HOUSTON — NASA estimates it will spend between $8 billion and $11.2 billion on U.S. commercial resupply services in support of the six-person International Space Station between 2017 and 2024, according to a request for information (RFI) related to a forthcoming Commercial Resupply Services 2 (CRS-2) contract announcement. The agreement will call on providers to deliver 14,250-16,750 kg (31,400-36,900 lb.) of pressurized cargo and 1,500-4,000 kg of unpressurized cargo annually.
Despite budget pressures, the U.S. Army is on track to begin the acquisition process for an advanced rotorcraft to replace its Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk medium utility helicopters starting in the mid-2030s, says the official leading the effort. A materiel development decision (MDD)—formally launching the acquisition process—is scheduled for August 2015, says Dan Bailey, the Army’s newly appointed Joint Multi-Role/Future Vertical Lift (JMR/FVL) program director.
NEW DELHI — India is lining up international customers for its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) as the country looks to boost its share of the global launch market. Antrix Corp., the commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), has signed an agreement with Singapore Technologies Electronics Ltd. to launch its first commercial satellite, TeLEOS-1.
If sequestration remains in effect for 2016 and beyond, U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says he will have to shelve a host of aircraft, including KC-10 refuelers, 50 Army UH-72 Lakota helicopters and the Global Hawk Block 40, as well as buy 24 fewer F-35As for the Air Force and invoke a two-year delay for the Navy’s purchase of F-35Cs. Congress provided some relief for the Pentagon with the Bipartisan Budget Act two months ago for fiscal 2014 and 2015, but sequestration is still officially the “law of the land” for 2016 and beyond.
ORLANDO, Fla. — Cracks on an F-35B’s primary support structure found last year are more extensive than previously thought, triggering a halt in ground-based durability testing until the fourth quarter of this year. The initial cracks were found on section 496, a primary wing carrythrough bulkhead, last fall, prompting officials to stop the ground-based testing at hour 9,400 during the second life’s worth of use — or second 8,000 hr. of equivalent flight hours — to investigate the issue.
ORLANDO, Fla. — The U.S. Air Force’s re-engined Lockheed Martin C-5M has reached initial operating capability (IOC), with the first 16 aircraft delivered to Dover AFB, Delaware. Gen. Paul Selva, who leads Air Mobility Command, declared the modified strategic airlifter operational Feb. 21. Selva has been nominated to take over U.S. Transportation Command.
ORLANDO, Fla. — The U.S. Air Force is planning to launch two new and previously classified space situational awareness satellites into geosynchronous orbit this year, according to Gen. William Shelton, who leads Air Force Space Command. The spacecraft were developed covertly by the Air Force and Orbital Sciences under the Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program (GSAP), according to service officials.
As the Office of the Secretary of Defense weighs a premature retirement of the U-2, manufacturer Lockheed Martin’s argument to save the program is that “there is no other high-altitude platform that can do the mission.”
LONDON — The U.K. defense ministry is planning to float the first of its new Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers this summer. The 65,000-tonne HMS Queen Elizabeth is due to be christened by the Queen on July 4. The dock at Rosyth, Scotland, where the ship is being built, will then be flooded later that month, putting water under the carrier’s keel for the first time. The defense ministry states that sea trials will begin in 2017 and the first flight trials with the F-35B Lightning II aircraft are due to begin in 2018.
LOS ANGELES — The Australian government has approved the long-expected acquisition of Boeing P-8 maritime patrol aircraft under an initial $A4 billion ($3.6 billion) program that calls for deliveries to start in 2017.
LOS ANGELES — Engineers at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center are completing key load tests on elements of a large hypersonic inflatable aerodynamic decelerator (HIAD) that ultimately could enable larger payloads to be delivered to the surface of other planets, or returned to Earth.
Development of the CH-53K heavy-lift helicopter for the U.S. Marine Corps is staying on track, Sikorsky says, as the $3.5 billion program enters the ground and flight-testing phase. Sikorsky has completed the ground-test vehicle (GTV) and one of four flight-test aircraft, with the other three in final assembly at its development test center in West Palm Beach, Fla.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) feb. 25 - 27 — AeroDef Manufacturing Summit and Exposition, Long Beach Convention Center, Long Beach, Calif. For more information go to www.aerodefevent.com feb. 27 - 28 — International Helicopter Symposium, Anaheim Convention Center, Anaheim, Calif. For more information go to www.vtol.org/events/international-helicopter-safety-symposium-ihss
LONDON — The U.K. Defense Ministry has lifted a temporary halt on operations of its Airbus A330 Voyager multi-role tanker transport aircraft. The aircraft resumed flying on Feb. 21, after a 12-day halt in operations following an in-flight incident involving one of the aircraft over Turkey on Feb. 9.
Assembly of the first of Sikorsky’s two industry-funded S-97 Raider helicopter prototypes is 25% complete at its West Palm Beach, Fla., development test center and on track for a rollout in September and first flight by year’s end. The manufacturer is pinning its hopes on demonstration of the rigid coaxial-rotor Raider’s high speed and maneuverability in convincing the U.S. Army to take another look at its shelved requirement for a new armed aerial scout (AAS) helicopter.
BLACK HAWKS: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced that a long-awaited $3.5 billion contract to co-produce Sikorsky Black Hawk utility helicopters has been finalized. The deal includes an initial run of 109 T-70 Black Hawks to be assembled by Turkish Aerospace Industries for the army. Sikorsky says a formal announcement will be made when the program is launched in March. The T-70 is a Turkish derivative of the S-70i international Black Hawk now assembled in Poland by Sikorsky subsidiary PZL-Mielec.
HOUSTON — After a dozen years, NASA’s university-level student rocket competition is growing more difficult — much more like the real-life efforts to introduce powerful new propulsion sources like the agency’s deep space-enabling Space Launch System heavy lift rocket.
Rolls-Royce is producing upgrade kits for T56 engines in anticipation of a contract from the U.S. Air Force to retrofit an initial batch of Lockheed Martin C-130H airlifters. The inventory buildup is based on Congress including $15.7 million for engine upgrades in the fiscal 2014 omnibus spending bill.
