LENGTHY TRIAL: State acceptance trials of the long-range missile for Russia’s Almaz-Antey S-400 (SA-21 Growler) surface-to-air missile (SAM) system are due to be concluded in the third quarter of 2010, according to the manufacturer’s general director. The longest-range weapon associated with the S-400 is thought to be the 40N6. This missile has a fly-out range of up to 400 km. (250 mi.). The head of Almaz-Antey also reportedly confirms that the S-500 SAM system is intended to be ready in 2015.
HOUSTON — The shuttle Atlantis lifted off May 14 on the last scheduled flight of the 25-year-old orbiter, a 12-day mission to the International Space Station to deliver the Russian “Rassvet” docking and research module and carry out communications and power system upgrades with three spacewalks. Atlantis lifted off from Kennedy Space Center with six astronauts at 2:20 p.m. EDT. It was on course to dock with the space station May 16 at 10:27 a.m.
LONDON — Eurocopter order cancellations and A400M cost overruns remain troublesome areas for EADS, although in reporting first-quarter results, the aerospace giant signals that it sees an overall improvement in business conditions. Eurocopter saw 18 cancellations in the quarter, down from the level of a year earlier. And while demand is improving over 2009, EADS warns that “commercial appetite is still far below 2007 and 2008 levels.” Deliveries also declined, to 86 units from 93.
FORT WORTH — As the debate rages about Joint Strike Fighter life-cycle cost, Lockheed Martin officials are raising a previously unheard point to bolster their low-price claims — a new low-observability (LO) substance called fiber mat.
To nearly no one’s surprise, the Pentagon on May 13 authorized the U.S. Army to cancel the Non-Line-of-Sight Launch System (NLOS-LS). The final cancellation decision came as a result of a Capability Portfolio Review of the NLOS-LS and other related programs, the service stated.
STRATEGIC MARK: The House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee is pushing for Congress to provide “sustainment” funding for the solid rocket motor and military satellite communications industrial bases. At the same time, the panel recommends a “significant” reduction to the Defense Department side of the recently split-up National Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (Npoess) program.
REAGAN REDUX: A group of well-known conservative activists in Washington is “advancing a 10-point platform for restoring national security by returning to the time-tested practice President Ronald Reagan called ‘Peace Through Strength.’” The group, including Reagan administration veterans Edwin Meese and Frank Gaffney, hopes to blunt cost-cutting moves promoted by Pentagon chief Robert Gates and the Obama White House.
BATTLE LINES: Key House defense authorizers are undeterred by a threat from Defense Secretary Robert Gates to recommend that President Obama veto their Fiscal 2011 defense legislation if they opt to fund the General Electric/Rolls Royce F136 engine for the stealthy F-35 fighter. In their markup May 13, the airland and seapower subcommittees set aside $485 million for the alternate engine; Pratt & Whitney is building the F135 as the primary propulsion system.
U.S. space policy remains the object of heated debate as the federal funding cycle grinds on, but powerful members of Congress are softening their outright opposition to the plan advanced by the White House in the Fiscal 2011 NASA budget request.
The U.S. military needs to do a better job of accounting for equipment and materiel as it draws down forces in Iraq, a recent Pentagon Inspector General (IG) report says. The report acknowledges that overall planning and ongoing adjustments appear to be sufficient to accommodate the drawdown from Iraq. But there were still “logistical challenges,” says the report, released this week.
GENOA, Italy — The saga of the Romanian air force’s selection of a “new” fighter to replace its MiG-21bis Lancer is becoming a heated political, industrial and economic battle that is not likely to be solved anytime soon. A buy of 24 secondhand U.S. Air Force Lockheed Martin F-16C/D fighters was originally announced in March by Defense Minister Gabriel Opera, without a formal competition.
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India — BrahMos Aerospace Thiruvananthapuram Ltd. (BATL) is expected to roll out its first fully-integrated supersonic BrahMos cruise missile by 2011. The Indian air force’s Southern Air Command (SAC) is on the verge of agreeing to hand over 7.15 acres of land to BATL for its Phase-II expansion, which would ensure that the missile’s production rate will increase and maintain a pace of 20-25 annually. The missile is currently being integrated at the BrahMos Integration Complex (BIC) in Hyderabad.
Concerns about the long-term effects of weightlessness on astronauts’ health have taken many forms. A common one is their need to exercise while in orbit to counteract losses of bone density and muscle mass. Now a science team headed by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and NASA Ames Research Center is posing a different question, but one untidy housekeepers will understand: what about scum? That is, what effect might microbes in a biofilm — or, colloquially, scum — play over time?
BIPARTISAN TRACKING: Sens. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) and Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), otherwise polar opposites in U.S. political life, are promoting legislation “for integrating and consolidating existing contracting information databases … into a single searchable and linked network.” The proposed bill, if enacted, could codify elements of an Obama administration push already underway at the General Services Administration to unite disparate databases, as well as make them more available to all lawmakers while further enshrining use by contracting officers.
The nascent Future Vertical Lift (FVL) industry consortium is hoping to carve out some funding from the Fiscal 2012 Pentagon budget to help jump-start the U.S. rotorcraft industry. The Vertical Lift Consortium recently signed an “other transactions agreement” after formally convening in January, according to Mike Welsh of the Pentagon’s office for land warfare and munitions, who calls himself the point man for FVL initiatives.
NEW DELHI — The transformation of India’s major military research body, the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO), is underway with a series of initiatives including the establishment of a Defense Technology Commission with the defense minister as chairman.
The U.S.-Taiwan Business Council, a Washington group that promotes business and bilateral interests, has issued its own analysis of Taiwan’s major air defense requirements in part to support forwarding a stalled U.S. foreign military sale (FMS) of Lockheed Martin F-16s to the island nation.
PARIS — Troubled Satelites Mexicanos (Satmex) has a new lease on life following an agreement by bondholders to provide funding for a new spacecraft. Named Satmex 8, the 64-transponder C-/Ku-band satellite was ordered on May 10 from Space Systems/Loral (SS/L). It is needed to replace Satmex 5, which suffered a failure of its primary xenon ion propulsion system in January. An authorization to proceed (ATP) for Satmex 8 was issued on April 1, subject to conclusion of a definitive satellite construction agreement with SS/L.
Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) is expected to propose legislation that would require the Pentagon to penalize competitors for contracts that have been found by the World Trade Organization (WTO) to have received illegal subsidies, according to industry officials. The legislation is squarely aimed at influencing the pricing duel between EADS North America and Boeing as they compete for $35 billion worth of work building 179 U.S. Air Force refuelers.
Procurement officials in government should continue to adopt plans for distributed architectures for space capabilities and “broadly, appropriately” use fixed-price contracting in their efforts to improve performance in acquiring and operating sophisticated space systems, according to David Taylor, CEO of Ball Aerospace.
