A pilotless X-47B is slated to be subjected to a burst of electromagnetic energy that will be 10 times that endured by other aircraft being tested to survive the electronic pollution found on an aircraft carrier.

Aerospace officials are pointing to that closely held plan as an important clue about a key mission that the U.S. Navy’s next-generation, unmanned combat air system is being designed to perform. The mission is electronic attack—using bursts of high-power microwave (HPM) energy—against…

It was pitch black outside as our Pilatus PC-12 accelerated smoothly down the runway and climbed gingerly into the air, powered by a 1,200 shp Pratt & Whitney PT6A-67P turboprop. As we retracted the landing gear and turned north towards the mountains, in the cockpit the pilot in command, Honeywell’s Kevin O’Hara, and I had unprecedented situational awareness of the rocky terrain below.

                Earlier this year, as you know, I was honored to be able to
host Vice President Xi here at the Pentagon during his visit to the United
States.  And I was pleased by the successful outcome of last week’s fourth
Strategic and Economic Dialogue and the second Strategic Security Dialogue at
which Jim Miller, our acting undersecretary of defense for policy, led the
department’s delegation. 

                In my meeting with General Liang, I expressed my commitment
to achieving and maintaining a healthy, stable, reliable and continuous
mil-to-mil relationship with China.  And as a symbol of that, during our meeting
General Liang invited me to visit China.  And I look forward to doing that
within the next few months.

                The United States and China are both Pacific powers, and our
relationship is one of the most critical in the world.  We share many interests
across the Asia-Pacific region and beyond, from humanitarian assistance to
concerns about weapons of mass destruction to terrorism to drug interdictions to
trade to counterpiracy. 

Airplane 46, which will be delivered to Air India by the end of the second quarter, rolled out of the factory this afternoon in front of 7,000 Boeing workers at the facility and VIP guests.

NAVY LEAGUE SEA AIR SPACE, WASHINGTON – 18 April 2012 – General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA‑ASI), a leading manufacturer of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), tactical reconnaissance radars, and electro-optic surveillance systems, today announced the near-term availability of two extended endurance options for its Predator® B/MQ-9 Reaper fleet.

“We are continually seeking ways to improve our platforms, making them more relevant for our customers’ emerging needs,” said Frank W. Pace, president, Aircraft Systems Group, GA-ASI. “We’ve designed field retrofitable capabilities–lengthened wings, wing-borne fuel pods, and new heavy-weight landing gear–that greatly extend Reaper’s already impressive endurance and range while further increasing its operational flexibility.”

The results of GA-ASI’s recent Endurance Enhancement Study, which was completed on Internal Research and Development (IRAD) funds, propose two different field installable kits that extend endurance without costly depot aircraft modifications:

• Option 1 optimizes the aircraft for Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance (ISR) missions, adding two fuel pods to its existing 66 ft wings and heavy-weight landing gear, increasing endurance from 27 hours to 37 hours.
• Option 2 optimizes the aircraft for multi-purpose missions, replacing its current 66 ft wings with 88 ft wings, and adding two fuel pods and heavy-weight landing gear, increasing  endurance from 27 hours to 42 hours for ISR-only.

The U.S. Air Force plans to release a draft of its amended request for proposals (RFP) for the troubled Light Air Support (LAS) program on April 17, with a source selection eyed in early 2013.

If this schedule holds, the first aircraft will not reach Afghanistan until the third quarter of 2014, a slip of 15 months. The program was originally crafted to quickly field light-attack aircraft for use by the Afghan air force as Washington begins to withdraw its soldiers.

The new RFP is needed owing to a procurement foul-up; Air Force Secretary Michael Donley says the documentation supporting the source selection was insufficient. The final amended RFP is expected by April 30.

The Air Force awarded Sierra Nevada/Embraer $355 million in December to build 20 Super Tucanos for use by the Afghan air force in 2013. However, Hawker Beechcraft, which was dismissed from the competition in November due to a technically unacceptable bid, filed suit against the Air Force. This prompted the service to stop work on the Sierra Nevada/Embraer contract and examine whether a new competition would be needed.

“We have a tremendous amount of interest out there at the moment,” says Jim Naylor, Lockheed’s K-MAX business development director.

But while Naylor is willing to disclose that those interested parties are NATO allies, he says cannot specifically…. continue reading

Boeing and Embraer are extending their cooperation in aviation with a new umbrella agreement which focuses on features for commercial aircraft “that enhance safety and efficiency.”

Specifics are yet to be worked out, but Boeing President and CEO Jim Albaugh tells Aviation Week the two airframers will work in areas of intellectual property (IP), manufacturing and airframe efficiency that the two companies can share on future programs.

During a brief signing ceremony at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, Embraer President and CEO Frederico Curado characterized the “cooperation agreement” as a first step toward a broader, but so far largely undefined, collaboration between the two aircraft manufacturers. “We will be starting with some research and technological joint work,” he says. “We already had cooperation toward biofuels.”

The memorandum between Boeing and Embraer initially focuses on three areas: safety, efficiency of aircraft operations and productivity in manufacturing. “There are some other areas that we’re going to talk about,” Albaugh says. “Over the next several months I think you’ll see us coming out with more announcements on areas that we intend to work together in.”

“The weapon is classified. It’s a high-TRL [technology readiness level] system,” says Lt. Col. Scott Anderson, product manager for Shadow in the Army’s UAS program office, which is supporting the Marine Corps’ plan to weaponize the aircraft to meet an urgent operational need.

Two images defined how the Osprey had changed things since the last major amphibious exercise in 1996.  In 1996, airborne forces were involved to do the raiding function.  In 2012, a raiding force led by Ospreys from a SUPPLY ship performed the mission….continue reading

Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.), a member of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee, says he will recommend continuing funding for the high-flying unmanned aircraft. “That may prevail, at least in the House defense subcommittee.”

According to Moran, the “taxpayer is best served” by the Global Hawk, as compared to the U-2 intelligence-gathering aircraft, which the Air Force wants to continue using.