Virgin Galactic has officially unveiled a low-cost, small satellite launch system that builds on elements of its space tourism development. The LauncherOne system will deliver payloads up to 500 lb. to low Earth orbit, and with a target price of under $10 million per launch, is aimed at dramatically cutting the cost of launching small satellites. Backed by Virgin Galactic’s partner Aabar Investments, the development of the “new vehicle will create a long-awaited shake-up of the satellite launch industry,” Virgin founder Richard Branson says.
As the U.S. Navy continues to search for the root causes of the rare engine issues that led to the April crash of an F/A-18D in Virginia Beach, Va., the service also is looking at changes in training and procedures the brass says likely could avert such future incidents.
FARNBOROUGH — Although Russia’s United Aircraft Corp. (UAC) intends to boost its civil business to 40% of the whole within the next two years, military aviation continues to figure strongly in the strategy being followed by President Mikhail Pogosyan. Speaking at the Farnborough air show this week, Pogosyan noted that of 485 aircraft to be built by UAC member companies in 2012-14, some 60% will be combat aircraft, trainers or military transports.
October 9, 2012 Amsterdam, The Netherlands Repair in New Generation Aircraft: Challenges and Opportunities Lightweight composites will soon rival metals as the primary material for airframes. Are you prepared? Aviation Week’s Aircraft Composite Repair Management Forum will highlight the latest developments, challenges, and best practices in aircraft composite repair and maintenance technology.
FARNBOROUGH — After a long flirtation with the concept of a partnership to offer a foreign fast-jet trainer to the U.S. Air Force as a T-38C replacement, Boeing will forgo an off-the-shelf bid in favor of a new-build design or opt not to bid at all.
FARNBOROUGH — Lockheed Martin has flown a small unmanned aircraft for 48 hr. using laser power beaming as the company works to grow its presence in the UAV market. The test took place in a wind tunnel and involved Lockheed’s hand-launched, battery-powered Stalker UAV and LaserMotive’s power beaming system. Stalker has an endurance of 2 hr. on battery power alone. In 2011, Lockheed flew an “extreme endurance” version able to stay aloft for more than 8 hr. on combined propane fuel-cell and lithium-polymer battery power.
With there no longer being an urgent need to quickly buy and build vastly up-armored vehicles to prowl the terrain in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, the Pentagon is returning to a more customary approach to developing and procuring its ground equipment. A case in point is the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV), a program about to enter its engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) phase.
FARNBOROUGH — Lockheed Martin is touting an export-friendly manned-unmanned teaming capability at the Farnborough air show, hoping to interest the U.K. as it ponders a midlife update for its AgustaWestland/Boeing WAH-64D Apache AH.1s. The VUIT system is based on equipment that was fitted to 48 U.S. Army AH-64Ds and deployed to Iraq to enable the Apaches to receive video from unmanned aircraft and send video to the ground.
LEAVING NASA: Arthur E. (Gene) Goldman, acting director of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, will leave the space agency to become head of Aerojet’s Southeast Space Operations, where he will oversee Aerojet’s partnerships with Teledyne Brown Engineering of Huntsville, Ala., and Florida Turbines Technology of Jupiter Beach, Fla., that could lead to a kerosene-powered strap-on booster for the planned NASA heavy-lift Space Launch System. Goldman, who has spent 22 years at the Alabama field center, will retire from NASA Aug. 3.
Hawker Beechcraft Defense Company (HBDC) is putting its AT-6 light attack/armed reconnaissance aircraft into low rate initial production (LRIP) in Wichita.
NEW DELHI — Boeing has moved a step closer to delivering the first P-8I aircraft to the Indian navy, with the flight-test program of the long-range maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare aircraft now under way. “The Boeing-led team is on track to deliver the first aircraft to the Indian navy in May 2013,” say company officials.
SINGAPORE — Now that the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) has secured the tactical and strategic airlift that it wanted, the service airlift group’s next procurement is for VIP air transportation.
AIR FORCE Teradyne Inc., North Reading, Mass., is being awarded a $16,848,088 firm-fixed-price contract to procurement components for the organic assembly of 25 Versatile Depot Automatic Test Systems. The location of the performance is North Reading, Mass. The work is to be completed by Sept. 30, 2013. WR-ALC/PKOA, Robins Air Force Base, Ga., is the contracting activity (FA8571-12-F-0002). NAVY
Hawker Beechcraft intends to sell off its business and general aviation and customer support businesses to China’s Superior Aviation Beijing under a potential $1.79 billion deal. The Wichita, Kan.-based manufacturer entered an exclusivity agreement with Superior as part of an ongoing review of strategic options, and says it “decided to proceed with Superior after determining that its proposal would create the greatest value for the company and position it for long-term growth.”
FARNBOROUGH — Eurocopter and Heli-One are teaming to bolster a bid for Norway’s next-generation fleet of search-and-rescue (SAR) helicopters. Norway has said it needs new SAR helicopters, and Eurocopter is putting forward its EC225, optimized for these missions in Nordic environments and capable of flying in mountainous and coastal regions.
LONDON — Aerojet is forming a European subsidiary that will use indigenous manufacturing and engineering talent to produce in-space thrusters and propulsion systems, the Sacramento, Calif.-based company announced July 9. The new entity, European Space Propulsion, will be based in Northern Ireland. Work is to be conducted jointly with Thales Air Defense Ltd. of Belfast, a division of Thales UK, which will provide manufacturing assembly and test capabilities. Aerojet will furnish engineering-support services through its Redmond, Wash., operations.
FARNBOROUGH — Unmanned systems are making a big showing at the Farnborough air show here, but a highly anticipated announcement on advancing Franco-U.K. cooperation on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is looking unlikely. During a Franco-British summit held in February, U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron and then-French President Nicolas Sarkozy agreed to forge ahead with joint development of a medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) drone by 2020.
FARNBOROUGH — Taylor Lawrence, president of Raytheon’s Missile Systems business, is less than happy about the U.K.’s recent approach to weapons planning, including the awards made so far under the Team Complex Weapons (TCW) initiative. “We have been disappointed in the pace of opportunities presented to us,” Lawrence says. “The U.K. said that it was open to competition, but so far we have not seen any competition coming forward.”
ON ORBIT: Controllers in Luxembourg are checking out the SES-5 communications satellite after its successful deployment in a geostationary transfer orbit following a 9-hr., 12-min. Proton mission that started with liftoff at Baikonur Cosmodrome at 2:38 p.m. EDT July 9. Built by Space Systems/Loral, the 6-metric-ton spacecraft carries an L-band hosted payload for the European Commission that will aid in the verification, improvement and monitoring of European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (Egnos) positioning signals.
The U.S. Navy recently awarded a $212.7 million fixed-priced, incentive-fee contract for the detail design and construction of a Ship-to-Shore Connector (SSC) test and training craft to New Orleans-based Textron. The cumulative value of the hovercraft contract could reach as high as $570.5 million, if the Navy exercises options for up to eight additional craft.
