HOUSTON — NASA Deputy Chief Astronaut Frederick “Rick” Sturckow will at least temporarily assume training duties for STS-134 Commander Mark Kelly, whose wife, Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D), was among those critically wounded during the Jan. 8 shooting rampage at a political event in Tucson, Ariz. Kelly, who urged NASA to take the measures that led to Sturckow’s assignment as backup commander, hopes to resume his preparations and lead the 14-day flight, which has been rescheduled from an April 1 liftoff to April 19.
Technical problems with Lockheed Martin’s F-35B Joint Strike Fighter variant that prompted Defense Secretary Robert Gates to put the program on a two-year probation “will soon be resolved,” says U.S. Marine Corps Commandant James Amos.
Space Adventures has secured three seats for sale on upcoming Soyuz missions to the International Space Station, the company announced Jan. 12. The flights, which are expected to cost upward of $35 million apiece, will be available beginning in 2013, company spokeswoman Stacy Tearne says.
NEW DELHI — Indian Defense Minister A.K Antony says the defense ministry’s new, more liberal offset policy will not be applicable to the country’s largest defense procurement, the Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA), quashing the hopes of many vendors. Program offsets require foreign vendors to provide work for Indian industry up to a certain percentage of the program’s value. The $11 billion MMRCA project was viewed as a potential major boost to India’s still-maturing defense industry.
BEIJING — China’s Avic Defense will use rapid prototyping centers like the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works for future military aircraft developments, with the aim of overcoming what it says are inefficient production processes. The prototyping centers are being set up at the fighter plants at Shenyang and Chengdu, the latter of which has just begun test flying the large J-20 combat aircraft.
The U.S. Navy took delivery in January of 10 newly configured P-3C Orions installed with an upgraded acoustic system — the Acoustic Receiver Technology Refresh (ARTR) — that enhances the aircraft’s ability tenfold to receive and analyze sonobuoy data, a basic P-3C mission requirement. The upgrades will help bridge the technology gap between the Orion and the service’s next generation maritime patrol and anti-sub warfare (ASW) aircraft, the P-8A Poseidon, creating a more common and efficient fleet.
ITT announced Jan. 12 that it is splitting into three standalone companies, focusing on industrial products, water and defense. The wheels were set in motion “six months ago,” Chairman, President and CEO Steven Loranger said in a call with analysts and investors. The company plans to file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in the next several months and conclude the spin-offs by the end of the year, he says.
HOT ONE: Global surface temperatures in 2010 tied 2005 as the warmest on record, according to researchers at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York. The two years differed by less than 0.018F, making them a statistical tie. The analysis found 2010 approximately 1.34F warmer than the average global surface temperature from 1951 to 1980, NASA says. The temperature trend, including data from 2010, shows the climate has warmed by approximately 0.36F per decade since the late 1970s.
U.S. Air Force Secretary Michael Donley says the service is committed to funding an F-16 life extension, especially in light of the most recently announced Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) slip, as well as a new bomber aircraft in the forthcoming Fiscal 2012 budget due next month on Capitol Hill. Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced last week a commitment to funding a new bomber that will provide long-range, penetrating strike capabilities and be optionally manned (Aerospace DAILY, Jan. 7).
February 1, 2011, 1:00 PM, EST Whether it’s internal to your organization or with suppliers, the handing off of engineering work can make or break a program. Learn to: -- Delegate tasks and responsibility in a way that leads to program success -- Better partner with your suppliers Register Today!! www.aviationweek.com/events
BENGALURU, India — The Indian navy’s second unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) squadron will be commissioned Jan. 17 at Porbandar, in the state of Gujarat. The unit will be called the Indian Navy Air Sqdn. (INAS-343), and it will operate Israeli-made Heron and Searcher UAVs, sources tell Aviation Week.
Engineers planning NASA’s next effort to build a vehicle to replace the retiring space shuttle fleet will start with an amalgam of the shuttle and its moribund Ares I and Orion follow-ons. As before, money remains a problem.
U.S. Air Force Secretary Michael Donley says the forthcoming hearings of the Senate Armed Services Committee regarding an inadvertent release of competition-sensitive data to KC-X bidders will not affect the service’s schedule for announcing a winner in the $35 billion competition to build new aerial refuelers. Boeing and EADS North America are locked in a years-long duel that appears to be nearing its end. Final proposal revisions, which will include a best and final price, are expected soon and source selection would follow, likely next month.
HOUSTON — Out of respect for astronaut Mark Kelly, the husband of gravely wounded Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D), a top NASA official declined on Jan. 11 to discuss whether the veteran Navy aviator will remain in command of STS-134, the last scheduled shuttle mission.
LES MUREAUX, France — EADS expects 2011 results to be roughly on par with 2010 because of continued financial headwind, with the goal of seeing profitability increase starting in 2012.
LES MUREAUX, France — Two important milestones will occur in the coming weeks for EADS’s A400M military airlifter program and tanker ambitions in the U.S. The European aerospace giant has been waiting for a new A400M contract — revised last year to deal with several billion euros in extra costs — and a new schedule. That contract is near completion and awaiting a German parliamentary budget hearing on Jan. 19.
Unmanned aircraft, cyber capabilities, command-and-control technology, and logistics and support top the list of near-term aerospace and defense (A&D) growth areas, this year’s chairman of the Aerospace Industries Association told several Washington reporters in a roundtable discussion Jan. 12.
GROTON, Conn. — General Dynamics’ Electric Boat is in the hunt for more engineers as it gears up for the U.S. Navy’s replacement program for the Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines — one of the service’s biggest shipbuilding programs for decades to come — President John Casey says.
WASHINGTON and BEIJING — China’s newest combat aircraft prototype, unofficially tagged as the J-20, made its first flight shortly before 1 p.m. Beijing time on Jan. 11, ending three weeks of anticipation as to when taxi tests would begin on the new stealthy design that surprised U.S. intelligence officials. But one issue surrounding stealth designs is how long they can continue to offer protection as air defenses adopt even larger and more powerful advanced electronically scanned array (AESA) radars.
LOS ANGELES — AeroVironment’s Global Observer GO-1 long-endurance unmanned air vehicle has flown for the first time powered by a hydrogen-fueled propulsion system.
PARIS — Initial results from the European Space Agency’s Planck cosmic background explorer have turned up 30 previously unknown galaxy superclusters and helped confirm a theory about puzzling microwave emissions.
SOLDIER ON: The head of the Association of the U.S. Army is making clear he does not favor Pentagon moves to draw down active soldier ranks starting in 2015. “In this sixth decade after Korea, history enforces the need for a strong, well-trained and -equipped Army at the right size,” says retired Army Gen. Gordon Sullivan. “For today’s volunteer force, that is an operational endstrength of 700,000.” Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced Jan. 6 that the Army would cut 27,000 soldiers mid-decade, saving the land service about $6 billion.
