NEW DELHI — Russian firm United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) has signed a contract with India’s Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) to make 205 multi-role transport aircraft (MTA) in the 15-20 ton-class for both countries’ air forces as well as other potential customers. The companies have roped in another Russian firm — Multirole Transport Aircraft Ltd. (MTAL) — as the third partner in the joint venture.
NEW DELHI — Unlike its Agni-V ballistic missile, do not expect New Delhi to draw a lot of international attention to upcoming testing of its Nirbhay cruise missile, even as the weapon holds far more significance to the Indian weapons program than is widely appreciated. In August, the country is scheduled to conduct the first test of its little known Nirbhay (“fearless”), a subsonic weapon with a maximum range of 1,000 km. Designated secret, the weapon’s development has remained concealed ever since its existence was first revealed in 2006.
AIR LAUNCH: The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has awarded Lockheed Martin a $6.2 million contract, and Northrop Grumman $2.3 million, for Phase 1 of the Airborne Launch Assist Space Access (Alasa) program to launch a 100-lb. satellite into low Earth orbit from an aircraft for less than $1 million per launch, including range costs. Space Information Laboratories has received $1.9 million to develop enabling technology for a GPS tracking, autonomous flight termination and space-based range system to reduce launch costs.
UNMANNED EYES: U.S. Naval Air Systems Command is seeking information on off-the-shelf synthetic-aperture radar/ground moving target indication payloads small enough to be integrated quickly into the Navy and Marine Corps’ Insitu RQ-21A Integrator small tactical unmanned aircraft system, as well as the AAI RQ-7B Shadow. Radar would allow the UAVs to search a wider area for vehicles and people and cue the electro-optical/infrared full-motion video sensors already carried. An airborne maritime search mode “is also a desired capability,” says the request for information.
EXTENDED OPS: With virtually all the objectives of its primary Moon-mapping mission accomplished, NASA’s twin-spacecraft Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (Grail) mission will take a break before beginning a period of extended operations set to begin Aug. 30 and last through Dec. 3. Both spacecraft instruments will be powered off until the extended mission begins. Since March 8, the spacecraft have operated around the clock for 89 days, NASA says.
FLYING AGAIN: Australia’s fleet of Tiger armed reconnaissance helicopters has resumed regular training flights following the lifting of a May 16 grounding put in place after fumes were detected in the aircraft’s cockpit. The Army Operational Airworthiness Authority lifted the suspension May 28 after a detailed assessment and a recommendation from the Technical Airworthiness Authority. There are 22 Tigers in the Australian army’s Oakey and Darwin-based fleet. Three are completing a retrofit program and should return to the fleet later in the year.
Boeing is on track to meet its milestones in the second phase of NASA’s Commercial Crew Development (CCDev-2) competition, after completing a preliminary design review earlier this month for software needed to operate its CST-100 crew capsule. Still to come are CCDev-2 milestones that include an orbital maneuvering/attitude control engine hot-fire test, NASA says, adding that “all of NASA’s industry partners, including Boeing, continue to meet their established milestones in developing commercial crew transportation capabilities.”
HOUSTON — The NASA-led International Space Station (ISS) Mission Management Team has approved plans for the scheduled unberthing of the first U.S. commercial resupply mission spacecraft later this week, as the astronauts aboard the orbiting science laboratory wrapped up a fast-paced, 2,400-lb. cargo exchange.
The U.S. Navy’s decision to truncate its DDG-1000 Zumwalt destroyer fleet and curb radar tests and development on those ships is adding costs to the service’s next-generation aircraft carrier program, as defense analysts and others had warned.
The U.K. government has awarded an industrial team of Marshall Aerospace , Rolls-Royce , and Lockheed Martin a £350 million ($548 million) contract to support C-130Ks and C-130J airlifters until 2015.
NEW DELHI — Boeing is in negotiations to sell its Apache AH-64D multi-role combat helicopter to the Indian air force (IAF) and expects a final decision by the end of 2012, a senior Boeing Defense, Space and Security (BDS) official says. “We feel very positive about the deal … and we probably will get to a decision point by the end of the year,” Mark Kronenberg, vice president of international business development for BDS, tells Aviation Week. Financial details were not disclosed.
HOUSTON — The SpaceX Dragon capsule rendezvoused with the International Space Station (ISS) May 25, overcoming some late tracking issues to become the first U.S. commercial resupply craft to dock with the six-person orbital science laboratory. Astronauts Don Pettit, Andre Kuipers and Joe Acaba grappled the unpiloted spacecraft with the station’s 17.6-meter (58-ft.) Canadarm2 at 9:56 a.m. EDT, as Dragon flew in formation 10 meters below. The freighter was berthed at the station’s U.S. segment Harmony module at 12:02 p.m. EDT.
Exploration program experts looking for ways to restructure NASA’s downsized Mars program will have about 400 concepts and abstracts to review, following a call for ideas in connection with an upcoming workshop in Houston.
LONDON — China is progressing quickly in the field of unmanned underwater “gliders,” an area previously dominated by the U.S. “They’re putting a lot of money, a lot of engineers into this field,” says Lyle Goldstein, strategic researcher at the U.S. Naval War College’s China Maritime Studies Institute. “They’re energized because they know there’s a gap in underwater capability, and this is a chance to leapfrog ahead.”
As the U.S. searches for a way to further protect itself from the threat of foreign nuclear ballistic missile attack during times of budget austerity, some analysts and officials are suggesting a change in the degree or even basic philosophy of the nation’s nuclear protection strategy. Everything from the size of the country’s boomer submarine force to the three-legged nuclear protection triad is coming under scrutiny and attack.
Solar-electric propulsion (SEP) is high on NASA’s priority list of technologies required for long-term human space exploration. And within that arena, figuring out how to deploy large, lightweight solar arrays in space is a key enabler. Results are starting to come in under the relatively open-ended technology development effort launched at the beginning of the Obama administration. While Congress hasn’t approved the billion-dollar funding levels for the work the White House wanted, it has sprung enough money to make a start.
NEXT UP: With SpaceX’s first cargo demonstration mission to the International Space Station (ISS) a success so far, NASA is looking ahead to the first flights of its other Commercial Orbital Transportation Services contractor, Orbital Sciences Corp. Orbital’s first demonstration launch of its Antares/Cygnus vehicle — which will not visit the ISS — could occur as early as August, according to NASA ISS Program Manager Mike Suffredini.
