U.S. Navy officials view the four-month milestone maintenance of the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) USS Freedom — which started the last week of July — as a chance to do a deeper-dive review of several of the ship’s systems.
BEIJING — Chinese space launcher builder CALT has made 170 modifications to the Long March 2F rocket that will loft the Tiangong 1 docking target, says national space conglomerate CASC. The modifications are not specified. But when Aviation Week last year saw the launcher under construction in Beijing, officials said its structure had been altered. CASC now says that five technologies are being tried for the first time on the rocket, but it is withholding specifics.
U.S. Navy officials with insight into the Next-Generation Jammer (NGJ) and EA-18G Growler predict a lot of challenges in making them affordable, interoperable and upgradable enough to get the maximum capability out of them for as much as 40-50 years.
SINGAPORE — South Korea and Indonesia have opened a joint research center that will spearhead joint development of the KF-X fighter, according to news reports from both countries. The KF-X will eventually replace Indonesia’s Lockheed Martin F-16s and South Korea’s Northrop F-5s. The facility is in Daejeon, a city in the center of South Korea where the Korea Aerospace Research Institute has its main laboratories.
NASA has found “circumstantial evidence” of liquid water flowing on the surface of Mars at its southern mid-latitudes during the planet’s warmer spring and summer months. Images from the agency’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) show dark features appearing and extending down steep slopes during the planet’s late spring and summer, fading in winter, and returning the following spring.
Loral Space & Communications says it is focusing on a potential spin-off of its satellite manufacturer, Space Systems/Loral (SS/L), rather than Telesat, the Ottawa-based fixed satellite services operator in which it shares partial ownership. Earlier this year, the company said it was exploring “strategic alternatives” involving both SS/L and Telesat. Loral shares Telesat’s ownership with Canada’s Public Sector Pension Investment Board.
TIME OUT: Flight and ground tests of the 20-strong F-35 Joint Strike Fighter force could be suspended “for a few weeks,” according to an industrial source close to the program, after the secondary power system of F-35A AF-4, a USAF-variant test aircraft, failed on Aug. 2 at Edwards AFB, Fla., during a ground maintenance engine run (Aerospace DAILY, Aug. 4). However, a government source says that foreign object damage has not yet been ruled out, and notes that such a finding would allow a more rapid return to flight. A clearer picture is expected to emerge next week.
Sept. 28, 201I IFEMA, Madrid, Spain This event provides a forum for knowledge delivery and information exchange on defense sustainment in Europe. Attendees will benefit from fist-hand information from Military and Defense agencies on how they’re overcoming current challenges and changes facing maintenance and sustainment, including budgets, cutbacks, and shifting mission requirements. Co-located with MRO Europe! Learn more and register today at www.aviationweek.com/events
The U.S. Army is hosting an industry day at multiple locations in El Paso, Texas, as well as at nearby Ft. Bliss and White Sands Missile Range, N.M., on Sept. 8 to give industry representatives a chance to ask service leadership about what technologies it is looking to test in its next Network Integration Evaluation (NIE) in October.
LONDON — The Ghanaian government has signed a deal with Airbus Military to acquire two C295 tactical transports, further expanding the EADS subsidiary’s footprint in Africa with small airlifters. The aircraft are to be delivered early next year, Airbus Military says. The C295s are slated to be used beyond just troop transport, also serving in medical evacuation roles, paratrooping and humanitarian assistance roles. Airbus Military notes that it is the first deal with the Ghanaian government.
HOUSTON — Boeing’s Crew Space Transportation vehicle, the CST-100, will climb to orbit aboard the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket through a series of unpiloted and piloted test flights planned for 2015-16, officials from the two companies announced Aug. 4.
INDIAN DEFENSE: The Indian government is working on a new defense spending plan to supersede the long-term integrated perspective plan (LTIPP) now in force. The currency LTIPP covers the period from 2002 to 2017, with the new document, now being drafted, due to cover the 2012-2027 time frame, Defense Minister A.K. Antony tells legislators in a written response to questions. Antony notes that the planning exercise is not a standalone activity. It comes along with continued assessment of the country’s security situation.
The U.S. Coast Guard still needs to get a handle on the costs of its Deepwater modernization program, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) “The Deepwater Program continues to exceed the cost and schedule baselines approved by DHS [Department of Homeland Security] in 2007,” GAO says in its new report.
TEL AVIV — Precision weapons and unmanned aircraft are two areas in which the Israeli military can rightly claim a leadership position. But just how closely the two areas have been linked is only now starting to become clear.
Accident investigators have found an extensive list of procedural and operational shortcomings in the April 10, 2010, crash of a Polish air force Tu-154M that killed the country’s president and other senior government officials.
NEW DELHI — An Indian Air Force (IAF) Jaguar fighter jet crashed in India’s northern state of Uttar Pradesh Thursday, killing the pilot and a civilian on the ground, local police say. The single-seater Jaguar, a deep-penetration strike aircraft, took off from Gorakhpur airbase in Uttar Pradesh around midday and crashed in a field in Firozpur Dilahi village, about 250 km (155 mi.) from the state capital of Lucknow, according to L. Ravi Kumar, deputy inspector general for the Azamgarh range.
Six senators are asking the leaders of the Senate Appropriations Committee to zero out funding for Lockheed Martin’s Medium Extended Air Defense System (Meads).
Six senators are rallying to the aid of Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter by pressing the Pentagon to lower its $1 trillion estimate of the stealthy jet’s sustainment costs. Ashton Carter, the Pentagon acquisition chief who has been nominated to become the next deputy defense secretary, provided the eye-popping estimate to lawmakers earlier this year (Aerospace DAILY, May 20).
SAN DIEGO — United Launch Alliance and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne (PWR) are developing short- and longer-term solutions to prevent the cloud of burning hydrogen that envelopes the base of the Delta IV Heavy during liftoff. Seconds before launch, thousands of pounds of hydrogen are dumped through the three PWR RS-68 Common Core Booster first-stage engines to optimize their hydrogen/oxygen mix for ignition. Excess gas is deliberately burned off by radial, outwardly firing igniters or spark generators, prior to ignition.
SAN DIEGO — XCOR Aerospace is placing orders for long-lead structural parts for the airframe of the Lynx suborbital spacecraft and expects to finalize the aerodynamic design following a final wind-tunnel campaign starting next week.
LONDON — The U.K. Defense Ministry is starting to consider the use of small unmanned aircraft to improve situational awareness in urban and other difficult settings. To help gain more information about what micro and nano unmanned air systems (UAS) can deliver, the Defense Ministry is looking to launch several small-scale research efforts lasting several months. The concept studies could trigger larger programs down the road.
All flight and ground operations for the Joint Strike Fighter force have been suspended after the secondary power system of F-35A AF-4, a U.S. Air Force-variant test aircraft, failed on Aug. 2 at Edwards AFB, Calif., during a ground maintenance engine run. In a statement, the JSF Program Office says, “The engine was immediately shut down and the jet was secured. No injuries to the pilot or ground crew occurred.”
An unmanned surface vessel (USV) confronted a simulated maritime intruder, blocked the vessel, trained lasers on it and escorted it out of a restricted area — all autonomously — during U.S. Navy tests in July. In another test the same month, the USV completed mine countermeasure mission tests during a demonstration sponsored by the Office of Naval Research (ONR). The Navy brass has shown significant interest lately in developing USV and other unmanned technology for vessels that operate on or below the surface of the water.
