The U.S. Air Force said late Nov. 30 that its first X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle, in orbit since April, is slated to land Dec. 3-6, depending on technical and weather conditions. “Preparations for the first landing of the X-37B are underway at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California,” according to a USAF statement. The 30th Space Wing will monitor the de-orbit and landing of the first X-37B, called OTV-1.
The U.S. Coast Guard has awarded a $480 million fixed-price incentive contract to Northrop Grumman to build a fourth National Security Cutter (NSC) — WMSL 753 — at the company’s Pascagoula shipyard.
GETTING GREENER: The Association of the United States Army (AUSA) is urging lawmakers to boost baseline defense funding to 5% or more of gross domestic product, and to increase the U.S. Army’s share of the Pentagon allocation from 24% to 28%. AUSA maintains that the active and reserve Army and the Army National Guard must be maintained above the 700,000 combined troop level to carry out operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.
Congressional auditors have dismissed a bid protest by Arinc Engineering Services over a U.S. Naval Air Systems Command competition for 21 Mi-17 helicopters for the Afghanistan air force. According to a U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) decision distributed Nov. 26, Arinc primarily argued that the Navy did not provide for full and open competition because Russian arms-export company Rosoboronexport is the de facto sole source for Mi-17s.
UNMANNED BUY-IN: Sikorsky Innovations, the United Technologies helicopter manufacturer’s technology development arm, has made an equity investment in small Marietta, Ga.-based company Adaptive Flight, which develops small unmanned rotorcraft and flight control systems. Sikorsky says the investment, which it did not detail, advances its development of optionally piloted aircraft technology, manned-unmanned teaming, and its plans to demonstrate an unmanned cargo resupply mission with a UH-60 Black Hawk.
Almost 2,000 Sony PlayStation game consoles have been networked by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to create an affordable supercomputer that is being used to develop techniques to process and analyze huge quantities of imagery from wide-area surveillance systems.
BENGALURU, India — India’s Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) moved one step closer to its much-awaited initial operational clearance (IOC) when a limited series production (LSP-4) platform fired a Russian-made R-73 air-to-air close combat missile at INS Hansa in Goa on Nov. 30. Tejas Program Director P.S. Subramaniam tells Aviation Week that LSP-4 flew at 12 km. (7.5 mi.) altitude and reached Mach 0.7.
Los Angeles — Sierra Nevada is emerging as the likely front runner to use the former NASA X-34 reusable launch vehicle demonstrator as a flying testbed for its Dream Chaser orbital space vehicle. The two surviving Orbital Sciences-built X-34s were moved by road to Mojave, Calif., on Nov. 16 from Edwards AFB, Calif., where they had been in storage since the program was canceled in 2001.
Pratt & Whitney hopes to sign for a fourth batch of F-35 Joint Strike Fighter engines within weeks, having accepted a government request to negotiate a fixed-price incentive contract instead of the originally planned cost-plus deal. F-35 prime Lockheed Martin signed a fixed-price incentive contract for the $3.9 billion low-rate initial production (LRIP) Lot 4 of the fighter on Nov. 19. This covers 31 F-35s powered by Pratt F135 engines to be procured under a separate contract.
LONDON — The Australian government says it will send the Defense Trade Cooperation Treaty with the U.S. to Parliament in the new year, but first will consult with industry starting Dec. 1.
The U.S. Army is looking at “a target range of $9 million to $10.5 million” average unit manufacturing cost for its Ground Combat Vehicle (GCV), Project Manager Col. Anthony DiMarco told reporters Nov. 30. Billed as the service’s replacement for the aging M2 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle, the GCV is scheduled to be ready by 2017, when the Army expects to start a buy of 1,874 units.
NEW DELHI — Indian military leaders are calling for the creation of an agency similar to the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) to develop new military technology. “This indicates the realization of a ‘futuristic element’” in Indian technology development planning, said a delegate at the National Seminar on Aerospace Technologies (N-Sat) held here Nov. 24-25. “The Indian air force, for instance, is looking at sensors and weapons packages beyond the Su-30MKIs and Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft.”
NEW DELHI — Military maintenance, repair and overhaul provider Aeronautical Systems Inc. (ASI) says India provides vast opportunities in the long term for support solutions for U.S.-based platforms.
NEW DELHI — Tata Advanced Systems Ltd. (TASL), a Tata Group company, has purchased a 74% stake in Hyderabad-based HBL Elta Avionics — its first defense acquisition. The purchase price was not disclosed. The remaining 26% of HBL continues to be held by its partner, ELTA Systems, a unit of Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). ELTA Systems has expertise in intelligence, electronic warfare, surveillance and target acquisition.
L-3 Communications’ Link Simulation & Training division is to build two Boeing F/A-18C simulators for Kuwait under a $24.1 million foreign military sales contract from the U.S. Navy. The fixed-base tactical operational flight trainers (TOFTs), with 360-deg. visual displays, will be built on the Navy’s F/A-18 simulator baseline. They will bring the number of TOFTs delivered to international customers to 17.
Arianespace orbited two communications satellites on Nov. 26 from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. The two spacecraft were Intelsat 17, launched for international satellite operator Intelsat, and Hylas 1, for the European operator Avanti Communications. The flight marked the 54th Ariane 5 launch. Intelsat 17 is being maneuvered to its parking orbit of 68.5 deg. East longitude as a replacement for the 16-year-old Intelsat 702.
VECTOR APPROVED: Vector Aerospace Component Services’ avionics and systems repair facility at Almondbank, U.K., has received its MAOS MIL Part 145 Accreditation certificate from the British Defense Equipment and Support unit. MAOS is the scheme the U.K. defense ministry uses to assess the competence of maintenance organizations providing airworthiness support to military aircraft. Vector’s Almondbank site provides a significant capability for repair, modification and testing of an extensive range of dynamic and structural components for military helicopters.
DRAPER TAPPED: NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Texas on Nov. 23 awarded the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory of Cambridge, Mass., a five-year, $45.8 million contract for the development of advanced guidance, navigation and control (GNC) systems, as well as avionics technology development and analysis. Johnson’s Engineering Directorate will oversee the work for the space shuttle, International Space Station and future spacecraft that the agency will develop. Effective Dec.
NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (Sofia) flying observatory will make its first scientific flight Nov. 30, taking off in early evening darkness from the Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif.
LONDON — France is due to sign over authority for a large portion of its airlifters to the European Air Transport Command on Nov. 30. The EATC is a partnership of Germany, France, the Netherlands and Belgium to consolidate airlift assets to gain efficiencies. Germany signed over its airlifters and shut down its airlift planning cell in October, and the Netherlands followed on Nov. 26. Belgium, the final partner, plans to do so in January, says air force Col. Mike de Coninck, an EATC official.
METAL M&A: Boeing is taking a small step in vertical integration with an agreement to acquire Summit Aeronautics Group of Helena, Mont., a key supplier of machined titanium and other hard-metal parts for its 747-8, 787 programs and some military aircraft. Terms were not disclosed for the deal, which is expected to close by year’s end and bring the company, which employs 135 people, into Boeing Fabrications. Summit is expected to gain additional 787 work after the transaction closes. The machine parts it makes for Boeing military programs were not disclosed.
