REALITY, AUGMENTED: The U.S. Office of Naval Research (ONR) is showing off the next phase of an augmented-reality project that the lab says will quite literally change the way warfighters view operational environments. ONR is developing a system that allows trainees to view simulated images superimposed on real-world landscapes — for example, virtual aircraft, targets and munitions effects inserted into the real-world view through glasses, goggles or a visor.
Click here to view the pdf Fiscal 2013 Senate Defense Appropriations Markup:U.S. Military Missile & Space Procurement ($ in thousands) Fiscal 2013 Senate Defense Appropriations Markup: U.S.
U.S. Air Force and Air National Guard units are fielding a helmet-mounted cueing system (HMCS) from Gentex Corp. of Carbondale, Pa., in A-10s, F-16s (Batch 30 and 32) and C-130 gunships flown by Air Force Special Operations Command. The Scorpion HMCS was tested by the Air Force and originally selected in 2010. Nine A-10 Thunderbolt II pilots from the 47th Fighter Sqdn. of Barksdale AFB, La., are the first to try out the system in an operational exercise. They tested Scorpion during the Rim of the Pacific exercise June 29-Aug. 3, in Hawaii.
One year after Boeing unexpectedly ended an acrimonious dispute with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) with a four-year contract deal, the company is facing a new quarrel, this time with its Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (Speea)-represented workforce.
TEL AVIV — Israeli defense analysts believe recent threats from Hezbollah indicate the terrorist group may have obtained weaponized chemical substances, possibly smuggled in from chaotic Syria, that could be installed on long-range missiles.
NEW DELHI — India’s Coastal Surveillance Network (CSN), meant to detect intrusion by ships along the country’s 4,600-mi. coastline, will become completely operational by 2013. “A Coastal Surveillance Network consisting of a chain of static radars and electro-optic sensors at 84 remote sites is envisaged along the coastline including island territories to detect movement of suspicious vessels. The network is envisaged to be fully functional by [the] middle of next year,” Defense Minister A. K. Antony told the Indian parliament Aug. 22.
The Pentagon recently agreed to a broad U.S. Navy plan to develop and buy presidential replacement helicopters, but some defense analysts say the program is still dragging. The U.S. Navy in May proposed a conceptual acquisition strategy to the Pentagon “that would use mature technology to satisfy user requirements,” says Navy Capt. Catherine Mueller.
The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) has successfully tested an imaging device at 0.96 and 1.4 gigapixels of resolution, developed for its Aware — Advanced Wide FOV (field of view) Architectures for Image Reconstruction and Exploitation — program.
Click here to view the pdf Fiscal 2013 Senate Defense Appropriations Markup:U.S. Navy, Army Aircraft Procurement ($ in thousands) Fiscal 2013 Senate Defense Appropriations Markup: U.S.
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Carnegie-Mellon, Harvard, New York and Stanford universities are working to achieve “fast (35 mph.), accurate and repeatable flight” with a small UAV.
DETROIT — Although fiscal belt-tightening is leaving little money for the U.S. military to purchase replacements for worn-out combat and utility ground vehicles, this could mean a post-conflict boom for the secondary market of suppliers and refurbishing shops as aging vehicles are reset.
The U.S. Air Force has restarted the competition to replace its TPS-75 transportable air defense radars by awarding pre-development contracts to Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon. Lockheed Martin and Sensis demonstrated prototypes of the Three-Dimensional Expeditionary Long-Range Radar (3DELRR) in late 2010, under technology development (TD)-phase contracts awarded in May 2009, but budget cuts forced the Air Force to restructure the program.
SINGAPORE — Singapore Technologies Aerospace (ST Aero) has posted a 15% rise in net profit for the second quarter due to an increase in aircraft maintenance and modification work.
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — The U.S. Army has descoped its ambitious plan for a missile with a single, sophisticated tri-mode seeker, marking the latest chapter in the long path for the service to replace the Hellfire, Maverick and Tow missiles with a single weapon.
JSOW TARGETS: The U.S. Navy and Raytheon have begun integrated flight testing of the Joint Standoff Weapon C-1 at the Point Mugu Sea Test Range in California, the company announced Aug. 21. The first flight of the test phase saw the JSOW C-1 retargeted to strike a moving ship target. Before weapon release, an F/A-18F Super Hornet targeted the smaller of two potential target ships, then handed off weapon control to a second Super Hornet, which retargeted the weapon to the other ship in flight. Initial operational capability for the weapon is scheduled for 2013.
TEL AVIV — Airborne intelligence gathering in Israel involves a technical complex of space-based sensors and strategic-range unmanned aircraft for watching its neighbors. There is much activity to keep tabs on. In Syria, a civil war rages; in Iran, a ballistic missile force and nuclear weapons are being designed; and in Egypt, the Sinai Peninsula has turned into a largely ungoverned area that is home to stateless militant groups and smugglers of weapons, drugs and humans. They thrive there with the approval of some of the region’s larger Bedouin tribes.
The University of North Dakota (UND) is getting ready to launch an unusual joint program with the Grand Forks County Sheriff’s Department that it hopes will establish a template for law enforcement use of small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). Planned to begin in early October, pending FAA approvals, the program will see UND Department of Aviation personnel operating up to four small fixed- and rotary-wing UAS in support of the police anywhere within 16 counties in northeast North Dakota.
The U.S. Army is asking industry to present concepts for an Iron Dome-like system that can counter rocket, artillery and mortar threats. The request for information issued last week follows months of Obama administration and congressional support for helping Israel and Rafael to further develop the technology, which has helped to protect Israeli civilians against attacks.
