Countries are addressing budget shortfalls by slashing defense expenditures, the U.K. among them. Cutbacks will not affect all programs —sectors vital to countering evolving threats or achieving battlespace dominance will continue to receive funding, such as unmanned aerial systems (UAS). The Defense Ministry in late December awarded a four-year, £40 million ($62 million) research contract to BAE Systems for the Future Combat Air System. The results will “sustain and develop . . .
Over in China and Russia I'm sure that engineers at both Chengdu and Sukhoi will be raising their glasses in the New Year to the F-22 and the F-35 as doing more damage to the U.S. fighter world than all their fighter aircraft combined! —RSF in a comment about the F-35 on the Ares blog. Phabulous! I said it last time, but an F-4F-ICE full of Amraams and IRIS-Ts getting herded around by savvy Luftwaffe crew is very much a modern phormidable threat. —Frink-L in a comment about Phantoms
Portable radar that sees through walls is a growing area of development. A recent entrant is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory, which developed an ultra-wideband (UWB), multiple input/multiple output phased-array sensor with real-time acquisition and processing capabilities and video-like synthetic aperture radar imaging. The device is 8.5 ft. wide and 2 ft. high. When mounted on a mobile platform, it is 5 ft. tall. Importantly, the radar reduces through-wall data collection time to less than 100 millisec., an extremely fast rate.
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Air Force-run tests in New Mexico for the National Space-Based Positioning, Navigation and Timing Executive Committee were flawed, according to LightSquared. (GPS IIF image: Boeing)
After the disappointment of the re-opening of the UAE fighter competition when Dassault Rafale was dropped from the first choice, the French manufacturer is today celebrating its selection by the Indian government.
AIR FORCE Raytheon Co., Missile Systems, Tucson, Ariz., is being awarded a $17,424,398 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to provide test integration of software to enhance the system performance of the AIM 120D missile. The location of the performance is Tucson. The work is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, 2013. AAC/EBAK, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity (FA8675-090C-0201 P00013).
LONDON — The Australian government is assessing how U.S. plans to reduce near-term F-35 purchases and mothball the C-27J Joint Cargo Aircraft may impact its own procurement plans. Following last week’s Pentagon announcement that the pace of F-35 purchases was under scrutiny, Australian Defense Minister Stephen Smith says, “We will now give consideration to whether the timetable for the purchase of those 12 Joint Strike Fighters should occur on the same timetable.”
The U.S. Navy’s only major satellite program, which is designed to provide unprecedented Ultra-High Frequency satellite communications to military personnel around the globe, has so far slipped through the round of fiscal 2013 budget cuts unscathed despite some development shortcomings. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced Jan 26 that he was terminating the Air Force’s Defense Weather Satellite System because it was “premature to need.”
The U.S. Navy has already altered its Freedom Class Littoral Combat Ship, LCS-1, to address problems uncovered in testing, but the ship still needs to be fundamentally redesigned, say leading defense analysts. They base their conclusions on briefings from the Aviation Week Intelligence Network (AWIN) revealing findings of Navy and industry reports detailing the vessel’s hull and deckhouse cracking and engine problems. AWIN was given exclusive access to the documents.
LONDON — The Hungarian government has extended its lease of Gripen fighters until at least 2026. The move comes as the Czech Republic, another Gripen user, considers its course of action, with air force officials suggesting they, too, would like to remain committed to Saab’s single-engine fighter. Prague is due to make a decision this year on how to sustain its fighter capacity after 2015.
U.S. Navy and Lockheed Martin officials contest the findings of service and contractor reports from last year indicating that the cracking and engine problems on the Freedom-class Littoral Combat Ship (LCS-1) were far worse than the program initially acknowledged, and say those issues have been fixed. The Aviation Week Intelligence Network (AWIN) was granted exclusive access to the reports, which service officials say they do not know about and could be outdated.
TOTAL CONTROL: Shortly after joining forces in defense electronics, Thales and Safran have moved to ensure their joint venture has full control of infrared detector maker Sofradir. The two French aerospace and defense companies have acquired Areva’s 20% stake in Sofradir for an undisclosed amount. The two buyers will each hold 50% in the company. Late last year, after prolonged discussion, Safran and Thales agreed to pool their electro-optical activities.
Over the next decade, the international market should produce about 5,500 main battle tanks worth more than $24 billion, according to a new analysis from the Forecast International Weapons Group.
PARIS — Eurocopter delivered the first operational NH90 Tactical Transport Helicopter (TTH) to the DGA French armaments agency on Jan. 30 for use by the French army air corps, the company announced. France has ordered 34 TTHs and is expected to exercise an option this year to purchase an additional 34 as the army gradually replaces its fleet of SA 330 Pumas.
Fifteen new Lockheed Martin F-35 fighters, some of which are participating in the flight testing so critical to moving the troubled Joint Strike Fighter program forward, have been grounded owing to improper loading of parachutes in their ejection seats.
LONDON — The U.K. Defense Ministry has launched the development of the Sea Ceptor ship-based short-range air defense system intended to equip the future Type 26 Global Combat Ship and also modernize the in-service Type 23 frigates starting in 2016. MBDA has received a 483 million pound ($759 million) system demonstration phase contract to work on the system, also called the Future Local Area Air Defense System. Sea Ceptor is being designed to destroy aircraft and supersonic anti-ship missiles, including saturation attacks.
Even though defense budgets are finally beginning to turn downward, the Pentagon has avoided eye-popping program kills, leaving plenty of space on the negotiating table for another round of deficit reductions, defense analysts say.
The U.S. Army will not redeploy the two Heavy Brigade Combat Teams that it is pulling out of Europe in 2013 and 2014, Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno,said Jan. 27.
The U.S. Air Force is likely to place new cargo and intelligence-collection platforms that are currently supporting war efforts in Afghanistan into storage in the name of cost savings as the Pentagon strives to reduce spending. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced Jan. 26 that buys of the Northrop Grumman Global Hawk Block 30 unmanned aircraft system (UAS) and L-3 Communications/Alenia Aeronautica C-27J tactical airlifters will be halted (Aerospace DAILY, Jan. 27).
