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Pentagon officials have discussed counter-improvised-explosive-device (IED) technology with Russian military leaders, and U.S. ships will be on hand in the Black Sea to help with Olympic security concerns. U.S. Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman, acknowledges “an informal conversation between [Joint Chiefs of Staff] Chairman [Gen. Martin] Dempsey and his counterpart, his Russian counterpart … about counter-IED technologies” has taken place.
LONDON — Investigators conducting an inquiry into the loss of an Airbus Helicopters—formerly Eurocopter—AS332L2 Super Puma in the North Sea in August have recommended changes to emergency equipment and pre-flight briefings. Four oil workers died when the CHC Scotia-operated helicopter crashed on approach to Sumburgh Airport on the southern tip of the Shetland Islands, after a flight from the Borgsten Dolphin drilling platform on behalf of the oil company Total, on Aug. 23. Fourteen others—including the two crew—were rescued.
LONDON — AgustaWestland has been awarded a ₤454 million ($750 million) contract to transform the U.K.’s Merlin battlefield support helicopter fleet for amphibious operations.
APPLAUSE: The U.S. commercial satellite industry is cheering lawmakers and awaiting a congressionally mandated strategy this year that could help push the Pentagon toward multiyear leases and hosted payloads providing satcom services. The fiscal 2014 defense authorization act requires the Defense Department to provide Congress with an analysis of financial or other benefits of doing multiyear acquisitions.
LONDON — MD Helicopters has taken the veil off of a new variant of its MD530G light attack helicopter. The MD530GII is a highly modernized variant of the MD530G, which is used by several countries as a light gunship capable of carrying a range of guns and unguided rocket ordnance. GII details were revealed at the International Military Helicopter conference in London Jan. 23.
As the Pentagon seeks to strengthen its relationship with India as part of the U.S. military’s Asia-Pacific rebalancing, Indian military investment is growing, with anticipated acquisitions of advanced aircraft and submarines, according to an Aviation Week Intelligence Network (AWIN) data analysis. When it comes to defense acquisitions in the coming years for aviation and shipbuilding, no other U.S. partner or ally in the Asia-Pacific region comes close to India, according to an analysis of data provided by Avascent Analytics.
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V sent NASA’s newest Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) toward its geostationary orbit late Jan. 23, beefing up the constellation as demand for space network links grows with the utilization of the International Space Station (ISS) and a swarm of scientific satellites.
EX-IM BANK: The U.S. Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im) is conducting its annual “competitiveness survey,” meaning U.S. companies that export goods and other stakeholders can offer their assessment of how the American export credit agency (ECA) compared with foreign ECAs in 2013. Surveys to known stakeholders, including numerous aerospace, defense and aviation companies, should go out Feb. 7. While somewhat perfunctory, this year’s results could play a role in a looming political fight in Washington over renewing Ex-Im’s charter come September (Aerospace DAILY, Aug. 26, 2013).
One of the longest-running military procurement disputes, involving the cancellation of the U.S. Navy’s A-12 Avenger, is finally over. The U.S. Court of Federal Claims dismissed the case Jan. 24. Late last year, the government reached an agreement with contractors Boeing and General Dynamics. The nearly $400 million deal brought the case to an end in exchange for in-kind payments from the companies to the Navy.
INTEL AUDIT: An unclassified version of a long-awaited report by U.S. congressional investigators on intelligence contractors could emerge soon. Citing an unidentified congressional official, Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists tells readers of his Secrecy News that the Government Accountability Office report could be issued in the “next few weeks.” A classified version was provided to lawmakers last year.
NEW DELHI — India plans the first test launch of its newly developed interceptor missile sometime in the next six months from a defense base off its eastern coast. The Prithvi Defense Vehicle (PDV) will be able to intercept rival missiles to a range of 1,553 mi. and an altitude of 93 mi., an official at India’s Defense and Development Research Organization (DRDO) tells Aviation Week.
Two of the five Earth-science missions NASA plans to launch this year will end up on the International Space Station (ISS), which is growing in importance as a relatively low-cost spot to operate downward-looking sensors. The station’s low altitude and relatively high inclination also can give scientists a new perspective for their observations, which typically are taken from sun-synchronous polar orbits.
TORONTO — Bombardier has accepted its ninth Bombardier Q300 maritime surveillance aircraft (MSA) for Japan’s coast guard at Field Aviation’s Toronto modification center after a one-year conversion program. The sensor package includes a Flir Systems electro-optical camera on a ball turret under the nose and a Telephonics search radar in a belly pod. Bombardier, the prime contractor on the program, will deliver the aircraft to Japan, departing Toronto on Feb. 1.
BRUSSELS — Small UAVs have represented the largest number of losses in Germany’s unmanned fleet since their introduction over the last decade. The greatest losses were of LUNA tactical reconnaissance UAVs, according to the latest figures from the Bundeswehr. LUNA losses totaled 56 — 45 destroyed, including 24 that crashed, and 11 missing. Some 23 Aladin mini-UAVs were destroyed, including six that crashed, and another 10 that went missing. Two Mikado micro-UAVs crashed, and two others went missing.
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The spacecraft bus that will power and point the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) passed its critical design review five months early, as the deep-space infrared instrument continues moving toward its targeted 2018 launch date.
Virgin Galactic’s plans to supplement its suborbital human spaceflight business by launching small satellites from its WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft are advancing with hot-fire ground tests of the two kerosene-fueled rocket engines it has designed for the application. Developed and built by Virgin Galactic engineers, the 3,500-lb.-thrust NewtonOne and 47,500-lb.-thrust NewtonTwo are the first- and second-stage engines, respectively, for the company’s planned LauncherOne rocket.
Recent Chinese hypersonic missile tests have rekindled debate about the use and proliferation of such weapons, as well as concern over the U.S. ability to defend against them. Of particular concern to the U.S. Navy is what the tests mean for the development of the Chinese anti-ship ballistic missile. “Known as the DF-21D, this missile provides the PLA (People’s Liberation Army) the capability to attack large ships, including aircraft carriers, in the western Pacific,” the Pentagon says in its most recent annual report on Chinese military capabilities.
LONDON — Senior British officers have expressed a desire for a new training and support helicopter, which could be used as a surrogate training platform for more expensive types, such as the Boeing CH-47 Chinook.
