CENTENNIAL CHALLENGE: Grappling with the conundrum of how to sustain public interest and private-sector investment for the decades it would take to make long-distance space travel possible, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and NASA are seeking ideas for an organization that could operate for a century or more independent of government funding or oversight. Darpa is seeding the 100-Year Starship study “to develop a viable and sustainable model for persistent, long-term, private-sector investment” in the disciplines needed for interstellar travel.
NEW DELHI — Indian Defense Minister A.K. Antony says India’s much-anticipated choice in its Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) program could occur before the end of March 2012. India wants to expedite the deal in part because Pakistan is expecting a speedy delivery of 50 JF-17 aircraft, which originally were to be spread out over two years, according to defense ministry officials.
BEIJING — The Japanese air force believes it can repair as many as six of 18 Mitsubishi Heavy Industries F-2Bs that were immersed in seawater in the March 11 tsunami at Matsushima air base. The air force estimates the repairs would cost 5-6 billion yen ($61-73 million) per aircraft, a figure quite comparable with the price of new fighters elsewhere. The work would take five years.
SNAGGING SWEDEN: Sikorsky has secured a contract from Sweden for 15 UH-60M Black Hawks, beating out an offer from Eurocopter for EC725s. For Sweden, key to the program was being able to rapidly field the helicopters to fill an urgent operational need in Afghanistan stemming from delays in the NH Industries NH90 program. This is the first order in Europe for the UH-60M.
German Defense Minister Thomas de Maizière on May 18 revealed his vision of the future of the Bundeswehr, Germany’s armed forces. The Bundeswehr will be reduced from its current 220,000 to 185,000 troops. The aim is for the Bundeswehr to be capable of sustaining international deployments totalling around 10,000 troops, compared to the current 7,000.
RAAF TRAINER: Flying operations of the Royal Australian Air Force’s Pilatus PC-9/A two-seat, single-engine turboprop fleet, the major basic training aircraft of the Australian Defense Force (ADF), were “temporarily” suspended starting May 18 after a crash due to a suspected engine failure. The two crewmembers, a qualified flying instructor and an instructor trainee, ejected safely. The aircraft crashed about 1 km short of a runway on the edge of RAAF Base East Sale.
SINGAPORE — Swedish shipbuilder Kockums AB has chosen Singapore’s Imdex maritime defense show to unveil its FlexPatrol concept, the first proposed export ship to be based on the stealth technology of the radical Visby corvette class.
The bipartisan leadership of the Senate Commerce Committee wants NASA to start briefing its staff this month on progress meeting provisions of the NASA reauthorization act that President Barack Obama signed last December.
SINGAPORE — The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) plans to issue a tender seeking wet leases on fixed-wing aircraft. The government has granted approval for the initiative and the tender will be issued no later than next year, MMEA Director General Amdan Kurish tells Aviation Week on the sidelines of the Imdex naval defense show in Singapore.
SINGAPORE — Concerns over China’s growing submarine fleet are leading Asian nations to invest in anti-submarine warfare (ASW) capability. The Malaysian Navy uses six Westland SuperLynx helicopters for ASW, but wants ASW helicopters with more capability and plans to buy six, a senior official from the navy tells Aviation Week on the sidelines of this week’s Imdex naval defense show in Singapore. The government has included the requirement in the country’s 10th Malaysia Plan 2011-2015, he says.
IN CONSIDERATION: Australian defense officials said May 19 that an “exposure draft” of the Defense Trade Controls Bill will be released in the “next few months” for “broader consultation” with the country’s defense industry and academia. The announcement kicks off the next stage of local review of the Australia-U.S. Defense Trade Cooperation Treaty, which was signed in 2007 and ratified by the U.S. Senate last September. To meet congressional concerns over balance of federal powers, the U.S. Congress passed implementing legislation right before ratifying the treaty.
After more than a decade of pursuing the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, members of the Senate Armed Services Committee are indicating that the Pentagon’s biggest weapon program might need an understudy. “It seems to me [prudent that] we at least begin considering alternatives,” Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said during a hearing May 19, after hearing that current estimates show the program’s development and sustainment are unaffordable.
HOUSTON — The Endeavour astronauts successfully anchored the $2 billion Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) to the International Space Station (ISS) on May 19, giving the orbital outpost a new scientific center of gravity. The four-hr. task of transferring the 15,000-lb. particle detector from the shuttle’s cargo bay to a starboard perch on the station’s long solar power truss was followed by its orderly activation, supervised by physicist Sam Ting, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Nobel Laureate who serves as the principal investigator.
LOS ANGELES — U.S. Navy, FAA and NTSB investigators are working to find out what caused the destruction of an Omega-operated Boeing 707 tanker at Naval Base Ventura County Point Mugu, Calif., on May 18 after an aborted takeoff.
The first Space-Based Infrared System (Sbirs) satellite designed for geosynchronous orbit, GEO-1, has reached its orbital destination following its May 7 launch from Cape Canaveral according to officials at Lockheed Martin. Late May 18, the satellite began deploying its solar arrays, antennas and a light shade designed to protect the infrared sensors from the Sun. Col. Roger Teague, Sbirs program manager, says the satellite is continuing to perform well.
APPEALING SUBSIDIES: The World Trade Organization appellate body has largely, but not completely, upheld last year’s WTO ruling that certain subsidies provided by the European Union (EU) and some of its member states to Airbus are “incompatible” with WTO rules because they have caused “serious prejudice” to U.S. interests.
SURPRISE GIFT: The tri-nation Medium Extended-Air Defense System (Meads) will bear some technological fruit, the top civilian in charge of the U.S. Army told lawmakers May 18, but what that is remains to be seen. Meanwhile, Pentagon leaders have found that despite their efforts to persuade them, Italian and German officials will not support terminating the program early, Army Secretary John McHugh told Senate appropriators.
LOST AIRCRAFT: Naval Air Systems Command (Navair) lost out on buying 439 aircraft between fiscal 2003 and 2010 due to ever-growing program costs crowding out procurement, the vice admiral in charge of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps’ aviation acquisition command told the Aviation Week Affordability Requirements conference May 18. Vice Adm.
HOUSTON — Endeavour’s crew unloaded the first of their primary payloads, the spare parts-laden Express Logistics Carrier-3, onto the International Space Station on May 18, shortly after shuttle commander Mark Kelly maneuvered the 247,000-lb. orbiter to a smooth docking. The ELC-3 operations, methodically completed at 12:09 p.m., within 6 hr. of the docking, cleared the way for a similar transfer of the $2 billion Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer from Endeavour’s cargo bay to the station’s starboard solar power truss early on May 19.
Northrop Grumman and Raytheon are embracing the U.S. Navy’s Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR) program as a way to break the Lockheed Martin Aegis system’s lock on naval integrated ship and ballistic missile defense (BMD). But Lockheed officials point to their more than 40 years of experience developing and deploying Aegis as a reason the company should be favored for AMDR work.
MADRID — Airbus Military is preparing to flight test a C295-based airborne early warning and control system (AWACS) following a self-funded technology assessment effort. The concept foresees four-six operators. Prototype testing is to begin soon at the company’s Seville, Spain, facility. Three months of tests are planned, says Miguel-Angel Morrell Fuentes, head of engineering. The feasibility study was launched in the second half of 2010 and concluded around year’s end, before a decision was made to build the prototype.
