Soldiers in the field may soon be trying out goggles that can literally read their unconscious thoughts. The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's Cognitive Technology Threat Warning System (CT2WS) incorporates an array of advanced vision technology, including the ability to detect the wearer's neural signals. The high-tech binoculars are on track for testing, but it “will be summer before a prototype is deployed and tested,” Darpa tells DTI.
Homemade bombs of the future will not just be a problem for military forces in countries like Iraq and Afghanistan. The threat from improvised explosive devices (IEDs) is rapidly moving from military battlefields abroad to U.S. soil, according to a new Defense Department report, which also warns of future bombs that could be detonated by everything from Bluetooth to 4G devices. The domestic threat is “a relatively recent development,” but is growing quickly, says the new 2012-16 strategic plan of the Joint IED Defeat Organization (Jieddo).
Efforts to commercialize algae-derived renewable fuels are to receive a $14 million boost from the U.S. Energy Department, which aims to fund projects to improve the sustainability and accelerate the availability of algal-based biofuels. The Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) is seeking proposals from small businesses, universities and national laboratories to modify existing facilities into long-term testbeds for new production processes to commercialize algal biofuels.
Hawker Beechcraft has welcomed the U.S. Air Force’s Feb. 28 decision to cancel Sierra Nevada Corp.’s $355 million contract to supply Embraer Super Tucanos for the Afghan air force, but whether the competition will be restaged remains unclear. Although Hawker Beechcraft (HBC) says the service has reinstated the company “to the competitive range” under the Light Air Support (LAS) procurement, the Air Force says no decision has been made on whether to restage the competition.
Congress doesn’t read its witnesses Miranda rights before they testify, but past Pentagon statements were certainly used against Air Force leaders during a Feb. 28 hearing. Given that the Air Force has rolled out a list of controversial cuts that gore oxen in congressional districts across the country for its fiscal 2013 budget request, Air Force Secretary Michael Donley and Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz had to expect some heat on Capitol Hill.
New Delhi – India has approved a proposal to acquire 18 new aircraft worth more than $1 billion for the indigenous aircraft carrier (IAC) currently being built for the navy. The permission to procure nine Medium Range Maritime Reconnaissance (MRMR) aircraft and limited series production of another nine carrier-borne Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) was granted by the Defense Acquisition Council (DAC) headed by India Defense Minister A. K. Antony late last week, a senior defense official told Aviation Week.
LONDON – The Future Anti-Surface Tactical Missile that is being considered by France and the U.K. as a collaborative development program would have both helicopter and attack aircraft roles.
The U.S. strategy to reorient its forces to the Western Pacific Ocean is coming under pressure from financial, force structure, personnel and technology changes. For example, greatly desired, high-reliability, long-range active, electronically scanned array (AESA) radars installed in the Air Force and Navy’s best warplanes – including the F-22, F-35 and EA-18G – are vulnerable to cyberattack.
LONDON – Having declared an initial operating capability with the Lockheed Martin AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile in December, the Royal Australian Air Force is planning to reach full operating capability this year. The operational status is a sharp turnaround for the missile program that, in 2010, was added to Australia’s name-and-shame “Projects of Concern” list, before being removed late last year.
LONDON – Global arms sales continued to increase, but only at 1% real growth, in the latest figures published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri). The figures, reflecting 2010 data, show total sales of military arms and services of $411.1 billion. One of the main trends is “a continuing increase in the sales of military services – including systems support, training, logistics, and maintenance, repair and overhaul,” Sipri notes.
Leading senators on defense matters are divided over the issue of whether to provide weapons to those fighting against the government of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) argue that it is time for the U.S. to lead other nations in aiding the fight against the Syrian government, including providing weapons and financing to the Syrian people.
The U.S. Navy recently awarded Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Newport News Shipbuilding division a $383 million contract option to continue planning work for the refueling complex overhaul (RCOH) of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, underscoring the Defense Department’s carrier investment plan. If all contract options are exercised, the cost-plus-fixed-fee, level-of-effort for CVN-72 could reach $678 million.
FORT LAUDERDALE – Spend a little time around Army acquisition staffers these days and you’ll hear the term repeated again and again: the Agile Process. Unlike some of its more obtuse cousins, however, this latest bit of Pentagonese is actually pretty easy to wrap your head around. Once the Army identifies a capability gap that it decides it needs filled, it kicks off the acquisition process by first sitting down with industry to determine what mature capabilities they already have that might fit the bill.
LONDON – Ultra Electronics is continuing its search for acquisition opportunities as the defense and aerospace supplier looks to tap growth areas in the declining U.S. and U.K. defense markets. The focus on high-end, niche capabilities is largely behind the company’s ability to deliver organic revenue growth of 2% – overall revenue was up 3% to £731.7 million ($1.16 billion).
Singapore – Thailand’s air force is seeking to buy search-and-rescue helicopters to replace its aging Bell UH-1s. The air force is expected to issue a request for proposals (RFP) next week, initially for four helicopters, says a report in The Bangkok Post. The service eventually plans to order a total of 16.
A new open avionics standard developed by a government-industry consortium has been boosted by U.S. Army plans to develop open architectures for aircraft survivability systems and future vertical-lift aircraft. The Army Aviation and Missile Research Development and Engineering Center (AMRDEC) has released a request for information to develop a prototype avionics platform based on the Future Airborne Capabilities Environment (FACE) standard published in January.
