G/ATOR SHOW: Northrop Grumman and the U.S. Marine Corps Program Executive Officer for Land Systems demonstrated the AN/TPS-80 Ground/Air Task Oriented Radar (G/ATOR) system to senior Department of Defense officials at the Pentagon on Oct. 5-6. Now performing live aircraft detection and tracking operations, G/ATOR is the first ground-based, multi-role radar to be developed for the Pentagon, according to a joint announcement from the company and the Marines.
LONDON — U.K. defense science and technology (S&T) spending is set for further contraction before a government-promised big funding jump toward the end of its five-year budget plans. Under current budget plans, detailed by the defense minister for equipment, support and technology, the nadir should come in the 2013-14 budget period, when the ministry’s S&T spending is due to hit £410 million ($640 million), or £109 million below the peak in 2007-08. S&T spending for 2011-12 is expected to be £435 million, and then decline to £420 million.
LOSS AT HAL: Baldev Singh, chief test pilot and director of corporate planning and marketing for Indian state-run defense powerhouse Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL), is dead in an apparent suicide. His body was found Oct. 11 hanging from a tree at the tourist spot Nandi Hills near Bengaluru, police say. The precise circumstances of his death are still not known. Singh, 58, was involved with the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) program from 1990 onward and was assigned to the Aeronautical Development Agency for this purpose.
To better meet budget, mission and capacity concerns, the U.S. Navy is gearing up to keep its vessels at sea longer. Vice Adm. John Richardson told the Associated Press this month the Navy is considering deploying submarines — especially attack boats — for longer periods to deal with the expected fleet shortfall in coming years. “As you try and maintain the same presence with fewer hulls, there are all sorts of variables in that equation,” Richardson told AP. “One would be extending deployment lengths.”
To avoid direct military conflict with China, the U.S. should adopt a parallel strategy that strengthens the defense capabilities of China’s neighbors while inviting China into cooperative security endeavors that benefit both nations, according to a new Rand Corp. study. Rand says any military conflict between the U.S. and China would be disastrous for both, but such a battle is unlikely as long as the U.S. can “deter behavior that could lead to a clash.” Still, Rand says China will gradually achieve local military superiority.
ITT SPINOFF: ITT Corp.’s board of directors has approved the spin off of the company’s defense unit, ITT Exelis, effective Oct. 31. The move is part of a break up of ITT into three separate units: the defense company; Xylem, a water technology company; and an engineering and manufacturing firm, which will retain the ITT name.
The Hawker Beechcraft AT-6 light attack and armed reconnaissance aircraft, designed to meet the U.S. Air Force’s Building Partnership Capacity needs including those of the Afghanistan air force, continues to move through its end-to-end weapons validation testing with the launch of four 500-lb. GBU-12 Paveway II precision-guided bombs last week, says Derek Hess, director of the AT-6 program for Hawker Beechcraft.
Lockheed Martin recently started informal system development and demonstration testing for the U.S. Navy’s proposed Consolidated Afloat Networks and Enterprise Services (Canes) program, and is on track for formal tests later this month to complete the SDD contract by December, the company says.
AIR FORCE Battlespace Flight Services LLC of Arlington, Va., is being awarded a $104,179,468 firm fixed price/cost plus award fee contract modification to fund extension of contract for organizational maintenance support for the predator MQ-1 aircraft and related systems at Creech Air Force Base, Nev., Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., and deployed sites worldwide. Air Combat Command Acquisition Management and Integration Center, Newport News, Va. is the contracting activity (FA4890-07-C-0006 PO0087).
Traditional Pentagon weapons — particularly many U.S. Navy ships — would likely become less useful in an escalation of hostilities with China, according to a recent Rand Corp. report.
ARMY BAE Systems, U.S. Combat Systems, York, Pa., was awarded a $270,825,641 cost-no-fee contract. The award will provide for the procurement of material for 245 Operational Desert Storm Situational Awareness vehicles. The work will be performed in York, with an estimated completion date of Dec. 30, 2013. One bid was solicited, with one bid received. The U.S. Army Contracting Command, Warren, Mich., is the contracting activity (W56HZV-10-G-0003).
POLITICAL INVESTIGATION: Rep. Lamar Smith, the third-ranking Republican on the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, says he wants NASA’s inspector general to look into the supposed politicization of the space and aeronautics agency. “We should not play partisan politics with our nation’s space program,” Smith says in a statement from aides.
SINGAPORE — Airbus Military now has a C295 on a tour in Indonesia, part of its sales campaign to win over the nation’s air force and government. Reports in Indonesia show Deputy Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin inspecting the aircraft at Jakarta’s Halim Perdana Kusuma Airport. Indonesia is in the market to buy military transports to replace the air force’s Fokker F27s.
LONDON — BAE Systems has beat out rivals to supply the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter with night-vision goggle capabilities after developers discovered problems with the stealth fighter’s Vision Systems International (VSI) helmet.
SINGAPORE — Australia is allowing flight operations of its CH-47D Chinook helicopters to resume after grounding its fleet Sept. 30 in response to the ongoing investigation of the crash of an Australian Army Chinook helicopter in Afghanistan. According to a statement from the Australian defense ministry, Australian Army chief Lt. Gen. David Morrison lifted the precautionary suspension following airworthiness advice from the Technical Airworthiness Authority.
The U.S. Coast Guard has improved the management of its information technology (IT) systems, but the service still needs to make more progress, a recent Homeland Security Department Inspector General (IG) report says.
The Netherlands plans to join the Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) program to increase its satellite communications capacity. The U.S. Air Force’s WGS program also includes participation from Australia, Canada, Denmark, Luxembourg and New Zealand, and will have nine satellites providing worldwide coverage in 2018.
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NEW DELHI — India’s defense ministry on Oct. 7 approved the offset proposals of the two short-listed vendors in its $11 billion Medium-Multi-Role Combat Aircraft program, paving the way for the opening of commercial bids. According to a defense ministry official, bids should be opened in the next few days for the Eurofighter consortium’s Typhoon and Dassault’s Rafale, though no specific time frame was given. The original tender was issued by the defense ministry in August 2007.
