NEW DELHI — The Indian air force (IAF) may soon buy 45 3-D Avian (Bird) Radar Systems that can help detect and precisely track bird locations over airports. The radars, most suited for military and commercial airfields, have been designed, developed and manufactured by India’s OIS Advanced Technology (OIS-AT), the lone bidder. The IAF says it is pleased with the results of user trials.
U.S. Special Operations Command has begun flight testing the Lockheed Martin AC-130J Ghostrider next-generation gunship. The aircraft was modified from a new-build MC-130J by Air Force Special Operations Command (Afsoc) in Eglin AFB, Fla. It completed its 3.5-hr. first, functional-check flight on Jan. 31, a year after the MC-130J was delivered for modification. The aircraft has been equipped with the Precision Strike Package (PSP) already fielded on 12 AC-130Ws.
Merging commercial human spaceflight missions into the air traffic control (ATC) system is a growing concern within the nascent industry and the government bureaucracies that ultimately will be responsible for regulating it, particularly as the industry approaches sending its first passengers to space.
NEW DELHI — Despite what many predict will be an off-year in Indian defense procurement due to electoral politics, Boeing expects to finalize a number of key contracts there in 2014.
When it comes to electronic warfare upgrades for the U.S. Air Force’s F-15 fleet, Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems are taking opposite approaches. But meanwhile, the entire program may be threatened by budget cuts. BAE Systems is offering a system that is already fully funded through Saudi Arabia’s F-15SA program, while Northrop Grumman is proposing a largely new system, but claims that it will require much less extensive aircraft modifications and will be less costly in the long run.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) feb. 11-13 — AFCEA West 2014, "Shaping The Maritime Strategy: How Do We Make It Work?" San Diego Convention Center, San Diego, Calif., www.afcea.org/events/register.cfm?ev=214 feb. 11 - 16 — Singapore Airshow 2014, "Asia's Biggest For Aviation's finest," Changi Exhibition Center, Singapore. For more information go to www.singaporeairshow.com/#&panel1-4
NEW DELHI — With India’s emphasis on growing its indigenous defense industry, open competitions are drawing promises of co-production. Emphasizing the ongoing U.S. push to share more technology with India, Raytheon is competing to sell several missile defense systems to its air force and army. That includes offering its Hawk XXI for the army’s ongoing competition for up to 1,500 short-range surface-to-air missiles.
The U.S. Air Force plans to field 38 extended-range MQ-9 Predator unmanned aircraft systems by 2016 under a $117.3 million development and production contract awarded to General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI). The company has also received a $16.6 million contract to provide software engineering support to Air Force Special Operations Command (Afsoc) for the MQ-9 Lead-Off Hitter program, described as a testbed for rapid fielding of upgrades to allow first-pass attacks.
LONDON — Lockheed Martin has been awarded a £30 million ($49 million) contract to provide an electro-optical camera and defensive aids suite to the U.K. Royal Navy’s fleet of Merlin anti-submarine warfare helicopters. Lockheed Martin will be the sole-source provider under the deal, announced Feb. 5, because of its work as the prime contractor on the £750 million ($1.15 billion) Merlin Capability Sustainment Program, which involves the mission systems and cockpit avionics of the U.K. Merlin Mk. 1 helicopter. The updated aircraft are known as Merlin Mk. 2s.
KEPLER LAUDED: NASA’s exo-planet hunting Kepler space telescope mission has won the Robert H. Goddard Memorial Trophy for 2014, the Washington-based non profit National Space Club announced Feb. 6. The mission will be honored in ceremonies March 7 at the Hilton Washington Hotel for its advances in astrophysics and the search for worlds beyond the Solar System. Since its launch on March 6, 2009, the spacecraft is credited with identifying more than 3,600 exo-planet candidates, 246 of them confirmed so far.
While touting improved relations with China and calling for more of the same, U.S. Defense Department officials are also pushing for peaceful resolutions of regional territorial disputes — a hot-button topic for the Asian giant and its neighbors. The territorial issues are becoming even more sensitive for U.S. relations in the area as the Pentagon refocuses its forces into the region as part of its Asia-Pacific “pivot.”
Buoyed by more than $6.1 billion in 2013 block-buy contracts for destroyers from both Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) and General Dynamics Bath Iron Works, Pentagon destroyer and cruiser expenses have taken off over the past year as the U.S. Navy follows through on its plan to restart the DDG-51 Arleigh Burke destroyer line as well as repair and modernize both ship types.
BEIJING — The first of Australia’s two planned Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) assault ships is due to begin sea trials within a few weeks, as prime contractor BAE Systems prepares to take delivery of the hull of the second unit.
The U.S. is sending its most advanced amphibious transport dock ships as well as its newest mine countermeasure ships to Sasebo, Japan. The moves, U.S. Navy officials says, demonstrate the U.S. commitment to the defense of Japan and the security and stability of the vital Asia-Pacific as the Pentagon continues its rebalancing of forces to that region.
The U.S. Navy is releasing or acknowledging more details about the initial Western Pacific deployment of the first Littoral Combat Ship (LCS-1), the USS Freedom, saying that while the ship missed some planned commitments with a relatively low operational tempo (optempo), it still proved the LCS operational concepts. Aviation Week Intelligence Network (AWIN) recently gained access to Freedom deployment information that showed the ship’s optempo was less than 40%—meaning the ship was essentially available to the fleet a bit more than third of the time.
Canada’s Conservative government plans to continue promoting the nation’s space industry, focusing on the technology niches where it excels and looking for new ones, but with a shift toward more commercial partnerships in step with the U.S. shift in that direction.
PROGRESS DOCKED: Russia’s Progress 54 re-supply capsule carried out a successful docking with the six-person International Space Station late Feb. 5, following a liftoff earlier in the day atop a Soyuz carrier rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The automated rendezvous with the ISS Russian segment Pirs module unfolded as planned, leading to a link up at 5:22 p.m. EST, as anticipated. The space freighter lifted off at 11:23 a.m. EST, or in darkness at 10:23 p.m. local time, in subfreezing temperatures. After reaching a preliminary orbit 9 min.
Retire active-duty A-10s, U-2 spy aircraft and old F/A-18C/Ds. These are three actions that four Washington-based think tanks uniformly agree should be taken if the Pentagon is required to shrink its budget in the coming years as expected.
NEW DELHI — India expects to roll out the first prototype of the Multi-role Transport Aircraft (MTA) in 2017. The Indo-Russian joint venture to develop a new multi-role military transport, using specifications developed by both countries, was signed in October 2012 between Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) and United Aircraft Corporation’s Transport Aircraft division.
