Even though the Pentagon’s acquisition chief, Ashton Carter, approved the award of two technology development contracts worth almost $900 million for the U.S. Army’s Ground Combat Vehicle (GCV) program last week, questions remain about the GCV’s future.
QUAD TILT: AeroVironment is working on a quadrotor vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) mini-UAV. Promotional flyers on the vehicle were briefly displayed at the AUVSI Unmanned Systems North America 2011 show in Washington last week, but then withdrawn, with the company saying an announcement would be made later. Showing a concept image during a press briefing at the show, Tom Herring, senior vice president and general manager of unmanned systems, said the quiet, battery-powered VTOL unmanned aircraft system is “in the future.”
MOSCOW — The Russian industrial team that developed the containerized Club-K missile concept says sales talks are picking up and deals with several unspecified export customers are nearing conclusion. At the same time, developers have expanded the offering of the Club-K system to add new weapon systems and different container configurations. In addition to the anti-ship 3M054TE and 3M54TE1 missiles, and the land-attack 3M015TE cruise missile, developers say the Kh-35 anti-ship missile and 91PE1 and 91PTE2 anti-submarine missile are available.
RAPID RESPONSE: Acknowledging the rapid innovation under way at the low end of the unmanned aircraft market, the U.S. Army would like to be able to run a competition for small UAVs every three years. “The problem is the acquisition process. It takes us 10 years to get a requirement,” says Tim Owings, deputy program manager for Army unmanned aerial systems.
BLUE DEVIL: Rockwell Collins is providing prime contractor MAV6 with vehicle, flight and ground-control systems for the U.S. Air Force’s $86 million Blue Devil 2 long-endurance, multi-intelligence airship, which is scheduled to be deployed to Afghanistan in January. This marks the company’s first contract to provide an unmanned aircraft system ground-control station. The company will draw on its experience building flight simulators for training, says David Vos, senior director for unmanned aerial system and control technologies.
U.S. Marine Corps plans to arm the AAI RQ-7B Shadow tactical unmanned aircraft have cleared NATO treaty compliance hurdles. The service now expects to conduct a field user evaluation within 18-24 months. NATO approval was needed as the rail-launched Shadow falls under a treaty intended to prevent the proliferation of intermediate-range cruise missiles. “We had to demonstrate it is a UAS,” says Col. James Rector, Navy program manager for small tactical unmanned aerial systems.
HOUSTON — The Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI), a key European contribution and one of four primary instruments under development for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), has completed space environmental and calibration testing. Tests took place at the U.K. Science and Technology Facilities Council’s RAL Space in Oxfordshire, European Space Agency (ESA) officials reported Aug. 18.
AAI Corp. is to help AME Unmanned Systems develop and support its Fury 1500 long-endurance small tactical unmanned aircraft, under a strategic alliance agreement. AME’s Fury is a 300-lb.-class flying-wing aircraft with an endurance exceeding 16 hr. while carrying a 75-125-lb. payload. It is being fielded to Afghanistan under the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory’s (AFRL) Sand Dragon program to counter improvised explosive devices.
On either a conventional battlefield or in urban settings, there is virtually no way to defend against unmanned aerial systems (UAS) with electronic or cyberweapons.
BEIJING — Aiming for first delivery in 2016 of whichever foreign fighter wins its F-X competition, Japan will next month choose three primary local manufacturers for the aircraft. Established suppliers likely to be chosen include Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for the airframe, IHI for the engine and Mitsubishi Electric for the fighter’s systems. A major challenge confronting the defense ministry is to preserve the country’s fighter industrial base.
U.S. missile ballistic defense (BMD) officials want to standardize the different messaging and communication processes among BMD platforms to make sure the right information is delivered in time to support the decision of whether to fire an interceptor, says an official for a company involved in BMD efforts. Some form of standardization is “being looked at,” says Larry Brachfeld, principal engineer of Sparta, a Cobham Analytic Solutions unit working on BMD command-and-control issues.
U.S. Air Force safety investigators have approved the return to flight of the F-35 flight-test force while continuing to explore what caused the failure of an integrated power package (IPP) and subsequent fire on AF-4. The fire was quickly extinguished by onboard systems after the Aug. 2 incident at Edwards AFB, Calif. The investigators have narrowed down the root cause to an IPP valve that “did not function properly,” according to a statement issued today by the U.S.-led F-35 Joint Program Office.
MOSCOW — Russia’s Tactical Missile Corp. expects to see revenue this year grow by 10 billion rubles ($340 million) despite a financial hit from the conflict in Libya. The missile and defense electronics company is projecting turnover of 44 billion rubles this year, compared with the 34 billion in sales booked last year that generated 3 billion rubles in profit, says the company’s chief designer, Boris Obnosov.
Special operators in remote locations will soon have the ability to refuel one of their hand-launched UAVs simply by visiting a local market. Lockheed Martin’s Stalker eXtreme Endurance (XE) UAV — an upgrade to its Stalker in operation since 2006 — uses a propane fuel cell along with a small, conventional, lithium-polymer battery.
Senators who agree that NASA is taking too long to develop a design and procurement strategy for the heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS) that Congress ordered last year cannot agree among themselves on exactly what that design should be. At issue is what kind of power will be used in the strap-on boosters needed to get the SLS off the pad, pitting powerful senators from both sides of the aisle against members of their own political parties in a letter-writing campaign to the executive branch aimed at generating jobs for their constituents.
The cyber-cavalry is coming over the horizon to save U.S. industries from foreign intelligence organizations and criminals who prey on increasingly vulnerable commercial Internet communications. A pilot program being tested by at least 20 companies, four Internet providers and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will soon be expanded to the rest of the industrial base, a top defense official says.
UUV MOTHERSHIP: The U.S. Navy is doing an analysis of alternatives (AOA) for its proposed Large Displacement Unmanned Underwater Vehicle, a “mothership” platform that would operate underwater and release and control other smaller unmanned underwater vehicles, says Rear Adm. Matthew Klunder, director of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities. “We only just started the AOA,” Klunder said after an Aug. 18 panel discussion at the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International’s Unmanned Systems North America 2011 conference.
NEW DELHI — India’s air force and navy will take the final deliveries of the 123 Hawk advanced jet trainers (AJT) they have ordered by 2016. Defense Minister A.K. Antony says the government signed an agreement in March 2004 with BAE Systems and Rolls-Royce Turbomeca U.K. for procurement of 24 Hawks, with state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) building another 42 aircraft under the technology-transfer route.
NEW DELHI — The Indian Air Force (IAF) is taking steps to reduce crashes, after having lost 26 fighter aircraft during the last three years, Defense Minister A.K. Antony says. “Six service personnel and six civilians were killed, and 25 civilians were injured in these accidents,” Antony says. Antony says the government has taken steps to reduce crashes, including “increased use of simulators to practice procedures and emergency actions, [and] focused and realistic training with additional emphasis on critical aspects of [the] mission.”
The Pentagon has approved the requirement for an “endurance upgrade” to the U.S. Navy’s Northrop Grumman MQ-8 Fire Scout unmanned aircraft system, with a larger air vehicle to provide increased payload and range to support special operations forces. After also evaluating the Boeing A160T Hummingbird and Lockheed Martin/Kaman K-Max unmanned helicopters, the program office has recommended using the Bell 407 airframe, Capt. Patrick Smith, the Navy’s Fire Scout program manager, said Aug. 17 at the AUVSI International show in Washington.
SINGAPORE — Japan’s coast guard has ordered three Eurocopter EC225 helicopters to help replenish its fleet in the wake of the March tsunami. Coast guard helicopters were damaged in the tsunami and rendered unserviceable, says Eurocopter, adding that the coast guard’s move to purchase three EC225s will replenish its fleet and give it the technology it needs to perform anti-piracy missions and conduct complex search-and-rescue missions. It says the coast guard purchased two EC225s in 2006.
Aerovel’s Flexrotor VTOL long-endurance small UAV, designed by some of the same engineers who developed the Insitu ScanEagle, has completed its first transition from rotor-borne vertical to wing-borne horizontal flight.
