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.
A five-year contract for H-60 helicopters signed by Sikorsky and the U.S. Army gives a Pentagon facing budget uncertainty some flexibility to adjust its procurement numbers over the coming years. The $8.5 billion baseline contract covers 653 Black Hawk and Seahawk helicopters for delivery by December 2017, and includes 106 aircraft for foreign military sales (FMS) customers in addition to 354 UH/HH-60Ms for the Army and 193 MH-60R/Ss for the Navy.
FARNBOROUGH — Boeing is pitching in to strengthen Embraer’s bid in the U.S. Air Force’s protracted Light Air Support (LAS) competition by lending its weapons integration expertise, addressing a perceived weakness of Embraer’s A-29 Super Tucano offering. The U.S. manufacturer will work on integration and testing of its Joint Direct Attack Munition and Small-Diameter Bomb onto the Super Tucano. U.S. weapons have never been integrated onto the aircraft before.
AIR FORCE The Boeing Co., Long Beach, Calif., is being awarded a $500,000,000 firm-fixed-price and cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the C-17 transition to post production, which will provide for orderly transfer of C-17 production assets. The location of the performance is Long Beach. The work is to be completed by July 5, 2022. ASC/WLMK, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8614-12-D-2049, Order 0001).
Missile guidance seekers could be helping helicopter pilots land safely in brownout conditions that have caused dozens of helicopter accidents in Iraq and Afghanistan
FARNBOROUGH — After a protracted protest from losing contractor Northrop Grumman, Raytheon has finally restarted work for the U.S. Air Force on a radar designed to find and track individuals on the ground.
FARNBOROUGH — Lockheed Martin has finally begun delivery of the latest lot of F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft to the Pentagon after a roughly six-month delay. The Pentagon has accepted delivery of three conventional-takeoff-and-landing (CTOL) variants and one short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing (Stovl) version, says Marillyn Hewson, the incoming chief operating officer of Lockheed Martin, F-35 prime contractor.
FARNBOROUGH — Rockwell Collins Chairman and CEO Clay Jones expects U.S. defense budgets to decline in 2013 and 2014, regardless of whether Democratic President Barack Obama or presumed Republican nominee Mitt Romney win the U.S. presidential election in November.
TEL AVIV — The new chief at Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) plans to push the company to spend more on R&D and increase investments in technologies including advanced cyber, stealth, radar, communications, air defenses, gallium nitride microchips and unmanned aircraft. On the commercial side, the emphasis will be on producing longer-range executive jets.
Hamilton Sundstrand is “anxiously awaiting” completion of the Goodrich acquisition sometime this summer, says President Mike Dumais. “For [parent company] UTC it will be transformational,” Dumais says. “Meanwhile, we are staying focused.”
FARNBOROUGH — Cutbacks in F-35 procurement and the termination of the F-22 will lead to a 30% decrease next year in Pratt & Whitney’s production of fifth-generation combat engines, seriously challenging cost-reduction goals for the Joint Strike Fighter’s F135 powerplant.
OFFICIAL NAME: Airbus Military’s A400M airlifter was officially named “Atlas” in a ceremony held July 6 at RAF Fairford. Peter Luff, U.K. minister for defense equipment, support and technology, and senior representatives of participating nations’ air forces attended. Previously known as “the Grizzly” by the flight-test crews, Atlas has been ordered by Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Spain, Turkey and the U.K. First deliveries to the French air force are expected by year’s end, with the 174-strong order book stretching well into the next decade.
VISITING FARNBOROUGH: Unlike in Washington, internal squabbling is nowhere to be found among the U.S. politicians at this week’s Farnborough air show. The U.S. delegation boasts eight senators and eight state governors, all on hand flexing their muscles to win international business. Last year the U.S. posted $86 billion in export sales and had a positive trade balance of more than $47 billion, says Francisco Sanchez, under secretary of Commerce for international trade. “That’s the largest trade surplus of any manufacturing sector,” Sanchez says.
FARNBOROUGH — Finmeccanica’s Selex Galileo unit has found a fourth export customer for the Falco Tactical UAV, but will not identify the country. Pakistan was the launch customer for the Falco, and as many as 24 units are thought to be in service there. The Falco can be equipped with a variety of sensor payloads, including electro-optical and infrared sensors as well as multimode radar.
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FARNBOROUGH — Armenia is planning to order a commercial communications satellite from Russia under the terms of a memorandum of understanding signed July 9 during the Farnborough air show. Vladimir Popovkin, director of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, said the satellite — Armenia’s first — is expected to carry 15 transponders, though details of the satellite’s development and launch are still being negotiated. Popovkin expects a contract to be signed by year-end.
FARNBOROUGH — Thailand is to purchase two Sikorsky UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters, joining a growing list of export customers that could help buffer the manufacturer against possible U.S. defense budget cuts. The Royal Thai Army has signed a letter of offer and acceptance to acquire the two helicopters through the U.S. government’s foreign military sales (FMS) channel.
SINGAPORE — Brazil has issued a request for proposals for two aerial refueling tankers for its air force and expects to receive bids early next month. The RFP was issued to Airbus Military, Boeing and Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI), Brazil air force official Brig. Carlos de Almeida Baptista, Jr., tells Aviation Week on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Military Airlift conference in Singapore.
LONDON — Though only one year into work on its KC-46A contract, Boeing could accommodate early international orders for the aerial refueler possibly as early as 2018, says Dennis Muilenburg, president of the company’s military sector.
