COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Goodrich is preparing to ship the Operationally Responsive Space-1 satellite, which is designed to provide infrared intelligence to commanders in U.S. Central Command (Centcom), for delivery to the launch pad at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Transfer of the satellite is slated for later this month, says Charlie Cox, special projects director for the company. Goodrich plans to transport ORS-1 on a truck to Wallops, with launch to take place as early as May on an Orbital Sciences Corp. Minotaur I booster.
LONDON — The Dutch government intends to proceed with the purchase of a second F-35 Joint Strike Fighter that will be heavily involved in the operational test phase. The issue had been under review, with the Pentagon giving the Netherlands an extension until the end of April to decide. In a letter to the Dutch parliament, Defense Minister Hans Hillen says the aircraft will be purchased as planned.
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden assured senators on April 11 that the James Webb Space Telescope is receiving top-level oversight and making technological progress. Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), chair of the Senate Appropriations Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies subcommittee, pressed Bolden on the telescope’s price tag, which has soared $1.5 billion over budget, according to an independent report commissioned by the senator.
By year’s end, some U.S. ground forces in Afghanistan may head out on patrol accompanied by new allies: unmanned ground vehicles (UGV) that can carry more than 1,000 lb. of gear, recharge soldiers’ batteries and follow foot patrols autonomously. Thanks to a U.S. Army initiative begun in April 2010 called Project Workhorse, spearheaded by the Army’s Rapid Equipping Force (REF), the service hopes to send UGV to Afghanistan for operational use by October, after a few months of stateside tests.
FORT WASHINGTON, Md. — The U.S. Navy has decided that composite replacements for crack-prone aluminum superstructures on its cruiser fleet would be too costly, according to a Naval Sea Systems Command (Navsea) official.
Directed-energy weapons are being paired with traditional cannons to produce advanced shipboard defense against people, small arms, light boats and unmanned aircraft using non-lethal and low-power devices.
Virgin Galactic is looking for a few good pilots—very good pilots—to fly paying customers to the edge of space and back in its SpaceShipTwo rocketplane. The Virgin Atlantic space-tourism spin-off plans to hire another aviator by June to help David MacKay, its lone test pilot, get ready for the start of spaceflight as early as next year.
While U.S. Congress and Navy officials should certainly note that China’s anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM)—which could prove capable of hitting moving ships like aircraft carriers—recently reached the Chinese version of initial operational capability (IOC), the Pentagon still could protect its fleet with countermeasures, according to a recent Congressional Research Service (CRS) report.
DRAC COUNT: France is increasing its purchase of the hand-launched Drac unmanned aircraft. Defense armaments agency DGA says prime contractor EADS’s Cassidian unit was notified of the top-up order on April 5. The vehicles are to be delivered between this summer and the start of 2013. DGA would not say how many vehicles are being acquired. France first ordered the Drac UAV in 2004. The systems are now operational with the army in Afghanistan; they made their debut in October. So far, the army has received 60 systems. Drac provides 90 min.
JSF REWORK: Dozens, perhaps hundreds, of early production Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighters could require additional work because of nascent manufacturing issues that make them less stealthy than expected, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). According to the April 7 report, Defense Contract Management Agency officials have noted difficulties in manufacturing outer mold lines, resulting from tight tolerance specifications and multiple manufacturing methodologies among the different JSF parts suppliers.
BOEING DELIVERIES: In the first quarter of 2011, Boeing Defense, Space and Security delivered seven new-build CH-47 Chinooks, three C-17s, four F-15s and a total of 13 F/A-18E/Fs and EA-18Gs. It also delivered a 767 tanker to Italy. Boeing Commercial Airplanes delivered 104 aircraft during the quarter, which was four less than the same period in 2010.
Consumer and commercial gear that uses the GPS signal, and direct-to-home television applications drove 7.7% growth in the international “space economy” last year, as measured by the Space Foundation in its annual report on the state of the space industry. Overall, the global space economy of government budgets and commercial revenue rose to $276.5 billion in 2010, according to Space Foundation analysts, who will release their findings at the National Space Symposium in Colorado Springs next week.
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — NASA planned to stop work on space shuttle Endeavour’s upcoming final mission as a government shutdown loomed Friday, but with padding in the processing schedule, a furlough would not necessarily affect the shuttle’s planned April 29 launch date. About 2,100 NASA employees and 10,200 contractors at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., would be affected by a government shutdown, says NASA spokesman Allard Beutel.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) Apr. 11 - 13 — Navy League Sea AirSpace 2011. Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center, National Harbor, Maryland. For more information go to www.seaairspace.org
Northrop Grumman Corp.’s shipbuilding business was so inefficient that the company, after a year of trying to find a buyer, spun it off. The new entity, christened Huntington Ingalls Industries, started trading on the New York Stock Exchange on March 22 under the ticker symbol HII. Some industry observers may wonder why investors would even consider putting money into the new stand-alone if it was unable to meet Northrop Grumman’s performance expectations.
RESUMED DELIVERIES: The Russian air force is once again taking delivery of Yakovlev Yak-130 military jet trainers after a nearly year-long hiatus that followed the May 2010 crash of one of the first four aircraft built. On April 6, five aircraft arrived at the air force’s training center in Borisoglebsk, part of the first batch of 12 trainers ordered by the military and assembled at the Nizhny Novgorod Sokol plant.
MAYBE LATER: The U.K. is drawing on some bookkeeping sleight of hand to avoid dealing with a persistent mismatch between spending plans and the budget. The government was facing the prospect of cutting an additional ₤1 billion ($1.6 billion) from the defense bill. But it has now decided to move some planned spending out of the core budget to be taken over by the Treasury, implement efficiency measures and delay some equipment purchases. Details of the realignment will not be made public until Parliament returns from recess.
Ship inspectors are reviewing welds as they examine the causes of cracks found in Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) 1 Freedom, according to Joe North, Lockheed Martin vice president of Littoral Ship Systems. The cracks surfaced during a recent round of sea tests , North said April 8 during a press briefing and update on the LCS program. U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command officials had said the cracks measured as long as 6 in. and appeared in a weld seam between two steel plates in the hull about 3.5 ft. below the waterline.
LONDON — The Norwegian government plans to jump-start procurement of F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft in order to receive the first aircraft in 2016 to commence training of pilots. The parliament has proposed an initial buy of four Lockheed Martin F-35s. Those would arrive about two years ahead of the broader introduction of the stealth fighter into the country’s air force inventory. The government puts the price tag for the deal at 4.8 billion Norwegian kronor ($883 million).
TOUGH CHOICE: The U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Navy may decide to go with both Lockheed Martin’s K-Max and Boeing’s A160T Hummingbird unmanned cargo helicopters instead of selecting only one aircraft, according to Dan Spoor, vice president of Lockheed Aviation Systems. The service had been planning a downselect for Afghanistan operations following an operational assessment slated for this summer (Aerospace DAILY, Dec. 6, 2010). The decision, Spoor says, will depend on the development of both aircraft toward the latter part of the year.
RARE LEGISLATION: As promised last year, Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.) is reintroducing legislation that he says is needed “to avert a U.S. rare earth supply crisis by restoring our nation’s production of rare earth metals.” Coffman and other lawmakers have become alarmed in recent years as congressional auditors have detailed how China is dominating the world’s supply of important, finished rare-earth materials. Such materials are widespread in U.S.
MISSILE MACHINATIONS: The U.K. is reallocating funding to develop the Thales Lightweight Multi-role Missile. The weapon is to be integrated on Wildcat Lynx helicopters and serve as the Future Anti-Surface Guided Weapon Light missile. It also can be adapted for air-launched and ground-to-ground applications.
DOMESTIC DIRECTIVE: The Obama administration is issuing a new Presidential Policy Directive on national preparedness, calling for development of systematic response plans for natural and manmade disasters.
