LONDON — The U.K. Ministry of Defense is deciding on the future of a loitering munition that it has spent more than £200 million ($320 million) developing. According to the U.K. National Audit Office (NAO), the Fire Shadow, being developed by the U.K. Team Complex Weapons initiative and led by MBDA, has successfully completed a series of trial firings at a test range in Sweden. But the defense ministry halted a plan to send the weapon to Afghanistan in March because of what the NAO described as “system maturity.”
HOMELAND SECURITY: U.S. congressional researchers say that as deficit-reduction efforts push down federal spending, Congress may pay more critical attention to homeland security funding. In fiscal 2012 appropriations and the 2013 budget request, 30 federal departments, agencies and entities received annual homeland security funding outside of the Homeland Security Department, amounting to 48% of annual homeland security funding. Recipient departments included not-so-obvious choices like NASA and Housing and Urban Development.
TEL AVIV — Huge cost increases are looming over the widely publicized Israel-Italian M-346 jet trainer deal. In the purchase of new military aircraft, overall life cycle costs are often overshadowed by the more immediate price per unit, as customers and governments focus on the tangible dollars going out the door now. But such a myopic focus has a way of haunting governments later. The trainer deal is the latest example.
FORT WORTH — The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is preparing for a three-day flight of its Ion Tiger experimental fuel-cell-powered unmanned aircraft. In 2009, the 37-lb. Ion Tiger flew for just more than 26 hr., powered by a compressed-hydrogen fuel cell and carrying a 5-lb. electro-optical/infrared payload.
The convergence of three U.S. budget showdowns in March is not the apocalypse, says a defense analyst, but it is a mess, will produce bad decisions, and carries the risks of creating costly contract problems for major programs and disruption and hardship on the Pentagon’s civilian employees for years to come.
FORT WORTH — NASA has selected eight technology demonstrations for Phase 2 of its Environmentally Responsible Aviation (ERA) project to reduce the fuel burn, noise and emissions of commercial aircraft that could enter service by 2025. The eight integrated technology demonstrations (ITDs) include active flow control to cut drag, stitched composites to save weight, ultra-high-bypass engines to save fuel, fuel-flexible combustors to minimize emissions and redesigned flaps and landing gear to reduce noise.
MUOS DELIVERY: Lockheed Martin has finally delivered the waveform needed to fully utilize the Wideband Code Division Multiple Access capabilities offered by the new Mobile User Objective System narrowband communications satellites. The waveform, which is roughly one year late, is needed to allow soldiers, including those on the move, to access voice, data and video communications from various terminals. Though the waveform has been delivered, the capability will not be deployed until the terminals, which are late, are approved for use by the National Security Agency.
U.K. based engineering and aerostructures company GKN Aerospace has appointed a new CEO for its engine systems business, formed by the takeover of Sweden's Volvo Aero. Michael McCann will become CEO of GKN Aerospace–Engine Systems, while his former role of senior VP-business development and strategy for GKN Aerospace will be filled by Charles Paterson.
China has declared its Beidou satellite navigation system fully operational, although the service remains limited to the Asia-Pacific region. The operating office says it is “accelerating” construction of the system but repeats its long-standing commitment to achieve global coverage by about 2020; no possible earlier date is mentioned.
Hawker Beechcraft is proposing to pay Swiss plane-maker Pilatus Aircraft $7.5 million to settle a dispute over Hawker Beechcraft’s production of the T-6/AT-6 military trainer. Hawker Beechcraft says the move is neither an admission that it is using the “protectable intellectual property” of Pilatus, nor an acknowledgement that it owes royalty payments. But Hawker Beechcraft says the proposed payment would be in its best interest because it would avoid a public dispute and prolonged lawsuit at a critical juncture of the company’s bankruptcy proceedings.
Foreign military sales are unlikely to bridge the gap of declining U.S. defense budget cuts, but investment in emerging technologies eventually could offset investments in more traditional military hardware, a leading U.S. aerospace and defense (A&D) industry consultant says.
TANKER SHORT LIST: After intense lobbying by lawmakers, the U.S. Air Force released its short list of bases for the KC-46A tanker program. Contenders for the main base, which will begin receiving tankers in 2016, are Altus AFB, Okla.; Fairchild AFB, Wash.; Grand Forks AFB, N.D.; and McConnell AFB, Kan. The candidates for the first Air National Guard tanker base include Forbes Air Guard Station, Kan.; Joint-Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J.; Pease Air Guard Station, N.H.; Pittsburgh International Airport Air Guard Station, Pa.; and Rickenbacker Air Guard Station, Ohio.
A long-awaited draft request for proposals (RFP) for the U.S. Navy’s Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (Uclass) competition has been delayed. Most recently planned for release to industry this month, the draft RFP is now expected in the spring, according to Navy spokeswoman Jamie Cosgrove.
Eclipse Aerospace is hoping to secure a potential contract to replace the fleet of T-1A Jayhawks (Beechjet 400s) flown for the U.S. Air Force Specialized Undergraduate Pilot Training (SUPT) program. The company responded Jan. 7 to an Air Force request for information (RFI) for a potential large fleet of very light jets (VLJs) to support the SUPT Multi-place Training Track.
While much of the focus on U.S. Navy energy programs has been on alternative fuels, the service is equally interested in technological and other advancements that will make it a more efficient energy consumer, according to Vice Adm. William Burke, deputy chief of naval operations for warfare systems. “It’s not just algae-based fuel,” Burke said Jan. 8 during a Navy League breakfast briefing. “It’s a little bit of that, but that is mostly to make sure that fuel will function in our engines.”
In the end, the 2013 defense authorization bill kept pretty close the budget request, adding about 1% percent to the base budget for procurement and research and changing about 130 lines out of more than 1,600. Some of the big plusses were early favorites for defense authorizers and appropriators in the House and Senate: the Israeli Cooperative Programs, advance procurement funding for EA-18G and restoring a second Virginia submarine buy in fiscal 2014.
Pratt & Whitney on Jan. 9 appointed Paul Adams to the newly created position of chief operating officer. As COO, Adams will lead an operations strategy across all the engine maker’s business “to ensure the readiness of the company’s global supply chain.” Adams previously led the company’s engineering and operations unit. He reports to Pratt & Whitney President David Hess.
interested party: Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) would like to replace the late Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) as the chairman of the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee, a congressional aide and industry source tell Aviation Week. If he is appointed, it would be a somewhat surprising move, as Durbin has not been a forceful voice on the committee, although he represents a state where Boeing has a strong presence.
BEIJING — China has declared its Beidou satellite navigation system fully operational, although the service remains limited to most of the Asia-Pacific region. The operating office says it is “accelerating” construction of the system, but repeats its longstanding commitment to achieve global coverage by about 2020; no earlier possibility is mentioned.
The key to making the next generation of ballistic missile submarines survivable and even more valuable in future decades will be to design the vessels with enough flexibility for later technological improvements, says Rear Adm. Barry Bruner, director of submarine warfare. Bruner likens the effort to the commercial industry for everyday transportation.
LONDON — The British government is to spend £160 million ($256 million) on the Thales Watchkeeper UAV over the next three years, but is unable to say when the much-delayed system will finally enter service. The British army is buying 54 Watchkeeper WK450 air vehicles, a modified variant of the Elbit Hermes 450 UAV along with 15 ground control stations as part of its Tactical UAV requirement. As part of the procurement, the U.K. Ministry of Defense (MoD) is spending £73 million, £59 million and £28 million, respectively, over the next three financial years.
