August 17, 2021 | International, Aerospace
Red 6 lands contract to put augmented reality on a T-38 training jet
After integration on a T-38 is complete, a fourth-gen fighter will be next in line.
August 18, 2020 | International, Aerospace
The US Army is building zombies. (No, not the brain-eating kind.)
By: Jen Judson
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army is recycling demilitarized rocket motors and repurposing the materials to make test missiles and it's saving the service money, according to Thomas Webber, director of the Army's Space and Missile Defense Command Technical Center.
These test missiles are called “zombies” and save the Army from having to destroy old boosters, giving them a new life, Webber said during the Defense News Space and Missile Defense Symposium Debrief event Aug. 5.
The effort started several years ago when the Army's Program Executive Office for Missiles and Space and the Patriot air and missile defense lower-tier product office began running out of targets for tests and spending “a lot” of money to buy more targets, Webber said.
The tech center proposed a “significantly cheaper” solution of using recycled motors reaching the end of operational life that would be appropriate for both developmental and operational missile tests, which are accurately representative of ballistic missile threats, he said.
Following a demonstration at the end of 2016, the zombies have taken off.
“We've been very successful,” Webber said. Since then, the program has expanded, providing targets not only for Patriot testing, but also the Missile Defense Agency and foreign military sales test events.
The Army has built seven targets to date. There are three variants: Pathfinder Zombie; the Black Dagger Zombie that adds an additional booster — the Terrier MK70 — for longer ranges; and Sabre, a shorter-range version.
A zombie was the target used in a recent critical test showing the Patriot system could be interoperable with the Army's Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, Webber said.
Another target was successfully deployed in a June 25 test at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, for a foreign military sales customer.
The targets will be used in some of the upcoming tests that will help officials make decisions on the Lower-Tier Air-Defense Sensor, the future radar for the Army's Integrated Air-and-Missile Defense System to replace Patriot, Webber noted.
Specifically, a Black Dagger will be used during the IAMD Battle Command System limited-user test coming up next month.
“It has been a tremendous boon for us to be able to provide a more affordable, effective target,” Webber said.
He added that the Army is saving roughly 50 percent of what it would cost to replace targets simply by buying more. “We can turn these around pretty quickly and support those operational test events,” he said.
And it has provided “the capability needed to be able to make sure that we're validating and testing those operational weapon systems with regular and recurring test events,” Webber said.
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September 11, 2018 | International, Aerospace
Secretary Wilson to lay out ‘Air Force We Need’ at AFA
By: Stephen Losey The Air Force has a problem. The military is trying to shift its focus from wars against so-called “violent extremists” in places like Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria so it can prepare for a potential war against a major peer or near-peer nation. But the Air Force is currently too small even for the missions it's being asked to do today in the Middle East, let alone a war against China, Russia or North Korea, said Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson in an Aug. 28 interview at the Pentagon. The service is going to have to grow, she said. But the big question is where — and by how much? Wilson will attempt to answer that question Sept. 17, when she delivers her keynote address, “The Air Force We Need,” at the Air Force Association's Air Space and Cyber Conference. The secretary will lay out how many operational squadrons — such as fighter, bomber, mobility and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance — are needed, as well as the matching end strength, for the Air Force to project power and carry out its expected missions in the future. “The chief and I were asked in this last testimony on the Hill for the Defense Authorization Act, ‘Well, what do you need to implement the new National Defense Strategy?” Wilson said. “We should know the answer to that question. That's the work that's been going on the last six months or so.” The Air Force now has 312 operational squadrons, not including squadrons doing support activities such as finance, Wilson said. Squadrons are the basic unit of the Air Force, she said, which is why this new plan will focus on the squadron level. The Air Force intentionally didn't consider budgets as it drew up this plan over the past six months, Wilson said. Instead, it focused on what would be required to fight a major war. With that information in hand, she said, the Air Force can better articulate where it's headed — and what the potential risks might be of not funding or underfunding certain elements. Full article: https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2018/09/10/wilson-to-lay-out-air-force-we-need-at-afa
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May 19, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval
Government watchdog rejects Airbus protest over helicopter contract
By: David B. Larter WASHINGTON — Leonardo has restarted work on the U.S. Navy's new training helicopter after its competitor's protest of the contract was rejected by the Government Accountability Office. Airbus, which lost the competition in January, protested the award of the TH-73 that is slated to replace the Navy's aged TH-57 Sea Ranger fleet. “On Tuesday, the GAO denied the protest of the Navy's contract award of the Advanced Helicopter Training System (AHTS) program to Leonardo,” Leonardo said in a statement. “As a result, Leonardo has immediately resumed work on AHTS in Philadelphia, readying the next generation of U.S. Naval Aviators.” The contract, which is going through Leonardo's Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based AugustaWestland facility, is valued at about $648 million. The first part of the contract was for $176.5 million and covered the first 32 helicopters. https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2020/05/14/government-watchdog-rejects-airbus-protest-over-us-navy-training-helicopter-contract/