AIR FORCE The Boeing Co., Long Beach, Calif., is being awarded a $962,509,138 firm-fixed-price delivery order against the basic C-17 production contract (FA8614-06-D-2006) to procure five C-17 aircraft. At this time, $471,629,477 has been obligated. ASC/WLMK, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8614-06-D-2006 DO 0006). NAVY
U.K. engine maker Cubewano says it has broken through the 1-hp/1-lb. barrier with the lightest, most powerful heavy-fuel engine yet to fly. The kerosene-fueled rotary engine powered Honeywell’s Class 1 Increment 2 ducted-fan unmanned aircraft on an 8-min. flight in Albuquerque, N.M. Cubewano CEO Craig Fletcher says the single-rotor Wankel engine was developed in less than two years after the original turbine engine for the Class 1 Increment 2 UAV failed catastrophically.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Space Florida, a state-backed economic development agency focused on space and related technologies, has hired Masten Space Systems for a series of suborbital demonstration flights from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Launch Complex 36. The $400,000 launch services contract includes multiple flights of Masten’s vertical takeoff, vertical landing (VTVL) reusable suborbital vehicle, called Xaero.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling favoring the contractors for the canceled A-12 U.S. Navy stealth aircraft shifts the balance of power in legal disputes with the government involving classified information – but less so than it might have. “Neither side will be entirely happy with the resolution we reach today,” Associate Justice Antonin Scalia wrote May 23 in the unanimous opinion by the nine-member court.
LONDON — A delay in fielding Dutch F-35 Joint Strike Fighters would drive up costs to keep the country’s F-16 fleet flying. Fielding the F-16 replacement in 2019 rather than 2016 would cost around €300 million ($420 million), the defense ministry tells parliament. If the fleet has to be sustained much longer, the costs “will rise significantly,” Defense Minister Hans Hillen tells the legislature.
FORT WORTH — The F-35 flight-test force has executed 808 flights totaling 1,227 total flight hours thus far, according to Steve O’Bryan, director of business development for the program at Lockheed Martin.
RAYTHEON OUT: Congressional auditors have denied a protest by Raytheon regarding U.S. Customs and Border Protection awards to Telephonics and ICx Technologies for mobile surveillance capability equipment under the embattled secure border initiative known as SBINet. Raytheon argued that CBP misevaluated its final proposals, failed to hold meaningful discussions, and made an unreasonable source-selection decision, according to a Government Accountability Office decision date April 26, but recently published.
SINGAPORE — The Philippine air force (PAF) plans to purchase maritime patrol aircraft, a move that comes after maritime security became a higher priority for the government. This is the service’s No. 1 priority for aircraft purchases, says a senior PAF official, who spoke to Aviation Week on the sidelines of the Imdex naval defense show in Singapore.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) May 23 - 26 — 21st AIAA Aerodynamic Decelerator Systems Technology Conference and Seminar, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland, “Showcasing recent advances in the field of parachute and aerodynamic decelerator systems.” For more information go to http://www.aiaa.org/content.cfm?pageid=230&lumeetingid=2476
Work is beginning on a program to develop a kit enabling joint tactical air controllers to take command of sensors and weapons on manned and unmanned aircraft to increase the speed and accuracy of fire support for ground forces. Northrop Grumman and Raytheon have been awarded contracts for Phase 1 of the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (Darpa) four-year Precision Close Air Support (PCAS) program.
LAST LAUNCH: NASA has set July 8 at 11:40 a.m. EDT for the launch of the space shuttle program’s final flight, a 12-day supply mission to the International Space Station using Atlantis and a crew of four astronauts. The target date was announced May 20 following shuttle program assessments of the mission preparations and the condition of Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center, where Endeavour lifted off May 16 on the STS-134 mission. NASA will establish a formal launch target during a Flight Readiness Review on June 28.
REAPER RELOCATION: The Royal Air Force next year plans to reactivate the just-disbanded XIII Sqdn. as its second Reaper unmanned aircraft unit and move control of the air vehicle to the unit’s new home base at RAF Waddington. So far, RAF Reapers have been controlled from Creech AFB, Nev., collocated with U.S. Air Force operations. The shift comes as the U.K. is preparing to double its Reaper force to 10 air vehicles at a cost of £135 million ($219 million).
POSTPONED DAWN: Efforts continue to deploy the troublesome C-band antenna reflector on Intelsat’s New Dawn satellite, although the spacecraft’s Ku-band has been deployed and is undergoing on-orbit testing, Intelsat spokeswoman Dianne Vanbeber says. Ku-band antenna deployment had been on hold while Intelsat and spacecraft manufacturer Orbital Sciences Corp. diagnosed the C-band problem. In the event that C-band capability can’t be established, “We have over 20 other satellites covering Africa, so we have other resources upon which to draw,” Vanbeber says.
HOUSTON — Mission managers approved plans on May 20 for a Soyuz-based photo shoot of the shuttle Endeavour while the winged ship is docked to the International Space Station—a portrait for posterity that NASA hopes will serve as an enduring symbol of the shuttle program’s contribution to the 15-country station partnership. Earlier, Endeavour astronauts Drew Feustel and Greg Chamitoff logged the first of four mission spacewalks, a 6-hr. excursion in which one task was curtailed by the failure of a spacesuit CO2 sensor.
LONDON — As the European Union looks to restructure its R&D spending plans, the U.K. aerospace and defense industry is signaling its concern about the direction Brussels policy makers are taking. In particular, industry officials worry that the dedicated funding line for aerospace research could disappear as Europe moves to what it calls the Common Strategic Framework (CSF) to replace the long-established multi-year Framework Program. The EU currently is in FP7, which runs through 2013, and is debating how to structure the follow-on financing regime.
HUMVEE RECAP: While industry awaits the official requests for proposals from the U.S. Army and the Marine Corps for the long-awaited Humvee recapitalization program, no one is quite sure yet what the exact requirements will be, or if the two services will come together to offer a joint request. Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Chiarelli says that due to President Obama’s demand for $400 billion in defense budget cuts, “the services are working together to look at programs, redundancies and duplications” wherever they can.
DETERRENT DESIGNS: The U.K. government is proceeding with early design activity for the future submarine to take over the role of the country’s nuclear deterrent, replacing the Vanguard Class starting in 2028. The so-called initial gate approval was made last week, with formal program go ahead, or main gate, planned in 2016. The new submarine will carry fewer warheads and Trident II missiles. The government projects the program to cost £11-14 billion ($18-23 billion).
Three telecommunications satellites built in India, Japan and the U.S. were sent to geostationary transfer orbit Friday following launches on a Russian Proton and a European Ariane 5 separated by 1 hr., 23 min. and half a world.
Lockheed Martin plans to review proposals for an alternate helmet system for the stealthy F-35 late next month, a company executive tells Aviation Week. Larry Lawson, executive vice president overseeing the Joint Strike Fighter for the company, says a selection is expected by the end of August. This alternate technical solution will be developed in parallel with continued work on the primary helmet made by Vision Systems International (VSI).
U.S. Marine Corps Gen. James Cartwright has drafted a memo to senior officials in the Office of the Secretary of Defense and four-star officers that is likely to support certification of the Global Hawk program to move forward despite a recent cost overrun.
