NEW DELHI India’s Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) — the research and development arm of the Indian defense ministry — is moving toward commercializing its technologies for civilian use. DRDO is partnering with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) on the Accelerated Technology Assessment and Commercialization, ATAC, program. ATAC is the first program of its kind to try to spin out several DRDO technologies for national and international commercial markets.
THIN SKIN: Regardless of whether the Pentagon opts to buy a single tanker or split the purchase between Boeing and Northrop Grumman/EADS North America, the U.S. Air Force is expecting a hearty bill ahead to keep the KC-135 flying. Air Mobility Command chief Gem. Arthur Lichte said last week that the venerable KC-135 would require new skins beginning in 2018.
USAF HOLDOVER: The Barack Obama White House is retaining another senior political appointee at the Pentagon, along with Defense Secretary Gates, who was held over from the Bush days. Air Force Secretary Michael Donley will stay onboard overseeing the service, which is beset with acquisition problems and nuclear weapon management issues.
Pentagon planners are looking at alternatives to overland routes through Pakistan to supply U.S. troops in Afghanistan, the head of the U.S. Transportation Command told defense authorizers last week. U.S. Air Force Gen. Duncan McNabb was grilled about DOD alternative plans in the wake of recent attacks on convoys passing through Pakistan, as well as Kyrgyzstan’s plans to close an airbase vital to U.S. flights.
LONDON Britain’s defense industry is preparing for what it sees as an unavoidable defense review in the wake of national elections, to be held no later than 2010. Mike Turner, chairman of the Defense Industries Council (DIC), says a strategic defense review is “inevitable” following a general election, irrespective of which political party is elected.
SANDY RAPTOR: U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen Gary North, combined air operations center commander in the Middle East, says he wants to get the F-22 there for an exercise “soon.” This was attempted last year, but dashed over concerns the stealthy, twin-engine fighter’s presence in the region would cause tensions. Meanwhile, Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz has proposed a plan to Defense Secretary Robert Gates regarding whether to continue producing the Lockheed Martin jet.
HELP WANTED: Chinese aerospace conglomerate Avic is seeking foreign executives as its next step toward becoming a top-tier global aircraft builder. Foreigners are being sought even for the company’s Defense Division, as well as the specialist subsidiaries it is setting up to address civilian markets. The foreigners will be among 13 vice presidents to be hired for such responsibilities as marketing, research and asset management.
PLANNING ASSUMPTIONS: The unclassified version of the British Defense Ministry’s new Defense Technology Plan (DTP) — intended to provide industry with a guide to where the ministry intends to focus its future research & development (R&D) spending — features top-level R&D objectives for air platforms and weapons systems, including development of manned and unmanned systems. It also identifies broad interest in research into high-endurance long-range unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and strike UAV concepts.
OBAMA DILEMMA: So far there are no clues in the fiscal 2010 defense budget about the F-22 program, a senior U.S. Air Force official says. Planning is afoot but Obama faces a dilemma, the official says. “He’s under pressure to retain high-tech manufacturing jobs, but he also needs to cancel high-cost programs to get Pentagon spending under control.” The Air Force chief of staff wants 60 more F-22s, but can live with a total of 243 Raptors if the F-35 ramps up to high-rate production of 110 per year, according to the official.
LONDON The British Defense Ministry is aiming to introduce a key early element of its Dabinett intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance (ISTAR) program within three years of the development contract award, with an assessment phase for this part of the program about to get under way. The ministry has recently “re-profiled” the Dabinett project, of which previous elements have been delayed as the result of budget pressure on earlier equipment program planning rounds.
WEDGETAIL SPECS: Australia shows no sign of relaxing its specification for Boeing 737 Wedgetail airborne early warning and control aircraft. “We have made no concessions to Boeing,” project manager Air Vice Marshall Chris Deeble says. “Neither have they sought any concessions to a reduction in the performance.” Boeing says testing in April and May will reveal whether the aircraft meets the contract. The program is running more than three years late.
SHUTTLE SLIP: NASA may try to launch the space shuttle Discovery to the International Space Station on March 12, pending progress on an evaluation of suspect gaseous hydrogen valves in each of the orbiter’s three main engines. If it looks like the work won’t be finished, the shuttle would need to wait on the pad while Russia delivers fresh crew members on a Soyuz vehicle. In that case, Discovery’s launch would slip to April 6 to avoid having two vehicles docked to the station at once.
With the last of three planned low-rate initial production (LRIP) contracts recently awarded, the U.S. Navy’s MQ-8B Fire Scout Vertical Takeoff and Landing Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (VTUAV) is proceeding apace toward technical and operational evaluations this year.
UNDERWAY: Northrop Grumman said Feb. 24 it returned the Los Angeles-class submarine USS Toledo (SSN 769) to the U.S. Navy after regularly scheduled upgrade work, including the submarine’s sonar, combat and weapons systems, as well as maintenance work on the propulsion, auxiliary and habitability systems. Meanwhile, the Navy has started the process to find a 21st-century successor to the nuclear-powered, Ohio-class Trident strategic missile submarines. At 560 feet long and 42 feet wide, Tridents are the largest submarines in the Navy’s inventory.
LAND LAUNCHED: Telesat’s Telstar 11N communications platform is en route to its operational position over the Atlantic Ocean following launch Feb. 26 on a Zenit-3SLB rocket organized by Sea Launch Company, LLC, as part of its Land Launch service. The Zenit lifted the 8,845-pound spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 1:30 p.m. EST on a six-hour mission to geostationary transfer orbit. From its final position at 37.5 deg. W.
GALAXY AWARDS: The U.S. Air Force recently awarded Lockheed Martin a $299 million contract for the C-5M Super Galaxy Reliability Enhancement and Re-Engining Program (RERP) and a $25 million contract for the airlifter’s Interim Contractor Support (ICS) program. The RERP award funds installation on one aircraft, material and fabrication of three aircraft, and long-lead funding for five aircraft. Two C-5Ms have already been delivered to the Air Force, and current service plans call for 52 C-5Ms to be delivered by 2016.
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency’s (MDA) tests of a ground-based ballistic missile interceptor system have improved, but the head of DOD’s test and evaluation unit said Feb. 25 that it had only “limited capability” to defend against a long-range ballistic missile launch. In his annual report on MDA testing – including the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system – Charles McQueary said “GMD flight-testing to date will not support a high level of confidence in its limited capabilities.”
The Obama administration will move toward forcing all non-warfighting related defense spending under the regular, congressionally authorized lawmaking process in the coming years. White House officials told reporters Feb. 26 that President Barack Obama’s military budget also will revolve around former President George W. Bush’s goal of increasing the size of the Army and Marine Corps by 92,000 active troops, as well as Obama’s call for improving medical treatment of the wounded and reforming the Pentagon’s acquisition processes.
TWO’S COMPANY: The second short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing F-35B Joint Strike Fighter, known as BF-2, made its first flight from Lockheed Martin’s Fort Worth, Texas, plant on Feb. 25. The aircraft will be used for conventional up-and-away flight-testing while the first F-35B, BF-1, conducts powered-lift testing leading to a first vertical landing, expected in June or July. BF-1 is expected to begin hover pit testing at Fort Worth next week. Aircraft AA-1, the first F-35, made its 70th flight on Feb. 24 and is expected to complete 12 flights before being retired.
Managers at NASA are pulling together options for spending the roughly $400 million in extra funds that have become available for human exploration under the economic stimulus package, and have not ruled out an extra flight-test to hasten development of the Ares I crew launch vehicle.
The prohibition against putting an Israeli-made electronic warfare/attack system into the U.S.-made F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) is only about number three in the list of impediments to finalizing a deal for delivery of early-production models of the F-35A to the Israeli Air Force (IAF).
FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Lockheed Martin is offering its Video from Unmanned Aircraft Systems for Interoperability Teaming (VUIT) program as an add-on kit for use on multiple aviation platforms. VUIT is in use on the U.S. Army’s Longbow Apache helicopter in theater, and the service intends to equip 10 battalions with the capability. Lockheed is in talks with the Army to perform fit checks for its add-on kits on the Kiowa and Black Hawk helos as well.
