The Government Accountability Office is dubious the service’s lone heavy polar icebreaker can make it to its proposed 2023 retirement date and questioned whether the Coast Guard’s construction schedule was too optimistic.

The Coast Guard is planing to replace the Polar Star with the new heavy icebreaker the same year, something GAO said may not be “realistic and feasible.”

The watchdog noted the aging Polar Star could reach the end of its service life as soon as 2020, and the “highly optimistic” delivery date of the new vessel could be delayed and leave the service without a heavy polar icebreaker to defend strategic Arctic interests for several years.

Vice Adm. Daniel Abel, deputy commandant for operations, recently told the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee at a hearing that the Polar Star is “limping along, and nothing with a US flag could rescue her [in the Arctic] if something happened, putting our polar capabilities at risk.”

To further complicate matters, House appropriators are currently debating cutting $750 million in funding for the Coast Guard.

Vice Adm. Michael McAllister, deputy commandant for mission support, said at the hearing that the entire program schedule is at risk if the appropriations cut is finalized but that he remained confident that the Coast Guard is “well-poised to award the detailed construction contract in fiscal year 2019” for the heavy polar ice breaker.

The S-80 Plus was extended by 10 meters to increase buoyancy after the original model of the sub appeared unable to resurface, as first reported by the Spanish newspaper El País. However, the additions will also require much larger docking infrastructure to be built at Cartagena naval base to accommodate the sub.

The total price of the contract for the four Spanish subs, even without the expenses for new docking, has nearly doubled after the unexpected challenges to reach €3.9 billion ($4.5 billion).

Spain’s Minister of Defense Margarita Robles stated on Spanish radio that while “there have been deficiencies in the project,” the problems “are already corrected and the project is absolutely viable.”

The change came about from concerns that the nuclear command, control and communications systems, or NC3, lacked a clear chain of command under the current structure. The system is comprised of satellites, radars and fixed or mobile command posts.

“The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has appointed the commander of U.S. Strategic Command to be the NC3 enterprise lead, with increased responsibilities for operations, requirements, and systems engineering and integration,” a U.S. STRATCOM spokeswoman told SpaceNews.

The Pentagon’s 2018 Nuclear Posture Review found the NC3 system “subject to challenges from both aging system components and new, growing 21st century threats” such as cyber warfare. The report also warned that “Russian nuclear or non-nuclear strategic attacks could now include attacks against U.S. NC3.”

“The Secretary [of Defense] has told me multiple times,” Gen. John Hyten, the head of U.S. Strategic Command, said in a recent speech at the nuclear submarine base in King’s Bay, Georgia. “Besides your day-to-day operational responsibilities … your next highest priority is to make sure we get nuclear command and control right.”

The program is meant to “enable substantially more efficient maintenance by drilling into the wealth of data acquired by new generation helicopters and aircraft,” according to a company news release. The company added it will “more rapidly perform root-cause analysis and faster trouble shooting.”

The use of artificial intelligence to make sense of data has become a growing focus for the defense and intelligence community, as has cloud computing for handling the massive volumes of data.

“Our digital analytics services support the goal of enhanced mission readiness of our operators’ aircraft,” said Stephan Miegel, head of military aircraft services at Airbus Defence and Space, “and they provide predictive solutions which all contribute to reduced workload and costs.”

1. Overall, the global defense sector has grown, but there’s been a slowdown for the commerical aerospace market.

According to the report, A&D industry revenues grew by 2.7 percent to reach $685.6 billion in 2017. Mainly powered by increased defense spending in the U.S. and Europe, “the increased military actions/growth in Russia, China, and North Korea and continued hostilities in the Middle East region are spurring the increased defense spending,” report author Robin Lineberger said.

Global commerical aerospace revenue growth cooled, increasing by only 1.2 percent in 2017 (down from more than double that rate the year before) largely due to “a slowdown in twin-aisle aircraft deliveries in the U.S.,” the report noted.

2. American industry still dwarfs other nations in revenue, but there are surprising developments in Europe.

The U.S. continues to comprise the majority of global A&D revenue at 60 percent, with the U.S. Department of Defense as the major customer. However, European revenues enjoyed a major expansion and quadrupled their rate of growth from 2016. “European defense spending is increasing,” Lineberger noted.

The American efforts to pressure NATO members on defense spending played a key role in European defense revenue growth, according to the report. “Based on the recent European leaders commitments to meet the 2% goal at the most recent NATO leadership summit, we expect European defense spending to continue to increase.”

3. Top industry players remain on top.

The big dogs continue to dominate, as the revenues of the top 20 global A&D companies accounted for 73.6 precent of overall A&D industry revenues in 2017. The study described the industry as “concentrated” in these larger firms.

Boeing led as the top performer in the metric of revenue ($93.3 billion), besting rivals Airbus Group ($75.2 billion) and Lockheed Martin ($51 billion).

Unless tensions in areas like Eastern Europe and the South China Sea are resolved, “expect the Western countries to continue to expand and modernize their forces as a defensive measure,” Lieberger said, “thus sustaining the spending and potentially increasing it.”

The ‘Spider’ communications intelligence system promises to “detect, intercept, identify and geo-locate complex target communcations” in real time, according to the company. The array, designed to fit on drones or manned aircraft, weighs less than 20kg (44 lbs) and fits in a 1.5 x 0.5 x 0.5m pod.

The Grifo E-Scan system, the latest model of electronically-scanning radars, uses a matrix of hundreds of tiny radar modules to ‘steer’ an electronic beam, rather than the radar physically moving to point a beam at a target. This allows the beam to move quickly and for “the radar to perform multiple tasks simultaneously” according to a company announcement.

Rear Adm. William Galinis told industry representatives at a Navy League breakfast Wednesday that congressional investment in shipbuilding and the service life extension of aging vessels will allow the Navy to meet the target.

Congress has been “very generous to the Navy, and to shipbuilding in particular” he said. Galinis noted $100 billion worth of shipbuilding work across different program offices, with 35 ships currently in construction or on contract.

Keeping older vessels operational through repairs and maintenance will be a key part of fleet expansion, Galinis noted. “It is a very solid strategy,” he said, adding that upgrades can yield “five to 10 more years” of service depending on the ship class.

Casting aside doubts on the feasibility of using ships whose service life have been extended, Galinis pointed to the DDG−53 launched in 1991 and the DDG−113 launched in 2015. “We’ve demonstrated the DDG−53 can almost have the same capabilities as DDG−113 through repairs,” he said, “and we’ve done a pretty good job at that.”

Galinis also previewed upcoming major shipbuilding projects for the Navy, including the first heavy polar icebreaker in cooperation with the U.S. Coast Guard, expected to be awarded early next year, and the future large surface combatant design for a new era of great power competition.

“Our next big effort is the large surface combatant” said Galinis. Although it is in the “early stages of concept development, expect before the end of this year we will start reaching out to industry to share thoughts and feedback.”

A recent request for information from the U.S. Defense Department agency solicits ideas on “potential payloads to use in conjunction” with the Launch Challenge, with a maximum allowable weight of 500 kilograms, or 1,102 pounds.

The challenge seeks to “demonstrate the ability to launch payloads to orbit on extremely short notice, with no prior knowledge of the payload, destination orbit or launch site, and do it not just once, but twice, in a matter of days,” according to the agency’s description.

As space becomes an increasingly important security domain, DARPA is hoping to spur development of launch vehicles that will allow the Pentagon to more frequently and more easily bring cargo, such as satellites, to orbit than larger rocket contracts allow.

In a clue to what assets the Pentagon would like to carry into space, the RFI specifies that payloads “that consist of multiple quantities of small spacecraft (e.g., CubeSat-class) with a single interface (ie: dispenser) to the launch vehicle are also of interest.” CubeSat satellites are less than 10-by−10-by−10 centimenters, and such small satellites can be used for studies on space technology and Earth observation.

Responses for payload suggestions to use in the challenge are due July 27.

WASHINGTON ― The British Royal Air Force celebrated a century of service with a skilled flyover of London on July 10, demonstrating formations and showcasing dozens of current and historical aircraft.

One hundred aircraft with nearly 200 aircrew from 25 different squadrons, operating from 14 military stations and two civilian airfields, took part, according to an RAF publication.

Participating planes included the F-35B Lightning II and World War II-era planes like the Lancaster bomber and Spitfire fighter.

The RAF earned high praise from the queen during the festivities, who noted the RAF’s “remarkable contribution to defense” of the nation.

As the RAF prepares for the next 100 years, modernization programs like the F-35 acquisitions are sure to shape the force.

The vessels are designed for long-range air defense, anti-surface warfare and anti-submarine warfare.

The completed construction of the two destroyers, widely known as Type 055 vessels, contributes to the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s determined naval buildup.

The recently launched vessels are equipped with multifunction phased array radars similar to the U.S. Navy’s Aegis system and could accompany future carrier battle groups as China continues to expand its carrier program.

China’s ambitions for a blue-water navy are no secret. In November 2012, then-President Hu Jintao reported to the Chinese Communist Party Congress his desire to “enhance our capacity for exploiting marine resource … and build China into a strong maritime power.”