NAPLES, Italy — Crewmembers on China’s next mission to the Tiangong-1 mini-space station will practice on-orbit repairs and refueling techniques, as preparations continue for launch of a three-module station by the end of the decade. The Shenzhou 10 crew has not been selected yet, according to Wang Zhaoyao, director of the China Manned Space Engineering Office. The mission next year will continue work started with the Shenzhou 9 flight in June, Wang says, adding to China’s experience with rendezvous and docking.
The U.S. Navy has awarded General Dynamics’ Electric Boat unit a $100.4 million contract modification to provide lead-yard services for Virginia-class nuclear-powered attack submarines. The contract has a potential cumulative value of $881 million through 2014 if all options are exercised and funded. Under the contract, Electric Boat will develop, maintain and update design drawings and data, including technology insertions, for each Virginia-class submarine throughout its construction and post-shakedown availability periods.
MOSCOW — Ukrainian aircraft maker Antonov has resumed flight trials of its An-70 medium military transport aircraft. The first three test flights were performed Sept. 27-30 near Kiev and involved the only existing prototype (tail number UR-NTK) with improved powerplants and avionics.
AEROSTAR ABORTED: Poland’s defense ministry has canceled a $35 million contract with Israel’s Aeronautics to supply Aerostar tactical unmanned aircraft, and is seeking its money back with penalties for nondelivery. Two Aerostar systems, each with four unmanned aircraft, were ordered in 2010 to meet an urgent operational requirement to support Polish army units in Afghanistan. The systems did not meet Poland’s requirements when delivered, and the agreement was renegotiated in 2011 to provide two leased systems in Afghanistan.
Tracked ground vehicles continue to maintain traction in Pentagon funding with the recent $395 million U.S. Army contract award for Abrams tank modernization improvements. The Army awarded General Dynamics Land Systems the eight-year contract for research, development and testing in preparation for the Abrams main battle tank Engineering Change Proposal 1 (ECP1) production. The contract has an initial value of $80 million over 12 months. The contract includes no provisions for tank production work.
While the U.S. Navy is trying to do a better job of maintaining its surface fleet, the service needs to more effectively gauge the risks in carrying out its ship readiness plan, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). In 2010, the Navy concluded that decisions it made to increase the efficiencies of its surface force had adversely affected ship readiness and service life, GAO notes. To improve ship readiness, the Navy developed a new strategy, which includes several initiatives.
NAPLES, Italy — The European Space Agency (ESA) will propose making minor improvements to its new Vega rocket when the agency’s council of ministers meets in November to set ESA’s multiyear budget. One such improvement would involve boosting the fuel capacity of Vega’s P80 engine to compensate for a planned shift in the rocket’s launch trajectory, which Fabrizi says is necessary to ensure telemetry is accurately received from a ground-tracking station.
NAPLES, Italy — Russia’s Rockot small-satellite launcher will remain in service for government and commercial missions through the end of this decade, when the new Angara 1 light launcher in development at Russia’s Krunichev Space Center is expected to come online.
SINGAPORE — Lockheed Martin has secured a contract to help upgrade the Taiwan air force’s 145 Lockheed Martin F-16A/Bs. The U.S. government awarded Lockheed Martin the contract, which is valued at up to $1.85 billion, Lockheed says. The retrofit program will include adding an active, electronically scanned array (AESA) radar as well as upgrades to the electronic warfare and other avionics systems, and will be based on the F-16V configuration announced by Lockheed Martin earlier this year, the company says.
Israel is planning to double the manufacturing capacity of its Tamir interceptor, an integral part of the recently fielded “Iron Dome” counter-rocket and short-range-missile system. Four Iron Dome batteries are deployed in southern Israel with two more to follow next year, says Lt. Col. Merav Davidovits, missile defense liaison for the Israel Defense Force in Washington. During a briefing Oct. 2 hosted by The Heritage Foundation, she declined to identify the current or future capacity of Rafael’s production line for the Tamir interceptor.
HYBRID UAV: Rheinmetall Airborne Systems and Swiss UAV are teaming to offer a hybrid UAV — part helicopter, part fixed-wing aircraft — that they say will meet a wide range of missions. The TU-150, still in the concept phase, was unveiled at the recent ILA Berlin Airshow. Hybrid helo/winged UAVs are not new — there was the ill-fated Bell Eagle Eye for the U.S. Coast Guard — and the Army has eyed a potentially unmanned Quad Tiltrotor idea from Bell Helicopter Textron for years.
Honeywell company UOP has received a U.S. Defense Department (DOD) grant to revamp a refinery on the U.S. West Coast to supply up to 22 million gal. a year of bio-derived diesel and jet fuel. The agreement is part of a Pentagon-led effort to scale up production and drive down the costs of advanced biofuels as drop-in replacements for conventional kerosene fuels.
Two U.S. Marine Corps F-35B pilots executed the first two aerial refuelings for the stealthy aircraft from the service’s KC-130J during an Oct. 2 mission. During the flight, an instructor pilot, Maj. Ty Bachman, and student, Maj. Paul Holst, each connected with the KC-130J and took on fuel, a first for the 33rd Fighter Wing, which handles F-35 pilot training at Eglin AFB, Fla. The aircraft took on only about 2,000 lb. of fuel at a speed of about 230 kt. and altitude of 15,000 ft., Holst tells Aviation Week.
Tests of the high pressure-ratio core for a future variable-cycle fighter engine are to begin this week at General Electric’s Evendale, Ohio, facility under the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory’s (AFRL) Adaptive Versatile Engine Technology (Advent) program. Rolls-Royce, meanwhile, delivered its Advent core to the test rig at Indianapolis last week in preparation for testing over the next several months. GE and Rolls will run full engine demonstrators next year under the Advent program.
AIR FORCE United Launch Services, Littleton, Colo. (FA8811-13-C-0001), is being awarded a $1,167,800,000 cost plus incentive fee and cost plus fixed fee contract for launch capability for the Delta IV and Atlas V. The location of the performance is Littleton. The work is expected to be completed by Sept. 30, 2013. The contracting activity is SMC/LRK, Los Angeles AFB, Calif. NAVY
ARMY Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., Stratford, Conn., was awarded a $242,247,456 firm-fixed-price contract. The award will provide for the modification of an existing contract to procure UH-60M Plus-Up Helicopters. The work will be performed in Stratford, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 16, 2016. One bid was solicited, with one bid received. The U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., is the contracting activity (W58RGZ-12-C-0008). NAVY
ARMY General Dynamics Land Systems Inc., Sterling Heights, Mich., was awarded a $395,462,993 cost-plus-incentive-fee contract. The award will provide for the research, development and testing for the Engineering Change Proposal in support of the Abrams tank. The work will be performed in Sterling Heights and Lima, Ohio, with an estimated completion date of April 30, 2020. The bid was solicited through the Internet, with one bid received. The U.S. Army Contracting Command, Warren, Mich., is the contracting activity (W56HZV-12-C-0322).
The National Space Biomedical Research Institute’s (NSBRI) Industry Forum is seeking competitive proposals for up to $250,000 in financial assistance under its Space Medicine and Related Technologies Commercialization Assistance Program to make traditional medical services suitable for human spaceflight applications or adapt advances in space medicine for use in traditional medical care. The deadline for submissions in the first of a two-stage competition process is Nov. 5. The Industry Forum will select successful first stage applicants by Dec. 10.
