After delaying its first buy, Turkey has finally signed up for the purchase of its first two F-35As built by Lockheed Martin. Turkey’s Undersecretariat for Defense Industries was directed to order the first two single-engine, stealthy fighters in the Block 3F configuration on May 6, according to an announcement. Turkey joined the development program in 1999 along with eight other foreign partners. The country also is building its own center fuselages as a contribution to the program.
May 1 — SpeedNews 12th Annual Aerospace & Defense Industry Suppliers Conference, The Jonathan Club, Los Angeles, Calif. For more information go to www.speednews.com/all/conferences May 5 - 9 — American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics' SpaceOps 2014 - International Conference on Space Operations, Pasadena Convention Center, Pasadena, Calif. For more information go to www.aiaa.org/spaceops2014
NASA has been given a glimmer of hope for a low-boom supersonic flight demonstrator, with the 2014 authorization language approved by the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology directing the agency to develop a plan for demonstrating quiet supersonic flight over land. The authorization act approved by the committee also directs NASA to develop roadmaps for hypersonic and rotorcraft research, which have also been cut back as the agency’s budget for aeronautics research has been squeezed.
LONDON — Norway says European cooperation on the Lockheed Martin F-35 is “essential” to keep the operational costs of the aircraft down. Speaking in London April 29, Norwegian Defense Minister Ine Eriksen Søreide said: “If each country alone is to maintain its own aircraft, it will be too expensive. Collaboration is essential. Multinational solutions push prices down and provide opportunities for Norwegian industry to enter the field.”
SEEKER TECH: The House Armed Services Committee, which marks up the fiscal 2015 defense authorization bill this week, is asking the Pentagon for a briefing on dual-mode seeker technology by February 2015. Dual-mode missiles could be used to “close existing operational gaps, reduce the risk of collateral damage” and save money, a draft of the bill says. The reference to a dual-mode missile most likely refers to MBDA’s Brimstone, which was recently tested on the MQ-9 Reaper. ”
The newly fledged chief of U.S. Cyber Command and director of the National Security Agency wants the aerospace industry to help him out with technology that can make his organizations more agile and responsive. Speaking to a Women in Aerospace conference April 30, Adm. Michael Rogers said he expects a serious cyber attack on critical infrastructure during his tenure, which started a month ago. “Given the speed and size and complexity of this,” automation when appropriate can help, he said.
Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) is taking aim at the claim of “perfect” performance in a recent Falcon 9 v1.1 launch made by Elon Musk, the outspoken founder of Space Exploration (SpaceX) Technologies, last week when he announced a lawsuit against the U.S. Air Force for anticompetitive practices.
The recent markup of the National Defense Authorization Act by the House Armed Services Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee seeks to establish a national fund to support the development of the Ohio-class replacement ballistic missile submarine. Such a fund is needed to offset “the impact on the shipbuilding accounts of this nationally significant strategic program,” the April 20 markup says.
The heads of NASA and French space agency CNES have set their engineers on a path to launch another spacecraft designed to track changes in ocean-surface height, with enough resolution to perform the same function on freshwater lakes and wetlands for the first time. NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and CNES President Jean-Yves Le Gall signed an agreement in Washington May 2 to implement the $1 billion Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission. Preliminary design is set to be finished in 2016, to support a launch in 2020.
BAE Systems has been awarded a £125 million ($211 million) extension to a contract to support the U.K.’s Panavia Tornado GR4 fleet until the type’s retirement. The deal, signed by BAE and the U.K. Defense Ministry on May 1, will support the Tornado fleet until 2019, when the type will be retired, a decision made by defense officials during the 2010 Strategic Defense and Security Review (SDSR).
The Cobra Judy Replacement (CJR) program successfully achieved initial operational capability recently, providing the U.S. with high-quality, dual-band radar data in support of ballistic missile treaty verification worldwide. The ship-board CJR was developed and deployed by the U.S. Navy. It is considered to be one of the cornerstone platforms for ballistic missile defense (BMD), which is becoming an increasingly important mission for the nation. The U.S. Air Force now assumes operations and sustainment responsibilities for the vessel.
LONDON — ATK has delivered the first of two CASA—now Airbus—C235 gunships to the Jordanian armed forces. ATK announced that the first aircraft had arrived in country on May 1, in readiness for it to be displayed at the SOFEX 2014 trade show at the King Abdullah I air base near Amman on May 6-8.
