CHILL TEST: Results of a cold-temperature hot-fire test have qualified a new fixed nozzle for ATK’s GEM-60 strap-on solid-fuel booster for the United Launch Alliance Delta IV, as ATK continues to upgrade the 12-year-old design. In a test Sept. 6 at the ATK facility in Promontory, Utah, the 53-ft.-long GEM-60 was chilled to a core temperature of 30F before the 90-sec. burn, which generated about 270,000 lb. of thrust. In addition to qualifying the new fixed nozzle for flight, the test results validated the low-temperature performance of the new nozzle insulation.
Australia is stretching out the construction of three air defense destroyers, aiming to preserve skills without adding to the cost of the Navantia-designed, Hobart-class ships. The first of the Aegis-equipped ships, HMAS Hobart, is now due for delivery in March 2016, 16 months after the previous target and nine years after construction contracts were signed. The Royal Australian Navy should receive HMAS Brisbane by September 2017 and HMAS Sydney in March 2019, Defense Minister Stephen Smith says.
NASA’s Dawn probe broke free of the pull of gravity from the asteroid Vesta early Sept. 5 and re-entered orbit around the Sun as its low-thrust xenon-ion propulsion system moves it on to the dwarf planet Ceres. With the change in orbit, which came at 2:26 a.m. EDT, Dawn started a transit through the Asteroid Belt that will take it to Ceres early in 2015. The spacecraft entered orbit around Vesta — exceeded in mass within the main belt only by Ceres — in July 2011, and spent 13 months studying the giant asteroid.
If in fact the Obama administration’s ambitious reform of controls on U.S. exports is almost ready to be rolled out, it is coming at a time filled with uncertainties and distractions.
The U.S. Navy this week formalized key ship specifications for the U.S.’s Ohio-class ballistic submarine replacement and the related U.K. successor programs. Rear Adm. Thomas Eccles, chief engineer and deputy commander at Naval Sea Systems Command’s (Navsea) Naval Systems Engineering Directorate, and Capt. William Brougham, Ohio replacement program manager, have signed the “Ohio Replacement First Article Quad Pack Ship Specification” document, marking a major construction milestone.
Honeywell has signed a $735 million contract to supply F124-GA-200 turbofan engines for Israel’s new fleet of 30 Alenia Aermacchi M-346 advanced jet trainers. Israel’s purchase of the F124-powered M-346 comes as defense departments in numerous countries including the U.S. are evaluating new training platforms to simulate the latest fighter aircraft such as the F-22, F-35, Eurofighter, Gripen and Rafale.
The U.S. military services are finding the procurement of unmanned systems particularly challenging because of problems defining requirements and developing software, according to the Defense Science Board (DSB).
MOVING MARINES: Oshkosh Defense recently received a contract worth about $67 million to deliver more than 260 Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacements (MTVR) to the U.S. Marine Corps. MTVR variants being produced under this order include the MK25 Cargo and MK27 and MK28 Extended Cargo trucks. Production will begin in April 2013 and be completed in September 2014.
NEW DELHI – India’s state-owned Bharat Electronics Ltd. (BEL) and French aerospace and electronics firm Thales are joining forces to make civilian and military radars. Both BEL and Thales have approved the formation of a joint venture company (JVC), subject to statutory approval by the governments of India and France.
FRANKFURT — EADS has added two Airbus managers – Chief Operating Officer Günther Butschek and Chief Operating Officer Customers John Leahy – to the company’s executive committee. The appointments represent further integration of Airbus and its parent company, although fully merging the two entities is not foreseen.
Speaking recently about the potential effects of sequestration, the chief executive officer of Huntington Ingalls Industries, the Pentagon’s top shipbuilder, lamented that he would have no idea how to build a percentage of a ship if the U.S. Navy had to cut programs equally across the board. CEO Michael Petters’ point is that each Navy ship has a set size and requirement set. The service either gets the whole vessel, or no ship at all.
Researchers at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) are working to help the Navy understand how alternative fuels will perform in existing gas turbine and diesel engines. The goal is to seamlessly transition to biofuel blends without having to change any engine components. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus is pushing the service to meet energy-saving goals, including a 50% reduction in petroleum-based fuel consumption in the fleet by 2020.
PARIS — On his first trip to Brussels as France’s new defense minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian met with senior EU officials Sept. 3 to discuss top priorities, including the revitalization of European defense. Le Drian was slated to meet with Herman van Rompuy, president of the Council of the European Union, and Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm. Talks with Michel Barnier, commissioner for internal market and services, and European Defense Agency (EDA) Director Claude-France Arnould were also on the agenda.
POLISH AIRLIFT: Poland has ordered five more C295 military transport aircraft to augment 11 of the Spanish-built Airbus Military aircraft already in service for transport and logistics missions. Deliveries will start by the end of 2012 and continue into 2013. The C295 is part of Airbus Military’s family of light and medium airlifters, which also includes the smaller C212 and CN235 variants. In total, the company boasts 113 orders for the medium transport, including 27 announced this year.
Don’t expect this year’s record $65 billion in weapons sales to be repeated over time, says the deputy director of the agency managing U.S. foreign military sales. The overwhelming annual record was driven off the charts primarily by the $29.4 billion sale of Boeing F-15s to Saudi Arabia.
Three years after its launch, the U.S. government group drafting export-control reform measures has started publishing proposed rule changes and is about to deliver a unified set of export controls governing U.S. business. Speaking Sept. 5 in Washington at the ComDef conference, officials from the State and Commerce departments and Defense Technology Security Administration (DTSA) reported on the progress and the challenges tackled.
