Meanwhile, Japan is considering its acquisition path for new fighters. The F-2 program didn’t go quite as hoped, but Japan is still looking at a collaborative F-X project to field an advanced fighter, and possibly an engine project as well.
Raytheon gets $42.8 million contract to train Afghan air force pilots in an undisclosed Arab Gulf country. UAE is a good bet.
Ukraine is investing UAH 3.5 billion ($440 million) to build the Sapsan multiple-rocket launch system with a range of up to 280 kilometers (174 miles) that is expected to enter service in 2015.
MBDA has an initial customer for their drop-in MPCV, which uses the Mistral short-range air defense missile, and for the accompanying IMCP/PCP local air defense command system.
BAE Systems returns to profitability in 2010, but expects decline in 2011 sales due to reduced volume at its Land and Armaments unit and UK defense cutbacks.
Arrest made in 2010 theft of 3,000 US special ops laptops – worth $7.2 million – from an iGov Technologies facility in Tampa, FL.
Pentagon chief Robert Gates and JCS Chairman Michael Mullen face Senate grilling over FY 2012 budget request, after similar treatment by the House.
GAO takes DoD’s personnel security clearance program off its high-risk list [PDF] of programs facing fraud, waste, and management challenges; however, its weapons system acquisition program remains on the list.
DoD to expand cybersecurity personnel swaps with private industry and add $500 million in cybersecurity research funding in FY 2012, Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn tells RSA conference.
What about FY 2011?: While the Pentagon is asking for $671 billion in FY 2012 (DoD Comptroller breakdown), Gates tells Congress, “We need $540 billion in FY 2011!”
The Russian Defense Ministry grounds its fleet of Mi-28 attack helicopters after an Mi-28N Night Hunter crashed in Stavropol, killing the pilot.
I’ll be baaack: The worldwide military robotics market is expected to explode over the next 5 years, reaching $8 billion in 2016, compared with $5.8 billion in 2010, according to ABI Research.
Thermal sights on weapons see heat. This has advantages in complete darkness, or in the presence of obscurants like dust storms, normal smoke, etc. because they can still pick out human and vehicle targets. Using deep infrared viewers also avoids “blooms” or whiteouts if someone flashes a bright light source like a flashlight at you. On the other hand, unless the lines on your map or lettering on that street sign have different heat values, thermal/ “deep infrared” sights aren’t going to help very much. This is why most 3rd and 4th generation night vision goggles use a combination of thermal and light intensifier technologies.
The AN/PAS-13 thermal weapons sights are used in more limited capacities, either as weapons sights or without a weapon as a sort of hand-held “night telescope.” The second generation of these sights is now being fielded, and are the subject of additional multi-billion orders from the US military.
Lockheed Martin recently announced an 8-year, $270 million contract to continue offering its C-130 Aircrew Training Systems (ATS), which provide simulators, computer training, and instruction to C-130 pilots in the USA and around the world. Graduates of the formal school are considered mission-qualified, and can report directly to active units – but not C-130J units. The new C-130J family are very different aircraft internally, and have their own C-130J Maintenance and Aircrew Training System (MATS), with its own instructors and sites.
ATS training includes all crew positions, refresher courses, cockpit resource management (initial and recurring), Instrument Refresher Courses, and the Instructor Preparatory Course. The contract also includes a security program, an Environmental Health & Safety program, a scheduling office, a student publications library, and learning center operations. Behind the scenes, a full Training System Support Center (TSSC) supports ATS operations & maintenance, research, and development engineering.
Like its C-130J MATS companion program, the C-130 ATS schoolhouse is headquartered at Little Rock AFB, AR. ATS also provides training at Dobbins Air Reserve Base, GA; Dyess AFB, TX; McChord AFB, WA; Minneapolis Air National Guard Base, MN; and Yokota Air Base, Japan. Lockheed Martin says that nearly 12,000 students from more than 25 countries depend on C-130 ATS for their training needs every year, and draw on 150 instructors to do so.
Obama administration’s fiscal year 2012 budget [PDF] boosts defense spending by $22 billion over FY 2010 appropriations, to $671 billion, while projecting $78 billion in “savings” through 2016. [Update: 2013 request.]
Russia’s armed forces rely on aging equipment, lack transport capability, and suffer from manpower shortages, according to a NATO report cited in a leaked US diplomatic cable.
Ceradyne’s new Enhanced Combat Helmet may be twice the price, but it looks like a 70% plus increase in head protection over the current American ACH design, with a new ability to stop close rifle shots. The USA plans to buy 200,000 ECH helmets, beginning in the fall of 2011.
You can find it in those deployed ranks, though. Kudos to Canadian Master Corporal Shawn Grove, who taught himself Pashto and became a big asset to the Afghan campaign, without any help from his military.
Northrop Grumman CEO Wes Bush backs easing of high-tech export controls.
Israel’s IAI looks to work with Bombardier as well as Gulfstream, unveiling a maritime surveillance Dash-8 mockup at Aero India 2011, and considering Airborne Early Warning planes based on Bombardier’s Global Express jets.
2 Thai F-16s crash during Cobra Gold 2011. The pilots are safe, and the country’s F-16 upgrade program should be unaffected.
Recent WikiLeaks revelations re: Saudi Arabia have reignited the peak oil debate. Joe Lazarro says we may or may not have hit peak oil, but we can say goodbye to cheap oil.
300 “Boomerang III perimeter systems.” (Feb 14/11)
Sniper attacks are an ongoing problem/ opportunity in any urban conflict, which is tailor made for the practice. The bad news is that most future conflicts and even peacekeeping operations can be expected to spend a lot of time in urban settings.
Western armies tend to field much better snipers than their enemies do, and the results show. Nevertheless, better support for those snipers, and for non-specialist troops under fire, offers those armies a critical new asset that gives them an edge. The question is, how to accomplish that in a way that provides immediate results, and is reliable? A number of solutions have been developed over the past few years, some of which are also working to reduce crime in American neighborhoods – another urban setting that sometimes features opponents with AK-47s. On the front lines abroad, the most widely deployed system comes from Raytheon-BBN Technologies, Inc., a firm that helped to invent the Internet. Enter a system called Boomerang…
Russia plans to build up defenses and deploy armaments on Kuril Islands on its Pacific coast, islands that have been disputed with Japan since WWII. As noted last week, Mistral type LHDs will also be part of that move.
JFCOM Command Gen. Raymond Odierno unveils plans to close the command down, resulting in the elimination of 2,275 jobs in Virginia.
The AFRL is seeking proposals on development of a long endurance hand-launched UAV called the small unmanned renewable enerGy long endurance vehicle (SURGE-V). Proposals are due Mar 11/11.
Herley gets subcontract worth up to $12 million over 5 years to provide diplexers and attenuators for radar warning receivers systems for military aircraft.
Beam me up, Scotty: DARPA and NASA sponsor [PDF] 100-Year Starship Study to examine business model for long-distance manned space flight a century from now.
Ignoring pleas from the DoD and defense companies, the House plans to fund the government through the rest of the fiscal year with a continuing resolution, which will include $74 billion in spending cuts.
