Raytheon ends air-launched hypersonic vehicle test drought. (Aviation Week) “A demonstrator for a hypersonic missile flew faster than Mach 5 for 300 nm above 60,000 ft. over a Western training range in mid-September, finally breaking a nine-year drought of successful testing for an air-launched, U.S.-made hypersonic vehicle.”
Lockheed Martin’s precision strike missile enters next phase with Army. (Breaking Defense) “The US Army’s Precision Strike Missile program took another step toward fielding in 2023 with the service awarding prime contractor Lockheed Martin $62 million for the next phase on the effort… [PrSM] has a maximum range of 300km, or 186 miles. Army officials describe PrSM’s goal range as 500km or more, around 310 miles…In an earlier flight test this year at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, PrSM flew 400km, or more about 250 miles… fiscal 2022 budget documents show that the Army wants to dedicate $5 million to exploring “critical technologies” to extend the range of PrSM to 1000km or more. The Army also plans to purchase 110 missiles in fiscal year 2022 for about $166 million.
Russia completes flight tests of Tsirkon hypersonic missile. (Naval News) “According to the source, the next Tsirkon trials are planned to begin in November and they are expected to continue in 2022. After that, the delivery of the missiles to the Russian Armed Forces will begin… It was reported on July 19 that the Admiral Gorshkov frigate had successfully test-launched a Tsirkon hypersonic missile against a ground target. The missile flew at a speed of 7 Mach and covered a distance of more than 350 km (217 mi).”
Navy acquisition chief outlines FY22 priorities. (Defense News) “The U.S. Navy will prioritize readiness and sustainment in this new fiscal year, the acting Navy acquisition chief told Defense News… Fiscal 2022 is starting under a continuing resolution that won’t allow new programs to start or procurement quantities to increase — but Jay Stefany, acting assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition (ASN RDA), said that’s not as problematic for the Navy this year as it has been in past years. Most of the aviation programs, he said, are either well into a production line or in sustainment. The Navy’s shipbuilding plan largely mirrors last year’s.”
US Navy reorganizes submarine enterprise to address challenges in construction, maintenance. (Defense News) Recommended throughout. “The new organization aligns all new Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine activities and all legacy Ohio-class activities — both the SSBNs that carry nuclear missiles and the converted SSGNs that haul conventional missiles — under a single flag officer, now called the Program Executive Office for Strategic Subs (SSBN)…. Similarly, all attack submarine work — building and sustaining the Virginia class, seeing the Los Angeles class through its remaining life, early phases of research and design for the next-generation SSN(X) and SSN-specific mission systems — will fall under a new PEO Attack Submarines (SSN). And a new PEO Undersea Warfare Systems will oversee submarine combat systems and weapons, undersea communications systems, training and safety programs and more — and will serve as the undersea domain lead for Project Overmatch, which seeks to net together manned and unmanned Navy assets in all domains…. as in-service Virginias arrived for maintenance, the Navy found it had to replace parts that weren’t supposed to need replacing. Since there aren’t spares available, maintainers have been taking the parts from the construction line, slowing down production at Electric Boat and Newport News Shipbuilding and contributing to those new boats being late… Stefany said the Navy is creating domain leads to report to [NAVWAR commander RADM Doug] Small: a surface lead will reside within PEO Ships, an aviation lead will stand up at Naval Air Systems Command, a Marine Corps lead will be established at Marine Corps Systems Command, and a Navy land lead will be set up under Small’s own Naval Information Warfare Systems Command.”
Report sheds light on changes to Navy’s Constellation class. (Breaking Defense) “An informational slide in the report provides several specific changes that FMM made to the parent design as part of their Constellation-class proposal. Those changes include the bow design being modified to remove the sonar dome and enclosure deck for stability, the ship’s displacement being increased by about 500 tons, topside modifications to allow for Navy weapons and the hull length was increased by “23.6 feet to accommodate larger generators and future growth.”… As of now, the first frigate is scheduled to join the fleet around 2026 or 2027. Whether that happens remains to be seen.”
Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin is a ‘toxic’ workplace, some current and ex-workers claim in essay. (CNBC) “Jeff Bezos’ space company Blue Origin is described as a “toxic” workplace, according to an essay by 21 current and former employees. The essay claims that the company pushes workers to sign strict nondisclosure agreements, stifles internal feedback, disregards safety concerns, and creates a sexist environment for women… Safety concerns are another key piece of the essay, which alleges that “some of the engineers who ensure the very safety of the rockets” were either forced out or paid off after internally voicing criticisms… “When Jeff Bezos flew to space this July, we did not share his elation. Instead, many of us watched with an overwhelming sense of unease. Some of us couldn’t bear to watch at all,” the essay said.”
US Space Force awards $87.5M to Rocket Lab, SpaceX, Blue Origin, ULA for next-gen rocket testing. (Tech Crunch) “The awards were granted by the Space Enterprise Consortium (SpEC)… SpaceX and ULA are already established launch providers for the U.S. government under the Space Force’s National Security Space Launch program. Both Rocket Lab and Blue Origin will be able to compete for the next series of launch procurement contracts in 2024.”
Securing information age combat capabilities demands a new approach. (C4ISRNET) “In a perfect world, the notion of common standards makes sense — all systems communicating in the same language. However, reality dictates a far different set of circumstances. The force we have today is composed from numerous generations of technology, using different data links and data standards… [DARPA] has been developing technologies that do not require common standards or open systems to configure, connect and integrate weapon systems across the domains. Instead of fixating on common standards as the pathway to the future, the DoD should seek to mature and field these kinds of mission integration tools… To that end, the Air Force should establish an integration program executive office to support these kinds of combat-focused, system-agnostic mission integration tools.”
Sikorsky celebrates the delivery of its first Connecticut-made high-tech heavy lift helicopter to the US Marines. (Hartford Courant) “At a cost of $87 million each, the CH-53K is the largest and most powerful helicopter built in the West… Program acquisition costs that include research and development and machine tools have grown to $138.5 million per helicopter… Lockheed Martin has received orders for 33 53K helicopters in the Navy program, Taiclet said. Sikorsky will make 200 heavy lift helicopters over 15 years… The 53K, a highly computerized aircraft, has a capacity to lift 36,000 pounds, reach a maximum altitude of 18,000 feet and travel at a speed of up to 170 knots, or 195 mph.”
Pentagon IG pushes back on Republicans’ criticisms of JEDI review. (Fed Scoop) “[R-IA Rep.] Grassley in August sent O’Donnell’s office an inflammatory letter based mostly on a media report that claims that the IG “withheld evidence and mischaracterized key elements of its report” and selectively edited email interactions of key players in the IG’s investigation. O’Donnell rebutted in his letter that “the information forming the basis of your correspondence lacks important context and objectivity.” He then gave explicit detail of how, contrary to Grassley’s allegations, the IG acted with integrity”
China is cloning Kratos’ XQ-58A Valkyrie unmanned combat air vehicle concept. (The Drive) “Like the Valkyrie, the Chinese FH-97 features a stealthy trapezoidal fuselage, sharply swept main wings, a V-shaped tail, and an air intake located above the fuselage. Even the fuselage weapons bay features the same stealthy serrated edges to its doors, although the Chinese drone features an electro-optical sensor in a stealthy gold-plated windowed enclosure below the nose… With this in mind, China is also showcasing its concept for a two-seat variant of its J-20 stealthy heavy fighter. The second seat would be highly relevant for a mission controller directing unmanned aircraft and taking care of the overall tactical ‘picture.’ Similar capabilities are being eyed for two-seat American fighters equipped with wide-area displays, such as the F-15EX. “
DARPA unmanned ship work moves forward. (Washington Technology) “Known as NOMARS X-Ship, the DARPA program is exploring novel surface vessel designs using what Serco called a “clean sheet refresh.” The NOMARS vessel will have no onboard sailors and will need to operate for long periods of time. One goal is to lower the Navy’s cost per mission hour with a reduced platform size and the ability to extend the reach of larger, manned vessels.”
A plastic cap in a KC-46A fuel valve generates more turbulence for the troubled tanker. (The Drive) ” Deliveries were halted for around a month after plastic debris was found inside an internal fuel line in one of the aircraft as it flew to its future home in North Carolina. The small red cap jammed a valve open, causing an uncontrolled fuel transfer between tanks… The Air Force itself has described the program as a lemon out of which the service is trying “to make lemonade.” … Last year, it was separately reported that inspections found debris in the fuel tanks of almost two-thirds of undelivered 737 Max aircraft.”
Anduril seeks covert sensing capability with new acquisition. (Breaking Defense) “Anduril Industries announced the acquisition of Copious Imaging… The acquisition adds passive sensing capabilities into Anduril’s current AI-enabled technology offerings that detect and classify both drone and ground threats at military bases around the world. The advantage of passive sensing is that, unlike typical radar, it’s harder to detect because it doesn’t emit large amounts of radiation.”
Space Fore issues $47.5 million for prototype transport service. (C4ISRNET) “The U.S. Space Force has awarded Sev1Tech a $47.5 million contract to demonstrate a prototype data transport capability that will help connect its space operators with war fighters across the globe… Sev1Tech’s network falls under the ABMS meshONE-Terrestrial program, which is developing a high-bandwidth networking capability at the tactical edge that can connect war fighters from across the joint services, the intelligence community and foreign mission partners.”
Lockheed scores US Army contract for major electronic warfare, intel and cyber platform. (Defense News) “The other transaction authority agreement for phase two on the Terrestrial Layer System-Brigade Combat Team, or TLS-BCT, follows a 16-month prototyping period… TLS-BCT will be mounted on a Stryker vehicle, and officials have said it will be critical to modernizing the force to defeat modern and sophisticated threats on the battlefield…. TLS will provide the warfighter at multiple echelons critical situational awareness of the enemy through detection, identification, location, exploitation, and disruption of enemy signals of interest.”
‘Trophy’ system faces new competitor: Leonardo introduces active protection system for tanks, APCs. (Israel Defense) “Italian company Leonardo announced during the DSEI 2021 exhibition, which was held in London in mid-September, that it successfully demonstrated a new system, called MIPS (Modular Integrated Protection System), to protect vehicles such as tanks and armored personnel carriers from incoming missiles.”
Rolls-Royce wins $2.6bn B-52 engine contract. (Breaking Defense) “Rolls beat out General Electric and Pratt & Whitney, the latter of whom produced the TF33 engines currently used on the B-52. Work is expected to run until 2038 at Rolls’ Indianapolis, Indiana location. The contract will cover production of over 600 engines, plus spares and associated gear and sustainment requirements. In a statement, the service said it plans to deliver the first lot of updated bombers “by the end of 2028;” that doesn’t leave a lot of wiggle room should there be major delays, as that same statement notes that the TF33’s will not be “supportable” after 2030.”
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