The U.S. Department of Defense released its updated Military Intelligence Program (MIP) budget request for fiscal 2015 on Nov. 21. The total request, including base budget and core overseas contingency operations (formerly known as supplemental spending), is $16 billion. “The department determined that releasing this figure does not jeopardize any classified activities within the MIP,” the Pentagon says. “No other MIP budget figures or program details will be released, as they remain classified for national security reasons.”
The Pentagon and Lockheed Martin have agreed to cost targets for the eighth low-rate, initial production (LRIP) lot of F-35s, setting theirs sights on $94.8 million per F-35A. Target cost for the F-35B, to be used by the U.S. Marine Corps, is $102 million and the F-35C Navy variant is targeted at $115.7 million, according to Joe Dellavedova, F-35 spokesman for the Pentagon.
BEIJING – The Japanese defense ministry is holding open the possibility of joint international development for the country’s next fighter, but appears wary of being trapped in a late-running cooperative effort over which it has little control.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is tackling the potential of synthetic biology to improve national security, according to Darpa’s director. Arati Prabhakar said the science of creating new genetic code that doesn’t exist in nature could lead to developing highly energetic fuels, sensing capabilities, new ways to deal with infectious diseases like Ebola and ways to counter adversaries who might turn the new technology into a weapon.
NASA needed to make numerous modifications to the two early versions of the Northrop Global Hawk it inherited from the U.S. Air Force to make them capable of studying hurricanes, according to a space agency research meteorologist. The changes were needed to make the high-altitude, long-endurance UAV “science operative,” Scott Braun, the principal investigator for NASA’s Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel (HS3) mission, said Nov. 18 at a conference on commercializing unmanned aircraft.
XCOR Aerospace has used its unique piston-pump technology to move two cryogenic propellants in a hot-fire test of the XR-5H25 engine it is developing as a pathfinder for a potential advanced upper-stage engine for United Launch Alliance (ULA) in the same class as the RL-10 engine in use today on the Atlas and Delta expendable launch vehicles.
BEIJING—Studies by the Japanese defense ministry’s Technical Research and Development Institute (TRDI) point to the advantages of big fighters with the fuel capacity and aerodynamic optimization to keep them on station for longer.
NEW DELHI—India’s GSAT-16 telecommunications satellite is on track to be launched on Dec. 4 by Arianespace’s next heavy-lift Ariane 5 mission from French Guiana. “The GSAT-16 telecommunications satellite has been fueled at the spaceport for its launch,” a scientist at the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) informs.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. ( Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) NOV. 24-27 — 4th Annual Qatar Defence Logistics and Support Forum, Intercontinental Doha, Doha, Qatar. For more information go to www.qatardefencelogistics.com/
North America A key credit-rating analyst covering the Western aerospace and defense industry says the eighth low-rate initial production (LRIP 8) contract on the F-35 program signals the program’s definitive long-term viability.
LONDON—Boeing plans to continue competing with Lockheed Martin for F-16 upgrade business despite the cancellation of BAE Systems’ contract to modernize Korea’s F-16s, according to company officials attending the Defense IQ International Fighter conference here.
