RED TAPE: Although efforts to reform the U.S. export control system have focused largely on the State Department, industry has long been frustrated with requests that are first bogged down at the Pentagon. A new Pentagon office, the Technology Security and Foreign Disclosure Office (TSFDO), is supposed to speed up the process. Before the State Department even touches a request for technology transfer, 13 different technical review boards at the Department of Defense must sign off. In a Jan.
COLLISION: The U.S. Coast Guard is investigating the Jan. 26 collision of a barge carrying Atlas V rocket stages with a bridge over the Tennessee river that caused part of the bridge to collapse. The 312-ft. vessel, which is owned and operated by Foss Marine, was carrying an Atlas V booster and Centaur upper stage for the U.S. Air Force’s AEHF-2 mission scheduled to launch in April, along with an interstage adapter for NASA’s Radiation Belt Storm Probes mission slated to launch in August.
By the end of this year, the U.S. will have spent more than $50 billion on training and equipping the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) in an effort to hand over security duties once NATO departs in 2014. The past two years have seen almost half of that spending, with $11.6 billion having been spent in 2011 and another $11.2 billion on tap in 2012.
The U.S. Army was both a huge loser and a relative winner in the first glimpse the Pentagon gave of its future budget priorities on Jan. 26. The overall end strength of the service is scheduled to drop to 490,000 soldiers from its current 565,000, while the Marines’ end strength slides from 202,000 to 182,000.
Initial reaction from Capitol Hill to details of how the Pentagon will abide by congressionally mandated spending restrictions is already taking on a partisan tone. Republicans were quick to pounce on initial details of $487 billion in reductions to the Pentagon’s spending plans over the next decade laid out Jan. 26 by the top uniformed and civilian leaders of the military — taking aim at some program decisions and a massive reduction to the size of the ground forces.
The U.S. Army is moving ahead to develop a ground-based sense-and-avoid (GBSAA) system that will allow operations in civil airspace wherever General Atomics MQ-1C Gray Eagle unmanned aerial vehicles are based across the U.S. A prototype of the ground radar-based GBSAA system became operational last year at General Atomics’ El Mirage airfield in California, to allow the UAVs to transit civil airspace to a nearby restricted area for night training flights.
Northrop Grumman is thus far a big loser in the Pentagon’s forthcoming fiscal 2013 budget plan, with severe cuts planned for its premier unmanned aircraft system (UAS) and satellite programs — both under U.S. Air Force supervision.
NASA does not have adequate plans to deal with the significant likelihood that the International Space Station (ISS) may have to be abandoned at some point during the remainder of this decade, nor is it addressing safety issues with its plan to use commercial vehicles to deliver crews to the orbiting outpost, the agency’s outside safety review organization has concluded. In its 2011 annual report, the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) sees “more than an outside possibility” that the ISS will suffer a loss-of-mission event during its projected lifetime.
The U.S. Navy will keep its aircraft carrier fleet at the now-magical number, 11, while other ships are being slipped or cut over the next five years — even those the Pentagon says it needs and wants to protect — according to a preview of the upcoming fiscal 2013 budget request detailed Jan. 26 by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. The plan scuttles months-long speculation that the Pentagon would delay or cancel some carrier programs and reduce the fleet size.
DEFICIT DOOM: Gordon Adams, an American University professor who had a hand in the Clinton administration’s defense build-down, argues that the Obama administration is merely scratching the surface with its newly unveiled defense cuts, because the nation’s debt is so high that the need to cut the federal deficit will continue. “Washington is going to have to find about $4 trillion in spending and revenue changes over the next 10 years if the nation’s debt is to stabilize at 60% of GDP,” Adams said during a Brookings Institution event Jan. 26.
LONDON — China’s plan to launch 12 more Compass navigation satellites and inaugurate their operational use this year is only one of several key satellite activities planned for 2012.
Hawker Beechcraft is stepping up its fight over the U.S. Air Force’s Light Air Support (LAS) aircraft, saying the decision to give the $355 million program to Sierra Nevada Corp. and Brazilian manufacturer Embraer directly conflicts with President Barack Obama’s goal of protecting American manufacturing jobs. The Wichita plane maker has sued to overturn the Air Force decision announced shortly before the new year, and the Air Force issued a stop-work order Jan. 4 to expedite the process of sorting out Hawker’s claims.
NEW DELHI — India’s latest nuclear-capable strategic missile, the Agni-IV, was displayed publicly for the first time on Jan. 26 as the country showcased its military might at the 63rd Republic Day celebrations.
MOSCOW — Russia’s defense ministry has released information about its weapons procurement in 2011, and has already approved its buying plan for 2012. According to Deputy Minister Alexander Sukhorukov, the ministry purchased 30 Topol-M (SS-27 Sickle B) and Yars ballistic missiles, four military satellites, 21 aircraft, 82 helicopters, one Stereguschiy class corvette, 8,531 military trucks and other military hardware.
Click here to view the pdf Fiscal 2013 Budget: Major Programs Affected ($ in thousands) Fiscal 2013 Budget: Major Programs Affected ($ in thousands) Account Line Number Program FY 2012 Reques
February 14-16, 2012 Hilton Arlington Arlington, VA The premier event shedding light on DoD’s future spending priorities and technologies of growing importance. Featuring: -- Shay Assad, Director Defense Pricing, Ofce Secretary of Defense -- Maj Gen Julian “JB” Burns, US Army - Ret, VP, Defense Affairs, Land & Armaments, BAE Systems
DATA DUMP: The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) plans to distribute some of the minute samples its Hayabusa probe returned from the asteroid Itakowa. The spacecraft, which imaged its shadow against the type-S asteroid as it approached in the fall of 2005, returned more than 1,000 asteroid particles measuring about 10 micrometers (0.0004 in.), despite control problems at its target. The tiny samples have been analyzed by Japanese scientists, and now will be available in a peer-reviewed opportunity.
LONDON — The EADS board of directors has approved a planned management reshuffle after naming former European Central Bank chief Jean-Claude Trichet to the board in a bid to appease the French government. The leadership transition will now unfold as initially planned, with Airbus CEO Tom Enders replacing retiring EADS CEO Louis Gallois this summer, and Fabrice Bregier moving into the top job at Airbus. Arnaud Lagardere takes over as EADS board chairman from Bodo Uebber.
CENTAUR CUSTOMER: Switzerland has become the first customer for Aurora Flight Sciences’ Centaur optionally piloted aircraft, which is based on a Diamond DA42 certified twin-engine light aircraft. Procurement agency Armasuisse has purchased the aircraft for delivery this year to the Swiss defense department’s flight-test center at Emmen, which will use the Centaur as a testbed for sensors and sense-and-avoid systems to allow unmanned aircraft to operate in civilian airspace.
Rep. Frank Wolf is arguing that recent unrest in Egypt, including raids on nongovernmental groups there, could threaten ample foreign aid to the North African country. The Virginia Republican is circulating with House colleagues a letter he wrote to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that denounces recent raids conducted by Egyptian security and military forces on U.S. non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
TEL AVIV — Israel has taken another step toward fielding a four-layered missile defense with Boeing joining Israel Aerospace Industries in developing the Arrow-3, an upper-tier anti-ballistic missile system.
February 14-16, 2012 Hilton Arlington Arlington, VA The premier event shedding light on DoD’s future spending priorities and technologies of growing importance. Featuring: -- Shay Assad, Director Defense Pricing, Ofce Secretary of Defense -- Maj Gen Julian “JB” Burns, US Army - Ret, VP, Defense Affairs, Land & Armaments, BAE Systems
