Pave Hawk Crash. A U.S. Air Force HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter crashed in western Iraq March 15, killing all personnel aboard, according to U.S. Central Command. While the cause of the crash is under investigation, enemy fire does not appear to have played a role, the command said. The Air Force is developing the HH-60W Combat Rescue Helicopter (CRH) to replace the aging Pave Hawk. Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin unit, is the CRH prime contractor.

Vulcan Engine. Tory Bruno, president and CEO of United Launch Alliance (ULA), says he is close to picking a first-stage engine for the new Vulcan medium- to heavy-lift rocket. “I’m going to select soon,” Bruno told reporters March 13 at the Satellite 2018 conference. ULA is considering Blue Origin’s BE-4 and Aerojet Rocketdyne’s AR1. While the BE-4 is further ahead in development due to an earlier start, ULA is also weighing other factors, including cost and technical performance, Bruno said. ULA plans to begin flying the Vulcan in 2020.

Omnibus Update. The fiscal year 2018 omnibus appropriations conference report, which lawmakers hoped to unveil the week of March 12-16, is now expected to be released early in the week of March 19-23. Negotiators are working to combine 12 individual appropriations bills for defense and other programs into a single package. The federal government is currently operating under its fifth FY 2018 continuing resolution, which expires March 23.

Acquisition Hearing. The three service secretaries – the Air Force’s Heather Wilson, the Army’s Mark Esper and the Navy’s Richard Spencer – are scheduled to testify about acquisition reform progress before the House Armed Services Committee March 20. Other congressional hearings that week will address ground forces modernization, missile defense, nuclear forces and shipbuilding.

Rep. Slaughter Dies. Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.), the top Democrat on the House Rules Committee, died March 16 after sustaining an injury in her Washington, D.C., home, her office said. She was 88. During the Iraq War, Slaughter pushed for improved body armor safety standards for U.S. ground troops.

DDG-127 Named. Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer named the next Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer the future USS Gallagher (DDG-127), in honor of Vietnam Marine Corps veteran and Navy Cross recipient Lance Cpl. Patrick Gallagher. DDG-127 is planned to be built at General Dynamics’ Bath Iron Works in Maine.

Stearney To Fifth Fleet. The Defense Department announced the appointment of Rear Adm. Scott Stearney as vice admiral and assignment to command the U.S. Fifth Fleet in Bahrain. If confirmed, Stearney will replace Vice Adm. John Aquilino, who in February is tapped to become full admiral and command the U.S. Pacific Fleet.

Colorado Commissioning. The U.S. Navy plans to commission the newest Virginia-class fast attack submarine, the future USS Colorado (SSN-788), during a ceremony on March 17 at Naval Submarine Base New London in Groton, Conn. The principal ceremony speaker will be Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.). SSN-788 is the 15th Virginia-class submarine and fifth Block III model. As a Block III, it features a redesigned bow that replaces 12 launch tubes with two large-diameter Virginia Payload Tubes that can launch six Tomahawk cruise missiles, each.

Chinese Cyber Espionage. FireEye says it suspects the Chinese cyber espionage group, TEMP.Periscope to behind an “ongoing wave of intrusions” targeting engineering and maritime entities in the U.S., “especially those connected to South China Sea issues.” FireEye says the group has been quiet since former President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, reached a deal in 2015 for both countries not conduct cyber economic espionage against each other. FireEye says TEMP.Periscope began to be active again in 2017 and picked up its activity last month. “Because of the group’s tendency to target engineering organizations, we believe the group is seeking technical data that can help inform strategic decision-making,” Fred Plan, a senior analyst with FireEye, says in a statement.

Board Moves. Raytheon’s board has elected Adrian Brown as a new director, effective immediately. Brown previously was president of the invention investment firm Intellectual Ventures and was an executive for Energy Strategy at Honeywell International. Boeing has elected current board member David Calhoun to be its lead director, and has nominated Kenneth Duberstein for re-election to the board. Former Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James has been appointed to the board of TeraThink, a technology and management consulting firm serving the federal government. Finally, Anomali, a cyber security firm, has appointed former Navy Secretary Ray Mabus to its advisory board.

New Fast Response Cutter. The Coast Guard has commissioned its 26th Fast Response Cutter, the Joseph Gerczak, the second FRC stationed in Honolulu. The service plans to procure 58 of the cutters, which are produced by Bollinger Shipyards. So far, 44 of the cutters have been ordered.

GD in Australia. General Dynamics says its Missions Systems division has opened an expanded office and engineering resource center in Canberra, Australia, as it scales to pursue long-term growth opportunities in that country. 

Deal Closures. TransDigm Group says it has completed its $50 million acquisition of the Kirkhill elastomers business from Esterline Technologies. Kirkhill, a $90 revenue business, supplies engineered aerospace fasteners for commercial aircraft airframes and defense aerospace applications. Separately, Viavi Solutions has completed its $455 million purchase of the AvComm and Wireless Test and Measurement businesses from Britain’s Cobham.

Plea for Cyber Funding. A bipartisan group of representatives on the House Homeland Security Committee is asking the leadership of the House Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee to fully fund the Department of Homeland Security’s $237 million request in FY ’19 for the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation program. “The CDM program is of paramount importance because of its ability to provide the federal enterprise with the ability to monitor and assess the vulnerabilities and threats to its networks and systems in an ever-changing threat landscape,” Reps. John Ratcliffe (R-Texas), Will Hurd (R-Texas), and Jim Langevin (D-R.I.), wrote in a March 15 letter to the appropriators. A spokeswoman for Ratcliffe told Defense Daily the trio doesn’t expect the appropriators to cut the funding request for CDM, pointing out that the program is a top priority for the lawmaker.