LOS ANGELES — Amid rising hopes of new international F/A-18E/F sales, Northrop Grumman is studying potential increases in Super Hornet fuselage production to support prospective rate increases at Boeing’s St. Louis factory in 2011 and beyond. The company, which provides the center and aft fuselage sections as a single “shipset” to Boeing, delivered 54 units for the E/F and EA-18G Growler line in 2010, equating to a rate of one every 4.5 days.
LONDON — The author of a hard-hitting critique of the U.K. military procurement system has been named as the new defense procurement czar. Bernard Gray last year led a study that blasted the defense ministry for its procurement plans and acquisition methodology. The report also said that long-term procurement plans were not affordable given budget predictions. Gray will take over as chief of defense materiel on Jan. 4, replacing Kevin O’Donoghue. It is a four-year appointment.
PC-21 BUY: The Swiss government is adding two PC-21s to its basic trainer commitment to expand the PC-21 Jet Pilot Training System program. The deal is valued at 30 million Swiss francs ($31 million) and brings to eight the total commitment the country has made to the trainer. The first six already have been delivered; deliveries of the top-up order are planned for the first half of 2012. The United Arab Emirates and Republic of Singapore Air Force also are customers for the aircraft.
HOUSTON — NASA shuttle managers will spend several weeks assessing the results of Discovery’s Dec. 17 tanking test at Kennedy Space Center as they seek an explanation for small cracks that formed on adjacent external tank (ET) stringers during an early November launch scrub. Discovery’s 11-day supply mission to the International Space Station has been on hold since the Nov. 5 scrub, which was caused by an unrelated hydrogen leak, while shuttle engineers troubleshoot the cracks.
LONDON — The U.K.’s plan to outsource its search-and-rescue helicopter program has run into a major roadblock, with the government saying it is looking into charges of improper conduct within the winning Soteria consortium. The industry team of CHC Helicopter, the Royal Bank of Scotland, Thales and Sikorsky itself raised the concern, prompting the Department for Transport to halt any further action on the private finance initiative until it has been fully assessed. The nature of the potential misconduct has not been disclosed.
HOUSTON – Mission Operations, one of NASA’s most storied institutions, is testing the commercial waters with a proposal to partner with space transportation companies and possibly other nations for the use of Mission Control as well as the agency’s human spaceflight planning and training expertise at Johnson Space Center to help expand the U.S. economic sphere.
FLAILING MDA: A leading Republican on the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee says the latest test failure of Boeing’s Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system is another major reason not to ratify the New Start strategic nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia. Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) argued Dec. 16 during debate over ratification that the Missile Defense Agency was being pressured by the Obama administration, even citing results of a survey of workers this year suggesting low employee satisfaction at the agency.
HOUSTON — U.S., Russian and European astronauts docked with the International Space Station on Dec. 17, their two-day transit aboard the Soyuz TMA-20 spacecraft unaffected by a two-orbit communications loss. NASA’s Catherine Coleman, Dmitry Kondratyev of Russia and European Space Agency astronaut Paulo Nespoli of Italy docked with the station’s Rassvet module at 3:11 p.m. EST after launching from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Dec. 15. They joined station commander Scott Kelly of NASA and Russians Alexander Kaleri and Oleg Skripochka.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) Jan. 11, 2011 — Aviation Week Webinar: Improving AFfordability and Productivity in Weapon Systems Development and Procurement, Time: 1:00 - 2:00 p.m. EST For more information call +1-212-904-3195 or go to www.aviationweek.com/events
A Dec. 17 story on the French stimulus package contained an error. President Nicolas Sarkozy said the government had approved initial spending to support the new X4 helicopter.
LONDON — Eurocopter has completed the first flight of the first French Tiger HAD attack helicopter, joining a Spanish version already in trials. The HAD is equipped with a more powerful version of the MTR390 engine. The aircraft maker also notes that it completed first flights of NH90 tactical transports for France and Spain. The French military should receive the first of the 34 helos on order late next year.
Lockheed Martin on Dec. 17 delivered the first of six C-130Js for the Indian air force that comprise a $1.2 billion order placed in 2008 as the country’s first U.S. Foreign Military Sale. The C-130J delivery is being made first to the U.S. Air Force and then will go the Indian air force in February. All the deliveries are expected to be completed by 2011.
WICHITA, Kan. — Spirit AeroSystems has rolled out the first composite fuselage for the industry’s largest heavy-lift development effort, the Sikorsky CH-53K, planting the Kansas fuselage specialist firmly into the industry’s largest rotorcraft development program and giving Spirit its first dedicated military project.
LONDON — Australia is pressing ahead with the acquisition of an air traffic management (ATM) and control system and Anzac frigate communications upgrade, but the government also restructured an F/A-18C/D upgrade project to reduce costs. The work to refurbish the Boeing F/A-18s is expected to cost A$250-300 million ($246-296 million). The goal is to keep them flying until the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter arrives. The defense ministry says the deal saves A$500 million over an earlier approach that saw the program broken into parts.
UCAV RIDE: Boeing’s Phantom Ray company-funded unmanned combat-aircraft demonstrator arrived at Edwards AFB, Calif., on Dec. 14 on the back of NASA’s Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. The Phantom Ray is only the second aircraft to fly on the modified 747 in its 33-year history and weighed 30,000 lb. with its adapter compared with 220,000 lb. for a space shuttle orbiter. Flight testing of the Phantom Ray is to begin at Edwards in the first quarter of 2011.
NEW DELHI — India and Russia will conclude the preliminary design contract for their joint fifth-generation fighter aircraft (FGFA) project during Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s visit to India on Dec. 20-22. “Once the approvals are through, we will then start the actual detailed work,” Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) Chairman Ashok Nayak tells Aviation Week. Concerning India’s involvement in the project, Nayak says: “It is in the preliminary stage now.”
The European Defense Agency (EDA) and BAE Systems Bofors on Dec. 16 signed a contract aimed at promoting an independent European precision-guided munition (PGM) production capability. Under the €350,000 ($460,000) contract, Bofors will develop a road map identifying priority steps to be taken focusing on the preservation or development of key technologies and industrial capabilities.
NEW DELHI — Evidence is growing that the downselect decision for India’s Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) may not be announced until the fourth quarter of 2011, with the holdup centered on terms for technology transfer.
Virgin Galactic plans to market orbital flights for space tourists and scientists on two spaceplanes proposed under NASA’s Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) effort, in the hope it can expand its business beyond the suborbital flights it is planning on its SpaceShipTwo vehicle.
Boeing has stopped work on its $323 million intelligence aircraft contract for the U.S. Army and losing bidder L-3 Communications has joined Northrop Grumman in protesting the service’s recent source selection. Boeing received its stop-work order Dec. 15 following the Dec. 14 protest filed by Northrop Grumman to the Army’s Enhanced Medium-Altitude Reconnaissance and Surveillance System (Emarss) contract (Aerospace DAILY, Dec. 16). L-3 filed its protest Dec. 15.
DEFENSE UPDATE: Australian Defense Minister Stephen Smith expects that an update to the country’s Defense Capability Program, the public list of major equipment acquisitions, will be published by Dec. 25, the Christmas holiday. “That will give a good indication as to where we are so far as about 150 projects are concerned,” Smith told reporters Dec. 14 at Parliament House. The announcement came as officials fielded questions on the country’s ability to budget and pay for planned programs.
The General Electric-Rolls Royce F136 alternate engine for the Joint Strike Fighter program looked increasingly vulnerable Dec. 15 when efforts to prolong the controversial program appeared to be losing steam in Congress.
India’s Tejas Light Combat Aircraft successfully dropped the first bomb at the Defense Research and Development Organization’s (DRDO) new test range at Challakere, 100 mi. northwest of Bengaluru, on Dec. 15. With this test, the Aeronautical Test Range (ATR) of DRDO has become operational and will be henceforth used by various aeronautical system developers in India.
