BEIJING — Australia will buy 12 Boeing EA-18G Growlers instead of converting some of its current 24 F/A-18F Super Hornets to that electronic-attack configuration, the government says in its 2013 defense white paper. The government remains committed to “three operational squadrons” of Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightnings entering service from around 2020, according to the white paper. That may mean that it has decided not to further cut its requirement for that type as it adds Growlers, but the paper is unclear on that point.
Oklahoma Republicans Rep. Frank Lucas and Sen. Jim Inhofe are seeking to curb ammunition purchases by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, after DHS’s bulk-buying “strategic sourcing” initiative triggered conspiracy theories online and in related news articles last year.
FlightSafety Services has beat out four competitors for a $78 million contract to provide training devices for the U.S. Air Force’s new KC-46 aerial refueler. The company won over Boeing, which is developing the KC-46, Lockheed Martin, CAE and L-3 Link Simulation and Training.
IN LIMBO: The budget uncertainty pervading Washington continues, and the Obama administration has not decided whether it will have to turn in an alternative budget for fiscal 2014 or work with Congress to make adjustments, should steep budget cuts aimed at reducing the deficit remain in effect next year. In part that is due to a debt-ceiling fight that was expected to occur this summer but is now likely to be pushed into the fall, Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters this week.
NEW DELHI — The Indian air force (IAF) is getting the jitters as Indian government negotiations with France’s Dassault on the contract to buy 126 Rafale fighters drag on, with no indications that they are anywhere near complete. Significant contractual issues remain before the talks on the Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) can be finished, and in the meantime, national politics could also interfere.
LONDON — Mark King, president of Rolls-Royce’s Aerospace division, is leaving the company just four months after assuming the role. King, who has been with the company since 1986, reportedly has cited personal reasons for his departure. Rolls in a May 2 statement says King “has decided to resign.” King will be replaced on May 13 by Tony Wood, who currently is president of the Marine Engines division.
As a U.S. Army-integrated upgrade for the Bell OH-58D Kiowa Warrior enters flight testing, the service has surprised industry by declaring that no off-the-shelf candidate can meet its requirements for the replacement Armed Aerial Scout (AAS). OH-58Ds modified to OH-58Fs under the cockpit and sensor upgrade program (Casup) are now expected to remain in service until 2036, beyond the originally planned 2025, pending an Army decision on whether and how to replace the aircraft.
High-speed vessel USNS HSV-2 Swift has completed testing of the TIF-25K unmanned blimp Aerostat and a Puma UAV and departed Key West, Fla., on May 1 for Operation Martillio, a Countering Transnational Organized Crime (C-TOC) mission in the U.S. 4th Fleet area of responsibility.
LOS ANGELES — The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory’s (AFRL) Boeing X-51A Waverider demonstrator successfully achieved sustained, scramjet-powered, air-breathing hypersonic flight above Mach 5 in its final test flight on May 1.
The U.S. Coast Guard has awarded a $487 million, fixed-price, incentive-fee contract to the Ingalls Shipbuilding division of Huntington Ingalls Industries to build the sixth National Security Cutter (NSC) WMSL-755 Munro. Jim French, Ingalls’ NSC program manager, says, “The design/build plan is at a mature stage. We currently have two more ships under construction and expect to start NSC-6 in October.”
NEW DELHI — India’s space agency has plans to start a new facility for production of cryogenic engines and components for its future rockets. The cryogenic engine manufacturing unit, to be established at the aerospace division of the state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) in Bengaluru three years from now, is estimated to cost around $25 million (1.4 billion rupees), Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) chief K. Radhakrishnan says.
SPACESUIT AWARD: NASA will spend an estimated $4.38 million with ILC Dover on the design, manufacture and test of a next-generation spacesuit, under a contract announced April 25. Designed to improve astronaut capability during extravehicular activities, the Z-2 suit will operate at higher pressure than previous models, to improve productivity. It will also be designed to work with existing airlocks and new designs in development at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
The U.S. State Department says Raytheon will pay $4 million in civil penalties and another $4 million to make remedial self-improvements to resolve “hundreds” of civil violations of the Arms Export Control Act and International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR).
The old proverb warns about a war being lost for want of a nail, but in U.S. Navy circles the concern is about fasteners — either a lack or surplus of them. Naval Sea Systems Command (Navsea) completed a fleet-wide fastener study earlier this month, identifying and recommending the removal of thousands of fasteners from the Navy supply system.
BEIJING — China is developing four high-bypass turbofans, only two of which were previously known. All four have potential military and civil applications. Work at Shenyang on a high-bypass turbofan in the 30,000-lb. class and suitable for large transport aircraft was already known, along with development of the similarly sized CJ-1000 engine for the C919 commercial aircraft.
As much as the U.S. Navy depends on its destroyer fleet now for a host of missions, the service will expect even more from its ships once they are outfitted with the proposed air-and-missile-defense radar (AMDR) suite to perform integrated missile defense, according to Adm. Jonathan Greenert, chief of naval operations. Keeping the right mix between the cruiser and destroyer fleets is important now, Greenert says. “We need 88 large-surface combatants — cruisers and destroyers,” he testified last week before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The U.S. Navy is considering buying 12 Seabird SB7L-360A Seeker light single-engine observation aircraft with electro-optical and infrared (EO/IR) sensors and downlink systems for the Government of Yemen. According to a draft statement of work published April 30, the project is being managed by the Navy’s Counter Networks and Illicit Trafficking Project Office, which works with U.S. partner nations to “deter criminal and terrorist networks and illicit trafficking activities” and tackle “rapid response and irregular warfare challenges” anywhere in the world.
