The multinational Lockheed Martin F-35 achieved its first vertical landing March 18, a major step forward for the struggling stealthy single-engine fighter’s test program. The vertical landing took place about 1:23 p.m. EDT at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. The aircraft rode more than 41,000 lb. of thrust to achieve the vertical landing; this milestone is key in proving the aircraft will be suitable for the U.S. Marine Corps and British and Italian forces.
FLYING HIGH: The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) on March 12 commemorated the 10th anniversary of the launch of the Multispectral Thermal Imager (MTI) satellite. Originally slated for a three-year mission, the satellite continues to collect useful scientific data more than seven years after its design end-of-life despite a “variety of spacecraft anomalies” along the way. Since 2000, engineers and operators have even increased the quantity of data it collects, according to NNSA.
The European Aviation Safety Agency has granted EADS the supplemental type certification (STC) for its work in converting Airbus A330 airliners into multirole tanker transports. The document comes on the back of 60 flight tests hours specifically needed for the STC and 170 flight test hours overall performed for the lead customer, the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). EASA’s certification director, Norbert Lohl, handed the document to EADS on March 17 at the safety organization’s headquarters in Cologne, Germany.
HOVERING: Lockheed Martin’s first F-35B short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing (Stovl) aircraft demonstrated the capability to hover freely March 17 during a test flight at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. The aircraft took off conventionally, then pilot Graham Tomlinson slowed it to 60 knots and flew a decelerating approach to zero airspeed at 150 feet above the runway. After completing all hover test points, Tomlinson executed a Stovl landing at 70 knots airspeed, according to Lockheed. Later in the day, BF-1 performed the first F-35 short takeoff too.
Raytheon is on track to execute its first flight test intercept attempt with an SM-3 Block IB missile early next year, according to Ed Miyashiro, vice president of Raytheon Missile Systems. The sea-based SM-3 Block IB will feature a new divert-and-attitude-control system as well as a two-color infrared sensor, both improvements over the SM-3 Block IA now in use. These missiles are designed for use with the Aegis ship-based defensive system.
In a bid to spur growth in the aviation alternative fuels market, the Air Transport Association (ATA) and Defense Energy Support Center (DESC) will establish a strategic alliance with a formal signing in Washington March 19. The DESC is responsible for the supply of petroleum products to Defense Department customers, and has already purchased substantial quantities of synthetic coal-, gas- and bio-derived jet fuels for test and evaluation.
The Danish defense ministry says no decision has been made yet on its fighter competition, amid reports that F-35 Joint Strike Fighter problems may have knocked that U.S. offering out of the running. “We are still working on finalizing the military recommendation,” a Danish defense ministry official says. The report is due to go to the minister of defense this year.
TOKYO — The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) opened the clean room at its Sagamihara Campus on March 12 to reveal its cube-shaped Akatsuki satellite, which will investigate the climate of Venus in a mission that will overlap with the European Space Agency’s Venus Express.
Selex Communications will provide communication, navigation and self-protection equipment for the Italian Army’s 16 Boeing CH-47F Chinook helicopters, which AgustaWestland is to assemble and deliver.
When it comes to improving airport security, the most critical issue is the lack of timely dissemination of national threat intelligence, according to Houston Airport System Interim Director Col. (ret.) Eric Potts. Potts spoke with Aviation Week just prior to testifying on March 17 before the House Homeland Security subcommittee, which is assessing the adequacy of checkpoint security.
There are some hiccups involving the hangar bay and other areas in making CVN 21 next-generation aircraft carriers good homes for F-35 Joint Strike Fighters (JSFs), according to a recent report by the Pentagon’s Director of Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E) office. “Emerging results from the ongoing … operational assessment highlight significant integration challenges with the F-35 JSF that will adversely impact mission accomplishment,” DOT&E says in its recently released 2009 annual report.
NEW DELHI — India has been strengthening counterterrorism procedures to enhance domestic security, Defense Minister A.K. Antony said March 15 in response to queries in parliament. Measures taken include augmenting the Central Para-Military Forces, strengthening and reorganizing the Multi-Agency Center to share intelligence with other intelligence and security agencies; tighter immigration control and effective border management through fencing, flood lighting, deployment of surveillance equipment and coastal security.
European and Russian planners for the upcoming Phobos-Grunt (Phobos Soil) sample-return mission to the tiny Martian moon have some new high-resolution imagery of their possible landing sites to use. The European Space Agency’s Mars Express orbiter is using its unique orbit around the Red Planet to capture imagery of the proposed sites. Because of the orbiter’s unusually close passes to Phobos, the resolution is 4.4 meters per pixel.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) wants the U.S. Army to proceed carefully as the service ramps up its new Brigade Combat Team Modernization (BCTM) program. “With ground force modernization efforts at an early stage, the [Defense Department] and the Army face the challenge of setting the merging modernization efforts on the best possible footing by buying the right capabilities at the best value,” the recent report says.
SMART MOVE: The Business and Industry STEM Coalition has announced a commitment to doubling the number of graduates with a bachelor’s degree in science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) to 400,000 from 200,000 by 2020.
NEW DELHI — A flight test March 15 to demonstrate the endoatmospheric interception of a tactical ballistic missile failed when the target missile deviated from its trajectory, according to an official announcement from the Indian defense ministry. A new target missile is expected to be ready to repeat the test in June. As part of the mission, a target missile mimicking an incoming ballistic missile was launched from the Interim Test Range (ITR) in Chandipur in East India.
The Federal Communications Commission released a National Broadband Plan on March 16 intended to ensure that every corner of the U.S. has access to robust, affordable Internet service.
Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL) has agreed to team with Dutch Space to develop and market a spacecraft bus that will permit it to piggyback a geostationary payload utilizing normally excess capacity under a rocket fairing.
The state of Florida has permission to develop two more pads at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station for commercial users, clearing another hurdle as the political wind shifts toward greater use of private vehicles to launch public payloads — including astronauts.
Heads of the five space agencies in the International Space Station (ISS) partnership have decided to try to expand participation by other nations in the orbiting laboratory, while not opening up the formal partnership to new members. NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said March 16 that at the heads of agency meeting held in Tokyo last week to discuss the implications of the U.S. decision to continue funding station operations beyond 2015 to 2020 or beyond, the partners agreed to broaden their organizations’ separate efforts to bring in new participants.
EVERETT, Wash. — If Boeing nabs the U.S. Air Force’s KC-X competition — an apparent inevitability since Northrop Grumman’s withdrawal — the 767s built for it will flow through a new assembly line that is to open in February 2011.
The U.S. Air Force should sole-source the work to build a follow-on Space-Based Space Surveillance (SBSS) satellite to Boeing, according to Craig Cooning, president of Boeing Satellite Systems International. “Once that [nonrecurring engineering] technology investment is made by the government and the recipe is fixed, it makes a lot of sense to go ahead and build them,” he says.
