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.
LONDON — The German government has made the unusual decision to publish data relating to UAV losses. The data, published on June 27, relates to losses of German UAVs from the hand-launched EMT Aladin up to the Northrop Grumman Euro Hawk, of which Germany has one aircraft, following the cancellation of the program by the government in May due to concerns over the costs of certifying it to fly in civil airspace.
FRENCH REAPER: The U.S. has offered to sell France 16 MQ-9 Reaper UAVs along with ground control stations, parts and logistics support worth an estimated $1.5 billion, according to the Defense Security Cooperation Agency. The agency notified Congress of the potential sale of the General Atomics-made UAVs June 27, saying the sale would “enhance the intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance of the French military in support of national, NATO, United Nation-mandated and other coalition operations.”
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) July 15 - 17 — 49th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference & Exhibit, San Jose, Calif. For more information go to www.aiaa.org/EventDetail.aspx?id=16854 July 16 - 17 — RotorTech Asia Pacific 2013 Conference and Exhibition, "Embrasing Asia's Growing Helicopter Market," Singapore. For more information go to www.cdmc.org.cn/2013/rap/
The U.S. Navy says the Jan. 17 grounding of the ex-USS Guardian minesweeper in Philippine waters was a “tragic mishap” in a recent report that cites failures of ship leadership and crew leading up to the accident. “USS Guardian leadership and watch teams failed to adhere to prudent, safe, and sound navigation principles which would have alerted them to approaching dangers with sufficient time to take mitigating action,” Adm. Cecil Haney, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, writes in the report.
HOUSTON — NASA’s Johnson Space Center and Deloitte LLP will pursue a long-running collaboration to advance safety and risk management practices for the oil and gas industry under a June 27 strategic agreement. The effort, in part, will focus on low-probability, high-consequence events that can occur in remote and harsh environments, like those faced by U.S. astronauts currently on the International Space Station and prospective missions of deep-space exploration.
There is little doubt what is behind the U.S. military’s rebalance to the Asia-Pacific. “The Asia-Pacific is important to us because of our treaties,” Adm. Jonathan Greenert, U.S. chief of naval operations, said last month during the International Maritime and Defense Exhibition (Imdex) Asia 2013. “It is important to our past and to our future.”
While the Pentagon has made strides in improving its past-performance assessments of contractors, the department still has a problem getting the work done on time, a recent U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report says. “DOD (Defense Department) faces challenges completing assessments on time,” GAO says, noting in its June 27 report that more than half the assessments continue to be late.
