CYBER SQUAD: The Estonian government has approved the creation of a cyber defense unit within its Defense League, a voluntary adjunct to the armed forces. The organization will be staffed by volunteers. Defense Minister Jaak Aaviksoo notes the organization will have broad reach and will work not just with the government, but will also interact with the private sector and other entities. The Estonian government has been working on cyberwarfare activities since the country fell victim to a massive cyberattack in 2007, which was traced to Russia.
While the U.S. Navy moves forward with its dual-block-buy plan to acquire its new fleets of Littoral Combat Ships (LCS), both versions of the vessel require substantial improvements, according to the Pentagon’s Director of Operational Testing and Evaluation (DOT&E).
HOUSTON — Bids are being sought for a U.S. Army program to demonstrate a 5,000-10,000-shp.-class engine that could power future iterations of the Boeing CH-47 Chinook heavy-lift helicopter. A solicitation for the Future Affordable Turbine Engine (FATE) program was released in mid-January by the Army’s Aviation Applied Technology Directorate (AATD), with contract award planned for the third quarter of 2012.
Republican members of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology named a freshman Mississippi congressman who represents many workers at NASA’s Stennis Space Center as chairman of the subcommittee overseeing the space agency. Rep. Steven Palazzo of Biloxi will chair the panel’s subcommittee on space and aeronautics. The 40-year-old Gulf War veteran is a certified public accountant by training. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) held the post when Democrats controlled the House.
LONDON — The start-of-the-year slew of acquisitions is not letting up, with BAE Systems announcing its purchase of all of Fairchild Imaging for $86 million in cash.
Raytheon saw its share price decline 8% in 2010. It gained all of it back in the first seven days of 2011. Investors may have soured on defense stocks as budget pressure mounts in the U.S. and Europe, but some of them are having second thoughts about whether the sell-off has gone too far.
ANOTHER TRY: Rockwell Collins has resubmitted a proposal to the U.S. Air Force to upgrade navigation and air traffic management equipment on the KC-10 refueler. The company is competing against Boeing and a GE Aviation/L-3 team for the work. The Air Force stopped work in October on Boeing’s $216 million contract after a problem was found with last year’s source selection. Revised bids are now being assessed, and a winner will be announced by June, according to the Air Force. The service expects to have all 59 refuelers upgraded by September 2015 (Aerospace DAILY, Jan.
HTV LAUNCH: Japan’s second H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV-2) launch is now rescheduled for approximately 2:38 p.m. on Jan. 22 (Japan Standard Time). An earlier launch target had to be scrapped due to expected icy clouds over Tanegashima Space Center. The HTV-2 will be the second Japanese cargo ship to dock with the International Space Station, following the successful visit of the first HTV in September 2009.
Soon to join the “A-train” constellation of Earth-observation spacecraft is a $424 million mission to continue measuring the solar energy reaching Earth’s atmosphere and track natural and man-made aerosols to gauge their impact on climate.
NEW DELHI — India’s first homegrown carrier-borne fighter effort is moving toward a first flight in March of this year, after missing its target of achieving the milestone last year. The naval variant of India’s Light Combat Aircraft (LCA-N) completed systems integration tests, ground tests and slow-speed taxi trials following its ceremonial rollout last July, but missed its December 2010 first flight deadline because of concern over the platform’s landing gear and other critical systems; those uncertainties appear to have been resolved.
U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao have agreed to continued engagement between their military and spaceflight organizations as part of the Washington summit between the two leaders Jan. 19. The summit’s formal joint statement, released by China’s foreign ministry, calls for Gen. Chen Bingde, chief of the general staff of the Peoples Liberation Army, to visit the U.S. “during the first half of 2011,” and notes the “successful” visit of U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates to China earlier this month.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The U.S. Air Force has given Space Florida its first task under a $48 million Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract: develop a logistics strategy plan for solid-fuel rocket launches from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Launch Complex 46. The work, which is valued at $30,000, will pave the way for launches of Minotaur and other solid-fuel rockets from pad 46, which is managed by Space Florida, a state-backed space development and operations agency.
YEOVIL, England — Concerns are mounting in the U.K. that anti-submarine warfare (ASW) skills are beginning to erode because of competing operational demands and equipment decisions. The fear, voiced by government and industry officials, goes beyond the decision last year to cancel the Nimrod MRA4 maritime patrol aircraft project. Some high-end skills to hunt submarines are no longer getting adequate training, warns an industry official.
NEW DELHI — Delays in India’s acquisition process are hurting the critical needs of its homeland security forces, with a program to supply transport aircraft for border security caught up in a turf battle.
Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) says it will launch its Falcon 9 rocket at least 17 more times before it is ready to fly humans, with nine of those flights carrying the Dragon capsule it is developing for cargo missions to the International Space Station.
FIGHTER WORRIES: Brazil’s recent decision to overhaul its AMX fighters is prompting speculation that the government may shelve its F-X2 fighter competition, which is being fought over between the Boeing F/A-18E/F, Dassault Rafale, and Saab Gripen. Embraer plans to fly and deliver the first of the structurally enhanced AMX prototypes next year. The program is a follow-on to the electronics upgrade of 43 of 56 AMXs into the A-1M standard. The new effort focuses on structural enhancements and replacing obsolete parts (Aerospace DAILY, Jan. 19).
The U.S. Navy’s San Antonio Class Amphibious Transport Dock ships operate perfectly well in safe seas, but questions still exist about the fleet’s worth during more risky operations, according to the Pentagon’s Director of Operational, Test and Evaluation (DOT&E). It’s a longstanding DOT&E criticism that has particularly rankled the Navy, which points out that the ship is not meant to operate alone in contested waters, and has already completed missions successfully at sea.
HOUSTON — Space shuttle program managers on Jan. 20 formally established June 28 at the target launch date for NASA’s recently designated STS-135 supply mission to the International Space Station using Atlantis and a crew of four astronauts. Congress and the White House have yet to provide the funding for the 11-day mission that would be flown by veteran astronauts Commander Chris Ferguson, pilot Doug Hurley and mission specialists Sandra Magnus and Rex Walheim.
paris — An Airbus Military KC-30A tanker in testing for the Royal Australian Air Force was involved in an incident with a Portuguese air force F-16 during a refueling exercise Jan. 20.More than a dozen refuelings had taken place when the incident occurred. Both aircraft sustained damage. Details of what transpired are still under review, but the incident caused the refueling boom on the Airbus A330-based tanker to break off and fall into the Atlantic. Both aircraft returned safely to their respective bases.
NEW DELHI — The Indian army wants to expand its aviation corps and has asked the government to give it full control over all tactical air assets in the battlefield, including transport, observation and attack flights.
The new chairman of the U.S. House Armed Services Committee (HASC) says his panel will maintain a “war footing,” staying nimble to investigate event-driven issues not subject to prior planning. “The committee’s oversight plan has been crafted to maintain an effective and flexible oversight structure to ensure current operations remain the top priority of the committee,” said Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-Calif.). He further promised that the HASC’s focus will fall “heavily” on the fiscal health of the Defense Department and military services.
CAE has received a contract from Boeing to build two full-mission simulators for the Alenia Aermacchi M-346 advanced jet trainer. The customer is not identified, but Boeing is providing the ground-based training system for M-346s ordered by Singapore in September 2010.
LONDON — Meggitt’s $685 million purchase of Pacific Scientific Aerospace (PSA) continues an acquisition spree for European aerospace and defense suppliers as they look to meet Airbus’s and Boeing’s desire for stronger, more diverse partners. Meggitt is buying PSA from Danaher Corp. in a cash transaction, with the money coming from existing debt instruments and a $69.8 million share offering. PSA derived 57% of its revenue from civil markets and 43% from the military sphere, Meggitt says in its announcement.
