AIR FORCE Schafer Corp., Chelmsford, Mass. (FA7022-11-C-0009, P00012), is being awarded an $8,468,294 contract modification for particle analysis services. The contract modification provides for the exercise of the second contract option period. The location of the performance is Sunol, Calif. Work is expected to be completed by Sept. 30, 2013. The contracting activity is AF ISR Agency/A7KRB, Patrick Air Force Base, Fla.
BEIJING — South Korea’s program to indigenously develop a stealth fighter is facing severe political obstacles, with the finance ministry seeking to delay development and an influential think tank casting doubt on the project’s viability. In addition, a key program opponent may become defense minister in the next presidential term, which will begin in February.
TEL AVIV — The Israeli air force (IAF) has resumed operations with its Israel Aerospace Industries Heron TP unmanned aerial vehicle after lifting a grounding order imposed following a Jan. 29 crash. The decision came after a successful test conducted in the south, clearing the aircraft for safe operation.
The incoming director of the F-35 program says that a poor relationship between the Joint Program Office, customers and prime contractor Lockheed Martin is the biggest threat to the success of the stealthy, single-engine fighter.
The U.S. Air Force has begun flight tests of the upgraded Rolls-Royce T56 on a C-130H, which could help extend the service life of the transport to 2040. Flight tests of the T56 Series 3.5 enhancement package are taking place at Edwards AFB, Calif., using an Air National Guard-operated Lockheed Martin C-130H. Testing aims to verify a predicted fuel burn improvement of around 8%, as well as assessing flying qualities and improved payload capability.
METOP-B: Europe’s Metop-B satellite was launched into orbit from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 10:28 p.m. local time Sept. 17. Roughly 1 hr. and 9 min. after liftoff, the upper stage of the Soyuz launch vehicle released the Astrium-built satellite into its designated orbit at approximately 800 km (500 mi.) altitude. Metop-B is a replacement low-altitude, polar-orbiting weather satellite for Metop-A. The spacecraft is designed to have an operational life of five years.
ST. LOUIS — As the U.S. slashes military spending and eyes even greater cuts, Boeing is starting to set its sights on overseas markets — and the company likes what it sees there. International sales, says Christopher Chadwick, Boeing Military Aircraft president, will be a major part of the company’s success in coming years. “One of the key elements is: How do we go more global?” Chadwick said during a recent briefing with reporters.
Can Congress be publicly shamed into avoiding a 10-year, $1 trillion across-the-board government spending cut before January? Not likely. But two widely respected former leaders of the Pentagon are the latest to make the attempt. Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Michael Mullen, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, reminded the nation’s political leaders that failing to address the nation’s fiscal situation will harm the country’s security during speeches to the Center for Strategic and International Studies Sept. 17.
BEIJING — A second Chinese stealth fighter, apparently from Avic’s Shenyang plant, has appeared in seemingly genuine pictures that cropped up on Chinese web sites Sept. 15. The twin-engine, single-seat fighter, shown at an airfield, appears to approximate the Lockheed Martin F-35 in size, with a somewhat shallower body but a similar span of about 11.4 meters (37.5 ft.), as indicated by comparison with a commercial aircraft tug shown pulling it.
Pasadena, Calif. – Orbital Sciences Corp. expects to move the initial Antares rocket to the launch pad at Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island, Va., later this month in preparation for hot fire tests.
BERLIN – Airbus Military expects to conduct the first flight of its first production A400M transport in the first quarter of next year, later than the most recent plan for the struggling program.
New Delhi – The Indian Space Research Organization will launch the communication satellite GSAT 10 from French Guiana on Sept. 22, the ISRO’s 101st mission. “We are going to French Guiana for the launch because the satellite weighs nearly 3.5 tons, which cannot be lifted by any of our vehicles – PSLV or GSLV,” ISRO Chairman K. Radhakrishnan says.
Pasadena, Calif. – Space Exploration Technologies ( SpaceX ) is negotiating with the FAA to allow the Grasshopper reusable launch test vehicle to fly at higher altitudes as part of a planned series of launch and landing evaluations.
If Congress fails to block a looming government-wide budget cut, the Pentagon will lose $54.7 billion and NASA about $1.7 billion, the White House Office of Management and Budget said in a report delivered to Congress Sept. 14. The cuts amount to a 9.4% cut to defense accounts and an 8.2% cut to other domestic discretionary programs, including NASA. The penalty known as sequestration was put in place last year by a bill designed to spur lawmakers to reduce the federal deficit by $1.2 trillion.
Berlin – Germany is expected to make a multibillion euro decision in the coming years on whether to continue with the Medium-Extended Area Defense System (Meads) or shift to a Patriot-based upgrade plan to modernize its air defense capability.
AEGIS UPGRADE: Lockheed Martin Mission Systems & Sensors has been awarded a $58,102,467 contract modification to support fielding Aegis modernization capabilities to the U.S. Navy fleet, the Pentagon said Sept. 14. The contract includes funding for the production of a fiscal year 2012 multi-mission signal processor equipment set, two ballistic missile defense 4.0.1 equipment sets, and one upgraded Aegis weapon system equipment set. The work is expected to be completed by December 2014. Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington D.C., is the contracting activity.
