PARIS — A Proton M/Block DM-03 rocket carrying three Russian Glonass navigation satellites veered wildly off course shortly after liftoff July 2, exploding into a fiery ball before crashing 2.5 km from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
With the growing proliferation of submarines around the world and the accompanying threat to the undersea dominance the U.S. Navy says it has and wants to maintain, the service is looking to identify and address antisubmarine warfare (ASW) gaps. To that end, the U.S. Naval War College (NWC) Gravely Naval Warfare Research Group conducted the Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) Integration and Interoperability (I&I) series of workshops to analyze gaps in the “ASW kill chain” and determine the effectiveness of current programs and policies.
NASA has cleared Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) through two more of its Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) milestones, paving the way for the company’s modified Dragon cargo carrier to begin pad-abort testing as early as this year. The U.S. space agency accepted the SpaceX human certification plan, which outlines everything the company plans to do to get ready for human spaceflight. That includes tests, demonstration, analyses, inspections, verifications and training events, NASA said.
The U.S. Army has begun testing of a new intelligence collecting aircraft, though the program’s future remains murky as defense spending shrinks and the Pentagon plans to shift its focus away from Afghanistan and toward near-peer competitors in the Pacific region.
LONDON — Bristow Group has taken over search-and-rescue helicopter operations in the North of Scotland. Beginning July 1, Bristow crews flying Sikorsky S-92s took over from CHC flying SAR missions on behalf of the U.K. Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) under its Gap SAR contract awarded in February 2012.
MBDA’s Meteor long-range air-to-air missile has moved another step closer to service entry following the launch of production missiles from the Saab JAS-39 Gripen. Firing trials at the end of June — conducted by the Swedish Defense Materiel Administration (FMV) and Saab — saw two production Meteors launched by a Gripen as part of trials to clear the aircraft’s new operational software system, known as MS20, which will allow the aircraft to fire the new missile.
NEW DELHI — India on July 1 lofted its first navigation and timing satellite meant to provide accurate position information services to both civilians and the military. IRNSS-1A, the first satellite of the seven-spacecraft Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), was launched on a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C22) from the spaceport at Sriharikota off the coast of the south Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, says an official at the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).
U.S. ARMY Lockheed Martin Corp., Liverpool, N.Y., was awarded a $206,884,461 modification (P0010) to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (W15P7T-12-C-C015) to procure AN/TPQ-53 Radar Systems and corresponding spare parts. The cumulative total face value of this contract is $605,052,337. Work will be performed in Syracuse, N.Y. A combination of fiscal 2012 and fiscal 2013 Procurement funds are being obligated on this award. The Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., is the contracting activity.
SILVER LINING: Could another continuing resolution of current appropriations be a good thing for the Pentagon and its industrial base? “Our view remains that like fiscal 2013, the full $52 billion [sequestration] cut could be reduced as another continuing resolution and muddle-through on the debt ceiling won’t leave the [Defense Department] enough time to implement a full $52 billion reduction,” say Capital Alpha Partners analysts.
LONDON — With its U.S. business in the throes of sequestration, Lockheed Martin is ramping up its efforts to increase its share of the international aerospace and defense market. As a result, the company is forming a new subsidiary, Lockheed Martin International (LMI), which will be charged with pushing the company’s products to the global market.
Successful tests of an all-composite cryogenic fuel tank for space launch vehicles hold promise for lower-cost access to space, perhaps before the decade is out. A small composite fuel tank fabricated by Boeing with funding from the “game-changing” program of NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate contained 2,091 gal. of liquid hydrogen through a series of shifts in its internal pressure and three temperature cycles ranging from ambient down to minus 423F.
As the U.S. rushes to arm and train Afghan security forces ahead of the West’s pullout of major combat forces next year, a new inspector general report has found Afghan air forces to be woefully unprepared and is recommending halting two related U.S. aircraft acquisitions.
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is seeking industry and public comment as it proposes new rules it says “would advance the commercial space industry and the important role it will play in our nation’s economy and technological innovation now and in the future.”
The U.S. Navy awarded Hewlett Packard Enterprise Services (HPES) a firm-fixed-price award fee contract for the Next Generation Enterprise Network (Ngen) on June 27. The base amount of the award is about $321.7 million. There are four one-year options, which if exercised gives the contract a potential overall value of $3.5 billion through June 2018.
Space Florida, the aerospace development arm of Florida’s state government, has been named to negotiate a partnership with NASA to operate the 15,000-ft. Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) at Kennedy Space Center as a public spaceport. The U.S. space agency picked Space Florida after publishing a request for information last year seeking proposals for using the unique facility.
While Somalia coast pirate attacks are still dropping, the number of West African-area incidents is rising and other attacks around the globe continue, say those who track such crimes. The persistence of pirates and the threat of other attacks by maritime terrorists and similar risks makes it even more imperative for worldwide navies to continue patrols, the pirate-trackers say.
