Wind tunnel tests on a high-power, air-driven generator designed for the U.S. Navy’s Next Generation Jammer (NGJ) pod have been completed and its developer is looking for other applications, including power generation on unmanned aircraft. The high-power ram-air turbine (Hi-RAT) developed by Advanced Technologies Inc. (ATGI) was flight tested by one of the NGJ bidders, but the Raytheon jammer selected by the Navy uses a different power-generation system.
APACHE SALE: In what the Pentagon calls a “first-of-its-kind” deal, the U.S. has agreed to sell eight new Apache AH-64E attack helicopters and Longbow radars worth about $500 million to Indonesia, U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel confirms. Hagel provided details about the deal Aug. 25 during a joint news conference with Indonesian Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro. The U.S.
ARMY AAI, Hunt Valley, Md., was awarded a firm-fixed-price, no-option, non-multiyear contract modification (P00111) of $11,798,626 with a cumulative maximum value of $1,530,786,418 for purchase of six Shadow unmanned aircraft vehicles and auxiliary equipment. Performance location will be at Hunt Valley, and funding will be from fiscal 2012 other funding. One bid solicited and one received. The U.S. Army Contracting Command – Redstone Arsenal (Aviation), Redstone, Ala., is the contracting activity (W58RGZ-08-C-0023).
The widely leaked news over the weekend that the Obama administration is considering military strikes in Syria, along with other Middle East turmoil, is forming the backdrop as Washington begins to seriously mull what kind of military to have over the next few decades.
Gregory Johnson, the former NASA astronaut and retired U.S. Air Force colonel, will become executive director of the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (Casis), the Florida-based nonprofit selected two years ago by the space agency to manage research across the U.S. National Laboratory elements of the International Space Station (ISS). The appointment is effective Sept. 1, according to an Aug. 26 Casis announcement.
In an effort to demonstrate that unmanned aircraft can be integrated into civil airspace, NASA is planning a competition next year that will challenge contestants to complete a series of missions while ensuring their UAVs remain well clear of other aircraft and obey the same rules as other air traffic.
AIR FORCE Textron Defense Systems, Wilmington, Mass., has been awarded a $640,786,442 modification (PZ00001) to a firm-fixed-price contract (FA8213-12-C-0064) for 1,300 cluster bomb units. The work will be performed in Wilmington and is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, 2015. This contract involves foreign military sales (FMS) for Saudi Arabia. FMS funds in the amount of $410,218,248 are being obligated at time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center/OO-ALC/EBHKA, Hill AFB, Utah, is the contracting activity. NAVY
U.S. and Chinese forces participated in a counter-piracy exercise in the Gulf of Aden earlier this month as the two countries continue to make good on their promise to have more positive military-to-military engagements. The guided-missile destroyer DDG-87 USS Mason worked with elements of the Chinese navy Aug. 24-25, just days after Gen. Chang Wanquan, China’s defense minister, spoke with U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel at the Pentagon about the need for such joint exercises.
LONDON — All three North Sea oil and gas helicopter operators have halted operations of the AS332L2 Super Puma helicopter as investigators begin their probe into why a CHC-operated Super Puma ditched into the sea just minutes before its planned landing in the Shetland Islands, resulting in the deaths of four passengers.
The U.S. Navy is looking to improve the management of its software licenses following the findings in a recent Pentagon Inspector General (IG) report. Navy Enterprise Licensing Agreements “included unacceptable language in two of the 11 best practice areas we identified in software licensing training,” the IG says.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) Aug. 28 - 29 — Fourth International Technical Specialists' Meeting on Vertical Lift Research, Development, Test and Evaluation, NAS Patuxent River, Md. For more information go to www.vtol.org/erf Aug. 29 - Sept. 1 — Asian/Australian Rotorcraft Forum, Tianjin, China. For more information go to www.vtol.org/arf
The Aegis Combat System successfully completed a test earlier this week that proves the system can defend beyond its line-of-sight by integrating data from a remote sensor to intercept a target, Aegis prime contractor Lockheed Martin says.
REACTIVATED: NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) will be revived in September to spend another three years discovering and characterizing asteroids that could pose a threat to Earth or be suitable candidates for exploration. NASA anticipates WISE will use its 16-in.
As federal budgets have gotten tighter in recent years, federal contractors have become more likely to file bid protests, but they also are more likely to lose, according to the Congressional Research Service (CRS).
Under pressure from sequestration budget cuts, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is delaying the launch of the first of a new breed of weather satellites.
A Boeing-led team has demonstrated that a group of EA-18G Growler electronic attack aircraft, connected by a prototype data link, can track a moving ship accurately enough to guide a missile to it, without the help of radar. In follow-on tests, proposed for next year, the Growlers would be linked to an F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighter carrying an infrared search-and-track (IRST) system for long-range detection and tracking of airborne targets.
HOUSTON — So far, Mother Nature has not disappointed the 250 scientists, engineers and flight-support personnel participating in a NASA-led airborne research campaign to understand how regional summertime pollution from urban areas, forest fires and other sources influences air quality and climate on a global scale.
