The U.S. Navy is switching its focus on directed-energy weapons from the megawatt-class free-electron laser to less-powerful solid-state lasers, announcing plans to develop and demonstrate a prototype weapon aboard a Navy ship against aerial and small-boat targets. “We believe it’s time to move forward with solid-state lasers and shift the focus from limited demonstrations to weapon prototype development and related technology advancement,” say Peter Morrison, Solid-State Laser Technology Maturation (SSL-TM) program officer.
There are many indicators of House authorizers’ generous wishes for Pentagon spending in fiscal 2013, but the best might be this: $1.7 billion for 11 programs for which the Obama administration did not seek a penny.
ROME – The Italian military is taking another look at how to address its future airborne signals intelligence needs, although a tight budget environment makes it uncertain when a new platform will be fielded. The military is exploring its operational needs and future requirements through the use of an airborne sensor laboratory, says a senior Italian air force officer at the Association of Old Crows/Shephard Electronic Warfare Europe conference.
Boeing is looking ahead to a 2013 critical design review of the U.S. Air Force’s KC-46A refueler after wrapping up a monthlong preliminary design review (PDR) in April. The PDR, which took place March 21-April 27, validated that Boeing ’s design “meets system requirements [and] establishes the basis for proceeding with the detailed design,” according to an Air Force statement.
Hawker Beechcraft (HBC) and the Sierra Nevada Corp. (SNC)/Embraer team competing once again for a contract to supply light-attack aircraft to Afghanistan may both have reasons for concern with the U.S. Air Force’s revised request for proposals. An amended RFP for the Light Air Support (LAS) program was issued on May 4 after the Air Force decided to restage the competition following its decision to terminate the $355 million contract awarded to SNC in December to supply 20 Embraer AT-29 Super Tucanos.
The House Armed Services Committee fended off an amendment that could have withheld half of procurement funding for Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter in fiscal 2013 if it does not deliver to Congress the date the program is to reach an initial operating capability (IOC). Instead, the defense authorization bill being considered by the House will require the Defense Department to provide the IOC date without a penalty.
A follow-up high-tech development program has caught the eye of a leading lawmaker on defense issues eager to ensure that the Pentagon does not resurrect an alternative engine program for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Last year, General Electric finally ceded an epic battle to try to make an engine for the program, leaving the engine made by Pratt & Whitney, whose parent company United Technologies is based in Connecticut, as the last engine standing.
Click here to view the pdf 2013 Defense Authorization Bill, Chairman's Mark: Changes from Request($ in millions) 2013 Defense Authorization Bill, Chairman's Mark: Changes from Request ($ in millions) Service Budget Acct:Line
Military unmanned aerial vehicles are coming to the U.S. National Airspace System, and lawmakers from the House of Representatives want to know how the Defense Department (DOD) plans to keep up training until new safety regulations allow routine access.
Military unmanned aerial vehicles are coming to the U.S. National Airspace System (NAS), and House lawmakers want to know how the Defense Department plans to keep up training until new safety regulations allow routine access.
ASIA-PACIFIC STAFF / NEW DELHI, ASIA-PACIFIC STAFF / NEW DELHI
NEW DELHI – With India set to approve a $700 million deal with Switzerland’s Pilatus to purchase 75 new PC-7 basic propeller trainers, the Indian Air Force may also need to look outside the country for a fleet of intermediate jet trainers.
FIRE SCOUT BUY: Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Integrated Systems Sector, San Diego, has been awarded a $25,709,758 contract modification from the U.S. Navy to purchase three Fire Scout vertical takeoff and landing tactical unmanned aerial vehicles and one ground control station, the Defense Department announced May 8. The work will be performed in Moss Point, Miss. and San Diego, and is expected to be completed in December 2013. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command is the contracting activity.
ROME – Function and reliability testing of the Airbus MilitaryA400M airlifter will start about a month late due to concerns with one of the aircraft’s four TP400D turboprop engines.
Washington – House authorizers are determined to fund what the U.S. Air Force said it could not afford in fiscal 2013, putting back nearly $200 million for the C-27 airlift and directing a slowdown on terminating the C-130 avionics upgrade.
Washington – Lawmakers are supremely unhappy with the Air Force’s defense of its fiscal 2013 budget request, and it was on display May 8 after the House Appropriations defense subcommittee approved its bill.
Washington – Boeing has “voluntarily suspended” flights of the A160T Hummingbird unmanned helicopter after an aircraft crashed on April 17 in Victorville, Calif., while carrying the BAE Systems Argus-IS wide-area surveillance payload. Both the platform and its payload were damaged, says the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency , which is responsible for both the A160T and the Autonomous Real-Time Ground Ubiquitous Surveillance Imaging System , or Argus-IS.
Washington – Military operations over the last two decades have shown marked progress in the way NATO can respond to international crises, contends a senior NATO official. While it took months to respond to fighting in Bosnia, the execution time was reduced to weeks in Afghanistan and only days in the most recent conflict in Libya, says Gen. Stephane Abrial, the alliance’s supreme allied commander for transformation and former French air force chief of staff.
Washington – There are dozens of photos of China’s new J-20 fighter design and technical assessments from multiple sources, but there has yet to be a single authoritative article by the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) about the aircraft’s mission.
F-35 CHANGES: Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. of Fort Worth has been awarded a $237,740,000 contract modification for the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter for changes to the configuration baseline hardware or software resulting from the JSF development effort, the Defense Department announced May 7. This modification increases the concurrency cap for the U.S. Marine Corps and U.K. short takeoff vertical landing aircraft; Air Force and Netherlands conventional takeoff and landing aircraft; and Navy carrier variant aircraft.
