field reflects rapid advances in areas ranging from weapons design and precision firepower to battlefield networking.
India plans to buy new assault rifles and replace its indigenous 5.56-mm Insas (Indian Small Arms System) rifles in an effort to arm troops with modern weapons. “Procurement will be done globally, with the transfer of technology to the [state-owned] Ordinance Factory Board,” says Defense Minister A.K. Antony. The army has used Insas rifles since the mid-1990s. “The proposal to buy new rifles was made last year, and the technical evaluation of bids is in process,” the minister told Parliament last month.
