AeroVironment’s Puma AE unmanned aircraft system (UAS) is to be used for commercial missions in the Arctic following receipt of restricted-category type certification from the FAA. Insitu’s ScanEagle also received type certification and operational approval for Arctic flights (Aerospace DAILY, July 26). AeroVironment expects the 13-lb., hand-launched Puma AE to be deployed later this summer to support oil-spill monitoring and wildlife observation in the Beaufort Sea off the coast of Alaska’s North Slope inside the Arctic Circle.
LONDON — The U.K. Royal Air Force’s (RAF) fleet of Vickers VC10 air-to-air refueling tankers is drawing closer to retirement. The RAF now has just three VC10s left in the inventory following the retirement of the oldest in the fleet — XR808 — which was flown into the former U.S. Air Force airbase at Bruntingthorpe on July 29.
FRANKFURT — Berhard Gerwert is expected to be named as the CEO of EADS’ new joint defense and space unit. Industry sources tell Aviation Week that the current CEO of EADS defense division Cassidian will run the joint entity. The future of Astrium’s current CEO, Francois Auque, is unclear.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) aug. 11 - 15 — AAS/AIAA Astrodynamics Specialist Conference, Hilton Head, S.C. For more information go to www.aiaa.org/EventDetail.aspx?id=13178 aug. 11 - 15 — AIAA Aerospace Sciences, Flight Sciences and Information Systems Event, Boston, Mass. For more information go to www.aiaa.org/Boston2013
PARIS — Delays in the launch of three telecommunications satellites atop European, Russian and U.S. rockets will reduce projected 2013 earnings for Luxembourg-based SES, the world’s second-largest fleet operator by revenue.
Both the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) seaframes and concepts of operations (Conops) need to be modified to accommodate ship limitations, U.S. Navy officials acknowledge. “The ships’ current characteristics limit operations to a greater extent than envisioned by the Conops and ROC/POE (Required Operational Capabilities and Projected Operational Environment) developers,” Rear Adm. Samuel Perez wrote in a special Navy-ordered review of the LCS.
TSA TO-DO: House Republicans are pushing a bill that would require the Transportation Security Administration to publish a “strategic multiyear technology investment plan,” as well as conduct a cost-benefit analysis for purchases and create an inventory tracking system. “For too long, TSA has struggled with efficiently testing, investing in and deploying new technology,” says House Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas).
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) has flown an improved version of the MQ-1C Gray Eagle as it positions to take over production and support of the engine for the U.S. Army’s current version of the Predator-family unmanned aircraft.
NASA is revealing its most detailed assessment yet of the design challenges that are being tackled as part of its plan to develop and test the heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS) vehicle for human exploration from 2017 and beyond.
NEW DELHI — The launch of India’s GSAT-14 satellite aboard a Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-D5) fitted with an indigenous cryogenic engine will take place on Aug. 19, a top scientist says.
Russia’s Progress 50 cargo capsule departed the International Space Station’s (ISS) Russian segment on July 25, opening a berthing port for the July 27 arrival of a replacement freighter carrying a NASA space suit repair kit among its nearly 3 tons of supplies. Progress 50, filled with trash and unneeded equipment, departed the station’s Pirs docking port at 4:43 p.m. EDT, destined for a destructive re-entry over the Pacific Ocean.
In the final analysis, it will be up to federal lawmakers to decide whether the U.S. Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) acquisition plan is worth the risks cited by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) in its newly released report on the program.
Click here to view the pdf Indian Naval Acquisition Plans Fiscal 2013-2018 Indian Naval Acquisition Plans Fiscal 2013-2018 Platform Name Size of Existing Inventory (2013) FY13 Units FY14 Units
The navy-to-navy relationship between the U.S. and India is “solid and growing,” says Adm. Jonathan Greenert, the U.S. chief of naval operations. Speaking July 19 at a media briefing, Greenert cited the expansion of the Malabar exercise in Indian waters.
FAIR WARNING: U.S. Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, wants Congress and the White House to backload sequestration cuts under the 10-year time frame of the 2011 Budget Control Act and to give the Defense Department more flexibility to meet any overall reduction. Otherwise, the law’s annual, automatic recisions make for a process that is too steep, too fast — and it will mean culling military missions, particularly as the combined military gets smaller to meet budgets.
