Boeing and Cassidian have been shortlisted in a competition to provide an off-the-shelf shipborne unmanned aerial system to assist the U.K. Royal Navy in its anti-piracy missions.
In observance of the year-end holiday season, Aerospace Daily & Defense Report will not publish another issue until Jan. 3. Meanwhile, subscribers to the Aviation Week Intelligence Network can visit www.aviationweek.com/awin for updates.
U.S. lawmakers representing helicopter communities are lauding a provision in the final 2013 defense authorization measure they say prohibits the Pentagon from entering new contracts with Rosoboronexport, the Russian arms provider.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) Jan. 7 - 10, 2013 — 61st AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting, New Horizons Forum and Aerospace Exposition, Gaylord Texan Hotel and Convention Center, Grapevine (Dallas/Ft. Worth Region), Tex. For more information go to www.aiaa.org/asm2013/ Jan. 9 - 10 — Fourth Annual China Aerospace Manufacturing Summit, Post Hotel, Harbin City, China. For more information go to www.galleonevents.com
LONDON — The Sultanate of Oman has finally signed a long-awaited contract to buy 12 Eurofighter Typhoon fighter aircraft. The deal, signed in Oman on Dec. 21, also includes eight Hawk jet trainers and in-service support. In all, the deal is worth £2.5 billion ($4.06 billion). Manufacturing of the aircraft is due to begin in 2014, with first deliveries in 2017. The new Typhoons will replace Oman’s aging fleet of Sepecat Jaguars, while the new Hawk Advanced Jet Trainers (AJTs) are likely to replace the fleet of Hawk 100s used for training.
Five years ago, the idea of easing export controls on commercial satellites was politically unthinkable. That mindset has changed during the last half-decade, as the idea that those restrictions are harming both national security and the U.S. industrial base has gradually gained traction. And now, during a year in which the U.S. Congress barely passed even routine bills, lawmakers came together to shed long-standing restrictions on the export of commercial satellites.
As the U.S. migrates away from the ground-war mindset that colored most of the Pentagon thinking through the past decade, the Navy sees a potential resurgence in submarine programs similar to what the service enjoyed during the Cold War. That king of renaissance should help provide support for future, relatively expensive Navy submarine programs, such as the SSBN(X) ballistic missile sub replacement fleet.
Documents released after the U.S. Court of Federal Claims denied a protest filed by Sierra Nevada Corp. to prevent the U.S. Air Force recompeting its Light Air Support (LAS) contract depict a shambolic source selection and potential bias toward Sierra Nevada, offering the Embraer Super Tucano.
Engineers reached a milestone in the development of the parachute recovery system for NASA’s Orion deep space crew vehicle on Dec. 20, as a 21,000-lb. spacecraft simulator floated to an intact landing at the U.S. Army’s Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona, following an intentional drogue chute failure. Drop tests of the four-person capsule are scheduled to resume in February with an intentional main chute failure.
An engineering board has cleared the first element of NASA’s heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS) for preliminary manufacturing, keeping the big new government-owned rocket on track for a first flight with the Orion multipurpose crew vehicle in 2017.
One of the toughest aspects of making laws is balancing the needs of the federal government while staying true to the voters at home. Such is the case in this year’s fight to maintain the Air National Guard (ANG) and Reserve, the force lending a hand to the active duty military while serving all 50 states.
Two of the leading contenders for the $30 million Google Lunar X Prize have merged, pooling their technical and marketing resources to push for a robotic mission to the Moon’s surface early in 2015. Moon Express Inc., a Silicon Valley startup going after the X Prize as its first step toward a commercial payload-delivery business, acquired the Rocket City Space Pioneers team in an acquisition agreement with Dynetics.
LONDON — AirTanker, the consortium providing the U.K. with new aerial refueling tanker aircraft, has secured its Civil Aviation Authority Air Operating Certificate (AOC) and taken delivery of its third aircraft. The organization received the Airbus A330 Voyager tanker on Dec. 19 from Cobham in Bournemouth, which had converted the A330 into the tanker configuration. The arrival now means AirTanker has three aircraft — two tankers and a single standard A330 that is being used for transport or trooping flights.
With negotiations over the nation’s debt and deficit ongoing, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta issued a memo on the matter of across-the-board spending cuts due to take place at the start of the new year that should relieve some anxiety among department personnel. He issued guidance to the Pentagon’s civilian workforce reminding them that sequestration will not be a government shutdown and that workers should still report for duty on Jan. 3.
At company facilities in Seattle, Boeing has made an on-site delivery of the first P-8I long-range maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare aircraft to the Indian navy. “India will receive this aircraft and two more of its eight contracted P-8Is in 2013. The program is progressing on schedule as Boeing assembles the fourth and fifth P-8Is,” the company said in a statement Dec. 20.
MOSCOW — The revenue of Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation in 2012 is expected to reach 180 billion rubles (about $5.8 billion), the corporation’s CEO Mikhail Pogosyan said Dec. 20. By the end of the year UAC will have delivered 20 commercial aircraft and 35 military aircraft for the Russian Defense Ministry. For the first time in UAC history, deliveries to the Russian military will outnumber exported combat aircraft, Pogosyan said.
March 5-6 2013 Hilton Arlington Arlington, VA Join senior defense officials and discover where priorities and opportunities exist beyond the FY 2014 budget and hear First-hand how programs are implementing affordable and effective designs! Register now at www.aviationweek.com/events/dtar Click here to view the pdf
A system developed to provide precise positioning in areas denied signals from navigation satellites is to be deployed to enable testing of military GPS receiver performance during jamming. The ground-based non-GPS positioning system from Locata is also being looked at as a backup at critical national infrastructure sites that use GPS for precise timing, such as mobile communications, electronic commerce and power-grid synchronization.
LONDON — The U.K. Ministry of Defense has signed a £258 million ($419 million) contract for support of its Sea King fleet in its final years of operation. The deal with AgustaWestland secures a three-year extension to the Sea King Integrated Operational Support (SKIOS) contract that covers technical and maintenance support for the 90-strong fleet of Sea Kings operated by the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy.
Government satellite operators in the U.K. and Mexico are taking delivery of two large telecommunications satellites following the night launch of the 10th Ariane V mission this year. Liftoff of the big European rocket came at 4:49 p.m. EST (6:49 p.m. local time) Wednesday from the European launch center at Kourou, French Guiana. On board were Skynet 5D and Mexsat Bicentenario.
