ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy’s proposed cuts in maintenance to accommodate funding shortfalls caused by the continuing resolution, combined with potential further belt-tightening that could be brought on by sequestration, could not come at a worse time, according to service officials.
Northrop Grumman and the U.S. Navy are ready to flight test the final software load for the X-47B unmanned combat air system demonstrator (UCAS-D), with all the features required to enable operation from an aircraft carrier later this year. Based at NAS Patuxent River, Md., the two X-47Bs are being used for carrier-qualification testing ahead of the at-sea demonstration planned for the summer. Tests have included land-based catapult launches at Pax and deck-handling trials at sea on the carrier USS Truman.
HOUSTON — The first in a new generation of NASA Tracking and Data Relay Satellites has begun a measured climb to geosynchronous orbit, following a successful launch aboard a United Space Alliance Atlas V rocket late Jan. 30 from Cape Canaveral. The Boeing-built TDRS-K spacecraft marks the first addition in a decade to the aging, seven-spacecraft communications constellation that supports the Ka-, Ku- and S-band requirements of the International Space Station, Hubble Space Telescope and a growing fleet of multi-agency Earth observations satellites.
The Senate defeated by a vote of 79-19 an amendment that would have blocked the transfer of F-16 fighters and M1 Abrams tanks to Egypt. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) sponsored the amendment, arguing that it is a “grave mistake” to send Lockheed Martin F-16s and General Dynamics tanks to Egypt, now that the government has changed since the political upheaval there generated by the Arab Spring.
LONDON — The U.K. Ministry of Defense (MoD) has unveiled its spending plan for new equipment and support over the next 10 years. The U.K.’s Equipment Plan, published Jan. 31, outlines spending of £160 billion ($250 billion) for new equipment in what is called a “fully funded Defense Equipment Plan.” The plan sets aside £8 billion for what the MoD calls “a number of additional programs that are a high priority for defense.”
IN ORBIT: South Korea’s STSAT 2C satellite is operating nominally following the Asian nation’s first successful launch from its Naro Space Center Jan. 30, according to the Korea Aerospace Research Institute. Succeeding on the third try with its two-stage KSLV-1 launcher, South Korea became the 11th nation to orbit its own spacecraft. Weighing less than 100 kg (220 lb.), the satellite will test space hardware and measure radiation levels from its elliptical polar orbit. Lofted from the facility southeast of Seoul, it follows North Korea’s Dec.
LOS ANGELES — Scaled Composites’ veteran Kevin Mickey has been named president of the Northrop Grumman subsidiary, taking over from Doug Shane, who is taking on a special assignment to focus on completing the Virgin Galactic and Stratolaunch programs.
Boeing will not be housing its new intelligence gathering system, the medium-sized Maritime Surveillance Aircraft (MSA), on an Embraer platform, according to the Brazilian manufacturer’s defense chief Luiz Carlos Aguiar. He said the two are not in talks on the MSA project despite an agreement on other projects, such as the KC-390.
Tom Burbage, the single, consistent public face of Lockheed Martin’s F-35 program since its inception, is finally retiring, according to program sources. Burbage retires as the executive vice president and general manager of program integration for the F-35. As such, his primary responsibility has been to keep the international coalition of countries outside the U.S. on track and, where possible, chase new international business. Stephen O’Bryan is currently working under Burbage as vice president of program integration.
Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs) contractor Bluefin Robotics is gearing up to produce a variant of its Knifefish UUV for the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), the company says. Knifefish is a specialized Bluefin-21 UUV that is being developed for the Surface Mine Countermeasure Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (SMCM UUV) effort. Bluefin is under subcontract to General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems for that program.
LONDON — The Polish armed forces are planning to recapitalize their rotary-wing fleet and buy as many as 200 new helicopters over the next decade. The program, easily the largest helicopter procurement in Europe in more than decade, includes requirements for medium-sized utility, heavy transport, and a fleet of attack helicopters for use by the Polish army, navy and air force.
NEW DELHI — Israel’s Rafael will spotlight its Iron Dome counter-rocket system at the Aero India 2013 exposition. India has been showing interest in the combat-proven active defense system, which can intercept short-range artillery rockets. The Israeli air force deployed the system in 2011 after the country decided to develop a mobile air defense system following the second Lebanon War in 2006.
DEFENSELESS: Seventy percent of countries lack the tools to prevent corruption in the defense sector, leaving them open to waste and security lapses, according to a new study from nonprofit Transparency International U.K.’s Defense and Security Program. “Those with poor controls include two-thirds of the largest arms importers and half of the biggest arms exporters in the world,” the group says. Countries exhibiting “critical risk” include Algeria, Angola, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Libya, Syria and Yemen, according to the study.
After weeks of controversy, former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) will defend his nomination to become the next defense secretary when his Senate hearing begins on Jan. 31.
LONDON — Italian army officials say they are encouraged by the performance of the NH90 utility helicopter in Afghanistan despite having to overcome significant hurdles to get the type into theater.
NASA is casting a wide net as it offers research opportunities aboard the U.S. segment of the International Space Station to small businesses, industry, academia and other governmental agencies for projects with the potential to advance technologies critical to space exploration. Those technologies include in-space propulsion, space power and energy storage, closed-loop life support, thermal control, robotics and telerobotics, and automated systems.
MOSCOW — Russia’s Tactical Missile Corporation (TMC) has completed trials of the Kh-31PD, RVV-MD, RVV-SD and RVV-BD air-launched missiles, CEO Boris Obnosov tells Russian media. The Kh-31PD is the latest modification of the AS-17 Krypton family, powered by a combined rocket/ramjet engine. It is equipped with a passive radio homing head and can hit radar stations to a maximum range of 180-250 km (110-155 mi.).
The U.S. Navy has put its shipbuilding programs back on course, service Secretary Ray Mabus says, and now it is time for the contractors to make good on their end of the bargain. “When I came in in 2009, a lot of our shipbuilding programs were — and this is a technical term — a mess,” Mabus says. “Ships were being designed while they were being built, requirements got out of control and costs on too many got out of control.”
