BERLIN – An Airbus Military A330-based Multirole Tanker Transport bound this month for delivery to the United Arab Emirates lost its refueling boom during a checkout flight over Spain. The incident occurred Sept. 10 at about 7:30 p.m. local time. No one on the ground or in the flight crew was injured. An Airbus Military spokesman says the boom separated cleanly at a mechanical joint, leaving minimal damage to the actual aircraft.
SAT DEAL: Spacecom has reached a $200 million accord with Israel Aerospace Industries for the manufacturing of the AMOS-6 satellite, Spacecom said Sept. 10. The AMOS-6 is set to launch in 2015. IAI will build the satellite, prepare it for launch, place it into its orbital position, and provide ground control operations. The satellite is expected to be operational for at least 16 years. MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. will be the contractor for the Ku and multibeam Ka payloads.
New Delhi – India is awaiting assurances from its troubled partner Russia that it will be prepared for India’s second mission to the Moon, the Chandrayaan-2, in 2014, the country’s top scientist says. Russia, which is reviewing its space mission program after the recent failure of an interplanetary mission with China, will provide the lander while India will build the lunar orbiter and rover for Chandrayaan-2.
The leaders of major U.S. defense companies remain largely undecided about whether to issue layoff notices before the Nov. 6 elections because of federal budget cuts that could take place in January. In late June, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) wrote to the nation’s top defense executives asking them how their companies would be impacted by the $1 trillion across-the-board budget reduction scheduled to take place unless Congress changes the current law. Over the summer, his office has been collecting the responses and released them Sept. 10.
As the U.S. Navy invests more resources into the development of its unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs), the service is seeking quicker information processing and increasing autonomy, according to a recent Defense Science Board report.
If Iran is bombed to slow its nuclear development program, the actual targets would be a mix of uranium-enrichment and reactor facilities, ballistic missile cantonments and mobile launchers, radar surveillance sites and air bases.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) sept. 10 - 13 — 2012 MOAA/NDIA Warior-Family Symposium, Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, Washington, D.C. For more information go to www.ndia.org/meetings/2120/Pages/default.aspx sept. 10 - 13 — NDIA 17th Annual Expeditionary Warfare Conference, Wyndham Bay Point Hotel, Panama City Beach, Fla. For more information go to www.ndia.org/meetings/2740/Pages/default.aspx
Syria is not in any jeopardy of near-term intervention by NATO, says the organization’s number two official, although he notes that alliance member air forces have restocked their supplies of precision-guided munitions since the conflict in Libya, where shortages became a concern. “There has been a rebuilding process,” says Alex Vershbow, NATO’s deputy secretary general and a former U.S. ambassador to Russia. “Countries took measures to ensure they [will not] run out. There is recognition that we have to be prepared for the next [intervention].”
PARIS — French defense equipment agency DGA has ordered a pair of studies from private industry on developing a successor to the Syracuse 3 military communications satellite system, the results of which are expected to support defense program decisions as the administration of President Francois Hollande updates the country’s defense and security strategy in the coming months.
HOUSTON — NASA and SpaceX are working toward an Oct. 9-10 launch of the first Falcon 9/Dragon Commercial Re-Supply Services (CRS) cargo mission to the International Space Station, though the two would like to lift off several days earlier if the opportunity arises. NASA would like to start the mission as soon as Oct. 5 if the U.S. Air Force Eastern Range becomes available, to avoid any conflicts with the launching of Russia’s Soyuz 30 mission to the station on Oct. 15, says Mike Suffredini, NASA’s ISS program manager.
With another Zumwalt-class destroyer design contract it its pocket, the DDG-1000 Zumwalt-class destroyer program office is steaming ahead with the planned three-ship fleet. The Navy brass is touting Zumwalt program success that contrasts sharply with missed budgets and deadlines that have marked other new-ship programs such as the Littoral Combat Ship or LPD-17-class dock ships.
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NEW DELHI — The 51-hr. countdown is underway for India’s latest Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C21) mission, which will orbit two foreign satellites. The PSLV-C21 will be launched from the Satish Dhawan space center at Sriharikota in south India at 9:51 a.m. local time on Sept. 9, an official at the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) says. The countdown began Sept. 7. The launch will mark ISRO’s 100th mission into space.
