AUTO DOCKING: As part of Endeavour’s May 17 preparations for docking with the International Space Station, shuttle astronaut Drew Feustel successfully checked out the eye-safe flash lidar and high-definition color camera sensors developed by NASA for the Sensor Test for the Orion Relative Navigation Risk Mitigation (Storrm) project. Storrm sensors will shadow the Endeavour-mounted radar and trajectory control system sensors used for traditional manual shuttle/station docking operations.
HOUSTON — The Endeavour astronauts surveyed critical heat shielding on the wings and nose of their spacecraft for launch debris impact damage on May 17, as they sped toward a docking with the International Space Station for delivery of the $2 billion Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS). The docking, which will unite a dozen U.S., Russian and European astronauts aboard the two spacecraft, was scheduled for May 18 at 6:16 a.m. EDT.
SENATORIAL CONCERN: A bipartisan group of U.S. senators is spotlighting growing concern over the Pentagon’s bookkeeping. Nonpartisan congressional auditors continue to find that the Defense Department’s financial management is at a high risk for waste, fraud, abuse or mismanagement, the lawmakers say. The comments came after the Pentagon issued a status report on its Financial Improvement and Audit Readiness Plan, which calls for the whole department to be auditable by 2017.
AIR FORCE Boeing Company of Long Beach, Calif. is being awarded a $54,659,249 cost plus incentive fee, fixed price contract to provide total C-17 weapon system sustainment responsibility under a single prime contractor with the goal of achieving improvements in logistics support and mission readiness while reducing operating and support costs. At this point, $54,659,249 has been obligated. The location of the performance is Long Beach. The contracting activity is ASC/WLMK at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. (FA8614-04-C-2004, P00376).
Lockheed Martin Mission Systems & Sensors recently received a contract modification worth a maximum of $18.2 million for command team trainer efforts to support the Australian government under the foreign military sales program.
ISTANBUL — Turkey is interested in a “domestic” light-utility platform in the 5-metric-ton class, while it also eyes new military satellites. For the helo effort, as is the case with Turkey’s fighter ambitions (Aerospace DAILY, May 13), local industry still lacks key skills and would require a major partner.
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
HOUSTON — STS-134 Astronauts Drew Feustel, Greg Chamitoff and Mike Fincke will rotate through four two-man spacewalks outside the International Space Station during their mission, marking the last extravehicular excursions scheduled for the shuttle era. “We will be traversing from one end of the station to the other on just about every extravehicular activity [EVA],” says Feustel, who leads the spacewalk team.
HOUSTON — Shuttle Endeavour thundered into orbit May 16, initiating the orbiter’s delayed final flight, a 16-day voyage to outfit the International Space Station with a $2 billion signature science platform developed to search for primordial antimatter and dark matter. The 19-yr.-old spacecraft soared from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Fla., at 8:56 a.m. EDT, with the 15,250-lb. Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer and an equally massive platform securing spare parts for the station lodged in the payload bay.
Officials at the Joint Strike Fighter Joint Program Office are preparing to present a series of briefings to the Defense Acquisition Board (DAB) led by Ashton Carter in the coming weeks.
LONDON — A week after returning its X-3 hybrid helicopter to flight, Eurocopter says it has topped the program speed target of 220 kt. by achieving 232 kt. in sustained forward flight. The compound helicopter sustained 232 kt. for several minutes flying at the French Istres flight-test center. The prototype received a gearbox upgrade to achieve the performance target, the helicopter maker says.
At least five teams are bidding to develop a lightweight laser missile jammer for U.S. Army helicopters in a competition that pits experienced infrared countermeasures suppliers against newcomers keen to enter a market that is expected to grow significantly. Confirmed bidders for technology development (TD) contracts under the Army’s Common Infrared Countermeasures (Circm) program are BAE Systems, ITT, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon. Elbit Systems of America was another possible bidder.
The U.S. Army’s Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center is working on what it is calling a “smart armor” system. The system uses transducers embedded into individual armor plates to monitor the real-time health of a vehicle’s armor, transmitting that information back to the crew inside the truck and to mechanics back at base.
CYBER SAFARI: The U.S. Air Force is working to create a “Cyber Safari” organization for agile cyber defense, modeled on the Big Safari program office that has been successful in rapidly procuring, modifying and fielding special-mission aircraft including the MC-12W Project Liberty intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance fleet, with three operational squadrons fielded in less than two years from contract award. Asked if the Air Force has learned procurement lessons from the urgent fielding of new capabilities to Iraq and Afghanistan, military acquisitions deputy Lt.
Operational deployment of the U.S. Air Force’s Blue Devil 2 persistent-surveillance airship is on track for February 2012, less than 18 months after initial contract award, a senior official says. Blue Devil 2 is an optionally manned multi-intelligence platform based on a TCOM Polar 100 airship and being integrated by small Alexandria, Va.-based MAV6.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) May 17 - 18 — Aviation Week Events, Affordability Requirements Forum, National Press Club, Washington, D.C. For more information go to www.aviationweek.com/events may 17 - 19 — Technology Training Corp's Conference on Armed Unmanned Aerial Systems, Rio Hotel, Las Vegas. For more information call (301) 563-1210 or go to www.shephard.co.uk/events/
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — As NASA starts the countdown for Endeavour’s second launch attempt, engineers have homed in on a potentially faulty thermostat as the likely cause of the auxiliary power unit (APU) heater problem that scrubbed the first liftoff try. Launch of Endeavour on its 25th and final flight is targeted for 8:56 a.m. EDT Monday. Meteorologists at the 45th Space Wing predict a 70% chance of acceptable weather.
In the May 11 story headlined “Australia Cuts Defense As U.S. Dollar Makes Imports Cheaper,” the amount saved in the defense budget over four years should have been stated as AU$5.3 billion ($5.7 billion). In addition to cuts of AU$4.3 billion, AU$1 billion of currency savings are automatically taken by the Treasury.
