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Aerospace Daily & Defense Report, October 20, 2014 is published in Aerospace Daily & Defense Report, an Aviation Week Intelligence Network (AWIN) Market Briefing and is included with your AWIN membership.

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Magazine Issue

Aerospace Daily & Defense Report, October 20, 2014

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Programs

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USAF’s Secretive X-37B Lands Successfully

Oct 20, 2014
LOS ANGELES—The U.S. Air Force X-37B spaceplane landed at Vandenberg AFB, California, on Oct. 17, completing a record-setting 675 days in orbit. The end of the third Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV-3) mission comes as the Air Force prepares its second X-37B for a return to space. The Air Force operates two of the Boeing-built vehicles and last flew the second on a mission that concluded at Vandenberg in June 2012 after 469 days in space.
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Hurricane Bumps Space Station Resupply Plans

Oct 20, 2014
HOUSTON – A team from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia has secured spacecraft tracking facilities in Bermuda that are vital to U.S. International Space Station resupply launches ahead of Hurricane Gonzalo, which was forecast to reach the Bermuda island group by late Oct. 17 as a Category 4 tropical storm packing 130 mph winds.
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U.S. Navy’s Second Triton Completes First Flight

Oct 20, 2014
The U.S. Navy’s second MQ-4C Triton unmanned aircraft system successfully completed its first flight earlier this month, says Northrop Grumman, which is building the system. A Navy and Northrop flight test team conducted the 6.7-hr. flight on Oct. 1 out of a manufacturing facility in Palmdale, California. The team is now prepping the aircraft to fly to a Navy facility in Maryland later this month.
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India’s Mars Orbiter Gets Ready For Comet Flyby

Oct 20, 2014
NEW DELHI—India has changed the track of its Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) to avoid any possible collision with debris from a fast-approaching comet that will whiz past the red planet on Oct. 19, a senior space scientist says. “The spacecraft has been taken to a position farthest from the tail of the comet Siding Spring so that it doesn’t affect the satellite as it comes close to Mars,” says A.S. Kiran Kumar, director of the Space Application Center, a research unit of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).
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Counter-IED Program Gets Milestone C Approval

Oct 20, 2014
The Joint Counter Radio-Controlled Improvised Explosive Device Electronic Warfare (Jcrew) program recently received Milestone C approval, U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command (Navsea) confirmed earlier this month. The Navy is developing the Jcrew system to protect soldiers on patrol, in vehicles, or in forward operating bases from radio-controlled improvised explosive devices (IED).
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India Test Fires Subsonic Cruise Missile

Oct 20, 2014
NEW DELHI—India successfully test-launched Nirbhay—its first indigenously developed, long-range, subsonic cruise missile—more than a year after it failed to hit its target during its first launch. The 1,000-kilometer (620-mi.)-class missile, developed by the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO), took off from the launch complex at Chandipur in the eastern Odisha state at 10:04 a.m. on Oct. 17, a DRDO official says.
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50 EC225s Now Flying With Redesigned Shaft

Oct 20, 2014
LONDON – Airbus Helicopters says it is rapidly rolling out its redesigned bevel gear vertical shaft for the EC225, seven months after its was certified by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). Some 50 EC225s and EC725s are now flying with the new component following its certification on April 22, accumulating around 5,000 flying hours.

SpeedNews Defense & Space

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SpeedNews Defense & Space

Oct 20, 2014
AIRBUS DEFENCE AND SPACE made first flight of first A400M for GERMAN AIR FORCE, which has ordered 53. BOEING delivered the 18th P-8A Poseidon to the U.S. NAVY, which has ordered 53. DASSAULT AVIATION reported net sales of €715m in 3Q14 vs €762m in 3Q13; backlog increased to €8.3b from €7.5b a year ago. It has delivered seven Rafale fighter jets in January-September vs. seven a year ago, and plans to deliver four more in 4Q14.

Funding & Policy

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U.S. Navy Boosts Ship-Based BMD In Asia-Pacific

Oct 20, 2014
The U.S. Navy’s ballistic missile defense (BMD)-capable guided-missile destroyers DDG 65 USS Benfold and DDG 69 USS Milius will be deployed to Yokosuka, Japan, the service acknowledged earlier this month.

Technology

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Aerojet Rocketdyne Tests Copper-alloy Additive Manufacturing

Oct 20, 2014
Working in partnership, NASA and Aerojet Rocketdyne have conducted 19 hot-fire tests of a rocket engine thrust chamber assembly built using copper alloy additive manufacturing, according to the company. Under a Space Act Agreement, propulsion engineers from Aerojet Rocketdyne, NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate and Glenn Research Center ran the test series on various mixture ratios and injector conditions with the company’s proprietary Selective Laser Melting copper alloy enhanced heat transfer design thrust chamber, Aerojet Rocketdyne said Oct. 17.

Industry Data

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U.S. Army/Marine Corps Ground Vehicle Budget Excerpt, FY 15

Oct 20, 2014
U.S. Army/Marine Corps Ground Vehicle Budget Excerpt, FY 15 ($ in thousands. See pp. 6-7 for full chart.) M1 Abrams MBT mods 237,023 Tank and Medium Caliber Ammo

Calendar of Events

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Upcoming Events

Oct 20, 2014
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) Oct. 20 — National Guard Association of the United States, Honolulu, Hawaii. For more information go to www.ngaus.org