LONDON – BAE Systems has begun test flights of the first aircraft in the latest batch of Eurofighter Typhoon jets destined for the Royal Saudi Air Force. The aircraft – a two-seater – first flew from the company’s facilities at Warton in Lancashire at the beginning of December and is one of a small set of six twin-stick aircraft which will be delivered to Saudi Arabia next year. The six aircraft will be followed by the remaining 42 Typhoons ordered as part of Riyadh’s Al-Salam deal, which will see 72 Typhoons delivered to the country.
Golden Spike Company, a startup initiated by former NASA Associate Administrator Alan Stern, has gathered a group of aerospace companies and spaceflight experts to mount commercial human missions to the Moon. Prices for a two-person surface sortie would start at $1.4 billion, according to Stern, who sees a market in national space agencies, corporations and scientific research.
ABOARD THE USS FREEDOM — The skipper is smiling, cautiously. The first Littoral Combat Ship (LCS-1), the USS Freedom, is pushing off from a U.S. Navy pier in San Diego a few minutes before schedule, and Cmdr. Tim Wilke, the ship’s commanding officer, knows that the early departure is a big deal. “We finished everything on time,” he says. “We got under way on time. Those are the highlights.”
CYBER STEP: The divide causing cybersecurity legislation to stall in the Senate hinges on whether or not the government can direct private companies to share information about attacks. But the Senate’s version of the fiscal 2013 defense authorization bill will take a limited step in that direction. The bill includes a provision that will require defense contractors to report breaches of their network and the loss of information on sensitive programs.
The Pentagon’s warnings to North Korea not to replicate an April satellite launch this month come as U.S. defense officials are delaying the Missile Defense Agency’s (MDA) next planned flight test of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system, which has not achieved a successful intercept since 2008.
Stratolaunch, the launch-services startup bankrolled by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, has opened discussions with Orbital Sciences Corp. about modifying one of its rockets for air-launch from the giant airplane it is building with parts from two surplus Boeing 747s. The company turned to Orbital after SpaceX concluded that making the necessary modifications to its Falcon launcher — the original choice for the concept — would not make business sense.
LONDON — The introduction into service of the MDBA Meteor air-to-air missile has moved another step closer with the first firing of the weapon from a Eurofighter Typhoon. A single Meteor was launched from the BAE Systems-operated Instrumented Production Aircraft (IPA) 6 during a sortie from the company’s facility at Warton in Lancashire on Dec. 4. The weapon was ejected from one of the aircraft’s rear semi-conformal missile stations and follows a series of trials involving unpowered missiles which demonstrated safe separation of the weapon.
The U.S. Air Force is scrapping a troubled $1 billion, seven-year effort to overhaul and modernize its management of logistics — and Senate Armed Services Committee leaders want to know who to hold accountable.
NASA needs a revamp of its strategic plan that follows from a new national consensus on what the agency’s primary mission should be, and what resources it needs to achieve it, according to new reports from the Space Foundation and the National Research Council (NRC).
SHIFTING SEATS: Sen. Jim DeMint (S.C.), who was preparing to lead Republicans on the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, now plans to leave the Senate in January. That leaves the committee in need of a ranking member. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), is next in line. “There is a process for these assignments that will play out, and I look forward to discussing this development with my colleagues on the Commerce Committee,” Thune says in a statement. Thune leads the aviation subcommittee. DeMint was in line to replace Sen.
Powerful solar storms are an imperfectly understood threat to the world’s power grids, but one with the potential for economic damage so catastrophic that the estimated $100-$200 million it would cost annually to deploy an operational space-weather warning system could be trivial by comparison.
With less than a month to go before the budget penalty known as sequestration could kick in, the Obama administration has dropped another edict on the table: everyone start planning now. Administration officials maintain that the goal is unchanged: Sequestration should be avoided. It’s the directive to start detailed planning that is the big change.
House Democrats are shuffling leadership positions on a number of committees that affect aerospace and defense. Rep. Nita Lowey (N.Y.) replaces outgoing Rep. Norm Dicks (Wash.) as the minority leader of the House Appropriations Committee. Dicks led the party on both the full committee and the defense subcommittee. The subcommittee role has not been formally decided yet, but Rep. Peter Visclosky (Ind.) is expected to fill that role.
After several years of the military supporting the civilian aerospace industry, the reverse is now the case — a trend likely to continue into 2013, according to the Aerospace Industries Association’s (AIA) annual year-end review and forecast.
March 7, 2013 National Building Museum Washington, D.C. Time: 6:00 p.m. Aviation Week’s 56th annual Laureate Awards will recognize individuals/teams for their extraordinary accomplishments. Their achievements embody the spirit of exploration, innovation and vision that inspire others to strive for significant, broad-reaching progress in aviation and aerospace. Call for Nominations
HOUSTON — Though committed to launching a U.S. astronaut to the International Space Station for a 12-month flight, the longest space voyage yet by an American, NASA is far from prepared to commit to a succession of 12-month voyages to the orbiting science lab, according to the agency’s ISS program manager and others who expect to gather new insight into the health effects.
NEW DELHI — India says it has not canceled its plans to buy 197 reconnaissance and surveillance helicopters, but “the procurement case is under examination,” according to Defense Minister A.K. Antony. The proposed deal, worth more than $2 billion, has been mired in controversy following allegations that an Indian official had solicited a bribe from bidder AgustaWestland. Antony has said that if any evidence is found of tender deviations or any other misconduct, the deal will be scrapped.
