NEW DELHI — India has issued a global request for information (RFI) to international airframers to supply structurally modified maritime aircraft for its coast guard. “The initial requirement is for six certified and modified aircraft,” says the RFI, issued by India’s Center for Airborne Systems (CABS). Phase II would feature an option for three more aircraft, plus a potential future requirement for another 10.
Aerospace & Defense Programs November 13-14, 2013 Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa, Phoenix, Ariz. Strategic Priorities in a Sequestration Era. Learn which programs are being affected and where government is likely to place its bets. Register Today www.aviationweek.com/events/adp
Planetary scientists are preparing for at least 100 days of intensive study in the Moon’s tenuous atmosphere, after a spectacular nighttime launch from Wallops Island, Va., on a solid-fuel Minotaur V rocket that was visible up and down the U.S. East Coast.
STENNIS space center, Miss. — Upgrades to NASA’s enormous Apollo-era test stand at Stennis Space Center are on track for ground runs of the core stage of the agency’s heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS) vehicle starting in 2016, according to engineers working on the project.
Bell Helicopter has announced Lockheed Martin as its first “investing team-mate” on development of the V-280 Valor tiltrotor aimed at the U.S Army. Other Tier 1 risk-sharing team members are to be revealed in coming weeks, the company says. Bell has completed negotiations with the Army’s Aviation Applied Technology Directorate (AATD) and expects to sign a cost-sharing contract this month to fly a V-280 demonstrator in 2017 under Phase 1 of the Joint Multi Role technology demonstration (JMR TD).
Aircraft and ships from the U.S. and Chinese navy plan to cap off a Hawaii port visit by the Asian leader’s vessels this week with a joint search-and-rescue (SAR) exercise. The port visit and exercise underscore the commitment made by both countries to bolster their naval relationships as the U.S. refocuses on the Asia-Pacific region and China continues to flex its military maritime muscle.
SYRIAN QUESTIONS: The thorny question of U.S. military action in Syria could have wide-ranging implications for defense investors, according to Capital Alpha Partners analyst Byron Callan. “Broader opposition to U.S. military involvement in Syria could lead investors to conclude that [defense] budgets will be cut by levels mandated in the Budget Control Act,” he says of the 2011 law that introduced sequestration cuts. “Events in the coming two weeks could conclusively fracture the simplistic notion that Republicans always support higher defense spending than Democrats.
STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. — Aerojet Rocketdyne expects to begin preparatory work for restarting production of all-new RS-25 engines as early as next month for future use in NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) vehicles in the 2020s.
HOUSTON — The latest suspected source of the worrisome water leak into the helmet of European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano during a July 16 spacewalk is a potentially clogged tube in the suit’s humidity removal system.
PARIS — The European Space Agency (ESA) has completed the flight model of the Near Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) instrument slated to fly aboard NASA’s next flagship astronomy mission, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Built by EADS Astrium GmbH of Ottobrun, Germany, NIRSpec will be shipped later this month to NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., where the 200-kg (440-lb.) spectrograph will undergo additional testing prior to integration with the JWST spacecraft’s payload module.
Advanced Russian-supplied anti-ship missiles in Syria will be a force to be reckoned with, a prominent defense analyst says, and could make the U.S. rethink maritime strategy in the region. U.S. Navy officials declined to speak about anything involving operations in the tense area—and shied away especially from any military topic involving Russia—but the service’s contention throughout the years is that its ships are equipped to handle any threat they face.
TIANJIN, China — Avicopter is developing a technology demonstrator for a high-speed helicopter, adopting a compound configuration that combines coaxial rigid rotors and nose-mounted counter-rotating propellers.
Lockheed Martin has conducted the first flight test of a prototype anti-ship weapon based on its stealthy AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile-Extended Range (Jassm-ER). The flight was conducted on Aug. 27 under the joint Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) and Office of Naval Research (ONR) Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) program.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) sept. 9 - 11— Aviation Week NextGen Ahead: Air Transportation Modernization Conference, "Re-Defining NextGen," The Dupont Circle Hotel, Washington, D.C. For more information go to www.aviationweek.com/events
With the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) calling for the Pentagon to delay contract awards for the Ford-class CVN-79 aircraft carrier because of programmatic “shortfalls,” the U.S. Navy is defending the program to build the improved ships.
MINESWEEPER: The U.S. Navy successfully completed Remote Multi-Mission Vehicle (RMMV) launch handling and recovery testing at sea aboard Littoral Combat Ship USS Independence Aug. 27. The test validated design improvements in the RMMV, its recovery equipment and the ship’s twin boom extensible crane, according to the Navy. The test also demonstrated the crew’s ability to communicate with two off-board RMMVs simultaneously. The RMMV is one of the linchpins of the LCS mine countermeasures package.
