FORM FILED: Northrop Grumman says it has filed a Form 10 registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, officially signaling its intent to drive forward with a plan to unload its shipbuilding business. “Northrop Grumman continues to explore various alternatives for the potential separation of its shipbuilding business, including a spin-off or sale of the unit,” the company says. “Today’s filing is the initial step toward executing a potential spin-off” (Aerospace DAILY, Oct. 15).
PAINT BATH: New electrodeposition (e-coat) work by Oshkosh Defense for the U.S. Army’s Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles has been underway since August, even though construction of the Wisconsin 150,000-sq.-ft. site is just now complete, the company says. E-coating is a multistep finishing process to prevent corrosion on FMTV bodies, according to the company. The truck cabs and trailers are dipped in a “paint bath” and electrically charged, then components are heat-cured to strengthen the paint to prevent corrosion, followed by a top coat.
Panasonic Avionics says carriers in Europe and the Far East plan to introduce its eXTV onboard broadcasting service, enabling satellite TV to expand outside its traditional North American stronghold.
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — The STS-133 crew and shuttle launch team completed the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test at Kennedy Space Center Oct. 15 with a simulated main engine abort at T-minus 4 sec., encountering no hurdles in the run-up to Discovery’s final liftoff Nov. 1. “I think it went real well, right by the book,” commander Steve Lindsey said as the simulation ended. “I wish we could save this weather for Nov. 1.”
HAWKS DOWN: Officials have grounded the fleet of Royal Australian Air Force Hawk 127s after one of the trainers based at RAAF Base Pearce “experienced a technical fault while taxiing before takeoff” on Oct. 11, causing the aircraft to shut down. The BAE Systems Hawks, which are also based at RAAF Williamtown, were grounded pending further investigation.
LONDON — Defense budget pressures in Europe and growth markets overseas are expected to lead to a shift in Thales’s maritime business activities, with a greater emphasis on services and applying hardware to mid-sized, multi-mission ships rather than larger, high-end vessels. As a result, Thales is developing on mission modules that could be installed on a range of vessels, including those for mine warfare and unmanned aircraft operations, says Pierre-Eric Pommellet, Tsenior vice president for defense mission systems.
LONDON — The Australian government has added a critical AP-3C Orion upgrade to its program watchlist, along with a landing watercraft project now in its 13th year. Australia established the list to bring more attention to troubled programs after a spate of cost overruns. On the current list are projects such as Boeing’s Wedgetail airborne early warning aircraft and the Airbus Military KC-30 multirole tanker transport, both of which have experienced delays.
An International Launch Services (ILS) Proton Breeze M deployed a fifth spacecraft for Sirius XM Radio today after a 9-hr. 12-min. mission launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Liftoff from Pad 24 came at 2:53 p.m. EDT Oct. 14, and the 5.9-metric-ton XM-5 spacecraft was released into geostationary transfer orbit at 12:05 a.m. EDT Oct. 15.
EXTENDED OPS: NASA has awarded Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne a $60.3 million contract to extend support for the space shuttle main engine (SSME) through March 31, 2011. The contract will cover the last two remaining shuttle flights on the manifest: STS-133, to launch Nov. 1, and STS-134, scheduled for Feb. 27, 2011. The contract does not cover SSME support for STS-135, the currently unfunded shuttle mission Congress authorized to launch in June 2011.
Once denied an arranged marriage with the U.S. Navy nuclear shipbuilding yard at Newport News, Va., nearly a decade ago, General Dynamics now could very well pick up the business on the rebound.
NOT HAPPY: House Armed Services Committee Chairman (HASC) Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) warned Defense Secretary Robert Gates last week that he may not be able to support the secretary’s August measures to reform Pentagon spending, such as closing U.S. Joint Forces Command, because his congressional panel has not received adequate justification. “The committee will be unable to support any request for legislation or funding resulting from the efficiency initiative until the committee’s requests for information have been satisfied,” Skelton wrote Gates in the letter, released Oct.
The long-term U.S. Navy fleet plan still poses operational and funding questions for Congress, especially with the service’s recent changes to its shipbuilding plans, a recent Congressional Research Service (CRS) report says. “Although the 313-ship goal remains in place, some elements of Navy ship force planning that have emerged since 2006 appear to diverge from elements of the 313-ship plan,” the report says.
LONDON — The Brazilian government is undertaking a broad-based review of the country’s defense industrial base with the goal of identifying spending areas to strengthen its local supply base. The 18-month effort is being led by the Brazilian agency for industrial development and supported by the defense ministry, ministries of foreign affairs and science and technology.
LONDON — A long-anticipated request for proposals (RFP) to meet the French navy’s requirement for a tactical unmanned air system is about to be released. Industry officials anticipate the RFP to emerge before the end of the year. The RFP is expected to dictate the air vehicle size, although indications are the service will opt for a smaller system — in the Schiebel Camcopter 100 class — rather than a larger system, such as the Northrop Grumman Fire Scout.
PARIS — Moscow has issued an international request for proposals for four 20,000-metric-ton-class helicopter carriers, according to industry sources. Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said in late August that the country would shortly initiate an open tendering process for the vessels, putting an end to the nation-to-nation negotiations with France that had begun in early March.
NEW DELHI — Airbus Military says it plans to start discussions with India next year over potential acquisition of the A400M military airlifter. India so far has not expressed an interest in the European airlifter, which is still in development, but Didier Vernet, head of A400M market development, said “if India is interested, we will be happy to discuss.” Airbus is desperate to increase foreign sales of the A400M because the core European program — which remains in flux contractually — will not be sufficient to return a profit.
BEIJING — Chinese controllers have achieved a velocity within 1 cm./sec. of prediction in the braking maneuver that brought the Chang’e 2 spacecraft into its 100-km. (60-mi.) working orbit around the Moon this week. The lunar probe, China’s second, is now in a position to begin surveying the lunar surface, says China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp.
SPENDING OPPOSITION: Odd-couple Reps. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), chairman of the House Finance Committee, and firebrand Ron Paul (R-Texas) say they now have 57 legislators, including four senators, who support their call for President Barack Obama’s bipartisan deficit-reduction commission to recommend defense spending cuts. Frank told reporters Oct.
WASHINGTON and LONDON — The North Korean military parade last weekend revealed a new road-mobile ballistic missile — a variant of the BM-25 Musudan with a projected range of 3,000-4,000 km. (1,900-2,500 mi.). Even more intriguing, North Korea’s weaponry is showing design characteristics associated with the Shahab 3, Iran’s most advanced missile. Such evidence is leading some international analysts to the conclusion that the ballistic missile development ties between the two countries are active and producing improvements in the arsenals of both.
While the future of the U.K. Royal Navy’s two new aircraft carriers is uncertain, Lockheed Martin has been awarded a $13 million contract to incorporate shipborne rolling vertical landing (SRVL) capability into the F-35B for the U.K. SRVL will increase the payload that the F-35B can bring back to the carrier by 2,000-4,000 lb. above what is possible with a Harrier-style vertical landing, reducing the need to dump unused weapons or fuel before recovery.
PHILADELPHIA – The U.S. Marine Corps is emphasizing the electronic-warfare (EW) mission as it draws up requirements for a “Group 4” unmanned aircraft system to replace its RQ-7 Shadows. The Corps has backed off from demanding that the system be expeditionary, removing the requirements for ship basing and vertical takeoff, says Maj. Tom Heffern, USMC UAS capabilities officer.
