DEFENSIVE POLL: A new poll shows Americans far more in dispute about cutting defense spending than citizens of the five largest European allies. In a Financial Times-Harris Poll survey announced Nov. 3, almost half of Germans, 45% of Spaniards and 41% of Italians believe cutting defense budgets to further bring down budget deficits is mostly a good thing. About two in five Britons (39%) believe doing so is mostly a bad thing and 44% of French say it is neither a good nor a bad thing.
PARIS – Arianespace will launch a communications satellite for Azerbaijan’s communications and information technologies ministry. Construction of the 3-metric-ton spacecraft, known as Azersat-1, was awarded earlier this year to Orbital Sciences Corp. To be equipped with 36 active Ku- and C-band transponders and orbited in late 2012 on an Ariane 5 rocket, Azersat-1 will provide communications services throughout Central Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, as well as Azerbaijan itself.
RENEWED START: The Obama administration is setting ratification of the new Start nuclear arms reduction deal with Russia as a top priority during the so-called lame-duck session of Congress starting later this month. “There’s no sense in putting off what we need now to the next Congress,” Defense Department Press Secretary Geoff Morrell said. Still, department officials downplayed concerns that the treaty would fare worse once the more conservative-infused 112th Congress is seated next year.
NEW DELHI – The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), Defense Research Development Organization (DRDO) and Bharat Dynamics Ltd. – the prime production agency for missile weaponry systems – received welcome news Nov. 8 when U.S. officials announced that many of their laboratories have been removed from a restricted-entity export list. The move was revealed during President Barack Obama’s visit here.
After a series of small, albeit important issues kept the Cosmo-SkyMed 4 mission stuck on the pad for seven days, the fifth try was the charm Nov. 5 for the Italian dual-use Earth observation mission. Built by Thales Alenia Space and based on Alenia’s Prima Bus, the 1,900 kg. (4,180 lb.) satellite is the last of four in the Constellation of Small Satellites for Mediterranean basin Observation (Cosmo). All carry synthetic aperture radars (SAR-2000) operating in X-band and have a 300 Mbps. transmission rate.
AIR FORCE Tiax LLC, Lexington, Mass., was awarded a maximum $99,446,650 contract which will award the systems development and demonstration of the integrated aircrew ensembles. It will also include options for low rate initial production, production tooling, and full rate production. At this time, $1,000,000 has been obligated. ASC/WNU, Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8606-11-D-6360).
Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) is retargeting launch of its first Dragon capsule from late November to Dec. 7, the company said Nov. 8. “We think more testing could be valuable,” SpaceX spokeswoman Kirstin Brost said. Dragon is to be launched on SpaceX’s second Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The mission is the first of three planned under a $278 million NASA contract to flight test the Dragon capsule and related technologies needed for cargo delivery missions to the International Space Station.
KUTTEMPEROOR – India cleared a hurdle in engine development Nov. 3 when the homegrown powerplant for its national fighter jet program passed critical tests in Russia.
AIR FORCE Boeing Co., St. Louis, was awarded a $106,354,379 contract modification which provides for the exercise of the Lot 7 option for small diameter bomb production for munitions, carriages and technical support. At this time, the entire amount has been obligated. AAC/EBMK, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity (FA8672-11-C-0034).
LONDON – The U.K. Defense Ministry has revealed its first detailed road map of how to implement many of the changes spelled out in the Strategic Defense and Security Review (SDSR). The document is part of the coalition government’s “Transparency Framework” that requires each department to state its priorities and the pace of some of the structural changes to be made as a result of the SDSR.
NAVY Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Sensors, Owego, N.Y., is being awarded a $14,740,000 delivery order against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N00019-09-G-0005) for non-recurring efforts in support of airborne mine countermeasures (AMCM) testing and systems development. The work will be performed in Owego and is expected to be completed in December 2011. Contract funds in the amount of $1,602,000 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity.
THREE FOR ONE: Raytheon has won a $21.3 million U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency contract to begin design of a high-speed, long-range air-to-air/air-to-surface missile that can engage aircraft, cruise missiles and air defense systems. The Triple Target Terminator (T3) would be carried internally or externally on fighters, bombers and unmanned aircraft, and would be able to switch between the air-to-air role now performed by the AIM-120 Amraam and the air-to-ground role currently handled by the AGM-88 Harm missile.
LONDON — The competition to supply a new fighter to the Qatar Emiri Air Force (QEAF) is now formally underway. Evaluation of program candidates has begun, the service’s commander, Brig. Gen. Mubarak Bin Mohammed Al-Khayarin, tells the Shephard Air Power Middle East conference here. The goal is to make a type selection before the end of 2012. The size of the program is still under discussion, with 24-36 fighters likely to be acquired. The aircraft would replace Dassault Mirage 2000-5s.
BEIJING — China’s Long March 2, 3 and 4 launchers will continue to serve for at least 10 years, according to Meng Guang, vice president of Shanghai-based space contractor SAST. The current Long March 2, 3 and 4 are distinguished from the upcoming Long March 5, 6 and 7 rockets by their use of hydrazine fuel. The first launch of the Long March 5 heavy rocket is due in 2014.
HOUSTON — NASA has postponed the launch of Discovery’s 11-day mission to the International Space Station until no earlier than Nov. 30, following a substantial leak of hydrogen gas at a launch pad vent-line fitting during a Nov. 5 countdown to the orbiter’s 39th and final mission. The leak at the Ground Umbilical Carrier Plate (GUCP), surfaced before 8 a.m. EDT, and the pre-launch Mission Management Team (MMT) initially braced for repairs that would permit another flight attempt on Nov. 8, a day beyond the nominal closing of the launch window.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) Nov. 9 - 11 — Maritime Systems and Technology (MAST) 2010, Palazzo De Congress “ Rome, Italy, D.C. For more information go to www.mastconfex.com Nov. 10 - 13 — Indo Defence 2010 Expo & Forum, “The 4th Indonesia’s Official Tri-Service Defence Event, JIExpo Kemayoran Jakarta, Indonesia. For more information go to www.indodefence.com
The U.S. Marine Corps will have to think small to win big in current military conflicts. That’s the general message in the first official planning guidance released to the corps from its new commandant, Gen. James Amos. Amos focuses on the need to better develop small-unit capabilities with lighter equipment that is more compact and energy-efficient. From a procurement perspective, it appears the Marines will be looking for more cyber-relevant equipment and ways to grease the logistical chain to deal with irregular threats.
A $21.7 million U.S. Army contract to refurbish OH-58A cabins to the D configuration marks the start to what Bell Helicopter Textron hopes is a much larger project to keep the Kiowa Warrior reconnaissance helicopter fleet viable for years to come. Eventually, the company plans to demonstrate improved propulsion capabilities for what it calls the Kiowa Warrior Block II, which could be an entrant if the Army kicks off a competition to build a future Armed Aerial Scout helicopter.
NASA is trying to determine why the Cassini spacecraft entered safe mode at 7 p.m. EDT Nov. 2. Safe mode is a precautionary standby mode entered by the flight computer when it encounters a problem that requires assistance from mission control. Cassini has stopped sending science data, instead relaying information only on spacecraft health.
TEST RESET: The first two low-rate initial production (LRIP) F-35As, which were planned to be delivered to the Joint Strike Fighter integrated training center at Eglin AFB, Fla., by the end of the year, are instead being fitted with instrumentation and will be delivered to Edwards AFB, Calif., in April 2011 to help accelerate flight testing. This will delay the start of flight training. Aircraft AF-6 and -7, which have yet to fly, are now being fitted with test instrumentation on the flight line at Lockheed Martin’s Fort Worth plant.
LONDON — The customers and companies involved in developing the A400M military transport have taken another step toward putting the European program on a new contractual baseline, with governments extracting slightly better payment terms following months of talks.
