EXTRA EYES: U.S. Army Boeing AH-64D Apaches will deploy to Afghanistan this year equipped with Radiance Technologies’ WeaponWatch ground-fire acquisition system. The deployment will assess the podded prototype’s ability to detect and locate hostile ground fire, but will also look at use of the system’s six infrared cameras for other purposes, such as augmenting the crew’s situational awareness and the Apache’s targeting sensors, says Col. Shane Openshaw, the Army’s Apache program manager.
Warming of the world’s polar regions could lead to a greater need for U.S. icebreaking ships, especially in the Arctic, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) notes in a recent report about the U.S. Coast Guard’s icebreaker program. “Although polar ice is diminishing due to climate change, observers generally expect that this development will not eliminate the need for U.S. polar icebreakers, and in some respects might increase mission demands for them,” says CRS in its report released this month.
Upgrades for the U.S. Air Force’s B-1 and B-2 bomber forces have passed major milestones with production of a new navigation system beginning for the B-1 and validation of a computer upgrade for the B-2 recently completed. Boeing is acquiring the first navigation system upgrade kits for the B-1 following the award of a $55.3 million production contract to replace the original navigation hardware with a new ring-laser gyro system. Under the 3.5-year contract, Boeing will perform retrofits at Dyess AFB in Abilene, Texas, and Ellsworth AFB in Rapid City, S.D.
The U.S. Joint Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM) program is spending its old money for now, stretching out technical development and planning for funding that is 10% of what was expected just two budget years ago. The Army alone is funding the joint Army/Navy program, seeking $10 million for fiscal 2013, and only $20 million over the following two fiscal years. In the fiscal 2011 budget request, the Army’s 2013-15 funding plan totaled $303 million. (See chart p. 2.)
U.S. Air Force leadership and auditors with the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) agree that timely certification and flight testing remain key risk areas in Boeing’s KC-46A tanker program.
Operating the U.S. Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) will force the service to re-evaluate its traditional staffing paradigm, according to the LCS Concept of Operations (conops), which was obtained by the Aviation Week Intelligence Network. “Many existing Navy policies and regulations must be revised to accommodate LCS for various reasons, principally seaframe design and/or minimum manning,” says the current LCS “Platform Wholeness” conops, Revision C, dated September 2009.
A recent report by Canada’s auditor general questions the process its government used to select the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to replace its F-18s. The auditor cites a lack of coordination among Canada’s relevant defense and procurement officials, a downplaying of the F-35’s actual cost and a seemingly fast-tracked process that led to a sole-source decision for the stealthy Lockheed Martin fighter.
Insitu has become the latest unmanned aircraft manufacturer to fly a fuel-cell powerplant in one of its designs. A 1,500-watt (2 hp) fuel cell produced by United Technologies and a hydrogen fueling system developed by the Naval Research Laboratory were integrated into a ScanEagle UAV, which met its performance targets on a 2.5-hr. test flight.
LEARNING EXPERIENCE: The U.S. Army is watching closely as the first General Atomics MQ-1C Gray Eagle unmanned-aircraft unit to deploy as part of a combat aviation brigade begins operations in Afghanistan. “Will it be the brigade commander tasking those 12 Gray Eagles or will they become divisional assets?” asks Col. Grant Webb, UAV capability manager for Training and Doctrine Command.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Bell has received a U.S. Army contract for nonrecurring engineering on a “new-metal” cabin for the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior, with the first new-production cabin to be delivered late in 2014. Although the new cabin is planned only for wartime-replacement aircraft converted from OH-58As, restarting airframe production is a key element in Bell’s strategy to meet the Army’s Armed Aerial Scout (AAS) requirement to replace the OH-58D.
The U.S. Office of Naval Research (ONR) is funding a program to develop a fleet of “smart robocopters” to hunt down pirates in congested seas. A new sensor on unmanned aircraft will be able to distinguish small pirate boats from other vessels, ONR officials say. The Multi-Mode Sensor Seeker (MMSS) is a mix of high-definition camera, mid-wave infrared sensor and laser-radar (ladar) technology, ONR says.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — MD Helicopters Inc. (MDHI) has made an unexpected bid to enter the race for the U.S. Army’s Armed Aerial Scout (AAS) requirement, with an upgraded version of its MD 530F light helicopter. First flown in March, the MD 540F has the six-blade rotor from the larger MD 600 and new composite blades, giving it a 4,000-lb. gross weight, up from the 530F’s 3,100 lb., and almost 500 lb. more useful load.
While the U.S. Navy says the “critical technologies” for the service’s proposed Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR) are “expected to be nearing maturity and demonstrated in a relevant environment” before the Navy has to make vital decisions about the program, those technologies are “currently immature,” the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) notes in its recent update on major Pentagon programs.
NEW DELHI — That the BrahMos high-speed anti-ship missile is a formidable weapon is not in doubt, but its air-launch suitability remains a question. Now industry is pursuing a dual path to ease those concerns.
NORFOLK, Va. — BAE Systems is looking to leverage its expertise working on U.S. Navy cruisers and destroyers to develop relationships in Spain in the wake of the Pentagon’s plans to base four destroyers in Rota. “We’re trying to position ourselves with the Spanish shipyards in the area and with the Navy to execute maintenance on those ships,” says Russell Tjepkema, vice president and general manager of BAE’s Norfolk, Va., ship repair yard.
The murky world of U.S. electronic warfare and its more esoteric airborne electronic attack (AEA) subset is being overtaken by a new generation of international threats. Cyberweapons and other sophisticated countermeasures can now attack aircraft, ships and ground vehicles through their antennas and sensors.
Russian aero engines maker Salut has completed the climatic bench tests of new Al-31FM2 turbojet engine, which is a further development of the Al-31FM that powers the Sukhoi Su-27 fighter family. These tests have confirmed the static thrust increase of 4,080 lb. to 32,000 lb., compared with the basic engine. It also produces 2,200 lb. more thrust than the Al-31FM1, an earlier upgrade. An improved low-pressure turbine and full-authority digital engine control system are behind the FM2 improvement. Also, the engine has an assigned life of more than 3,000 hr.
Expensive automobiles and the most advanced military aircraft share a common vulnerability to cyberattack. The overlapping weaknesses have fixed the attention of scientists and electronic warfare (EW) specialists who are trying to plan for future wars.
Despite deep divisions in the U.S. Congress, lawmakers are not missing an opportunity to express their support for the defense of Israel. The question is just how much they will provide in the end. The Pentagon recently said it would ask for more cash to purchase Rafael's Iron Dome short-range rocket and mortar defense system for Israel. And while some lawmakers are so enthusiastic about Iron Dome that they have already introduced a bill toward that end, there is no consensus about the amount of the allocation.
That the BrahMos high-speed anti-ship missile is a formidable weapon is not in doubt, but its air-launch suitability remains a question. Now industry is pursuing a dual path to ease those concerns.
