LOS ANGELES — Test pilots pushing Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo (SS2) toward a planned suborbital space flight in the coming months report the vehicle is rugged and stable, without any of the potential transonic flutter issues that could have bedeviled the design.
LONDON — The Thales WK450 Watchkeeper unmanned aircraft system (UAS) has moved another step closer to operational service with the British army after receiving certification from the U.K. Military Aviation Authority (MAA). The company announced on Oct. 7 that it had received a Statement of Type Design Assurance (STDA), a document which states that the system has now reached “an acceptable level for design safety and integrity” to meet the current stage of the system’s development.
LONDON — Argentina looks set to purchase 16 Dassault Mirage F1s from Spain in a bid to modernize its fast jet fleet. In its budgetary submissions for 2014, set out at the end of September, Buenos Aires plans to spend $217 million on the purchase of the Mirage F1s, which were taken out of service with the Spanish air force in June. The Mirage F1s will replace Argentina’s aging Mirage IIIs and 5s, which have served the country for more than 30 years and took part in the Falklands War in the South Atlantic against U.K. forces.
LADEE ARRIVES: NASA’s Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (Ladee) has reached lunar orbit, one month after lifting off from Wallops Island, Va., on a Minotaur V solid-fuel rocket. Operated by a skeleton crew at Ames Research Center during the federal government shutdown, the 884-lb. orbiter fired its main engine early October 6 to enter an elliptical orbit. The orbit’s apogee will be lowered with subsequent burns to move the spacecraft into its commissioning orbit at 124-186 mi., where it will spend 40 days.
LONDON — The New Zealand government has selected MBDA’s Sea Ceptor surface-to-air missile system for its Anzac frigate upgrade program. MBDA is the preferred bidder for the Local Area Air Defense (LAAD) system that will be fitted to the New Zealand navy’s frigates HMNZ Te Kaha and Te Mana as part of the country’s Anzac Frigate Systems Upgrade (FSU) project.
Pentagon officials announced Oct. 5 that the Obama administration’s interpretation of the Pay Our Military Act (POMA) allows wide latitude in recalling more than 90% of non-uniformed employees otherwise sidelined by the federal shutdown.
As the U.S. Navy starts to demand even more access in tougher undersea environments, contractors are honing sonar technology they say will give the service the same speed and fidelity for minehunting that it now enjoys for antisubmarine (ASW) operations. “We are compressing the timeline,” says Joe Monti, Raytheon’s Airborne Low-Frequency Sonar (ALFS) program director. The effort is to make countermine warfare missions similar to “highly integrated, quick-action ASW” operations, he says. “That’s where we and our partners want to go.”
NASA has exempted the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (Maven) mission preparations from the federal government shutdown, primarily because the orbiter will be needed as a communications relay for the two rovers operating on the planet’s surface. Bruce Jakosky of the University of Colorado’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics in Boulder said in a post on the mission website that the agency “has analyzed the Maven mission relative to the Anti-Deficiency Act and determined that it meets the requirements allowing an emergency exception.”
Four teams competing to build advanced-rotorcraft demonstrators for the U.S. Army have each been awarded $6.5 million of government funding toward completing preliminary design of their aircraft, the service reveals—but only two teams will be selected to flight-test their designs.
As the nation continues its Afghanistan withdrawal, the U.S. Defense Department is focusing its efforts on the logistics of retrieving equipment, successful counternarcotics operations and ensuring proper contracting procedures, a recent Pentagon report says. “Along with the withdrawal of military personnel is the complex withdrawal of DoD (Defense Department) equipment,” the Pentagon says in its report, “Fiscal Year 2014 Comprehensive Oversight Plan for Southwest Asia,” released Sept. 30 by the Pentagon’s Inspector General.
The U.S. pivot to the Pacific advanced this week with a security agreement between the U.S. and Japan that will bring U.S. Global Hawk UAVs, MV-22 Ospreys and, eventually, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to Japan. Along with that, the two governments pledged to continue and in some cases expand their cooperation on space, cyberspace and missile defense, announcing that a second AN/TPY-2 radar system would be housed at the Air Self-Defense Force base at Kyogamisaki.
Thousands of aerospace workers could find themselves temporarily out of work if the U.S. government shutdown continues. Sikorsky Aircraft, which produces the UH-60 Black Hawk Helicopter, plans to furlough 2,000 workers at three plants on Oct. 7 due to the absence of Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) inspectors who audit and approve the manufacturing of military products. Sikorsky parent United Technologies warns that another 2,000 workers could be furloughed from its Pratt & Whitney and Aerospace units.
Golden Spike is looking to 2015 for U.S. prime contractor selections to develop hardware for a series of $1.5 billion, two-person commercial lunar expeditions marketed primarily to foreign powers, industry and possibly a few wealthy adventurers.
NAVAL RESEARCH: The non-profit Center for the Advancement of Science in Space has awarded the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) a $250,000 grant to use the International Space Station’s hyperspectral imager to study halmful algal bloom in coastal areas around the world. Also known as red tide, the algal bloom releases toxins that are harmful to humans and marine life.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) Oct. 14 - 16 — 51st Annual SAFE Association Symposium, Grand Sierra Resort and Casino, Reno, Nev. For more information email to [email protected] Oct. 15 - 18 — Homeland Security 2013, Omni Shoreham Hotel, Washington, D.C. For more information go to www.idga.org/events.cfm?filter=1005/
NEW DELHI — AgustaWestland has invoked its contractual right to arbitration over the bribery scandal that tainted its sale of AW101 helicopters to India for VIP transport. India has suspended payments on the €560 million ($762.91 million) contract to buy 12 AW101s and has threatened to cancel the purchase of the helicopters if the charges of bribery to middlemen both in India and abroad are proven. AgustaWestland asserts such a move would violate the terms of the 2010 contract.
Aviation Week 2013 Military Fleet & MRO Forecast! The MRO Fleet, Forecasts and Data you need to accurately plan and strategize for the future. See for yourself with a free demonstration: AviationWeek.com/FleetMRO Aviation Week Intelligence Network Click here to view the pdf
