March 28, 2024

Surveillance Aircraft Top House Priority

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Intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities are top priorities for the House Armed Services Committee, according to its chairman, Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Ca.), reports Reuters. ISR covers everything from unmanned aircraft to manned surveillance planes. Rep. McKeon said it was unclear if the committee would fund the Navy’s request for 22 Boeing EA-18G electronic attack planes, which were not included in the Pentagon’s base budget proposal.

NAVAIR’s X-47B UCAS completed its first night flight over NAS Patuxent River last week, reports Aviation Today. The successful test flight demonstrated the aircraft’s unique lighting system. The Navy plans on deploying its first UCLASS aircraft on a carrier deck by 2020.

The X-47B UCAS team was selected by the National Aeronautic Association (NAA) to receive the 2013 Robert J. Collier Trophy, aviation’s highest honor, according to the Wall Street Journal. The NAA recognized the US Navy, Northrop Grumman and industry partners for “developing and demonstrating the first unmanned, autonomous air system operating from an aircraft carrier.” The Collier Trophy will be formally presented May 29 at the annual Robert J. Collier Trophy Dinner in Arlington, Va.

Navy Lt. Cmdr Adam Schantz, officer in charge of the 32 member crew manning the two P-8 Poseidon surveillance aircraft planes searching for downed flight MH370, provides his perspective on the daily mission in an interview by Firstpost. The DoD committed $7.3 million to the first month of the search effort, much of it spent on flying the P-8s.

Sen. Barbara Mikulski, (D-Md.), chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, opposes the DoD plan to slash the Defense Commissary Agency’s budget from $1.4 billion to $400 million, reports the Military Times. Sen. Mikulski said last week, “I don’t think we ought to cut the commissary budget. I think if we want to look at the stress military families are facing, we need to look at their activities of daily living and look at this holistically. [The commissary] is one of the most important tools you have for the health and well-being of the military and the garrisons in this country.”

The Navy’s plan to sidestep orders for 29 Sikorsky MH-60 helicopters in the final year of a five-year contract could dissuade the industry from signing similar cost-saving agreements, reports Reuters. “This is not a legal issue,” said a Sikorsky representative. “This is a confidence issue. If multi-year contracts are negotiated and then not followed through … the industry is back to making year-to-year calculations and investments because you never know when the next year’s contract is going to be canceled.”

The Lockheed F-35 Lightning II, which produces a deafening 152 decibels, is forcing the service to implement improved hearing protection designs for flight deck crews that are worn over earplugs, similar to the legacy “Mickey Mouse” headphones, reports the Navy Times. Some sailors may also wear new foam ear plugs that have an embedded speaker which allows yellowshirts to listen to the plane and the ship while on deck.

The Navy selected the Lockheed Martin Longbow Hellfire AGM-114L surface-to-surface missile over Raytheon’s Griffin IIB for testing on the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), according to USNI News. The choice between the similar missiles came in part from the ability of the Longbow to take targeting information from Saab’s Sea Giraffe radar and use its on-board millimeter wave seeker to find targets. The Navy plans to test the missile aboard an LCS next year.

Bell Helicopter has proposed its single-engine 407GX helicopter to replace the Navy’s fleet of more than 100 Bell TH-57 trainers, according to Defense News. The Navy asked defense contractors to provide input under the service’s training helicopter replacement program.

Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works is developing an unmanned, multi-purpose, vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) drone system for DARPA, according to Yahoo News Canada. The ARES (Aerial Reconfigurable Embedded System) is a large-scale transport system that resulted from earlier design work on a military flying car.

 

 

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