BENGALURU, India — India and Russia are looking into exporting the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile. An intergovernmental agreement (IGA) signed by New Delhi and Moscow stipulates that the missile will be inducted into the armed forces of India and Russia and also will be exported to certain shared allies.
The Obama administration is trying to assure the Senate that it would have a constitutional role in future amendments to the New Start treaty with Russia, assuming 67 senators first ratify the nuclear weapons reduction deal as soon as the White House hopes.
BENGALURU, India – Nearly four months after taking over as 26th chief of the 1.1 million-strong Indian army, Gen. V.K. Singh will finally touch down in Bangalore on Aug. 12 for his first official visit. Singh will inaugurate the Army Welfare Housing Organization (AWHO) — a massive housing project for army personnel — at Whitefield near Bengaluru. He will lay the foundation stone for the project along with Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, sources say.
Ex-Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), until 2008 a pillar of defense appropriations and commercial aviation lawmaking, died Aug. 9 as the result of the crash of a DeHavilland DHC-3T (N455A) that claimed four other victims near Dillingham, Alaska. Stevens was 86. EADS North America CEO Sean O’Keefe and his son, Kevin, also were aboard but survived, company officials said late Aug. 10. “We look forward to Sean’s full recovery and his rapid return to EADS North America,” Chairman Ralph Crosby Jr. said in a prepared statement.
IN PLACE: The first Global Position System IIF satellite is in its final phase of on-orbit checkout following its arrival on station Aug. 1. Checkout should be completed by September, when the satellite will be cleared to serve as part of the operational constellation. Launched in May, the Boeing-built satellite features a new civil safety-of-life signal, known as L5.
LOS ANGELES — Northrop Grumman and Alliant Techsystems (ATK), two of the main structural suppliers for the F-35, are both accelerating subassembly manufacturing as Lockheed Martin prepares to ramp up Joint Strike Fighter production. Full rate F-35 production is expected to start around 2015, assuming current funding remains on track, with one aircraft rolling off Lockheed’s Fort Worth assembly line every day by 2016.
Boeing is studying the possible deployment of unmanned air vehicles, such as ScanEagle Compressed Carriage (SECC), from the back of the V-22 Osprey. “It’s mostly through our Boeing V-22 program, but we’re looking at whether you could launch this thing out of a box,” says Ron Perkins, director of Boeing Phantom Works’ Advanced Unmanned Airborne Systems. “It’s very doable and would fit very easily in a V-22.”
Thales Alenia Space has delivered its first trio of Globalstar second-generation communications satellites and is set to deliver a second group of three by the end of the month. The six spacecraft are scheduled to be launched to low Earth orbit in October aboard a Soyuz launcher. Thales Alenia Space is under contract to build 48 of these satellites, each weighing 700 kg. (1,540 lb.) and generating 1.7 kw. They are equipped with 16 C- and S- band transponders and are expected to have a 15-year operational life.
New Delhi — Lockheed Martin is denying reports that Pakistan’s pilots are flying United Arab Emirates (UAE) Block 60 F-16 fighters. The reports come as the downselect for India’s 126-fighter Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) program draws closer. Lockheed Martin is offering its Block 60 F-16IN, called Super Viper, in that competition. There is concern in certain circles that in a combat situation, India would not have an advantage if Pakistan is flying the same type of fighter.
Although NASA knows of 44 Near Earth Objects (NEOs) in orbits that could be accessible given a heavy-lift rocket roughly equivalent to the canceled Ares V, only three meet the necessary requirements for a future visit by astronauts, according to NASA officials speaking at a NEO event in Washington Aug. 10. The list of asteroids was winnowed down according to mission constraints, including that any visit by astronauts be no longer than 180 days round trip, and any object visited be larger than 50 meters (164 ft.) across.
AEHF LAUNCH: The U.S. Air Force’s first Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) military communications satellite is slated for launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., on Saturday, Aug. 14, during a launch window of 7:07-9:06 a.m. EDT. In the event of a scrub, the next attempt will be on Aug. 16, during a window of 6:59-8:58 a.m. EDT. The single Lockheed Martin-built satellite should provide more capacity than the entire Milstar constellation.
Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) founder Elon Musk says plans laid out recently by a company official for growth beyond International Space Station resupply and missions beyond low Earth orbit are not official SpaceX policy. Referring to a presentation given at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Joint Propulsion Conference in Nashville, Tenn., by McGregor rocket development facility director Tom Markusic (Aerospace DAILY, Aug. 5), Musk says, “Tom was throwing out a bunch of ideas for discussion.”
September 29-30, 2010 ExCeL, London, UK Learn to maintain military assets longer; sustain aircraft beyond forecast; recover from budget cuts, delays and program cancellations, and develop new strategies required to deliver and support equipment. Learn more at www.aviationweek.com/events
HOUSTON — NASA’s International Space Station mission management team gave formal approval on Aug. 10 for two additional spacewalks by Expedition 24 flight engineers Doug Wheelock and Tracy Caldwell Dyson to replace a failed circulation pump on the Loop A cooling system. The two astronauts were thwarted during an Aug. 7 spacewalk in their efforts to remove the bulky 780-lb. pump by an ammonia coolant leak. Current plans
COASTAL EXCHANGE: The Indian Coast Guard is holding discussions with a visiting Korean Coast Guard delegation. Talks are touching on maritime search and rescue, combating marine pollution, technical assistance for responding to natural disasters and exchanging information on crimes at sea, including smuggling and illicit trafficking. At Mumbai’s Maritime Rescue Coordination Center, the two groups also will discuss the Indian Ship Reporting System (INDSAR).The visit is a follow-up to a memorandum of understanding signed between the two maritime services in March 2006.
HOUSTON — NASA’s International Space Station program estimates at least two more spacewalks will be necessary to resolve a vexing external cooling system failure, following a grueling weekend excursion in which two astronauts were prevented from replacing a failed pump motor assembly by an ammonia leak. The second in the series of spacewalks by Expedition 24 flight engineers Doug Wheelock and Tracy Caldwell Johnson is tentatively set for Aug. 11 at 6:55 a.m. EDT.
Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) this week is set to begin prelaunch checks of the first fully operational Dragon spacecraft destined to be launched under NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program. The demonstration will be the first of up to three COTS flights set up under plans made in 2006 designed to encourage private companies to develop commercial space transport capabilities.
Traditional weapons programs like shipbuilding and emerging capabilities like cyberwarfare may be beneficiaries of the one-third, three-year cut in services support contracting that U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates outlined Aug. 9. The steps announced were at once sweeping and seemingly nibbling, but all will be up for what promises to be a contentious congressional review in the Fiscal 2012 budget process.
HUMMING ALONG: Northrop Grumman says with delivery this week of the center fuselage for the F-35 designated AF-14, delivery intervals have now dropped to 10 days from 30 in two years. By early 2011, it should fall to eight days, the company says. “Over the last month or so, during the latter phases of assembling the center fuselage for BF-12, an F-35B Stovl aircraft ...
