France should be applauded for orchestrating the military campaign to stop Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi from butchering his own citizens. And U.S. President Barack Obama should be commended for having his nation take a back seat in the conflict. Libya, a former Italian colony, sits in the European Union’s back yard.
HOUSTON — Russia’s trash-laden Progress M-09M/41P cargo capsule departed the International Space Station early on April 22, clearing the way for the April 27 launch of a new supply ship. The 41 Progress was released from the Pirs docking compartment of the station’s Russian segment at 7:38 a.m. EDT. The capsule, which arrived at the orbiting science laboratory on Jan. 30, has been instrumented to carry out a series of engineering tests before it makes a fiery decent into the Earth’s atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean on April 26.
ARTILLERY ORDER: Raytheon has announced a $173 million award from the U.S. Army (in fiscal 2010 dollars) for more 155-mm precision-guided Excalibur artillery rounds. The contract is the beginning of full-rate production for the Excalibur Ia-2. The company notes that since 2007, more than 300 Excalibur rounds have been fired in theater by the U.S. Army and Marine Corps, and that this latest order is specifically marked for in-theater use.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.—Space Florida, a state-backed economic development agency focused on aerospace and spin-off technologies, plans to invest $1 million in a U.K.-based firm that has developed innovative ways to store hydrogen at ambient temperatures. The money is intended to help Cella Energy secure additional outside investment and expand its operations into Florida.
BEIJING—Indonesia will pay $10 million to cover 20% of the cost of concept definition of South Korea’s proposed KF-X fighter, and will send 30 researchers to work on the project. Korea Aerospace Industries and missile and electronics systems maker LIG Nex1 are the preferred South Korean candidates for the program, while Indonesian Aerospace will also participate, according to the South Korean Defense Acquisition Program Administration.
LONDON — The Swiss defense ministry is requiring the military to look at options to assure the country will not suffer an air defense gap, including the possible modernization of F-5 Tigers, after having put off replacement of the type.
Predators are back in the skies over Libya for low-level, very detailed observations of government troops as they dig in close to civilian areas to avoid NATO air attacks. Manned aircraft will continue to bomb from medium altitudes, but the Predators were reintroduced to the fight strictly for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) gathering at low altitudes where the Libyan government’s advanced, Russian-made SA-24 man-portable anti-aircraft missiles create a zone of lethality.
ST. LOUIS—“A number of potential Joint Strike Fighter customers” have asked for information about the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, according to Boeing Military Aircraft President Chris Chadwick. “We see customers trying to recapitalize their tactical fighter forces and balancing that with huge budget pressures, and trying to make the best decisions going forward,” Chadwick says.
BLACK HAWK BUY: Turkey has opted for the Sikorsky Black Hawk over the AgustaWestland AW149 in the Turkish Utility Helicopter Program competition. The initial buy, valued at around $3.5 billion, is for 109 rotorcraft (with options for 12 more), although the inventory is expected to grow significantly over time. Turkey will receive the T-70, a Turkish version of the Sikorsky utility helicopter.
LONDON—The Dutch parliament has approved a defense ministry request to proceed with the purchase of a second F-35 Joint Strike Fighter test aircraft. The U.S. had extended the deadline for the Netherlands to decide until the end of April. The aircraft is being bought as part of the U.S. low-rate initial production lot 4 and due for delivery in March 2013 (the first of the Dutch aircraft is due for delivery in August 2012).
HOUSTON—The upcoming departure and launch of Russian Soyuz crews assigned to the International Space Station are shifting to minimize the time the nearly complete orbiting science laboratory is staffed by three rather than six crewmembers.
FRANKFURT—German aerospace association BDLI is concerned that the country’s political role in the Libya conflict will damage the local defense industry. “I don’t believe this was a helpful move for the German companies, in particular with regard to European projects, be it Franco-German or Anglo-German cooperation,” BDLI Chairman and Airbus CEO Thomas Enders told journalists at the BDLI annual press conference in Berlin. “Germany is not alone in cutting back its defense budget,” thus more cooperation and separation of roles was needed, he says.
NEW DELHI—Eurocopter is eyeing the emerging Indian medical industry to offer its helicopter emergency services. The company is planning a pilot Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) project for a pan-India network with the help of a consortium of government institutions, private hospitals and other stakeholders. Talks are progressing, the company says.
The Pentagon’s electronic warfare (EW) capabilities are in for a revival to compensate for what a top Defense Department official describes as 20 years of neglect. The Obama administration, which is looking for cuts in defense spending, has chosen EW as one of the few areas expected to receive a spending boost, says Frank Kendall, principal deputy undersecretary of defense for acquisition and technology.
EXECUTIVE VIEWING: President Barack Obama and his family are set to be on hand for the last launch of the space shuttle Endeavour. Also scheduled to be there as she recovers from an assassination attempt is Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), whose husband Mark Kelly commands Endeavour’s mission to the International Space Station. A flight readiness review scheduled Endeavour’s liftoff for no earlier than 3:47 p.m. EDT April 29.
WALLOPS ISLAND, Va.—As competition heats up for the U.S. Navy’s Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR) program, the focus will be on developing the S-band digital beamforming technology on a shipboard platform in time for the DDG-51 Arleigh Burke-class destroyer Flight III upgrades planned for later this decade. Digital beamforming is an approach to phased-array antenna pattern control that provides performance advantages over conventional analog beamforming techniques, including improved operations in environmental clutter, according to Lockheed Martin.
At the end of a turbulent 2010 for the F-35 program, Lockheed Martin earned $7 million out of an available $35 million in award fees for milestones reached last year in the $379.4 billion single-engine stealthy fighter project.
NEW DELHI—India’s space agency successfully orbited the Resourcesat-2 advanced Earth-observation satellite and a couple of nanosatellites on April 20, following two consecutive launch failures last year.
LONDON—The Botswana Defense Force plans to modernize its training aircraft fleet with the Pilatus PC-7 Mk II, replacing an earlier model PC-7 already in service. The deal for five aircraft and associated ground equipment is valued at around 40 million Swiss francs ($45 million), the aircraft maker reports. Deliveries under the contract are to start in early 2013, first with the ground-based training system and logistics support, followed the same year by the aircraft.
NEW DELHI—India is expediting its plans to hire a weather reconnaissance aircraft over the next two years for tracking and collecting data on cyclones. A senior official at the ministry of Earth sciences tells Aviation Week that the country is looking at hiring one WC-130J weather reconnaissance aircraft like those used by the so-called Hurricane Hunters of the U.S. Air Force Reserve 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Sqdn.
The new National Terrorism Advisory System, replacing color-coded advisories in place for nearly a decade, is being implemented across the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano promises it will provide timely information about credible terrorist threats with specifics on location, transportation mode and infrastructure affected.
