The U.S. Navy’s focus on funding surface fleet ships in the fiscal 2012 budget request is proving to be a bonanza for aircraft carriers, Landing Helicopter Assault (LHA-7) amphibious assault replacement ships and San Antonio LPD-17-class vessels. The Navy plans to spend a combined amount of about $6 billion for construction and research and development work on those vessels during the upcoming fiscal year.
NEW DELHI – Having already launched an independent aviation training center in India, Canada’s CAE has officially inaugurated its new aerospace and defense center close to Bengaluru International Airport. In the 116,000-sq.-ft. complex, CAE designs and develops defense training systems and operates an engineering center of excellence where visual databases and other software components for CAE’s simulators are developed.
PENTAGON S&T: The top science and technology priorities for the U.S. Defense Department through fiscal 2016 include cyber, unmanned vehicle autonomy, human-machine interfaces and countering weapons of mass destruction, says Zachary Lemnios, director of defense research and engineering and the Pentagon’s chief technology officer. Speaking Feb.
BENGALURU, India — Indian defense electronics manufacturer Bharat Electronics Ltd. (BEL) has signed a 15-year technology collaboration agreement (TCA) with Optelian International Corp. of North America, which specializes in optical communication systems.
PARIS — European space officials are hoping that the flawless launch of Europe’s second Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV-2) to the International Space Station (ISS) Feb. 16 will buoy efforts to fund a planned extension of the facility. The cargo vessel, christened Johannes Kepler, lifted off from the European spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, at 6:50 p.m. local time atop an Ariane 5 ES rocket, setting up a scheduled docking with the ISS on Feb. 24.
An old comet sample-return mothership recycled to take a second look at the comet blasted by NASA’s Deep Impact probe spotted what was left of the crater left from the 2005 experiment during a fast flyby Feb. 14. Researchers were still downloading the 72 images collected by the 12-year-old Stardust probe as it zipped past the comet Tempel-1 at 24,000 mph., as close as 111 mi. from the icy body that circulates between the orbits of Jupiter and Mars.
HOUSTON — Cosmonauts Dmitry Kondratyev and Oleg Skripochka breezed through the installation of two experiments and the retrieval of materials science panels outside the International Space Station (ISS) during a Feb. 16 spacewalk that ended 1 hr. earlier than planned. In their 5-hr. excursion that concluded at 1:21 p.m. EST, the spacewalkers attached the Molniya-Gamma and Radiometria experiments to the exterior of the Zvezda service module.
HOUSTON — United Space Alliance, NASA’s prime contractor for space shuttle operations, is seeking funds through the agency’s Commercial Crew Development Round 2 competition to assess the business case for keeping the shuttle flying for another 12-14 missions beginning in 2013, following an early restart of external fuel tank and solid-rocket booster production.
EASIER ACQUISITION: The Pentagon’s plans for more stable buys of satellites and rockets is a prime example of how the Defense Department is seeking better buying power in its annual purchasing, acquisition chief Ashton Carter said Feb. 16 at Aviation Week’s A&D Technology and Requirements conference in Washington. Carter noted how the Evolutionary Acquisition for Space Efficiency (Ease) plan for AEHF and Sbirs satellites will help smooth out production, reaping lower long-term costs for the Pentagon.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates complained to House Armed Services Committee lawmakers Feb. 16 about Congress’s failure to pass the fiscal 2011 budget, saying that relying on continuing resolutions to keep government running has caused “serious damage” to the military. He noted that if Congress fails to pass the fiscal 2011 defense budget, the $549 billion requested by President Barack Obama would be cut by $23 billion.
AIR FORCE The Lockheed Martin Corp., Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded a $726,566,728 contract modification which is for the calendar year 2011 sustainment of the F-22 aircraft. At this time, $388,012,693 has been obligated. ASC/WWUK, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8611-08-C-2897; P00061).
The Pentagon is shedding additional light on the plans for more stable buys of satellites and rockets as part of the Air Force’s $8.7 billion fiscal 2012 budget request for unclassified space projects.
The U.S. Army’s umbrella modernization project — once known as Future Combat Systems, then Early Infantry Brigade Combat Team, and now Brigade Combat Team Modernization — is slated to receive $749 million in the fiscal 2012 budget.
Reflecting the shift in U.S. military priorities, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (Darpa) fiscal 2012 budget request moves funds to new cyber, energy, medical and wireless communications technology programs. Darpa’s request for $2.98 billion is slightly down from the $3.01 billion sought in fiscal 2011, and several programs are terminated or reduced to free up funds for the new research initiatives.
AIR FORCE The Boeing Co. was awarded a $23,127,911 contract modification which will procure various test assets and hardware for aircraft integration efforts for the F-16 Block 40/50, F-22, F-35, and the Small Diameter Bomb Increment I programs. At this time, the entire amount has been obligated. AAC/EBMK, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. is the contracting activity (FA8672-11-C-0034 PO0005). NAVY
NEW DELHI — As air traffic growth in India puts pressure on available airspace, the country’s unmanned aerial vehicle industry is calling for a centralized body to draft regulations and set standards for UAV systems. “Though currently in India it isn’t a major issue, in the next five to six years as smaller systems take to the sky, we will need regulation similar to [that] being drafted in the U.S. by the FAA,” says Avdhesh Khaitan, CEO of Kadet Defense Systems.
Several major U.S. military space projects are being threatened by the lack of action by Congress to approve a federal budget for fiscal 2011, which began in October, according to senior Air Force officials.
ARMY Oshkosh Corp., Oshkosh, Wis., was awarded a $101,920,000 firm-fixed-price indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract on Feb. 7, 2011. The award will provide for 2,080 underbody improvement kits to support the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected All-Terrain Vehicle. The work will be performed in Oshkosh, with an estimated completion date of May 31, 2012. Five bids were solicited with five bids received. The U.S. Army TACOM LCMC, Warren, Mich., is the contracting activity (W56HZV-09-D-0111).
LONDON — Saab is hoping that efforts to streamline operations will boost earnings margins this year as the Swedish aerospace and defense company confronts declining sales.
The U.S. Navy plans to change the airframe of the Northrop Grumman MQ-8 Fire Scout unmanned helicopter to extend endurance and payload to meet an urgent special operations requirement for a sea-based medium-range surveillance platform. Funds are requested in fiscal 2012 to buy the first 12 MQ-8Cs, based on the Bell 407 commercial helicopter rather than the smaller Schweizer (now Sikorsky) S-333 on which the MQ-8B is based.
As the U.S. government and Lockheed Martin continue restructuring the $382 billion, multinational F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, the parties are preparing for negotiations on the next production lot and to reset the original development contract in light of a recent cost overrun and delay. Lockheed Martin is expected to submit its proposal for the fifth low-rate, initial production (LRIP) lot of F-35s to the government in the next couple of weeks, kicking off another round of negotiations.
