March 29, 2024

Navy Sec Calls UCLASS Next Step in Naval Aviation

Potential Boeing UCLASS

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The Navy plans to give congress more of what it asked for, heightened attention to developing the strike capabilities of the UCLASS, reports Military.com. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus’ office called the Unmanned Carrier Launched Surveillance and Strike program “the next major step in naval aviation and that it had to be designed and developed as a key part of a carrier wing.”

The US so completely commands the world’s unmanned vehicle industry, reports Daily Finance, it looks like a “rounding error.”

The next commercial frontier is space, Politico reports Lockheed and Boeing officials explaining while in Washington last week expressing interest in NASA’s planned Space Launch System-Heavy Launch Vehicle and Orion spacecraft. This projection was reinforced when Lockheed’s company-wide cuts only spared aeronautics, which includes the F-35. Lockheed cut 4,000 jobs nationwide. The reduction reflects sequestration’s projected $500 billion reduction of the DoD budget across the next decade, reports Bloomberg News.

Continuing sequestration automatic cuts through January will undermine national defense and jeopardize economic stability in aerospace and defense, writes the president/CEO of the Aerospace Industries Association in The Washington Business Journal, upending the supply chain and the entire defense industrial base.

The Pentagon’s comptroller remains “cautiously optimistic” that congress will put together a “micro-deal” to end the budget uncertainty he describes as more dangerous to defense readiness than the amount cut.  Defense Undersecretary Robert Hale spoke in DC with Defense One at a Defense One Summit sponsored by Atlantic Media. Mr. Hale’s optimistic micro-deal would at least halve the $50 billion cut scheduled to hit the Pentagon in FY14.

Pentagon ends plans to buy Russian helicopters, reports Aviation Week. Senator John Cornyn, Texas (R) called the practice “morally bankrupt.” The New York Times reports concerns among US spy agencies with Russian ‘GPS’ monitor stations on US soil.

The first flight of the MQ-8C Fire Scout is set for this month, an 18-month response by Northrop-Grumman to a 24-month turnaround contract for a maritime based Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance from a host ship, reports the DoD’s Armed With Science blog.

Pax River’s Yegor Bondarenko shares his Wounded Warrier story and positive outlook with The Enterprise.

Bell Helicopter Textron Inc. of Hurst, TX, was awarded  $8,266,644 for  delivery of three Bell 407 analog helicopters in support of the  MQ-8C Fire Scout.  Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas (52 percent); Mirabel, Canada (46 percent); and Ozark, Ala. (2 percent), and is expected to be completed in June 2014.

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