The U.S. Navy is calling on industry to provide it with options on how to train helicopter pilots in the future. Naval Air Systems Command (Navair) has put out a request for information on how it can supplement or replace its aging fleet of Bell TH-57 Sea Ranger single-engine training helicopters to support the helicopter flight training of Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and foreign student pilots.
XIAN, China — The proposed Sino-Russian Advanced Heavy Lifter (AHL) helicopter may be much larger than previously expected, some brief details revealed by Avicopter suggest. The helicopter is under study—as it has been since 2008—when the Russian and Chinese governments agreed to cooperate on its development. Gross weight will be 30-40 tons, says Avicopter, which had previously said it would weigh up to 30 tons.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) oct. 29 — Seoul International Aerospace & Defense Exhibition, Cheongju International Airport. For more information go to www.seoulairshow.com/eng/ oct. 29 - 31— Aviation Week MRO Asia 2013, SingEx Exhibition and Convention Center, Singapore. For more information go to www.aviationweek.com/events
For a second time in a week the U.S. Navy’s first-of-class Littoral Combat Ship (LCS-1) is in need of repairs. The USS Freedom was pierside in Singapore Oct. 24, making preparations to get underway when the crew found “seawater contamination in the starboard steerable waterjet hydraulic system,” says Lt. Cmdr. Clayton Doss.
HOUSTON — Human space travelers may have more than rising intraocular pressures to be concerned about when it comes to their eyesight, according to a NASA-funded study of mice that revealed profound changes in eye structure and gene expression after just 13 days in space.
SEQUESTRATION: There are no other outcomes under widespread, automatic budget authority reductions except for a smaller U.S. Air Force, Army, Marine Corps and Navy, according to the top civilian and uniformed acquisition official of each armed service. The officials told the House Armed Services tactical air and land subcommittee that the consequences mean a less-capable and less-ready U.S. military.
LONDON — Eurocopter and UAV manufacturer AeroVironment have signed a cooperative agreement to develop new capabilities. Announcing the move at the Association of the U.S. Army event in Washington Oct. 23, the two companies said the agreement would allow them to explore expanding into new markets and developing new capabilities to meet future customer needs.
NEW DELHI — The Indian air force (IAF) completed the flight of its first upgraded Mirage 2000 at the Istres-Le Tubé air base in France early this month, according to a spokesman of manufacturer Dassault Aviation. Faced with a depleted tactical air capability and an inordinate delay in signing the Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) deal, the IAF is pushing to expedite the upgrading of its Mirage 2000s. The first upgraded Dassault Mirage 2000H is likely to be delivered in August or September 2014, says an IAF official.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) has completed the first two endurance demonstration flights of the Improved Gray Eagle (IGE) unmanned aircraft for the U.S. Army, flying for 45.3 hr. compared with 25 hr. for the in-service Block 1 MQ-1C. IGE was developed with company funding to increase endurance and payload with minor modifications to the Gray Eagle. Following the second customer-funded demonstration flight, GA-ASI says, it will analyze the data and share it with the Army to “allow them to decide the follow-on activities for IGE.”
Five companies are designing long-endurance, ship-based surveillance and strike unmanned aircraft under the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (Darpa) Tactically Exploited Reconnaissance Node (TERN) program. TERN is intended to demonstrate the capability to provide Predator-class medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) unmanned-aircraft capabilities from the flight decks of small ships, including the U.S. Navy’s LCS-2 Littoral Combat Ships and DDG-51 destroyers.
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Startup World View Enterprises Inc. envisions a commercial high-altitude balloon experience for luxury-minded passengers and scientific researchers that will strive to deliver many of the prolonged experiences of spaceflight without the confinement, cost, risks or health limitations associated with rocket launches.
PARIS — The European Space Agency (ESA) has postponed the launch of its €940 million ($1.25 billion) Gaia star-mapping mission by at least one month after the spacecraft’s manufacturer identified a technical problem with a component flying on another satellite already in orbit, the agency said Oct. 23. “Gaia shares some of the components involved in this technical issue and prompt notification of this problem has allowed engineers working on the final preparations for Gaia’s launch to take additional precautionary measures,” ESA said.
NEW DELHI — The launch of India’s first Mars orbiter, which was postponed due to inclement weather in the Pacific, has been rescheduled for Nov. 5. The Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) will be boosted by a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), which was also used for the Chandrayaan-1 Moon mission, on Nov. 5 at 2:36 p.m. local time from the Sriharikota spaceport in south India, Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) Chairman K. Radhakrishnan says.
The U.S. Navy and Congress could consider “cross-class” block-buy shipbuilding contracts for its attack submarine and Ohio-class replacement ballistic-missile submarine fleets in coming years to help the service meet its fleet size targets within funding restraints, says Ronald O’Rourke, naval specialist for the Congressional Research Service (CRS). Congress could also consider shifting other Pentagon resources to help fund Navy shipbuilding needs, O’Rourke testified Oct. 23 at a House Armed Services seapower subcommittee hearing.
Commercial aftermarket growth continues to bolster United Technologies Corp.’s (UTC) business units, boosting the company’s overall commercial results and helping offset its struggling military business across the board, executives say. Pratt & Whitney’s large commercial spares revenues increased 22% in the third quarter ended Sept. 30, the second straight increase after five quarters of decline. Legacy Pratt engine spares “are recovering” and the V2500 market is growing, helping offset weaker demand for PW2000 parts, says UTC CFO Greg Hayes.
ASIA PACIFIC: Kim Beazley, Australia’s ambassador to the U.S., says President Barack Obama’s absence from the Asia-Pacific Economic Summit (APEC) due to the U.S. government shutdown and debt-ceiling dispute with tea party legislators was noted by other countries. “The inability of the president to be present at the APEC summit meetings was very bad,” Beazley told a Foreign Policy Institute audience.
