Teledyne Brown Engineering will continue to support International Space Station (ISS) operations at NASA’s Johnson Space Center and Marshall Space Flight Center under a mission operations and integration contract worth as much as $120.1 million over the next five years. The Huntsville, Ala.-based company will support all phases of flight under the cost-plus-award fee award, including mission preparation, crew and flight controller training, and meeting other requirements in real time.
Across-the-board budget cuts beginning March 1 could squeeze NASA funding by $14 billion over the next eight years, according to a report by Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee. A “constraint” in the bill that imposes sequestration mandates that funding for the Census Bureau follow its traditional pattern, the report says. The census is funded at low levels during the early years of the decade and higher levels later as the next census deadline draws near.
LONDON — Helicopter MRO organization Heli-One has secured its first contract with the U.K. defense ministry — a deal to support the engines for the Royal Air Force’s Westland Puma Mk. 2 transport helicopters. The company, a subsidiary of helicopter operator CHC, signed the deal on Feb. 7 to provide logistic support for the Turbomeca Makila 1A1 engines fitted to the newly upgraded aircraft over the next 13 years. The deal is understood to be worth $80 million.
BENGALURU — Rockwell Collins is looking at expanding its sales outside the U.S. through more local partnerships in markets such as India. “Most of the U.S. aircraft that are supplied the world over are naturally equipped with our advanced avionics [equipment],” Jay Little, senior Asia Pacific director of marketing and strategy, tells Aviation week. “Besides providing to the original equipment manufacturer, we plan to sell this equipment directly to international customers.”
Asteroid 2012 DA14, speeding toward a record close approach to the Earth next week, poses no apparent danger to humans or orbiting satellites and will likely depart on a course-altering trajectory that should not bring it this way again, according to experts preparing for the encounter. Nonetheless, the attention-grabbing episode promises to serve as a reminder of a larger threat the world’s space powers are just beginning to size up.
BRUSSELS and PARIS — The European Council is planning a drastic funding reduction to its showcase Earth observation program, according to a draft of the EU’s nearly €1 trillion ($1.3 trillion) budget proposal for 2014-20, cutting more than €2 billion from the €5.8 billion planned for operations and sustainment of the Copernicus program, including money earmarked for development of follow-on spacecraft. The draft, obtained following two days of meetings in Brussels Feb. 7-8, indicates Copernicus will receive just €3.786 billion for the seven-year period.
The Republican chairmen of the two House committees with NASA oversight responsibility have charged publicly that senior leadership at the space agency may have been involved in the leak of classified information to China and other nations, and that a federal criminal probe into the charges has been dropped under “political pressure.”
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) Feb. 11 - 12 — Battlefield Healthcare, Copthorne Tara Hotel, London, U.K. For more information go to www.smi-online.co.uk Feb. 17 - 21 — NAVDEX 2013, Marina of the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Center (ADNEC), Abu Dhabi, UAE. For more information go to www.smi-online.co.uk
BENGALURU — Sikorsky has already pitched for the Indian navy’s initial requirement for 16 helicopters, but is not discussing publicly which rotorcraft it will propose for the service’s much larger follow-on program for 123 naval multi-role helicopters (NMRH).
U.S. administration officials are preparing to endorse a report that calls for revisions to the nation’s nuclear strategy and discusses the possibility of a one-third reduction to the arsenal, according to the Center for Public Integrity. The document does not call for immediate changes to the nuclear force; rather officials are seeking to negotiate further reductions to nuclear weapons with Russia. It also notes that President Barack Obama may preview the issue during his Feb. 12 State of the Union Address.
THALES LEADERS: European defense systems company Thales has made sweeping changes to its management and revised its organizational structure. According to a Feb. 8 announcement, the company’s internal organization has been adjusted to reflect six key areas. Alex Cresswell has become executive vice president of Land Defense and Air Operations; Marc Darmon takes on the role of executive vice president for Defense and Security C4I Systems; and Jean-Pierre Forestier will run Transportation Systems.
The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee is defending former Sen. Chuck Hagel’s (R-Neb.) right to decline to respond to demands for financial disclosures, saying they go “far beyond the financial disclosure required of previous secretaries of defense.” Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) had hoped to vote last week on Hagel’s nomination to lead the Pentagon, but Levin pushed off the vote to provide time to respond a request for information submitted by Republicans.
BENGALURU — The first upgraded Dassault Mirage 2000H for the Indian air force will be delivered in August or September 2014, Thales India Managing Director Eric Lenseige told Aviation Week Feb. 8 at Aero India. “We’ve met every single milestone of the upgrade program and are on track,” Lenseige says. Two Indian air force Mirage 2000Hs are already being retrofitted in France, and the rest of the fleet will be retrofitted by state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). Kits are being developed so HAL can do the upgrades, he adds.
Lockheed Martin is hoping to persuade the U.S. Army and Marine Corps to buy more K-Max unmanned helicopters, rather than pursuing export orders. “We could export K-Max, but we’d have to apply for export approval,” says George Barton, vice president of business development for Lockheed Martin ship and aviation systems. For now, the company is focusing on additional U.S. military sales, Barton told Aviation Week Feb. 6 on the sidelines of Aero India in Bengaluru.
LONDON — A U.K. helicopter operator has received European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) approval to begin flying air ambulance operations using night vision goggles (NVG).
BENGALURU — Boeing wants to sell its ScanEagle and Integrator UAVs to India, and also hopes to interest the country in the V-22 Osprey, according to Dennis Swanson, president of Boeing Defense, Space and Security’s Indian operations. “We see a market in India for ScanEagle that can help provide intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance data or communications relay,” Swanson tells Aviation Week on the sidelines of the ninth Aero India show in Bengaluru.
BENGALURU — India expects to sign a contract to purchase up to 126 Dassault Rafale fighters by the middle of this year, the country’s air force chief says, trying to put to rest speculation that recently announced budget cuts could delay the acquisition. The government has cut defense spending for its current fiscal year ending March 31 by about 5% from the originally allocated 1.93 trillion rupees ($38.6 billion), mainly due to the ongoing economic downturn (Aerospace DAILY, Feb. 7).
LONDON — The U.K. defense ministry says it is studying options that would allow it to retain its Sentinel radar reconnaissance aircraft after 2015. The move comes as the Sentinel fleet — based on a modified Global Express business jet that carries the Raytheon-built Airborne Stand-Off Reconnaissance (ASTOR) radar — undertakes missions on behalf of French forces fighting insurgents in Mali, and continues to support the U.K.’s contributions to operations in Afghanistan.
UAE TANKERS: Airbus Military says it has delivered the first of three A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport aircraft to the United Arab Emirates Air Force (UAEAF). The UAEAF ordered three tankers in early 2008, and joins the Royal Saudi Air Force in operating the type in the region. According to Airbus Military, the remaining two tankers are in an advanced stage of conversion at the company’s facilities at Getafe near Madrid, and should be delivered in the middle of this year.
One of main selling points for the future fleet of Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) vessels is the unmatched speed they are slated to bring to the U.S. Navy warship force. And the Office of Naval Research (ONR) says it has developed a way to potentially provide even more speed more efficiently, through new waterjets.
