TACSAT-4: The Pentagon’s Tactical Satellite-4 (TacSat-4) is scheduled to launch Sept. 27 at 8:49 a.m. PDT from Kodiak Launch Complex, Alaska, aboard a Minotaur IV+ launch vehicle. Developed by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory for the Office of Naval Research and the Operationally Responsive Space Office, TacSat-4 is designed to provide responsive UHF Comms-On-The-Move, including to manpacks and handheld receivers.
CARRIER OPS: Joint Strike Fighter officials are preparing to shift the F-35B short-takeoff-and-vertical landing variant for the U.S. Marine Corps to the Wasp amphibious ship in the first week of October. There, test experts will study the integration of the aircraft with the ship; this will include studies on the effects of the aircraft’s exhaust on the ship deck. Some skeptics claim the heat will be a problem for deck operations. “There are a lot of urban legends about this airplane,” says Tom Burbage, executive vice president of F-35 integration at Lockheed Martin.
NEW DELHI — India has put on hold the joint venture between state-run shipbuilder Mazagon Dock Ltd. and Pipavav Defense and Offshore Engineering Co. after receiving complaints from other commercial shipyards that were passed over for the deal. The Indian defense ministry is now forming a new policy for public-private business partnerships to establish greater transparency, according to Defense Minister A.K. Antony.
Sea Launch AG lofted Eutelsat’s Atlantic Bird-7 satellite to orbit atop a Zenit-3SL rocket from a floating platform in the Pacific Ocean Sept. 24, the first launch for the Bern, Switzerland-based company since it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in June 2009. The rocket delivered the EADS Astrium-built communications satellite into geosynchronous transfer orbit and Eutelsat reported partial deployment of Atlantic Bird-7’s solar array within 3 hr. of separation.
Rather than touting an array of new, whiz-bang proprietary technologies, many ground vehicle purveyors are instead bragging about the nondevelopmental aspect of their new offerings in a money-saving “out with the new and in with the old” strategy that seems to be taking hold across the defense industry. This is another sign that in the new age of austerity, the technological advances forged during the previous decade’s acquisition spending spree will be leveraged to the hilt, both on new builds and on reset and refit programs.
HOUSTON — Bolstered by the mid-September agreement between the White House and Congress to rev up development of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS), Lockheed Martin is moving out with development, test and production of the Orion/Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) that would lift off atop the evolvable mega-rocket for piloted deep-space missions.
DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Western Diesel Services Inc., St. Louis, was awarded a firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, long-term contract for a maximum $23,127,146 for procurement of engine parts. There are no other locations of performance. Using service is the Army. The date of performance completion is Sept. 20, 2016. The Defense Logistics Agency Land, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., is the contracting activity (SPRBL1-11-D-0030). NAVY
LONDON — In a further sign that aerospace and defense companies are shifting their focus in hot growth markets, Thales has taken full ownership of Omnisys, a Brazilian electronics firm it already had a stake in. The goal is to use Sao Bernardo do Campo-based Omnisys as a broader route into the potentially lucrative Brazilian market.
F-35 program officials are awaiting a clearance from the procurement community to begin local flight operations at Eglin AFB, Fla., a step closer to pilot training for the developmental stealthy aircraft there. Air Force officials at the U.S. Air Force’s Aeronautical Systems Center in Ohio, which oversees procurement of service aircraft, are reviewing data collected during a period of “maturity flights” using two conventional-takeoff-and-landing F-35As (AF-6 and AF-7) at the Edwards AFB, Calif., test center.
Though several Air Force generals say a “disaggregation” strategy of distributing space capabilities across more and smaller satellites is not likely to gain traction in the near term, this approach could take root later in the decade.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) Sept. 26 — Aviation Week Events, Aircraft Composite Repair Management Forum, Hotel Meliá Avenida América, Madrid, Spain. For more information go to www.aviationweek.com/events Sept. 27 - 29 — Aviation Week MRO Europe 2011, IFEMA, Juan Carlos 1, Exhibition Park, Madrid, Spain. For more information go to www.aviationweek.com/events
AFGHANISTAN BOUND: The Lockheed Martin/Kaman K-Max unmanned cargo helicopter will deploy to Afghanistan within “a couple of months” to resupply remote U.S. Marine Corps forward bases, says Rear Adm. William Shannon, Navy program executive officer for unmanned aviation and strike systems. Only the K-Max completed a quick-reaction assessment (QRA) in August, as Boeing’s rival A160T was not ready.
The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is working with the Obama administration to shield its multibillion-dollar weather satellite program from suffering collateral damage in congressional spending wars. And with a gap in polar-orbiting satellite coverage becoming more likely, the agency is also making contingency plans to share data with other nations.
The White House is proposing new, tougher lobbying rules that might outlaw government employees from attending trade shows for free. Taking office in 2009 on the heels of the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal, President Obama restricted gifts from lobbyists and political appointees. The new proposal coming out of the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) extends those restrictions to all federal employees and tightens the definitions of what events they can attend on a lobbyist’s dime.
P-8A WORK: The Boeing Co. has been awarded a $319,905,801 contract modification by the U.S. Navy to provide spares, support equipment and tools, logistics support, trainers, and courseware for low rate initial production of P-8A multi-mission maritime aircraft. The work will be performed in McKinney, Texas; Hazelwood, Mo.; Seattle; Jacksonville, Fla.; Anaheim, Calif.; Baltimore; Camden, N.J.; and Greenlawn, N.Y. It is expected to be completed by March 2014.
It took three years, but Louis Chenevert has made United Technologies Corp. his company. With an $18.4 billion deal to acquire Goodrich Corp., the chairman and CEO of the aerospace-industrial conglomerate is placing a costly bet on the future of the commercial aircraft sector. He is also stepping out from under the big shadow cast by his legendary predecessor, George David.
The U.S. is in danger of losing its primacy in space exploration, and the economy stands to suffer as a result, two legendary moonwalkers told the House Science Committee Sept. 22. Apollo 11 Commander Neil Armstrong and Apollo 17 Commander Eugene Cernan, the first and last men, respectively, to walk on the Moon, told the panel that retiring the space shuttle without an alternative U.S. vehicle will make it harder to interest young students in the difficult math and science courses necessary to sustain the U.S. economy in the competitive global environment.
Boeing is looking to fly its company-funded Phantom Eye hydrogen-fueled, long-endurance unmanned aircraft in late October or early November at Edwards AFB, Calif. The twin-engine, 150-ft.-wingspan demonstrator is due to be rolled out onto the dry lakebed at Edwards this weekend for an integrated fueling, engine run and defueling test. “This will be the first time we have fully fueled the aircraft with liquid hydrogen, run the engines, shut them down and defueled,” says Darryl Davis, Boeing Phantom Works president.
VIRGINIA BEACH, VA. – The U.S. Navy is showing interest in the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Vulture solar-powered, ultra-endurance unmanned aircraft as a means of providing communications to carrier strike groups if satellites are knocked out. The Vulture program is developing technology for an unmanned aircraft able to stay aloft for up to five years. Boeing is designing a full-scale demonstrator with 30 days of endurance, which is planned to fly in the first quarter of 2014.
The Senate on Sept. 22 voted down a provision that would have forced the Obama administration to sell 66 F-16 C/D aircraft to Taiwan. The 48-48 vote came the day after administration officials informed Congress about the sale of $5.85 billion in upgrades to 145 F-16 A/B aircraft already in the Taiwanese inventory, along with extending the F-16 training program at Luke AFB, Ariz., and helping to sustain F-5 and C-130 aircraft. The measure needed 60 votes to pass.
NEW DELHI — India will open the commercial bids of its two shortlisted vendors for the $11 billion Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) by the middle of October, with the deal likely to be finalized by the end of this year, the Indian Air Force chief says.
Lockheed Martin was the top Pentagon defense contractor for 2010, according to an exclusive Aviation Week Intelligence Network (AWIN) analysis. Lockheed Martin led the field with about $12.5 billion in 6,334 contracts and contract modifications for the year, according to the AWIN analysis of Defense Department data aggregated by the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting. (See chart p. 8.)
