The U.S. carrier strike groups (CSGs) employ and operate a network of sensors to defeat the most hotly contested and defended areas, says Rear Adm. Michael Manazir, director of Navy air warfare.
While the U.S. is providing more money for its Aegis ballistic missile shields, there are still unresolved operational issues, according to the Congressional Research Service (CRS).
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) June 22-26 — AIAA Aviation and Aeronautics Forum and Exposition, Hilton Anatole, Dallas, Texas. For more information go to www.aiaa-aviation.org/
BOEING has U.S. Air Force contract worth up to $466.5m to continue maintaining guidance systems for Minuteman ICBMs. SPACE SYSTEMS/LORAL (SSL) will build BSAT-4A direct-to-home TV satellite for Broadcasting Satellite System Corporation of Japan, based on SSL 1300 bus, featuring 24 Ku-band transponders and 15-year design life. VISIONGAIN estimates global geospatial intelligence market for defense and homeland security reached $9.7b in 2014.
The U.S. Senate’s first version of the fiscal 2016 defense-authorization bill is expected to include provisions that would re-insert the leadership of the four armed services in the Defense Department into the acquisition decision-making system. The move would unwind a major reform of the landmark 1986 Goldwater-Nichols Act, which forced the military to become more “joint” and coordinated across the board. Furthermore, it would cut the oversight of the Pentagon’s acquisition czar.
What was once a strength has become a potential weakness, with the likelihood GPS will be jammed in a future major conflict, forcing the U.S. to look for alternate means to enable its precision-guided munitions (PGM) to find their targets in a contested environment.
Canada has formally accepted the first six Sikorsky CH-148 Cyclone maritime helicopters, achieving a milestone originally planned for November 2008 when the 28-aircraft contract was awarded in 2004.
Live RAM tests are rarely done, notes Fire Controlman 2nd Class Tyler Brozenick, the work center supervisor in charge of the fired missile. This was, however, the second conducted in the last five years aboard the Kearsarge.
“The PLA Navy remains at the forefront of the military’s efforts to extend its operational reach beyond East Asia and into what China calls the ‘far seas,’” the Pentagon says in its recent annual report on China.
LOCKHEED MARTIN will deliver 10 Sniper pods to Royal Jordanian Air Force (RJAF); integration and support beginning this year. NORTHROP GRUMMAN flew Open Mission Systems (OMS) architecture on NASA-owned Global Hawk UAV at NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center, CA, confirming ability for ground controllers to communicate with OMS payload via satellite.
The Pentagon Inspector General (IG) plans to audit U.S. Naval Air Systems Command to see if it is purchasing sole-source spare parts at fair and reasonable prices from Boeing Insitu for the company’s ScanEagle UAV. In a June 16 memo to the under secretary of defense for acquisition, technology, and logistics, the director of the Defense Contract Audit Agency, the director of the Defense Contract Management Agency and the Naval Inspector General, the IG says it will consider suggestions from management on additional or revised objectives for the audit.
The Anglo-French team studying the potential development of a joint unmanned combat air vehicle for the 2030s will make significant decisions on the air vehicle’s planform and powerplant this fall.
A Chinese company has been selected as one of five potential partners to help Turkey develop its TF-X indigenous fighter, officials close to the program have revealed.
The U.S. Air Force is touting more than $1 billion in cost avoidance through a redesign of the Space-Based Infrared System (Sbirs) early missile-warning satellite built by Lockheed Martin.
An Indian air force Jaguar fighter crashed in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh June 16, highlighting the poor maintenance and safety record of the jet that has been in service for more than four decades.
Turkish Aerospace Industries has chosen the Light Helicopter Turbine Engine Company’s (LHTEC) CTS800 turboshaft as the powerplant for Turkey’s twin-engine indigenous utility helicopter program.
Pratt & Whitney says retrofits of the F135 engine to enable unlimited operations in the F-35 are happening faster than originally planned and are on track for completion by early 2016.
LE BOURGET, France—Thales’ new Talios targeting pod should start flight tests on a fighter-type aircraft shortly, the company says, and development is continuing on schedule towards a 2018 service entry on the Dassault Rafale. Thales also is showing a related development: Image’Inn, a high-definition simulator that is being used to refine the pod’s operating modes and pilot interface.
