Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

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The U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) needs to keep a keener eye on the proposed SM-3 missiles slated for Aegis ballistic missile defense (BMD) before buying more, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) says.

An April 23 story misstated the officially quoted range of a cruise missile that the South Korean defense ministry says it has deployed. The ministry says its range is more than 1,000 km (620 mi.).

NEW DELHI — The Indian air force (IAF) has called for information to support the acquisition of nine new special-mission aircraft for communications jamming, signals intelligence and surveillance.

Cubesats quickly turn into space debris when their typically short missions are over, and NASA is looking for ways to reduce the risk of one of the small spacecraft colliding at high speed with a more valuable spacecraft. A request for information issued April 23 by NASA’s Launch Service Program seeks information on concepts developed by industry for minimizing the collision risk from cubesats.

LOS ANGELES — Unexpectedly severe degradation of the protective aeroshell at speeds of up to Mach 20 most likely caused the loss last August of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (Darpa) second Hypersonic Technology Vehicle (HTV-2), according to a report produced by an independent engineering review board.

Pilatus’s past two years of record profits and revenue will not be repeated in 2012. “The current year is likely to be more difficult,” says Oscar Schwenk, CEO/chairman of the Swiss business and trainer aircraft manufacturer. “Even a major order will not be enough to compensate for the low level of orders in hand,” he adds. Last year, strong military business helped Pilatus offset a further drop in PC-12 business aircraft, with the company reaching record profits of 108 million Swiss francs ($118 million).

AIR FORCE

PUSHED BACK: SpaceX says it will not make the April 30 target for launching its first Falcon 9/Dragon cargo mission to the International Space Station. “After reviewing our recent progress, it was clear that we needed more time to finish hardware-in-the-loop testing and properly review and follow up on all data,” the company says. “While it is still possible that we could launch on May 3rd, it would be wise to add a few more days of margin in case things take longer than expected.

Using new mid-wave infrared detector technology, Lockheed Martin has begun assembly of a wide-area surveillance sensor that will provide at least 130 independently steerable, full-motion video feeds within its field of view. The sensor is being developed for the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (Darpa) Autonomous Real-time Ground Ubiquitous Surveillance — Infrared (Argus-IR) program.

AIR FORCE The Boeing Co., St. Louis, is being awarded a $9,353,862 firm-fixed-price contract to procure focused lethality munitions Small Diameter Bomb I variant. The location of the performance is St. Louis. The work is to be completed by Dec. 31, 2013. AAC/EBMK, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity (FA8672-12-C-0039).

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Malaysia’s navy is continuing to evaluate anti-submarine warfare (ASW) helicopters, but it remains unclear when it will receive funding for the purchase. The Sikorsky MH-60R and AgustaWestland AW159 are being pitched to fulfill the navy’s requirement for six ASW helicopters to replace its six Westland Super Lynx 300s.

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India says it has no plans to wind up the three-decade-old Agni program and will continue to develop more missiles in the series.

India is set to launch a rocket carrying the indigenously built Radar Imaging Satellite on April 26, according to a senior official of the ISRO.

Latin American drug traffickers and Islamic terrorists beware: the Pentagon and other U.S. federal, state and local agencies are ramping up their capabilities to allow tactical forces to counter hostile and/or criminal tunnel networks, including in “nonpermissive” environments.

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NAVY

ARMY

NAVY

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — The Eurofighter consortium is working to improve the Typhoon’s naval combat capabilities by incorporating anti-ship missiles, including the Boeing Harpoon. This aircraft was designed for air defense and ground attack, rather than as a naval fighter, but the consortium is in the competition to sell fighters to Malaysia, which has said it needs a version with an anti-ship capability. Malaysia’s new fighters are to be stationed at Kuantan AFB overlooking the South China Sea, an area where there are territorial disputes with China.

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) is talking to operators of the Predator B/MQ-9 Reaper about options to extend the medium-altitude unmanned aircraft’s loiter time. The company is proposing two field-installable kits. Option 1 adds two fuel pods under the existing 66-ft.-span wing, on the inboard pylons, and extends endurance to 37 hr. from 27 hr. for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions.

The U.S. Navy is laying the groundwork for joint-service, international alternatives for both large, manned aircraft and smaller unmanned intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) designs.

The U.S. Navy has apparently found a way to reduce some of the early risk and cost for its Air and Missile Defense Radar.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Saab soon will display its Saab 340 Maritime Security Aircraft (MSA), a new variant that aims to create a market for second-hand Saab 340Bs.