NASA’s Ames Research Center will test a 10-in. high deployment system that can launch as many as 24 nanosats at once during piggyback rides on two Defense Department demonstration missions.
The U.S. Navy is seeking up to 90,000 gal. of alcohol-to-jet (ATJ) fuel to conduct testing and certification for use in naval aircraft. To be awarded in June, the contract will be another step along the path towards the Navy’s plan of meeting 50% of its fuel needs from alternative sources by 2020. The solicitation calls for delivery of 20,000 gal. of ATJ-5 fuel by September, with options for two further 10,000-gal. batches by January and March 2014 and up to another 50,000 gal. by March 2015. This will represent a significant scale-up in ATJ production.
With a record flight of more than 48 hr. on fuel-cell power under its belt, the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is looking at how to transition its Ion Tiger unmanned aircraft from an experimental vehicle to a tactical system. The 35-lb. Ion Tiger completed a 48-hr., 1-min. flight on April 16-18 with an electric fuel-cell propulsion system using liquid hydrogen stored in a cryogenic tank. The aircraft flew for 26 hr., 2 min. in 2009 using compressed gaseous hydrogen.
ROME and TURIN, Italy — Italy’s air force is awaiting a second C-27J transport outfitted with an anti-improvised explosive device (IED) system, known as Jedi, and plans to buy a total of six of the specialized jammers.
SINGAPORE — The Littoral Combat Ship (LCS-1) USS Freedom is scheduled to get under way May 17 for some of its initial operations here, says Cmdr. Tim Wilke, the vessel’s commanding officer. U.S. Navy officials say repairs were made to address power outages while the ship was in transit and coolant leaks when it docked in port. Asked to discuss any other existing or potential problems that could affect Freedom’s performance, officials declined, saying responding to such queries could endanger the vessel’s operational security.
LONDON — Trials to integrate MBDA’s Brimstone air-to-ground missile on the U.K.’s fleet of General Atomics MQ-9 Reapers are set to take place this fall, government ministers say. In written testimony on May 15, Philip Dunne, the under secretary of state for defense equipment, support and technology at the U.K. defense ministry, told Parliament that he expected the trials to “proceed in the autumn.”
SINGAPORE — Viking Air is developing a new surveillance variant of its Twin Otter Guardian 400 for the international market. The Canadian company has sold surveillance variants of the Twin Otter 400 before, but Joar Gronlund, non-executive director of Viking partner Field Aviation, argues the previous ones were really customized aircraft, and that Viking Air has decided to have a more standardized variant to make it easier and more cost-effective to support the aircraft later on.
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency has achieved its third successful test of the Raytheon SM-3 IB interceptor as well as its first flight demonstration of a new ballistic missile target designed by Lockheed Martin.
ARMS TRADE: The Obama administration expects to sign the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty, according to Thomas Countryman, assistant secretary of state for international security and nonproliferation, although the U.S. may not be among the first countries to do so when the treaty opens for signatures in New York on June 3. “I do expect that we will sign it in the very near future,” he told an Atlantic Council audience May 15. Countryman is the U.S. diplomat who led a diverse delegation in negotiating the treaty, which the U.N. General Assembly passed April 2.
SINGAPORE — The U.S. government’s decision to deploy more of its forces to Asia, particularly to areas in and around the South China Sea, may prove to be a boon for the U.S. defense industry. Major U.S. defense companies such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin are hoping to derive more international sales to offset the decline in U.S. defense spending, and the U.S. Navy is already lobbying countries in Asia to ensure that their maritime vessels and equipment are interoperable with the U.S. Navy’s.
With first flight of the U.S. Navy’s Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton imminent, Australia has announced it will formally request cost, capability and availability information on the high-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aircraft. The potential boost comes as Northrop struggles to keep its RQ-4B Global Hawk program alive, with the U.S. Air Force cutting production and Germany announcing it will not procure Euro Hawk variants.
FURLOUGHS LOOM: The Pentagon is preparing its civilian workforce for up to 11 days of furloughs this year, starting the week of July 8, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says in a May 14 memo. Across-the-board budget cuts aimed at reducing the federal deficit drove the furloughs. Hagel says the Pentagon’s budget for fiscal 2013 was slashed by $37 billion, $20 billion of which hit personnel-heavy operations and maintenance accounts.
SINGAPORE — Canada’s Viking Air and local partner Field Aviation are still seeking a launch customer for a modernized version of the Buffalo tactical transporter. Field Aviation’s non-executive director, Joar Gronlund, tells Aviation Week on the sidelines of the Imdex Asia defense show here that although the platform dates back to the 1960s, the Buffalo is still a highly capable aircraft that can effectively compete in the international marketplace for sales against the Alenia C27J.
MOSCOW — Russian Helicopters is planning to resume the development of the re-engined Mil Mi-34S1 light helicopter. The Mi-34S1 is envisioned as an improved version of 1,450-kg (3,200-lb.) Mi-34 training and sport rotorcraft, which suspended production in the early 2000s. This program initially called for replacement of the outdated 325-hp M14V26V piston engine with the 365-hp M9FV variant and installation of new avionics and an improved interior.
The complexity of software still to be integrated and the potential effect of sequestration cuts on development have created uncertainty over whether the Lockheed Martin F-35 will have full combat capability when it formally enters service with the U.S. Air Force and Navy. The U.S. Marine Corps has already said it plans to declare initial operational capability (IOC) with its F-35B in late 2015, before development is complete, with an interim software standard known as Block 2B that will provide an initial combat capability.
GPS LAUNCH: The U.S. Air Force used an Atlas V 401 rocket to launch another Global Positioning System timing and navigation satellite into medium Earth orbit on May 15, replenishing the constellation of 24 spacecraft. Liftoff of the 3,600-lb. spacecraft from Cape Canaveral came at the opening of its launch window at 5:38 p.m. EDT. The launch vehicle’s Centaur upper stage ignited for the first of two burns — planned to be bounded by a 3-hr. coast phase — at 5:42 p.m. EDT, following burnout and staging of the Atlas common core booster.
