MOSCOW — Russian industry has unveiled a new air-to-air missile for engaging fighters and airborne early warning aircraft at extended ranges. The missile, the RVV-BD, appears to be the latest iteration of prolonged development activity, although the design also features differences from configurations previously seen in Russia.
deployment decision: A quick-reaction assessment of the Lockheed Martin/Kaman K-Max unmanned cargo rotorcraft is getting under way as a prelude to a U.S. Navy decision on what system to deploy to Afghanistan to resupply remote Marine Corps forward operating bases. A similar assessment is planned for the Boeing A160T Hummingbird. Lockheed says the K-Max underwent electromagnetic environmental testing in July. A downselect is expected by October, allowing deployment before year’s end.
The U.S. Navy has awarded the Newport News Shipbuilding unit of Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) a contract modification to continue long-lead time material procurement for the construction of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy (CVN 79), the second scheduled next-generation Ford-class carrier.
TIRELESS STALKER: Lockheed Martin Skunk Works has demonstrated an “extreme endurance” version of its Stalker small unmanned aircraft, achieving 8-hr. endurance on a combination of fuel-cell and battery power. The basic Stalker is a 4.2-lb., hand-launched, battery-powered aircraft with 2-hr. endurance. The “Stalker XE” version uses fuel-cell technology under development for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and could potentially reach 24-hr. endurance, the company says.
The U.S. Marine Corps has purchased two Insitu Integrator unmanned aircraft systems to provide pre-deployment training at 29 Palms, Calif. The first system will be delivered next month and the second soon after. The U.S. Navy plans to purchase two similar Integrator systems for its special-warfare forces.
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Having completed a key software design review, the tri-national Medium Extended Air Defense System (Meads) program is looking ahead to its flight-test campaign. During the design review, the U.S., Italian and German customers examined progress in the Battle Management Command, Control, Computers and Intelligence (BMC4I) system. This system, in a tactical ops center (TOC), will be used in the first Meads flight test in November, says Gregory Kee, general manager of the NATO Meads Management Agency.
AeroVironment has received a $65.5 million U.S. Army contract to meet an urgent requirement to provide 180 Puma AE small unmanned aircraft systems to equip all maneuver units within brigade combat teams operating in Afghanistan. The contract is part of a surge effort to rush additional hand-launched small UAVs to deployed forces. The Army is providing each of its nine brigade combat teams with 20 additional AeroVironment Raven systems, for a total of 35 with plans to increase this to 45, says Maj. Jeff Poquette, assistant program manager for Army small UAVs.
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — A key test is slated next week leading up to a planned declaration of initial operational capability (IOC) for NATO ballistic missile defenses next spring, says Lt. Gen. Friedrich Ploeger, a German officer and deputy for NATO’s allied air command based in Germany.
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — The U.S. Air Force is “rethinking” its approach toward acquiring the Joint Space Operations Center (Jspoc) Mission System (JMS), a U.S. Air Force project designed to build an integrated system for space situational awareness, threat characterization and command and control.
MOSCOW — Russia may soon field two similarly sized rockets under a proposal for a new medium-class launch vehicle. While Russia’s space industry has been working on the Angara launcher for some time, a competing proposal is emerging from RKK Energia, the Samara Space Center and GRT VP Makeev that advocates say will be more modern and efficient. The two-stage booster would have a liftoff mass of 669-682 metric tons.
Doug Cooke, NASA associate administrator for the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate, will retire on Oct. 3 after 38 years with the agency. The exploration directorate has been merged into the new Human Exploration and Operations (HEO) Mission Directorate, and Cooke has said he wanted to retire after NASA chooses a reference design and procurement strategy for the heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS) that Congress has ordered. He will serve as deputy to HEO associate administrator William Gerstenmaier until his departure, NASA said Aug. 16.
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — U.S. missile defense and radar giant Raytheon and top Israeli missile house Rafael are teaming to market the latter’s Iron Dome counter-rocket and mortar project to the Pentagon.
HOUSTON — A flight-like Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle/Launch Abort System (MPCV/LAS) test article is poised for a new series of acoustic-level tests at the Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co. Reverberant Acoustic Chamber near Denver that will simulate the launch and escape environments for future human deep-space missions. The first of three test sessions progressively simulating the actual spacecraft launch configuration is scheduled to begin Aug. 17.
ARMY General Dynamics Land Systems, Sterling Heights, Mich., was awarded a $29,750,240 cost-no-fee contract. The award will provide for the material sets and associated labor to be used for the conversion of 60 M1A2 tanks to a M1A2S configuration for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The work will be performed in Lima, Ohio. One bid was solicited, with one bid received. The U.S. Army TACOM LCMC, Warren, Mich., is the contracting activity (W56HZV-11-C-0350).
Nigeria plans to orbit its second Earth-observation satellite — plus a student-built testbed — on a Russian Dnepr launch vehicle Aug. 17, continuing a joint effort with Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL) to bring satellite skills and applications to the most populous African nation. The mission launching from Yasny, in Southern Russia, will give Nigeria the ability to pinpoint individual buildings for urban planning in its sprawling cities, and to monitor crops more precisely.
Frontier Airlines is expanding its presence in Kansas City, Mo., by adding service to Las Vegas and Houston Hobby Airport, starting Nov. 1, on 99-seat Embraer 190 aircraft. With the additions, the low-cost carrier will serve 18 destinations nonstop from Kansas City. As a result of the service expansion, which follows the addition of three other routes within the past year, Frontier will be expanding its facilities at the airport to include a fifth gate in Terminal C. Republic Airways, Frontier's parent company, has crew and maintenance bases in Kansas City.
Canada and Costa Rica have tentatively approved an open skies accord to replace a bilateral air services agreement from 1996. The deal, which must still be ratified by both countries, follows open skies agreements Canada has signed with Brazil and Mexico (Aviation Daily, Aug. 11).
EADS CFO Hans-Peter Ring arrived in New York last week for meetings with institutional investors and analysts in the middle of a stock market meltdown. “Obviously the markets feel that there is [the threat of] a double-dip recession,” he says. But if that does happen, Ring is confident the company’s Airbus unit is prepared.
Brazil’s finance ministry has granted its approval of Grupo TAM’s proposed merger with Chile’s LAN Airlines. The backing from the Treasury Department’s Secretaria de Acompanhamento Economico, while noting there are overlaps on three passenger and 10 cargo routes, says the merger should be approved without restrictions because the airline industry is sufficiently competitive to assure the airlines will not dominate the sector.
DONE DEAL: Sweden-based Saab has completed its acquisition of Sensis Corp., a radar-systems company based in East Syracuse, N.Y. The acquisition should open the door for more growth in the North American market for the Saab Group, the Swedish company said in a statement. Sensis placed 14th on the leading list of Defense Department contractors for 2010 radar expenses, excluding airborne systems, according to an Aerospace DAILY analysis of federal contracting data.
Australia’s Strategic Airlines plans to build on its new Hawaii routes by linking to mainland U.S. destinations, challenging the established players in the lucrative transpacific market. “Ultimately we are planning to add connections to the U.S. mainland and beyond,” Strategic Chief Commercial Officer Damien Vasta tells Aviation Week following the announcement of flights from Melbourne and Brisbane to Honolulu. Vasta has previously signaled that the beyond-Hawaii links could be achieved through a code-share or interline agreement.
For the second time this year, the U.S. Army has asked the three industry teams bidding on its Ground Combat Vehicle (GCV) program to extend their bids.
