Japan and South Korea are both laying the groundwork for combat aircraft they would field in the 2030s. But, whereas Japanese defense officials are looking at a manned fighter that would leap in technology past the Lockheed Martin F-35, South Korea is working on a strike drone for the 2030s, and a technically less ambitious—but still enormously challenging—home-grown fighter for the 2020s.
The U.S. defense turn to Asia and the air campaign last year in Libya have European militaries pondering how to ensure they have an independent deep-strike capability. But addressing the multifaceted requirements will not be cheap, and the recognition that something needs to be done comes as no country is looking to spend more on defense.
One might expect the job of securing the skies over this summer's Olympics in London to force British air defenses to adopt new or unusual capabilities. But as the recent Taurus Mountain 2 preparatory exercise demonstrated, the task offers U.K. forces a chance to return to core, pre-9/11 competencies after years of using their aircraft in nontraditional roles over Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya.
Innovation and ingenuity in aerospace can take many forms. In the defense sector, it is often borne out of necessity—a need to find a target, to attack it or to reach it more quickly, for example.
The past few years have made it abundantly clear that the mid-term future of airpower is not what a lot of people planned. Large-scale procurement of the stealthy F-35 Joint Strike Fighter has slipped into the 2020s. The aircraft types in service today—which made their first flights as much as 40 years ago—will be the world's frontline fleets through the rest of this decade, and will make up the majority of fighting forces well into the 2020s.
In 1989, when Paul Graziani and two friends dreamed up what has become Analytical Graphics Inc., they sat in his living room envisioning a work environment where people could do their best work, creating new and bold things at a speed that would keep them happy and challenged. They would create commercial off-the-shelf analysis software for the security and space sectors, driving down cost while bringing the power of current and dynamic software to a non-consumer market.
The severe budget austerity gripping much of Europe does not augur well for air forces looking to achieve leaps in capability for the next decade. It is somewhat a matter of luck, then, that foreign demand is effectively pushing stingy treasuries to provide funding to field upgrades. The list of European militaries likely to benefit from these export-driven enhancements is long and includes the Swedish, French, British and German air forces.
One of the early highlights of the evening, as is the tradition of the Aviation Week Laureate Awards, was the presentation of Tomorrow's Leaders—outstanding young men and women who have chosen career paths in the military and are poised to graduate from premier military academies. All the recipients have an interest in aviation or space. BAE Systems sponsors the award—a fine lensatic compass for each of the four cadets.
In 1967, a 19-year-old university student made a daring escape from Fidel Castro's Cuba, reaching the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay. The chief of naval operations (CNO) happened to be visiting the base, and he took Pedro L. Rustan back to Florida on his plane. Forty-four years to the day after that escape, Pete Rustan retired as director of the National Reconnaissance Office's (NRO) Mission Support Directorate. His government service ended with an enviable list of accomplishments that led to significant advances in aviation and space and helped greatly improve U.S.
It is time for another trip back to the future, according to the only airship company in the U.S. But the competition to fulfill a persistent surveillance role is likely to be just as stiff as it was in the past. This next step is being taken by Airship Ventures, which operates Eureka, a 246-ft.-long Zeppelin NT semi-rigid airship, from historic Moffett Field. This an airfield south of San Francisco from which the U.S. Navy briefly sent dirigibles and blimps on patrols of the California coastline in the mid-1930s.
As China starts to put together a modern, integrated air force, which could reach 1,000 fighters by 2020, it is developing the components of a future force of stealthier combat aircraft, new bombers and unmanned, hypersonic and possibly space-based combat platforms. These could emerge as soon as the early 2020s.
BARCELONA, Spain — The German defense ministry is considering an upgrade of the Taurus cruise missile currently operational on its Tornado fighter. A key element of the upgrade would be a data link to allow the missile to provide battle damage information, and possibly inflight retargeting, also providing an anti-ship capability to the weapon. The full scope of the upgrade package has not been set, however.
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Launch of the next hypersonic flight experiment under a U.S.-Australian joint program has been scheduled for May 1, from Kauai, Hawaii, carrying a supersonic-combustion ramjet payload to Mach 8.5 on a two-stage sounding rocket. Stakes are high following the failure of the second X-51A scramjet engine demonstrator flight in June 2011. The hydrocarbon-fueled, free-flying X-51 is expected to fly again in the summer, but the hypersonics research community needs a success.
LONDON — European engine makers MTU and Avio have followed the lead of aircraft makers EADS Cassidian and Alenia Aermacchi in teaming up for potential cooperation in the field of medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) engines.
U.S. Air Force planners expect commercial communications satellites to have an ever-larger role in the operation of remotely piloted aircraft (RPAs) as war-on-terror funding dwindles and the U.S. military’s focus shifts to other theaters, including Africa, Latin America and the U.S. border regions.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) put two of the U.S. Navy department’s biggest programs — the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) and the Ford CVN-78 aircraft carrier — in the crosshairs March 15 during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the Navy’s fiscal 2013 budget request.
While the U.S. Navy has made strides in addressing congressional concerns about its small-boat procurement and maintenance, the service still can make improvements, a recent U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report says. “The Navy has noted that successful execution of its maritime strategy requires the acquisition of not only surface combatants, but also small boats,” GAO notes in its March report. “The Navy reported that it received about $135 million in fiscal year 2010-2012 base procurement funding for small boats.”
The prospect of deep reductions to next year’s defense budget is already having a “chilling effect” on industry, and Congress should not wait until after the elections to deal with the deficit, the president of the nation’s largest defense company told a Capitol Hill audience March 14.
INDIAN AFFAIRS: EADS Cassidian has appointed Peter Gutsmiedl as the first chief executive officer of its India operations. Gutsmiedl, who will be based in Bengaluru, will lead the next phase of Cassidian’s engagement with India, a company release said March 14. Before assuming the new position, Gutsmiedl served in various senior and board-level roles at Cassidian, which is the security and defense company of EADS.
Under pressure from Gulf Coast state politicians, U.S. Air Force leadership confirmed they are reconsidering their plan to move C-130s to Montana from Texas. And the Air Force plans to wrap up its acquisition strategy for the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program this spring, in a way that allows for increased competition. Air Force Secretary Michael Donley and Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz offered these updates to the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee during a March 14 hearing.
