MARSEILLE, France — The French Securite Civile’s aerial firefighting department will evaluate the Air Tractor AT-802 this summer to see if the aircraft could replace the agency’s fleet of Conair-modified Grumman Trackers. Three pilots have been trained to fly the aircraft for this summer’s fire season and the aircraft are due to begin operations later this month, according to Thierry Laurent, the head of aviation bureau at Securite Civile, speaking to Aviation Week in Marseille on June 1.
SINGAPORE — Vietnam has a requirement for long-range maritime patrol aircraft, but it can’t buy the aircraft from the United States unless the U.S. government lifts a restriction banning the sale of lethal weapons to Vietnam’s ruling Communist Party government.
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SINGAPORE — New Zealand’s defense minister, Jonathan Coleman, is starting to question whether his ministry may need to implement further procurement reforms, particularly for large, complex military programs.
A Sikorsky/Boeing team has been selected to build and fly a high-speed rotorcraft under the U.S. Army’s Joint Multi Role technology demonstration (JMR TD) program. The coaxial-rotor compound helicopter demonstrator is planned to fly in 2017 under Phase 1 of the JMR TD. The Army hoped to award contracts for two competing demonstrators, and industry sources say AVX Aircraft also has been selected to negotiate a cost-sharing agreement. Other known bidders were Bell Helicopter, EADS North America and Piasecki Aircraft.
The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on May 29 told federal agencies to prepare their fiscal 2015 budget requests with three levels of spending in mind, including 5% and 10% cuts from the projections given in April with the 2014 request.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) JUNE 3 - 4 — Air Mission Planing, Copthorne Tara Hotel, London, U.K. For more information go to www.airforce-technology.com/exhibitions JUNE 5 - 6 — Night Vision 2013, "Join key decision makers and Technical leads in the world of night vision," Copthorne Tara Hotel, London, U.K. For more information go to www.airforce-technology.com/exhibitions
SEOUL — Strategic competition with Japan, China and Russia is at least as strong a motivation behind South Korea’s F-X Phase 3 program for 60 fighters as dealing with the North Korean threat, according to government officials in Seoul.
The U.S. Air Force, by far the largest presumed user of the F-35 fighter, has agreed to declare initial operational capability with a much more limited software and weapons capability that initially planned, according to a report sent to Congress May 31.
DEFENSE/IT SPENDING: Exact numbers are nebulous, but the trends are clear: after peaking in fiscal 2011 and 2012, U.S. contract spending on defense and information technology (IT) will bottom out in fiscal 2014 and 2015, and then increase only 1-2% annually through the rest of the decade, according to consulting company Deltek.
CROWD SOURCING: Planetary Resources, which has been busy developing an initial prototype of its prospective space telescope, the Arkyd-100, is going public with a pitch for so-called crowd-sourcing of its project — i.e., public donations. The group has unveiled a $1 million fund-raising campaign to launch the telescope, set up a user interface system, “cover fulfillment costs for all of the products and services in the pledge levels,” and fund the “immersive” education program the company is promising.
Industry will submit proposals this month for “Phase 0” of a high-speed strike weapon (HSSW) demonstration program to be jointly conducted by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa). AFRL has been working toward an HSSW flight demo program, but on May 21 canceled a planned solicitation, telling Aviation Week it was “looking to an alternate strategy” for accomplishing a high-speed strike weapon demonstration.
Nearly a third of House lawmakers have signed off on a letter pressing U.S. Army leadership to fund production of the M1A2 Abrams tank System Enhancement Package in fiscal 2014, citing the “damaging impact to the highly specialized industrial base” if the line is not kept warm.
A modified Diamond DA42 is to be used for flights over Alaska later this year to measure greenhouse gas emissions from thawing permafrost. Aurora Flight Sciences has performed flights of its Centaur aircraft over the Chesapeake Bay to calibrate the specially developed measurement system. The twin-diesel Centaur was developed as an optionally piloted aircraft (OPA), but will be flown manned for the measurement flights over Alaska’s Northern Slope later this year, says Aurora. The research mission is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.
LAUNCH SURVEY: The U.S. Air Force is surveying industry bidders on their near- and long-term plans to offer national security launch services, as well as what companies see as critical issues in providing this capability, recommendations for changes to Pentagon policy — especially in helping to lower launch costs — and how Defense Department acquisitions could help stabilize the industrial base. Comments are sought by June 21 for the ongoing strategic National Security Space Launch Assessment, according to a May 29 notice in the Federal Register.
With just more than 2 1/2 half years remaining for teams in the Google Lunar X-Prize (GLXP) contest to successfully land on the Moon and claim up to $30 million in prizes, organizers say a group of leading contenders is starting to emerge.
