A top lawmaker in the U.S. House of Representatives has asked the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to investigate White House compliance with a law that bars Sino-American exchanges of science and technology know-how.
SINGAPORE — Malaysia is considering buying Lockheed P-3 aircraft, an initiative that comes at a time when many countries in Southeast Asia are looking to boost their maritime surveillance and anti-submarine warfare capabilities. A study is now under way and a request has gone to the U.S. for information on the P-3, according to industry executives and officials inside and outside of Malaysia. If the decision to buy P-3s is made, the Malaysian air force will operate the aircraft, the sources say.
LOS ANGELES — The head of Boeing’s defense and space unit says robust growth in the company’s international business will help spearhead additional revenues in 2011, but warns that budget reductions and industrial base health issues are among longer-term concerns.
LET’S STRATEGIZE: Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) called for a national aerospace strategy in a speech May 24 before the Senate Aerospace Caucus. The chair of the Senate Appropriations transportation subcommittee says companies large and small have told her “‘We need a comprehensive national strategy for aerospace.’ The U.S. government has to be a strong partner in that.” In addition to improving the aerospace workforce, beefing up research efforts and improving civil aviation, the U.S.
BEIJING — China plans to launch five or six satellites for its Compass navigation constellation in 2012, as it moves toward offering an initial service in some of its own territory this year. With eight Compass satellites already in orbit and two or three more to come this year, the system should have at least 15 spacecraft by the end of 2012. It is supposed to have 35 when complete. The ground system has been completely installed, tested and found to be fully functional, says the PLA Daily, the official Chinese military newspaper.
NASA will continue its contract with Lockheed Martin for development of the George W. Bush-era Orion crew exploration vehicle, rechristened the Multi Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) by Congress, but it will stretch out the contract while it figures out how to build a heavy-lift “Space Launch System” (SLS) to carry it beyond low Earth orbit.
NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission apparently ducked a considerable delay when a crane operator accidentally lifted its composite backshell with a 2,000-lb. aluminum table attached to it. Richard Cook, deputy MSL project manager at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said May 24 that the mishap does not appear to have placed excessive loads on the backshell structure, which is designed to help protect the car-sized rover as it enters the Martian atmosphere.
The Obama administration is threatening to veto the version of the defense authorization bill being debated by the U.S. House of Representatives over an issue involving the General Electric/Rolls-Royce F136 alternate engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The administration last year wielded the veto threat over any attempts to fund the alternate engine and successfully fended off efforts to add money for the F136.
SINGAPORE — The U.S. and U.K. defense establishments face governmental fiscal constraints, but will nonetheless be moving ahead with plans to develop satellite communications capabilities.
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) continues to cast doubt on the U.S. Navy’s stated shipbuilding plan in a recent report, saying the service’s strategy will actually require a larger number of vessels than it has officially cited.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who is retiring next month, delivered his last major policy address at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) in Washington May 24, hitting many of the same themes he has focused on since taking the helm of the Pentagon in 2006, including bureaucratic inertia and institutional rot in the Pentagon.
LONDON — In a bid to advance its concept for a carrier-borne Gripen, Saab says it will establish a design center in the U.K. to flesh out the idea. Saab CEO Hakan Buskhe says the Sea Gripen concept design phase will take 12-18 months and he believes Saab could deliver starting in 2018 if it secures a contract. A flight demonstrator also may be built.
HOUSTON — Russia’s Soyuz TMA 20/25S commander Dmitry Kondratyev, NASA flight engineer Catherine Coleman and European Space Agency flight engineer Paolo Nespoli returned to Earth southeast of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, late on May 23.
The U.S. Navy’s proposed upgraded radar suite for its next class of aircraft carriers could up the ante on vessel costs, a recent Congressional Research Service (CRS) report says. The next-generation CVN-78 Ford carrier class is slated to get a dual-band radar (DBR) suite, with an X-band SPY-3 multifunction radar (MFR) and an S-band SPY-4 volume search radar (VSR) – the same package initially planned for the Navy’s DDG-1000 Zumwalt-class destroyers.
NEW DELHI — India successfully test-fired on Friday the Astra air-to-air guided missile from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur in the eastern state of Orissa. Developed by the Defense Research and Development Organization, the beyond-visual-range missile will be used to intercept and destroy enemy aircraft, DRDO spokesman Ravi Gupta tells Aviation Week. After the last trial, the missile will be integrated on fighter jets like the Su-30MKI and Tejas Light Combat Aircraft.
The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps’ steady effort to lower weight across the spectrum of platforms and equipment factors heavily into the recently released request for proposals (RFP) for the Ship-to-Shore Connector (SSC), which is viewed as the new vessel for transporting the Marines and their equipment given the cancellation of the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle. The total ownership cost (TOC) also ranks as a high priority, according to the RFP.
DEFENSE COOPERATION: Defense industry representatives from Australia, Canada, the U.K. and the U.S. will meet in London in September as they look for more opportunities for cooperation. “As the challenges of the global economic situation puts pressure on national defense budgets, there is a desire for even closer business cooperation between the four nations’ industries,” say U.S. boosters in an announcement from the National Defense Industrial Association.
The U.S. Navy will be under the gun to develop and deliver its proposed Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR) in time to meet the construction schedule for the Flight III version of the DDG-51 Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, according to the Congressional Research Service (CRS). The Navy is counting on the AMDR to shoulder its proposed enhanced ballistic missile defense (BMD) role. The Flight III DDG-51 is the first ship class slated to get the new radars.
NEW DELHI — The successful launch of the Indian Space Research Organization’s (ISRO) GSAT-8 geostationary satellite is expected to help civil aviation networks across the country and strengthen safety in Indian airspace.
ARMY AM General LLC, South Bend, Ind., was awarded on May 9 a $164,426,332 firm-fixed-price contract. The award will provide for the procurement of 763 various models of the High Mobility Multi-Purpose Wheeled Vehicle for two foreign military sales to Afghanistan and Jordan. The work will be performed in Mishawaka, Ind., with an estimated completion date of Jan. 31, 2012. One bid was solicited, with one bid received. The U.S. Army Contracting Command, Warren, Mich., is the contracting activity (W56HZV-10-C-0405).
Sweden’s navy is planning substantial modernization over the next decade as, like the rest of the country’s armed forces, it transitions from a conscript-populated force to a smaller, more modern fleet.
