MOSCOW—Even as Russian military and government agencies continue to renew their air fleets the government is planning its next long-range re-armament effort through 2025—one that will focus on nuclear rearmament and long-range aviation platforms.
Raytheon has successfully completed a System Delta Preliminary Design Review (PDR) of its Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR), U.S. Navy officials report. Completed on schedule, this “delta” review focused on design updates since the PDR was conducted during the technology development phase, Navy officials say. The PDR verified that the AMDR system design will meet its allocated requirements with acceptable risk and within cost and schedule constraints.
An upgrade of Australia’s Jindalee over-the-horizon (OTH) radars has increased the speed, sensitivity and precision of the sensors, and knitted them into the national command-and-control network of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). The Australian Department of Defense plans to seek preliminary approval for further enhancements in the first half of next year, although the focus of the development effort is now shifting to ensuring the RAAF can operate the system, formally known as the Jindalee Operational Radar Network, until around 2040.
HOUSTON—The U.S. faces a struggle in the next few years in determining appropriate safety standards as it surges to re-establish a domestic human space launch capability through NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, former space shuttle program manager Wayne Hale predicts.
NEW DELHI—India has taken delivery of its fifth P-8I long-range maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare aircraft as part of the eight units ordered from the U.S. aircraft manufacturer Boeing. The new aircraft “arrived on schedule” on Sept. 9 at INS Rajali, a naval base at Arakonam, near the southern city of Chennai, where it joined the four previously delivered P-8Is, says India’s deputy chief of naval staff, Vice Admiral R.K. Pattanaik.
PARIS—Start-up optical service provider Laser Light Communications has selected Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. as prime contractor for building the first global, all-optical commercial satellite constellation.
PARIS—Start-up optical service provider Laser Light Communications has selected Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. as prime contractor for building the first global, all-optical commercial satellite constellation.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected] . (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) Sept. 15 — SpeedNews 2nd Annual European Aerospace Raw Materials & Manufacturers Supply Chain Conference, Hôtel Palladia, Toulouse, France. For more information go to www.speednews.com/all/conferences
Exelis Inc. and Chronos Technology Ltd. have successfully tested a new GPS threat-detection system designed to identify and locate sources of jamming. The Signal Sentry 1000 system was deployed in August during GPS-interference trials that took place in Sennybridge, U.K., with the product locating stationary and moving jammers in both open and obstructed environments.
Even though U.S. missions are shifting with the drawdown in Afghanistan to air strikes in Iraq and Syria, the practice of using wartime funding to pay for long-term projects remains in vogue.
The Russian air force has become the first signatory to the Open Skies Treaty to use digital cameras on its reconnaissance aircraft. Details of the first wholly digital Open Skies flight missions were revealed in a recent edition of RAF Brize Norton’s station magazine. The air base in Oxfordshire acts as the main operating location for all Open Skies treaty flights undertaken in the U.K. From Aug. 11-15, the base played host to an Antonov An-30 used by the Russian Federation for its Open Skies mission, fitted with a digital camera suite.
The U.S. should develop a better amphibious-ship strategy to deal with fleet shortfalls, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) says. “The most serious challenge for future U.S. amphibious capabilities is the lack of a common, comprehensive, and systems-based strategy to serve as a guide for difficult choices,” CSIS says in a released earlier this month.
