The long-term U.S. Navy fleet plan still poses operational and funding questions for Congress, especially with the service’s recent changes to its shipbuilding plans, a recent Congressional Research Service (CRS) report says. “Although the 313-ship goal remains in place, some elements of Navy ship force planning that have emerged since 2006 appear to diverge from elements of the 313-ship plan,” the report says.
LONDON — The Brazilian government is undertaking a broad-based review of the country’s defense industrial base with the goal of identifying spending areas to strengthen its local supply base. The 18-month effort is being led by the Brazilian agency for industrial development and supported by the defense ministry, ministries of foreign affairs and science and technology.
LONDON — A long-anticipated request for proposals (RFP) to meet the French navy’s requirement for a tactical unmanned air system is about to be released. Industry officials anticipate the RFP to emerge before the end of the year. The RFP is expected to dictate the air vehicle size, although indications are the service will opt for a smaller system — in the Schiebel Camcopter 100 class — rather than a larger system, such as the Northrop Grumman Fire Scout.
PARIS — Moscow has issued an international request for proposals for four 20,000-metric-ton-class helicopter carriers, according to industry sources. Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said in late August that the country would shortly initiate an open tendering process for the vessels, putting an end to the nation-to-nation negotiations with France that had begun in early March.
NEW DELHI — Airbus Military says it plans to start discussions with India next year over potential acquisition of the A400M military airlifter. India so far has not expressed an interest in the European airlifter, which is still in development, but Didier Vernet, head of A400M market development, said “if India is interested, we will be happy to discuss.” Airbus is desperate to increase foreign sales of the A400M because the core European program — which remains in flux contractually — will not be sufficient to return a profit.
BEIJING — Chinese controllers have achieved a velocity within 1 cm./sec. of prediction in the braking maneuver that brought the Chang’e 2 spacecraft into its 100-km. (60-mi.) working orbit around the Moon this week. The lunar probe, China’s second, is now in a position to begin surveying the lunar surface, says China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp.
SPENDING OPPOSITION: Odd-couple Reps. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), chairman of the House Finance Committee, and firebrand Ron Paul (R-Texas) say they now have 57 legislators, including four senators, who support their call for President Barack Obama’s bipartisan deficit-reduction commission to recommend defense spending cuts. Frank told reporters Oct.
WASHINGTON and LONDON — The North Korean military parade last weekend revealed a new road-mobile ballistic missile — a variant of the BM-25 Musudan with a projected range of 3,000-4,000 km. (1,900-2,500 mi.). Even more intriguing, North Korea’s weaponry is showing design characteristics associated with the Shahab 3, Iran’s most advanced missile. Such evidence is leading some international analysts to the conclusion that the ballistic missile development ties between the two countries are active and producing improvements in the arsenals of both.
While the future of the U.K. Royal Navy’s two new aircraft carriers is uncertain, Lockheed Martin has been awarded a $13 million contract to incorporate shipborne rolling vertical landing (SRVL) capability into the F-35B for the U.K. SRVL will increase the payload that the F-35B can bring back to the carrier by 2,000-4,000 lb. above what is possible with a Harrier-style vertical landing, reducing the need to dump unused weapons or fuel before recovery.
PHILADELPHIA – The U.S. Marine Corps is emphasizing the electronic-warfare (EW) mission as it draws up requirements for a “Group 4” unmanned aircraft system to replace its RQ-7 Shadows. The Corps has backed off from demanding that the system be expeditionary, removing the requirements for ship basing and vertical takeoff, says Maj. Tom Heffern, USMC UAS capabilities officer.
HAWKS GROUNDED: Officials grounded the fleet of Royal Australian Air Force Hawk 127s after one of the trainers at RAAF Base Pearce “experienced a technical fault while taxiing before takeoff” on Oct. 11, causing the aircraft to shut down. The BAE Systems Hawks, which are also based at RAAF Williamtown, were grounded pending further investigation. “Safety as always is our highest priority,” said an Australian defense department statement.
SOC SOON: India is set to launch a system on chip (SoC) for avionics applications. It is a single chip solution for the existing printed circuit board-based onboard computer. A select group of scientists are currently engaged in the design and development of the SoC at the Real-Time Embedded Computer Directorate attached to Research Center Imarat under the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO). The chip will be ready by May 2011.
With the final crews in training for NASA’s last three space shuttle missions, the number of astronauts in the corps is down to 65 – a 25% drop since last year. NASA plans to keep its roster of astronauts at 65 to support spaces station operations and other programs, including the development of the agency’s Orion deep space capsule and planned commercial crew vehicles, said Jerry Ross, a seven-time shuttle veteran who heads the agency’s Vehicle Integration Test Office, an engineering support team for the Astronaut Office.
LONDON – The head of a key U.K. government intelligence organization argues that an effective cyberdefense strategy will require closer cooperation with allies and also with key industry players. In a rare public appearance, Iain Lobhan, the boss of the U.K.’s primary signals intelligence organization, GCHQ, has raised some key issues related to cybersecurity.
Paris – Astrium Services’s Paradigm unit has contracted to use all of the capacity on an X-band hosted payload to be carried on Anik G1, a new spacecraft Telesat plans to launch in the second half of 2012. Telesat ordered Anik G1 in June from Space Systems/Loral without a launch customer for the X-band payload, on the assumption that hot demand for such capacity among government and military users, particularly in the U.S., would soon fill it. Paradigm purchased the payload for its entire 15-year life.
HEAVY TRANSFER: As part of the German military’s review of its force structure, there are growing indications the army will lose some of its helicopter force and have to hand over those responsibilities to the Luftwaffe. At stake is the future of the CH-53 fleet, which has been used heavily in Afghanistan. A service official says a final decision has not been made, but there are growing indications in Germany that the change will indeed take place. The fallout in terms of basing structure is also not yet clear. Also uncertain is how the NH90 fleet will be divided.
United Kingdom – Plans by Russia to start building Israel Aerospace Industries unmanned aircraft have advanced with an industrial agreement between IAI and Oboronprom. The Oct. 12 deal, signed during a visit by Russia’s industry and trade minister, Viktor Khristenko, to Israel, calls for implementation of the agreement. The accord has been in the works for most of the year, but was at risk of faltering over Russian arms sales to countries adversarial to Israel. The core element of the deal is the Searcher Mk III.
Hyderabad – The Research Center Imarat (RCI), a sensitive and less-discussed wing of India’s Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO), is playing a key role in India’s next-generation missile programs. RCI is currently involved in air defense systems (ADS) and the Agni-V long-range strategic missile. “The lab has successfully participated in successful demonstration of ADS with over five launches so far,” an RCI official says.
HYDERABAD – Indian armed forces and industry are seizing on an opportunity to equip various Indian platforms with homegrown advanced systems, like navigation systems. The development is a twist of fate as India tries to overcome obstacles once laid down by the West’s Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR). Satheesh Reddy, director of navigation systems at the Research Center Imarat (RCI), claims that India can now rub shoulders with the best in the business of making missiles.
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Paris – Space Systems/Loral has contracted to supply a 6-metric-ton, 12 kW telecom satellite to Asia Broadcast Satellite. The Hong Kong-based operator inked a preliminary agreement for the spacecraft, ABS-2, in June 2009, but lacked the financing to close the deal. A management buyout in partnership with the Permira private equity fund, announced last month, enabled the purchase to go forward. U.S. Export-Import Bank financing had been sought for the satellite, but it was not immediately clear if this had been obtained.
