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.
The U.S. Naval Surface Warfare (NSWC) Dahlgren Division is becoming a major center for chemical, biological and radiological (CBR) warfare agent detection work. The Navy has transferred all CBR detection services from Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane, located in Indiana, to Dahlgren, Va., which provides technical, engineering, test, evaluation, maintenance and logistics support to the fleet after installing the CBR detection systems.
NASA’s Inspector General (IG) has found significant lapses in the agency’s efforts to lease far-flung surplus real estate and facilities to private as well as other government entities as part of a wider cost-reduction strategy outlined in the NASA Authorization Act of 2010. The agency must do more to identify and market leasable assets as well as improve documentation of its response and the training of personnel responsible for carrying out the effort, according to IG Paul Martin’s Aug. 9 audit report.
The U.S. Marine Corps is looking for unmanned systems to provide more help in lightening the loads Marines need to carry, and reducing their exposure to improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Marines tested several different unmanned technologies in late July and earlier this month at Fort Pickett, Va., for counter-IED and logistical operations. Two of the featured technologies for the tests are the Ground Unmanned Support Surrogate (GUSS) and the seven-ton Cargo Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV).
NEW DELHI — India has released a global tender for roughly 60 utility helicopters to replace the Indian navy’s vintage Chetak helos. “A request for proposals [RFP] has been issued for buying mainly twin-engine helos. The deal is approximately worth $900 million,” a defense ministry official says. The official says Sikorsky, Eurocopter, Kamov and AgustaWestland are among the likely respondents.
The U.S. Navy has made strides in making its surface fleet ship-shape, but there is still plenty of work to be done, says Adm. J.C. Harvey Jr., commander of U.S. Fleet Forces Command. Of particular concern, Harvey says, is the condition of ships and equipment needed for the Navy’s ballistic missile defense (BMD) missions, but the Navy still faces challenges in restoring most of the surface fleet to required condition.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) Aug. 13 - 16 — 2012 AAS/AIAA Astrodynamics Specialist Conference, Minneapolis, Minn. For more information go to www.space-flight.org/docs/2012_astro/2012_astro.html Aug. 20 - 23 — NDIA Warheads and Ballistics Classified Symposium, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, Calif. For more information go to www.ndia.org/meetings/2480/Pages/default.aspx
HOUSTON — NASA plans a two-phase strategy for the safety certification of its emerging commercial crew space transportation service providers, starting with the competitive award of up to four 15-month Certification Products Contracts (CPCs) in early 2013. The effort would lead to at least one Design Reference Mission test flight, with the goal of initiating regular, commercially flown crew transportation missions to the International Space Station (ISS) by 2017.
SAO JOSE DOS CAMPOS, Brazil — Indonesia’s air force still plans to take delivery of Grob Aircraft G120TP primary trainers, contrary to rumors that the service might have canceled the deal. The rumors had been sparked among industry executives, because little has been said publicly since Grob announced in a statement last September that the Indonesian air force (IAF) had chosen to buy G120TPs. The Grob statement said deliveries would begin in 2012.
The companies that will likely face the biggest financial hurdles due to sequestration concerns are the second-level defense industry suppliers – such as those for the nation’s largest shipbuilders – says Michael Petters, CEO of Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII).
The Pentagon’s estimates for fuel and transportation costs nearly doubled in the six months between the 2013 budget submission and Senate appropriators’ recent markup. The Senate Appropriations Committee (SAC) covered the tab, adding $965 million in its bill, approved Aug. 2. But since the increase was in the wartime budget, officially known as “Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO), procurement programs did not have to be cut, so the military could keep its planes and trucks moving and get soldiers and supplies from base to deployment.
MORPHEUS DOWN: NASA’s experimental Project Morpheus lander crashed and exploded during a free flight at Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Fla., Aug. 9. The vehicle “lifted off the ground and then experienced a hardware component failure, which prevented it from maintaining stable flight,” NASA spokesman Bob Jacobs said. “No one was injured and the resulting fire was extinguished by KSC fire personnel.
The nation’s continued reliance on aircraft carrier operations is putting even more emphasis on getting the new Ford-class ships into the fleet, says Michael Petters, CEO of Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII). The U.S. Navy is operating 10 carriers right now, Petters noted Aug. 8 during a conference call with financial investment analysts to discuss the company’s second-quarter earnings. The service is used to operating with 11 ships.
NEW DELHI — India is attempting to verify whether counterfeit spare parts made in China were used in defense equipment being sold by U.S. firms to India. “There have been media reports in this regard, which are being verified,” Defense Minister A.K. Antony said in parliament in response to a question by a lawmaker concerning the issue.
HEALTHY SEPARATION: The Joint Strike Fighter program achieved a milestone Aug. 8 when a short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing F-35 became the first of the developmental, stealthy fighters to release a weapon during a test over the Atlantic Ocean. The inert, 1,000-lb. Joint Direct Attack Munition also was the first airborne weapon separation from the F-35 internal weapon bay. The event kicks off a lengthy weapons testing campaign for the F-35.
LOS ANGELES — Boeing’s X-48C blended wing body (BWB) unmanned research aircraft flew for the first time from NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards AFB, Calif., on Aug. 7.
