As efforts to introduce routine UAV operations into the U.S. National Airspace System gain momentum, work is progressing to make the system safer and more secure from potential hacking, according to FAA and industry officials.
LAS VEGAS — Northrop Grumman’s ZPY-1 STARLite radar is being prepared for flight testing on the U.S. Army’s AAI RQ-7B Shadow, giving the tactical unmanned aircraft system (UAS) an ability to track people on foot through weather. The STARLite is deployed on Army Persistent Threat Detection System surveillance aerostats protecting bases in Afghanistan and is in production to equip the service’s General Atomics Aeronautical Systems MQ-1C Gray Eagle medium-altitude UAS.
TEL AVIV — Israel’s unmet aerial refueling requirements are being highlighted as the country mulls possible air strikes against Iranian nuclear sites, and although a U.S. offer of surplus KC-135s would help, it is not a long-term solution.
LAS VEGAS — Boeing subsidiary Insitu is field-testing improved sensors for its ScanEagle as more capable payloads become available for small unmanned aircraft systems (SUAS). The 44-lb. ScanEagle normally flies with either an electro-optical (EO) or infrared (IR) turret, but Insitu is flight testing a sensor that combines the current EO camera with a mid-wave infrared (MWIR) imager.
HOUSTON — NASA’s Morpheus team expects to assemble a second test vehicle from spare components and resume tethered test flights at Johnson Space Center by the end of 2012, following the prototype lander’s Aug. 9 crash during an untethered flight attempt at Kennedy Space Center (KSC).
The Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) will be able to deploy the modules for the missions planned for the vessel, U.S. Navy officials say. “Each LCS will deploy with the Mission Package (MP) required to accomplish the Combatant Commander (COCOM)-directed missions,” the Navy said in an information paper provided Aug. 2 by the Navy Office of Legislative Affairs to the Congressional Research Service (CRS) and Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
The U.S. Bankruptcy Court on Aug. 14 is scheduled to consider a claim by Pilatus Aircraft that it is owed at least $1 million in royalty money by Hawker Beechcraft for the production of the Pilatus-designed airframe used for the T-6/AT-6 military trainer.
NASA has issued a new call to researchers to flight test an array of space technologies on a variety of platforms ranging from the modified Boeing 727 Zero-G parabolic test aircraft to high-altitude balloons and reusable launch vehicles. The announcement is the fifth made by NASA’s Flight Opportunities program, which aims to develop key space technologies as well as help foster the growth of the reusable launch business. Proposals for the latest call are due by Sept. 21, with an initial announcement on selections possible as early as November.
SAO JOSE DOS CAMPOS, Brazil — Embraer is positioning itself to secure the lion’s share of the billions in defense deals that Brazil has looming on the horizon, which could put it on the path to becoming one of the world’s top defense firms. Contracts up for grabs include Sisfron, a $6 billion integrated border monitoring system that Brazil’s army is implementing to protect the country’s land borders. Brazil has borders with 10 different countries totaling nearly 17,000 km (10,600 mi.).
NRO RETRY: The U.S. Air Force is eyeing Sept. 6 for the rescheduled launch of the National Reconnaissance Office’s latest classified satellite, NROL-36. Originally targeted for an Aug. 2 liftoff from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., the flight had to be postponed while engineers worked through a range instrumentation issue. The fixes for the range issues should be tested and certified by the end of this month, according to Atlas V rocket maker United Launch Alliance.
Three space-based experiments employing cubesats to demonstrate advanced communications and control techniques will share $22.6 million in NASA technology funding over the next three years. The agency’s Small Spacecraft Technology Program, funded through the Office of the Chief Technologist, picked proposals using the cubesat format based on 10 cubic cm. units, or Us, each weighing no more than 1.33 kg. All are scheduled to fly as secondary payloads in 2014-15.
AIR FORCE BAE Systems Information and Electronic Systems, Nashua, N.H., is being awarded a $25,000,000 multiple award indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for sustainment of Viper memory loader verifier and enhanced diagnostic aid support equipment. The location of the performance is BAE Systems Information and Electronic Systems, Nashua, N.H., and at the BAE Electronics Facility, Fort Worth. The work is to be completed by Aug. 6, 2016. The 748 SCMG/PKBB is the contracting activity (FA8251-12-D-0003). NAVY
LOGAN, Utah — The burgeoning demand for cubesat launches to orbit can easily be met by piggybacking on the commercial cargo spacecraft that soon will be visiting the International Space Station (ISS) regularly, according to an “Old Space” veteran who piggybacked with larger spacecraft three times.
TEL AVIV — Israeli intelligence sources told local media here over the weekend that highly lethal Russian weapons have appeared in the latest Syrian fighting in Aleppo. Analysts believe that these were recently delivered from Russia.
TEL AVIV — Sources in Israel’s defense establishment say that the German Bundeswehr is close to choosing Israel Aerospace Industries’ (IAI) Heron TP UAV over General Atomics’ Predator B, with formal negotiations on the buy to take place soon. The need for a large aircraft with flexible potential is considered an urgent requirement for the Bundeswehr contingency plans. The Bundeswehr forces deployed in Afghanistan already are making use of the smaller IAI Heron-1 UAV, following a successful cooperation between IAI and the Germany’s Rheinmetall Defence.
T-50 AESA: Russian fighter producer Sukhoi has begun flight tests of a T-50 prototype equipped with active, electronically scanned array (AESA) radar. The AESA, developed by Tikhomirov NIIP, is installed on the third prototype of the so-called fifth-generation fighter. This aircraft made its first flight on Nov. 22, 2011, in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, in Russia’s Far East, then it flew to Zhukovsky, near Moscow, where the radar installation took place.
The U.S. Air Force may have canceled its persistent-surveillance airship, but the U.S. Army has kept the faith, and Northrop Grumman’s Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle (LEMV) made its delayed first flight this week.
