US Congress passes broad aviation bill on safety and consumer rights

On the same subject

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  November 19, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval

  Marines’ Presidential Helicopter Headed for IOC in July

  Posted on November 18, 2020 by Richard R. Burgess, Senior Editor ARLINGTON, Va. — The next generation of executive transport helicopter for the president of the United States is planned for Initial Operational Capability (IOC) in July 2021, a Navy spokeswoman said, but the decision of when to place the aircraft in service will be determined by the White House. The VH-92A, built by Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., a Lockheed Martin company, was selected in 2014 to replace the VH-3D and VH-60N helicopter fleet used to transport the president and other government executives. Six VH-92As were ordered in 2019. Followed by six more in February 2020. Total inventory will be 23 VH-92A aircraft, comprised of 21 operational fleet aircraft and two test aircraft. The presidential helicopter fleet is operated by Marine Helicopter Squadron One, based at Marine Corps Air Station Quantico, Va., with a detachment at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in Washington. “Government testing to validate system performance and prepare for Initial Operational Test and Evaluation is progressing on schedule and will support an Initial Operational Capability (IOC) planned for July 2021,” the Navy spokeswoman said. “The VH-92A will enter service post IOC at the determination of the White House Military Office.” https://seapowermagazine.org/marines-presidential-helicopter-headed-for-ioc-in-july/

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  August 9, 2019 | International, Aerospace

  The $25 million contract will provide a system that supports the military’s complex weather prediction workloads.

  By Brandi Vincent, Through a strategic partnership unveiled Wednesday, the U.S. Air Force and Oak Ridge National Lab will acquire a high-performance supercomputing system from Cray Inc. that aims to improve weather forecasting for Air Force and Army operations across the globe. Under the $25 million contract, the new system—called HPC11—will bring supercomputing-as-a-service to the Air Force's 557th Weather Wing, which creates and supplies comprehensive terrestrial and space weather information to the two military branches. “The system's performance will be a significant increase over the existing [high-performance computing] capability and will provide Air Force weather operators with the ability to run the next generation of high-resolution, global and regional models, and satisfy existing and emerging warfighter needs for environmental impacts to operations planning,” Steven Wert, an Air Force official and member of the senior executive service said in a statement. The system is expected to help the Air Force execute its mission more effectively by offering new features that support the military's complex weather prediction workloads. Official expect the system to improve forecasts and weather threat assessments that insiders rely on. Supercomputer manufacturer Cray also recently announced it's delivering the world's fastest supercomputer to the Energy Department by 2021, which it plans to outfit with a first-of-its-kind storage system that can hold more than an exabyte of data. “This is a great example of the upcoming Exascale Era bringing a new set of technologies to bear on challenging problems and empowering the Air Force to more effectively execute on its important mission,” Cray's President and CEO Peter Ungaro said. The system is expected to be delivered at the end of the year and accepted in early 2020. The company also announced Wednesday that the Defense Department selected it for two contracts—together valued at $46 million—to provide supercomputer systems to accelerate research and development at the Army Research Lab, and the Army Engineering and Research Development Center. https://www.nextgov.com/emerging-tech/2019/08/air-force-and-oak-ridge-get-supercomputer-better-weather-forecasts/159037/

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  November 9, 2023 | International, Land

  US State Dept OKs potential sale of Abrams main battle tanks to Romania for estimated $2.53 billion - Pentagon | Reuters

  The U.S. State Department has approved a potential sale of Abrams main battle tanks to Romania for an estimated $2.53 billion, the Pentagon said on Thursday.