NASA is working with FAA and the industry to plan an operational demonstration of fuel-saving approach procedures using automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) at an airport with high air traffic density. The objective of Airspace Technology Demonstration 1, planned for fiscal 2015, is to accelerate the return on investment for early adopters of avionics required for NextGen, says John Cavolowsky, director of NASA’s Airspace Systems Program.
Hawaii is benefitting from U.S. government efforts to kick-start an advanced biofuels industry and reduce its dependence on imported oil. While Honeywell company UOP has begun construction of a biofuel demonstration plant in Hawaii, which is backed by $25 million in funding from the Department of Energy, a $510 million government initiative to produce aviation and marine biofuels has highlighted the need to create a supply chain on the island state.
THE SHRIKE: AeroVironment has unveiled the Shrike quadrotor vertical-takeoff-and-landing small unmanned aircraft, the result of four years of work under the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Stealthy Persistent Perch and Stare program. The 5-lb., battery-powered Shrike can hover for 40 min. carrying a high-resolution camera, or provide several hours of video by perching and staring.
Several surprises are expected from the U.S. Air Force’s next-generation, long-range strike program, including its links to the Navy’s unmanned, carrier-based strike aircraft.
CAPE CANAVERAL — A test flight of the Launch Abort System (LAS) for NASA’s Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle will shift from U.S. Army White Sands Missile Range, N.M., to a Florida-operated pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The flight, called Ascent Abort-2, is slated for late 2013 or early 2014. The successful Orion LAS Pad-Abort I test was conducted on May 6, 2010, at White Sands.
The Ingalls Shipbuilding division of Huntington Ingalls Industries has begun the fabrication of the U.S. Coast Guard’s fourth National Security Cutter (NSC), WMSL-753 Hamilton. With this shipbuilding milestone, Ingalls has cut and fabricated 100 tons of steel with a robotic plasma arc cutting machine at its yard. Ingalls received the $480 million contract to build Hamilton in November 2010. The ship is scheduled to be delivered to the Coast Guard in the fall of 2014.
HOUSTON — Canada’s Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator, a two-armed robotic handyman, completed its first repair effort outside the International Space Station early Aug. 30, changing out a remote power control module (RPCM), or circuit breaker.
John Shannon, who managed NASA’s space shuttle program in the wake of the Columbia accident and returned the remaining orbiters to flight, will oversee a near-term effort to tighten plans for future international space exploration. With the retirement of the shuttle fleet, Shannon will evaluate design reference missions (DRM) developed by the International Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG).
Despite growing interest from some senior U.S. Air Force leaders in exploring new architectures for the Pentagon’s satellite constellations, chances are that this “disaggregation” concept is not likely to take root any time soon, according to one senior procurement official. Lt. Gen. Mark Shackelford, the outgoing military deputy in the Air Force acquisition office, says that the momentum today in the Air Force is behind sustaining current satellite programs in production.
The U.S. Army’s Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) program is facing further budget cuts, even after potentially getting $50 million slashed from its requested $172 million budget in fiscal 2012 “We’re looking to take more money out than that,” says Col. David Bassett, the Army’s project manager for tactical vehicles.
MOORESTOWN, N.J. — Defense contractor yards and plants along the U.S. East Coast bounced back quickly after going through the weekend wash cycle of Hurricane Irene. Raytheon’s facility in Marlborough, Mass., and the company’s unit in Portsmouth, R.I., were closed Aug. 29 due to a power outage caused by the hurricane, corporate spokeswoman Carolyn Beaudry says. Marlborough union employees – and employees of Raytheon’s Integrated Defense Systems working there – had to report for work at Raytheon’s facility in Sudbury, Mass.
Though Lockheed Martin lost an opportunity a year ago to sell as may as 17,000 of its advanced tri-mode seekers to the U.S. Air Force for its Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) II contract, company officials say the service remains interested in its technology. The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory [AFRL] has signed a five-year agreement with Lockheed Martin to “assess the viability of its cooled tri-mode seeker for integration onto Air Force weapon platforms,” according to the company’s Aug. 26 announcement. The agreement does not include any payment.
DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Harris Corp., Rochester, N.Y., was awarded a firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, long-term contract for a maximum $46,665,108 for radio system components. There are no other locations of performance. Using service is Army. The date of performance completion is Aug. 26, 2016. The Defense Logistics Agency Land, Aberdeen, Md., is the contracting activity (SPRBL1-11-D-0029).
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) has sent a sharply worded letter to Pentagon acquisition chief Ashton Carter expressing his “disappointment with [Carter’s] apparent lack of commitment” to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Carter is nominated to be the next deputy secretary of defense.
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HOUSTON – Three International Space Station astronauts scheduled to descend to Earth Sept. 8 will remain aboard the orbiting science laboratory at least a week longer, as station managers wrestle with the consequences of last week’s Progress resupply launch failure – consequences that could include temporarily evacuating the outpost in mid-November.
HOUSTON — The Canadian Space Agency’s Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (Dextre), a two-armed robotic handyman, was in the final leg of its first ground-controlled repair task outside of the International Space Station (ISS) on Aug. 29: a two-day changeout of a failed Remote Power Control Module (RPCM), or circuit breaker box, on the port side of the orbiting science laboratory’s vaulting solar power system truss.
U.S. Air Force presentations and other defense documents indicate that a major “black” surveillance and electronic-attack program is up and running under Special Access Program security rules.
Science Applications International Corp.’s (SAIC) Aug. 26 bid protest over the U.S. Army’s Ground Combat Vehicle halts all work on the program until the government rules on the merits of the case. Shut out of the running two weeks ago when the Army awarded more than $800 million in technology development contracts to teams led by BAE Systems and General Dynamics, SAIC filed a bid protest with the Government Accountability Office, the congressional audit agency charged with refereeing federal contracting disputes.
With U.S. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus’ recent acknowledgment that the service has a mind to refit its older DDG-51 Arleigh Burke destroyers with hybrid-drive technology as well as design the new Flight III ships with similar propulsions systems, the Navy should take the advice of many defense analysts and do a true analysis of alternatives (AOA) to determine the best course to take for the future fleet.
