NEW DELHI — Aviation trials of India’s second aircraft carrier are set to begin soon in anticipation of the refurbished Russian carrier’s induction into India’s navy on Dec. 4. The “aviation facilities complex trials” of the 45,000-ton, 284-meter (932-ft.) long INS Vikramaditya, formerly the Russian Kiev-class Admiral Gorshkov, will begin before mid-August in the Barents Sea, off Russia, a naval official says.
HOUSTON — NASA’s 11-year-old Mars Odyssey spacecraft has been repositioned along its polar orbit around the red planet to provide a near-real-time communication link with Earth during the Mars Science Laboratory’s Aug. 6 entry and landing. News of the $2.5 billion rover mission’s fate should reach NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., through Odyssey on Aug. 6 at 1:31 a.m. EDT, nearly 14 min. after the actual landing — the time it will take X-band transmissions to cover the 154 million mi. separating the two planets.
While companies have developed various high-tech labeling or testing methods to combat the growing problem of counterfeit military aircraft parts, a trade association leader recommends a more traditional approach adopted in civil aviation: Get a handle on your supply network.
The global market for light tracked vehicles should produce nearly 9,300 units worth more than $19.7 billion through 2021, with China the single biggest producer as it continues its military modernization, according to Forecast International. “The international market for light tracked vehicles remains a highly competitive and dynamic environment,” the group says.
The Pentagon Inspector General’s office says it started an audit in June of the U.S. Navy’s P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, set to replace the service’s P-3C aircraft.
UNMANNED MILESTONE: General Atomics Aeronautical Systems’ Gray Eagle UAV has reached 10,000 automatic launch and recoveries with its Automatic Takeoff and Landing System, the company announced July 25. The milestone was achieved on June 2 while the system performed a routine surveillance mission in Afghanistan. The system is now flying 2,300 flight hours per month across six deployment and training sites. In total, Gray Eagle has accumulated 35,000 flight hours since its first deployment in 2008.
Three Republican senators have scheduled a two-day blitz of East Coast military hubs to make the case for preventing a $500 billion reduction to defense spending starting in January.
The first element of what could become the U.S. Navy’s sophisticated Next-Generation Jammer (NGJ) and electronic attack weapon has flown. The $2 billion program is expected to enter its final phase next July. The Northrop Grumman candidate NGJ pod features the company’s unique power-generating system. Finding a system that can provide the massive amounts of power needed has been a stumbling block for the development of airborne electronic-attack and directed-energy weapons.
PARIS — Harris CapRock Communications on July 23 said it would book more than 1 gigabit per second (gbps) of broadband capacity on Intelsat’s new generation of high-throughput EpicNG satellites, which are scheduled for launch in 2015. The capacity will be used for advanced fixed and mobile satellite services in the energy, maritime and government markets.
Last week the House passed a provision in the fiscal 2013 defense appropriations bill to block the Obama administration from reducing the nation’s nuclear stockpile. The provision, which will eventually have to be reconciled with the Senate, points to a fundamental difference of opinion about how to manage the U.S. nuclear arsenal.
NEW DELHI — India will soon release a request for proposals (RFP) for 56 cargo aircraft for its air force to replace its aging fleet of Avros, according to a defense ministry official. The final approval for expanding the cargo fleet of the Indian air force (IAF) at an estimated cost of $2.5 billion was given at a meeting of the Defense Acquisition Council headed by Defense Minister A.K. Antony here July 23.
HELPING HAND: The Export-Import Bank of the United States has approved two transactions totaling more than $1.2 billion to finance the export of U.S.-made telecommunications satellites to Mexico and Australia. A $922 million loan guarantee will support the export of three satellites and related equipment to the Mexican government for the Mexsat regional mobile satellite system. The bank also is providing a $281 million direct loan to Jabiru Satellite Ltd. in Southbank, Australia, for the purchase of satellite and ground equipment from Lockheed Martin.
BEJING — A dozen V-22 Ospreys arrived via ship on Japanese shores July 22, but the aircraft will remain grounded until the U.S. Marine Corps receives the results of investigations into earlier accidents involving the tilt-rotor aircraft, which the service still expects by month’s end.
