Aerospace Daily & Defense Report, November 28, 2014

HOUSTON — NASA is borrowing a page from its shuttle past as the agency works largely in-house at Johnson Space Center to develop a multipurpose spacesuit for the astronauts assigned to its early piloted Orion missions. The Modified Advanced Crew Escape Suit (MACES) is based on the distinctive orange pressure suits donned by shuttle astronauts for launches and landings after the fatal 1986 Challenger accident.

KAMAN has $40m General Dynamics Canada contract to remanufacture/upgrade (with integrated mission system) four SH-2G Super Seasprites, and provide support for a fifth, for PERUVIAN NAVY, which is acquiring the aircraft from government of Canada. NORTHROP GRUMMAN has developed Viper 2.1 laser designed for all directed infrared countermeasure (DIRCM) systems. NORTHROP GRUMMAN has U.S. Navy contract to supply FlightPro Gen III mission computers for USMC H-1 upgrade program.

Hanwha Group will dominate South Korea’s aircraft engine, artillery and military electronics sub-sectors with the acquisition of a major stake in the defense businesses of conglomerate Samsung Group. Hanwha says it will buy a 32.4% share in Samsung Techwin, which in turn owns Samsung Thales jointly with Thales. Samsung Techwin makes the K-9 155mm self-propelled gun and General Electric F404 and T700 engines under license. Samsung Thales supplies the South Korean defense forces with radar and combat systems.

NEW DELHI – India has taken delivery of its sixth P-8I long-range maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare aircraft, just two months after it received its fifth P-8I as part of the eight aircraft ordered from Boeing. The final two aircraft are scheduled to be delivered in 2015. “The P-8I’s arrival in India is another key milestone for the program and marks our final delivery of the year,” says Dennis Swanson, vice president, Boeing Defense, Space and Security in India.

As the U.S. Navy continues to shape the requirements for its next small surface combatant, the service is solidifying its U.S. East Coast base of operations for the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) fleet of vessels, which currently fill that role. Capt. Paul Young assumed command of the newly formed commander, Littoral Combat Ship Squadron (LCSRON) 2 earlier this month in Mayport, Florida, the East Coast homeport for the ships, starting in 2016.

NEW DELHI – India has so far spent about 74 billion rupees ($1.2 billion) on its much-delayed Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA Mk-1) program, which is awaiting final operational clearance (FOC). “More than 2,700 flight tests have been completed utilizing 13 Tejas, and all trials are progressing well toward FOC,” new Indian Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar told the upper house of Parliament. “The aircraft build standard documents have been released for series production of the aircraft.”

A Nov. 28 launch of the Astra-2G satellite atop a Russian Proton rocket has been postponed due to a problem with a gyro unit in the rocket’s Briz M upper stage, according to International Launch Services (ILS), the Reston, Va.-based company that markets commercial Proton missions. The company says the launch was postponed “due to the off-nominal operation of the Briz M upper stage gyro unit during planned preflight testing,” according to a Nov. 26 statement.

Congress should consider revising the cost cap legislation for the aircraft carrier CVN 78 Gerald R. Ford to require that all work included in the initial ship cost estimate is counted against the cap as the total price mounts, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) says in a recent report. “The extent to which the lead Ford-class ship, CVN 78, will be delivered by its current March 2016 delivery date and within the Navy’s $12.9 billion estimate is dependent on the Navy’s plan to defer work and costs to the post-delivery period,” GAO says.

LONDON – A project that could result in a European multination buy of aerial-refueling aircraft has taken a step forward with the signing of cooperation agreements. The program started as a pooling and sharing initiative by the European Defense Agency (EDA) and is now being led by the Netherlands. It could result in joint procurement between several European states in what officials describe as a multinational, multirole tanker transport aircraft fleet (MMF) that could enter service by the end of the decade.

The Pentagon needs to get its shipping container management under better control, a recent U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report says. “DOD (Department of Defense) uses DOD or commercial carrier shipping containers to transport supplies worldwide,” GAO notes in its report, “Greater Awareness of Recommendations and Improvements in Data Quality Needed to Resolve Container-Management Challenges,” released earlier this month.

To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) NOV. 24-27 — 4th Annual Qatar Defence Logistics and Support Forum, Intercontinental Doha, Doha, Qatar. For more information go to www.qatardefencelogistics.com/