NASA is seeking industry feedback on its plans for a new five-year, $150 million research program to help integrate unmanned aircraft into civil airspace. The program is planned to begin in Fiscal 2011 and would focus on separation assurance and collision avoidance, pilot-aircraft interface, certification requirements and communications, involving a series of increasingly complex flight demonstrations.
In a bid to drive down the size and weight of laser weapons, the U.S. Defense Department has awarded contracts to demonstrate more efficient electric lasers that can be scaled to lethal power levels. So far, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon have received contracts under the Robust Electric Laser Initiative (RELI). A fourth contract is expected to be awarded to Northrop Grumman.
The International Space Station’s mission management team approved a two-spacewalk strategy on Aug. 6 to repair the cooling system that was partially disabled by a July 31 electrical short in an external pump module assembly. The first spacewalk by Expedition 24 flight engineers Doug Wheelock and Tracy Caldwell Dyson was scheduled to get underway on Aug. 7 at 6:55 a.m. EDT and last about 7 hr.
MOVING LASER: Northrop Grumman’s Joint High-Power Solid-State Laser (JHPSSL) system is being moved from the laboratory to the High-Energy Laser Systems Test Facility at White Sand Missile Range, N.M., for field testing against rockets, mortars and unmanned aircraft. A ruggedized 15-kw. version of JHPSSL will be tested at sea against small boats this year under the Office of Naval Research’s Maritime Laser Demonstration program. Northrop also is participating in the Robust Electric Laser Initiative, which is just getting underway.
POINT AND SHOOT: The U.S. Army plans to award Boeing a contract to integrate Radiance Technologies’ WeaponWatch gunfire detection system onto the AH-64D Apache. The 18-month contract is planned to be awarded at the end of August by the Aviation Applied Technology Directorate. WeaponWatch is an infrared sensor and high-speed processor that can detect, locate and classify, and respond to ground fire.
MOON SHOTS: NASA is looking for industry data on robotic lunar lander technologies. The Innovative Lunar Demonstrations Data broad agency announcement (BAA) is expected to lead to multiple contracts with a total value up to $30.1 million through 2012. The BAA asks for information about the design and demonstration of an end-to-end lunar landing mission, including data on hardware design, development and testing; ground operations and integration; launch; trajectory-correction maneuvers; lunar braking, burn and landing; and enhanced capabilities.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) AUG. 16 - 19 — National Defense Industrial Association’s 13th Annual Space and Missile Defense Conference and Exhibition, Huntsville, Ala. For more information call (256) 382-5823, or go to www.smdconf.org Aug. 24 - 27 — AUVSI’S Unmanned Systems North America 2010, Colorado Convention Center, Denver, Colo. For more information go to www.auvsi.org
DIVESTING: SES confirms it will sell off its non-performing European government service unit, ND Satcom. In recently announced first-half results, the company says it is taking a €38.5 million ($50.8 million) charge for the German-based unit and will exclude it from future results. ND Satcom is a partner in Germany’s SatcomBW-2 secure milsatcom network, alongside Astrium, which is considered a potential buyer. Without the troubled unit, SES would have added nearly three points to its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, the company says.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates has proved to be a master at divesting the services of their most beloved programs. He stopped the U.S. Air Force’s longer-term production of the F-22 and killed its combat search-and-rescue replacement (CSAR-X) plans. The Army’s Future Combat System is now just a hollow cave filled with the echo of spinoffs. But Gates may have met his match when taking on the U.S. Marine Corps and its expeditionary fighting vehicle (EFV), which Gates has started to speculate — quite publicly — might not be worth the risk and cost.
INFLUENCE: U.S. aerospace and defense companies have increased congressional lobbying by more than 7% in the first half of 2010 compared with the same period last year, according to analysis by the watchdog Center for Responsive Politics. A National Journal report citing unidentified lobbyists noted that A&D firms are looking to Congress to help protect favored programs, while also reacting to a “difficult legislative cycle” where even popular defense bills are getting held up by partisan wrangling.
STRATEGIC SCIENCE: The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is standing up a Defense Programs Science Council to “explore cross-cutting issues.” The move follows President Barack Obama’s vision to better utilize nuclear weapons technology to help tackle other challenges, as NNSA has increasingly opened up to doing in the last decade.
Plans to acquire aircraft for the U.S. Coast Guard’s Deepwater modernization program remain underfunded due to rising program costs, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) says.
BENGALURU, India — In a major setback to Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.’s (HAL) efforts to market its flagship Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH), India’s Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has issued a report portraying the helicopter in a very poor light. CAG’s observations are part of its report on public sector undertakings (PSUs), which was presented to the Indian Parliament on Aug. 5.
UAE A&D: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is expected to significantly increase the level of its defense and aerospace procurements and investments over the next five years, as well as greatly expand the level of spending in homeland security and critical national infrastructure-related services and capabilities, according to the U.S.-UAE Business Council. The growth has helped spur the National Defense Industrial Association to organize a trade mission there in early October.
The Senate approved a NASA authorization bill late Aug. 5 that accelerates development of a heavy-lift launch vehicle and clears the agency to fly one more space shuttle mission beyond the two remaining on the manifest.
Inmarsat will create a global Ka-band broadband system to complement its L-band system, the company announced Aug. 6. As expected, Boeing will supply three 702HP spacecraft for the space segment of the system, which will be known as Inmarsat 5. Each satellite will be equipped with 89 fixed spot beams and have some in-orbit processing (Aerospace DAILY, Aug. 6).
BENGALURU, India — Indian Defense Minister A.K. Antony, a staunch supporter of homegrown projects, says the country’s Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) is totally focused on enhancing India’s self-reliance in developing military hardware.
BENGALURU, India — The Indian Air Force’s (IAF) HPT-32 Deepak trainer aircraft fleet, grounded after a fatal crash last year in Hyderabad, is set to return to the air soon with a parachute recovery system. HAL sources tell AVIATION WEEK that more than 100 of the aircraft will receive the system to increase pilots’ survival chances in an emergency. “The airframe will have to be given some modifications to take the additional weight,” a source said. The Indian Parliament was informed of the decision on Aug. 4.
COMMON LANGUAGE: L-3 Communications is to develop a gigabit-capacity Common Data Link (G-CDL) under a $13.1 million U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory. Work on the G-CDL was begun under independent research and development funding by L-3’s Communication Systems West division, which produces CDL and Tactical CDL radios now in widespread use on intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platforms. CDL and TCDL have a maximum capacity of 274 Mbps.
OZ TRAINING: Raytheon Australia is to offer the Bell 429 light twin for the Australian Defense Force’s Helicopter Aircrew Training Systems program, also known as Phase 7 of the country’s Air 9000 helicopter re-equipment program. Raytheon and Bell Helicopter have teamed to offer aircraft, simulators and courseware for army and navy rotary-wing flight training. Eurocopter subsidiary Australian Aerospace plans to offer the EC135, while Boeing Australia signed an agreement in 2008 to offer the AgustaWestland A109.
Industry sources say Inmarsat has agreed to acquire a fleet of three high-throughput Ka-band broadband satellites from Boeing. The first of the new Inmarsat spacecraft, which are said to carry a total price tag of more than $1 billion, would be available by 2014, sources say. Inmarsat declines to confirm the reports, but says a big announcement will be made Aug. 6.
The Moscow Times is reporting that Iran has obtained four S-300-family (which includes the SA-10, SA-20 and SA-22), long-range, high-altitude air defense missiles. The Aug. 5 report, the Times says, originated with the Iranian “Farsi News Agency,” which has ties to the Revolutionary Guard and Qods Force. The initial report says that Iran received two S-300s from Belarus and two more from another unnamed source.
The Boeing Co. is pursuing plans for a seven-person commercial crew transportation system that could be in operation by 2015, as part of a larger NASA-supported framework that includes extended International Space Station operations as well as development of an Orion-like spacecraft and new heavy-lift rocket for human deep space missions, company officials said Aug. 5.
