The U.S. Coast Guard is testing a maritime sensor-net developed for the U.S. Navy to prevent the kind of attacks such as that suffered by the USS Cole 11 years ago. Called the Littoral Sensor Grid (LSG) project and developed by Intellicheck Mobilisa of Port Townsend, Wash., the net is a buoy system that collects environmental and security-related data and uses the company’s Wireless Over Water (WOW) technology to transmit the data to the shore Network Operations Center (NOC) for distribution to those who need it.
The U.S. Air Force plans to upgrade more than 300 Lockheed Martin F-16s and potentially additional Boeing F-15s to fill the gap caused by delays to the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program. The service shortly will announce plans to extend the service life and upgrade the avionics on 300-350 late-model Block 40 and 50 F-16s, Lt. Gen. Herbert Carlisle, deputy chief of staff for operations, plans and requirements, told Congress last week.
PARIS — Under pressure to reduce spending, the institutions responsible for setting and financing European space programs will meet this week to hash out space funding priorities against a backdrop of tremendous financial turmoil in Europe. The European Commission (EC) has already kicked off months of wrangling among the 27 members of the European Union after a draft budget plan abandoned future funding for the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) project.
Rocket engineers at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi are slated to attempt a 500-sec. hot-fire test of the J-2X engine this week, running the Saturn-heritage upper-stage propulsion system through a full-duration burn for the first time.
TOULOUSE, France — The U.K. Space Agency’s UKube-1 project passed critical design review (CDR) Nov. 4, marking a major milestone on the road to building and launching the miniature, cube-shaped spacecraft atop a Russian Dnepr rocket in 2012. Designed by Glasgow, Scotland-based cubesat-maker Clyde Space, UKube-1 is a pilot project under a broader CubeSat program that would see the fledgling space agency launch one mission a year.
LONDON and GENOA, Italy — Finmeccanica’s impending report of third-quarter financial results would be nothing special if not for that fact that the last time the Italian aerospace and defense giant communicated with the financial community, it went so badly the company lost more than 25% of its market value. At that time, investors had finally tired of Finmeccanica’s failure to deliver long-promised improvements in profitability. Repairing the damage will be neither easy nor quick.
ARMY The Boeing Co., Mesa, Ariz., was awarded a $53,020,686 firm-fixed-price contract. The award will provide for the modification of an existing contract to support the AH-64D Apache. The work will be performed in Mesa, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 28, 2014. One bid was solicited, with one bid received. The U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., is the contracting activity (W58RGZ-09-C-0161).
General Dynamics plans to acquire Force Protection, which manufactures the Buffalo, Cougar and Ocelot armored vehicles, for $360 million, or $5.52 per share, the companies announced Nov. 7. The deal is expected to expand GD’s portfolio of armored vehicles and gives the company an aftermarket revenue stream from an installed base of 3,000 vehicles. “With this acquisition, we will create new opportunities to serve domestic and international customers alike,” said Mark Roualet, president of General Dynamics Land Systems.
A top Republican senator is blocking the nomination of two new members of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission until he learns more about how the Obama administration decided to speed up LightSquared’s licensing process. Earlier this week, the president nominated Jessica Rosenworcel and Ajit Pai to the FCC. But their nominations are waiting until Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) gets some answers.
NEW DELHI — The Indian government is signaling that Boeing soon will be awarded a contract for 22 AH-64D Apache Longbow Block IIIs for the Indian air force (IAF). The U.S. Army rotorcraft, which is said to have outperformed the rival Russian Mi-28N Night Hunter in tests, was strongly recommended by the IAF earlier this year as its choice following trials in 2010.
GLENN SUPPORT: NASA has chosen Vantage Partners LLC of Lanham, Md., to provide engineering and scientific services to the Glenn Research Center in Cleveland under a $240 million contract with a potential maximum duration of five years. The award covers a wide range of engineering, research and technology development, operations and project management services at Glenn, including delivering engineering products ranging from initial concepts to complete flight systems.
AIR FORCE Teledyne Scientific and Imaging, L.L.C., Thousand Oaks, Calif., is being awarded a $20,400,000 firm-fixed-price contract for the production, testing, inspection, and delivery of 8,500 aircrew laser eye performance block two spectacles and 100 fitting frame sets. ASC/WNUK, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8902-06-C-1002 and modification P00028).
DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Aerosonic Corp., Clearwater, Fla., was awarded a firm-fixed-price with economic price adjustment, sole-source contract with a maximum $15,410,867 for pressure altimeter parts. There are no other locations of performance. Using service is the Army. Type of appropriation being used is C-AWCF (DBOF) using fiscal 2012 funds. The date of performance completion is Nov. 2, 2014. The Defense Logistics Agency Aviation, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., is the contracting activity (SPRRA1-12-D-0003/0001).
GLENROTHES, Scotland — Raytheon is developing high-temperature silicon carbide integrated circuits (HiTSiC) it believes will yield important efficiency savings for aerospace and commercial aviation applications.
SHEFEX SLIDE: Range and technical issues have forced German researchers to delay the flight test of an ambitious hypersonic demonstrator until early 2012. The test of the Mach 11-capable Sharp Edged Flight Experiment 2 (Shefex 2) is meant to pave the way to potential flights of a small, suborbital reentry vehicle in 2020, and builds on the technologies validated by the Mach 6 Shefex 1 flight in 2005. Shefex 2 is designed provide up to 50 sec. of experimental hypersonic flight time, with a reentry flight distance of around 100 km (62 mi.).
NASA’s Kennedy Space Center can become a public spaceport serving a variety of users, including commercial cargo and crew flights to low Earth orbit, suborbital missions with tourists and scientists on board, as well as human and robotic NASA exploration missions deeper into the Solar System, according to the center’s director.
The growing importance of ballistic missile defense (BMD) missions for U.S. Navy Aegis-equipped ships will shift home ports for many of those vessels toward the U.S. East Coast to meet the nation’s responsibilities under the European Phased Adaptive Approach (EPAA), a recent Congressional Research Service (CRS) report says.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) Nov. 7 — Aviation Week China Business Aviation Conference & Exhibition, China National Convention Center (CNCC), Beijing, China. For more information go to www.aviationweek.com/events Nov. 8 - 10 — Aviation Week MRO Asia, Partnership for Winning: Strategies for Success in Asia-Pacific, CNCC China National Convention Center, Beijing, China. For more information go to www.aviationweek.com/event
The U.S. Navy delivered the sixth contracted 115-ft. patrol boat (P-305) to the Iraqi navy at the Umm Qasr naval facility in Iraq Nov. 3, a week ahead of schedule. Frank McCarthey, Navy program manager for Support Ships, Boats and Craft, says, “We look forward to officially transferring custody of P-305 to the Iraqi navy to aid in their mission of securing their maritime sovereignty.”
