AVALON, Australia — The chief of staff of the Japanese air force says it is important for Japan to issue a request for proposals (RFP) in March for FX fighters. Japan’s program for 50 FXs to replace its fleet of McDonnell Douglas F-4s has dragged on for years and been delayed due to budget constraints. But industry executives say the Japanese defense ministry is now working to issue the RFP in March.
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UNAUTHORIZED: Some House Science Committee members are critical of NASA’s fiscal 2012 budget request, which they say “flips” congressional priorities embodied in the 2010 NASA Authorization Act, giving more emphasis to evolving commercial cargo services into a commercial crew-delivery capability and less to the heavy-lift crew launcher and Orion-based crew capsule that Congress wants. “Commercial crew was not ignored, but to be perfectly clear, it was not — and is not — Congress’ first priority,” says Rep. Ralph Hall (R-Texas), the committee chairman.
LONDON — The U.K. will retire two Tornado squadrons effective June 1 as part of decisions made in last year’s Strategic Defense and Security Review. The affected units, 13 Sqdn. at RAF Marham and 14 Sqdn. at RAF Lossiemouth, are only the start of a process that will see the Royal Air Force (RAF) trim its assets to 136 Tornado GR4s spread over five squadrons. The Air Force Board Standing Committee selected the Tornado squadrons that would be shuttered.
AVALON, Australia — The introduction of Lockheed Martin F-35s will spur demand for advanced jet trainers such as the Alenia Aermacchi M-346, says the Italian air force’s deputy chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Maurizio Lodovisi. Lodovisi says the operational costs of advanced fighters such as the F-35 are such that “it could be nice to have an advanced jet trainer such as the M-346.” If more training can be done on advanced jet trainers, rather than on advanced fighters, then it will help air forces to reduce costs, he says.
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AVALON, Australia — The U.S. Navy plans its first Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) unmanned aerial vehicle base to achieve initial operational capability in late 2015, covering the Persian Gulf, according the service’s BAMS program manager, Capt. Robert Dishman. Dishman says the U.S. is negotiating with countries in the region regarding location of the base. If piracy continues to be a problem in the Gulf of Aden, then these UAVs also will be used there, he adds. BAMS is based on Northrop Grumman’s Global Hawk UAV.
CAPE CANAVERAL — Three months after the U.S. Air Force’s experimental Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV) returned from a debut spaceflight that spanned 224 days, its sister ship is being prepared for liftoff March 4 on a follow-on mission. Like its predecessor, OTV-2 will launch aboard an Atlas V booster from Cape Canaveral AFS. The 2-hr. launch window opens at 3:39 p.m. EST.
SAT STUDY: The U.S. Air Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center has awarded a $1.5 million contract to Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) to study how commercial technologies and best practices can be applied to military communications needs. Palo Alto, Calif.-based SS/L is primarily a commercial satellite manufacturer, although it is also a leader in hosted payloads for government/military customers. The contract came from the Air Force’s Milsatcom Systems Directorate.
LONDON — Ultra Electronics is projecting sustained financial growth, although the delay in passing a fiscal 2011 U.S. defense budget could affect revenue intake early in the year. The U.K. defense electronics company on Feb. 28 reported a 9% increase in revenue to £710.0 million ($1.15 billion) with the operating profit reaching £110.3 million, or 13% more than in 2009.
NASA’s Chief Technologist’s Office released solicitations for four technology demonstrations on March 1, as its fiscal 2012 budget request heads for its Capitol Hill debut on March 2. The U.S. space agency wants mission proposals in four areas — high-bandwidth, deep-space communication; orbital debris control; advanced in-space propulsion; and autonomous rendezvous, docking and formation flying.
Specialists are unloading the nuclear fuel rods from Iran’s Bushehr reactor after problems appeared during the facility’s startup. So far, the problems do not appear to be the result of the Stuxnet cyberworm that infected some of the reactor staff’s personal computers, Russian and Iranian officials say.
David Van Buren, the U.S. Air Force’s top acquisition executive, says that the contract with Boeing to develop the KC-46A aerial refueler has been signed, marking a major step in the Air Force’s decade-long pursuit of a KC-135 replacement.
If the U.S. Congress fails to boost fiscal 2011 funding accounts above fiscal 2010 levels, the U.S. Navy will be unable to start building its next Virginia-class submarine, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus told the House Armed Services Committee March 1. Such a scenario, he says, “will break the existing multiyear contract” now in place between Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics Electric Boat to build the subs.
GET IN FORMATION: The Pentagon’s current plan for acquisition of two similar tactical wheeled vehicles — the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle and the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) — creates “a risk of unplanned overlap in capabilities that could increase acquisition costs significantly,” warn congressional auditors in a March 1 report. The “DOD does not have a unified tactical wheeled vehicle strategy that considers timing, capabilities, affordability and sustainability,” the Government Accountability Office notes, despite a 2009 promise to do so.
MELBOURNE, Australia — The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) plans to operate unmanned combat air vehicles (UCAVs) in the future in addition to manned fighter aircraft. “I think we will eventually get into the UCAV area, but it is down the track,” says Chief of Air Force Air Marshal Mark Binskin, adding that the technology needs to develop further before the RAAF adds such aircraft.
BENGALURU, India — The government of India’s Karnataka State on Feb. 26 formally handed over the land that the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) is using for its new aeronautical test range.
HOUSTON — A NASA-backed plan for a unique International Space Station (ISS) family portrait featuring the space shuttle Discovery as well as docked spacecraft from the other major station partners was vetoed on March 1 by the Russians, who decided the photo opportunity would interfere with long-established test objectives for their new Soyuz TMA-01M.
HOUSTON — Space shuttle Discovery’s astronauts attached the final habitable piece of the International Space Station (ISS) on March 1: a 21-ft.-long equipment stowage enclosure that was hoisted from the shuttle’s cargo bay with a robot arm and berthed to the orbiting science laboratory’s Unity module.
BENGALURU, India — The Indian air force (IAF) lost 40 aircraft in various mishaps during the last three years, Defense Minister A.K. Antony told the Indian Parliament last week. Sixteen pilots, 24 service personnel and five civilians lost their lives in the accidents that span from Feb. 1, 2008, to Feb. 17, 2011.
The Pentagon is generating plans for establishing a no-fly zone over Libya, which could include the first combat assignment for Lockheed Martin’s F-22 Raptor stealth fighter. The F-22 and some cyberoperations would be employed in shutting down Libya’s air defense system, which is comprised “almost exclusively” of Russian-built SA-6 surface-to-air-missile (SAM) systems similar to those that opposed NATO forces in Serbia and that shot down the single F-117 fighter lost in combat, says a former U.S. Air Force chief of staff.
Australia is considering acquisition of a fifth Boeing C-17 Globemaster airlifter instead of the two Lockheed Martin C-130J Hercules that it has been planning to buy. In language that suggests Australia has almost decided on another C-17, Defense Minister Stephen Smith cites Canberra’s great satisfaction with the performance of the four C-17s that it bought last decade. They “have delivered excellent service and have provided [the defense department’s] first true global-airlift capability,” Smith says.
NEW DELHI — India has allocated $44.4 billion to defense for the fiscal year beginning April 1, up by 8.4% from the current fiscal year. Of this, defense services will receive $35.74 billion, which includes capital procurement of $15 billion, an increase of 13.75% over this year. India’s defense spending will represent about 2.72% of the country’s GDP — up from last year’s 2.41% — as figured in the budget announced Feb. 28. However, the budget falls short of reaching at least the 3% of the GDP that many were expecting.
TANKER TALK: Both refueling tanker rivals are mum after receiving their debriefings on last week’s U.S. Air Force’s KC-X decision. EADS North America, the losing team, “is evaluating the information presented to us,” says spokesman Guy Hicks; the company’s debriefing lasted about 90 min. Boeing declined to provide details on why it won the $3.5 billion KC-46A development contract last week. “It was clear the Air Force and Defense Department worked hard to ensure fairness throughout a lengthy and rigorous proposal process,” says company spokesman Bill Barksdale.
