Space station crewmembers Tracy Caldwell Dyson of NASA and Russian cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Mikhail Kornienko launched on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 12:04 a.m. EDT April 2.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) April 12 - 15 — 26th Annual National Logistics Conference & Exhibition, Hyatt Regency, Miami, Fla. For more information go to www.ndia.org/meetings/0730 April 13 - 15 — 11th Annual Science and Engineering Technology Conference/DoD Tech Expo, “Enabling Technologies to Fight Current & Future Conflicts,” For more information go to www.exhibits.ndia.org
India’s effort to purchase new towed guns for its army is heating up, with trials likely to begin this summer. “We are still pending dates from the [defense ministry] for the trials,” says a spokesman for Singapore Technologies (ST) Kinetics, which is competing with BAE Systems to make the guns. “Our gun will be ready for the summer trials.”
EADS North America spokesman Guy Hicks says that his company “will consider” whether the Pentagon’s offer of an additional 60 days to bid on the KC-X program is enough time for the company to craft a proposal, although he reiterated that the company “firmly indicated that a 90-day extension would be the minimum time necessary to prepare a responsible proposal.”
EAST HARTFORD, Conn. — Pratt & Whitney President David Hess reaffirmed the company’s commitment to its home base manufacturing operations March 31, but says the company needs to decide on closing two underutilized airfoil and component overhaul facilities in six months.
LONDON — The French government is going forward with its plan to bridge A400M-delay-related airlift shortages and on April 1 announced the order of eight EADS Casa CN-235 airlifters. The €225 million ($300 million) commitment should lead to aircraft deliveries starting at the end of 2011 and wrap up by mid-2013, according to the French armaments agency DGA. France announced plans to buy the airlifter as part of the A400M rescue package last month.
The U.S. Coast Guard may release its request for proposals (RFP) for more HC-144A Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA) on April 2, according to aviation acquisition chief Capt. Jim Martin.
The Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) needs to work out some bugs in its Ground Mobile Radio (GMR), Rifleman Radio and Multi-functional Information Distribution System programs, according to a recent report by the Pentagon’s Director of Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E).
FAST BOAT: The U.S. Navy has awarded Pascagoula, Miss.-based VT Halter Marine Inc. a $65-million contract for a fourth Fast Missile Craft (FMC) for the Egyptian Navy. The most recent contract brings the total value of the FMC project to about $807 million. Work on the fourth FMC will start in mid-2011 and delivery is expected by the end of 2013. The first FMC is currently under construction, with an anticipated delivery date of 2012.
An initial purchase under a new U.S. Navy commercial satellite procurement program highlights a looming shift in the government’s bandwidth procurement setup, and what that means for satellite operators. The award, under a five-year indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (ID/IQ) arrangement, could ultimately be worth up to $542.7 million to the Intelsat General Corp. team that won it, and may lead to potential contract add-ons as well, according to Britt Lewis, VP of marketing and business strategy at Intelsat General.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) will develop a next-generation, open-architecture ground control system (GCS) for its Predator and Reaper unmanned aircraft under a $26.6 million U.S. Air Force contract. The Block 50 Advanced Cockpit will address issues with human factors and proprietary interfaces in the existing GCS and provide for future flexibility and growth, including multi-aircraft control.
GENOA, Italy — Selex Galileo will supply two Precision Approach Radars (PARs) to the Italian air force and five more to the Swiss air force under contracts worth a total of €31 million ($41.8 million).
OLD FAITHFUL: As the U.S. Army works on evaluating its Armed Aerial Scout requirement, the aging Kiowa Warrior helicopter fleet is preparing for a decision on a development start for a Cockpit and Sensor Upgrade, part of the ongoing Operational Service Extension Program that will extend the life of the fleet through 2025.
LONDON — The U.K. appears to have shelved — at least for now — the notion of acquiring additional airlifters as a gapfiller until the anticipated 2015 entry into service with the Royal Air Force (RAF) of the Airbus Military A400M.
LONDON — Germany is still assessing whether it needs to cut its A400M military transport aircraft buy, but the U.K.’s decision to trim its purchase effectively limits the scope of a German reduction. What is more, Berlin is still trying to figure out how to buy its commitment of 60 of the military transports.
The U.S. Navy’s “Great Green Fleet” goal grabbed a bit more attention March 31 when President Barack Obama used a so-called “Green Hornet” as a backdrop to his announcement on offshore drilling.
MINI ME: The U.S. Air Force recently received an “operationally significant quantity” of Raytheon’s Miniature Air Launched Decoy (MALD), according to the company. MALD is a modular, air-launched, programmable flight vehicle weighing less than 300 pounds with a range of about 500 nautical miles. MALD is currently integrated on the B-52 and F-16 and can be certified on any aircraft with a 14-inch suspension carriage, according to the company. Raytheon says it hopes to deliver a jamming variant of the MALD to the Air Force in 2012.
Triumph Group’s move to acquire Vought Aircraft Industries Inc. from Carlyle Group for $1.4 billion in stock and cash is certainly bold. The transaction, which is expected to close in July, would propel Triumph up the aerospace supply chain in one big step, bolstering its core aircraft systems and aftermarket services business with a major aerostructures provider for the Boeing 747-8, 777 and C-17, and Airbus A320 and A340.
The first flight of the U.S. Marine Corps’ heavy lifter CH-53K helicopter has slipped two years to 2013, while its initial operational capability (IOC) has slid three years to 2018, officials have confirmed to AVIATION WEEK.
As recognition grows that cyber-attacks are a threat to national and economic security, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) is looking to a future in which all systems must be designed, tested and certified for security. Darpa’s contribution to the U.S. government’s Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative to protect federal networks is to build the National Cyber Range, an automated and instrumented site for large-scale testing to assess the readiness of cybersecurity technologies and systems.
HARTFORD, Conn. — Pratt & Whitney will continue to fight support of a second engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, President David Hess says. “The customers who might use a second engine don’t want it — they don’t want to spend the money,” he says. “I take the same position as the taxpayer. It will take another $2.9 billion over the next five to six years to complete development of a second engine.”
PARIS — Telesat of Canada says it has signed up an anchor customer that will enable it to purchase and launch a new direct-to-home spacecraft. The customer, Canadian digital TV service provider Shaw Direct, will lease 16 extended Ku-band transponders for the full, 15-year life of the new satellite, which will be inserted at a slot at 107.3 W. Long. The spacecraft, to be called Anik G1, will be ordered in the second quarter and is expected to be launched in the second half of 2012.
