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FARNBOROUGH — The new U.K. minister in charge of space, David Willets, says he will study the feasibility of providing Britain with an independent remote sensing capability.
NEW DELHI — India requires greater maritime awareness and a maritime policy for its navy that will allow it to work toward building the right force mix for protecting the country’s interests, according to the National Maritime Foundation (NMF) think tank. While the Indian navy released a vision document in 2006 focusing on a technology-enabled, networked force to safeguard maritime interests, experts say this will need to be backed by a national policy to give it teeth and direction.
DOCKING FAILURE: The Russians are continuing to investigate the cause of the failed automated Progress 38 docking to the International Space Station’s aft docking port on July 2 (Aerospace DAILY, July 6). The freighter made a successful automated docking two days later. The Progress aborted the first attempt, when cosmonauts activated TORU, the backup manual docking mechanism. The activation interrupted the capsule’s communications link to the station, prompting the Progress to abort the docking maneuver.
FARNBOROUGH — The U.S. Navy program manager for the H-60 helicopter, Capt. Dean Peters, says the potential exists to “take out the sonobuoy launcher” from the MH-60R, and launch fewer buoys using a different type of launch system. The goal is to reduce the amount of cabin space taken up by the sonobuoy launcher. “We’re evaluating other options to free up space and reduce cost,” Peters says. The Romeo’s Airborne Low Frequency Sonar (ALFS) worked so well during last year’s deployment that there “was not much need for the [sonobuoy] launcher.
FARNBOROUGH — Rockwell Collins has fused its technical support operation with its international organization to create a unified aftermarket services group, led by Greg Churchill, executive VP of Rockwell Collins International and Service Solutions (I&SS). The meshed operations should better enable Rockwell Collins to capitalize on air transport and defense aftermarket support opportunities in the global market, where most aviation growth will occur.
FARNBOROUGH and NEW DELHI — The planned visit next week to India of British Prime Minister David Cameron likely will coincide with the announcement of a deal for a further 57 BAE Systems Hawk advanced jet trainer aircraft. The state visit will see Cameron meet Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The U.K.’s recently-elected Conservative-Liberal Democratic coalition government has already identified India as a nation with which it wants to build a strategic relationship.
BETTER ALIGNMENT: A new partnership between Andrews Space and Honeybee Robotics will have an integrated system prototype of control moment gyroscopes (CMGs) and control avionics available this summer for spacecraft weighing less than 100 kg. (220 lb.). The two companies announced July 19 they are teaming to provide three classes of CMGs. “We are also on track to have a working system sized for small- and micro-spacecraft up and running by January 2011,” says Jason Andrews, chief executive of his eponymous company.
The U.S. Senate Appropriations Commerce, Justice, Science subcommittee quickly approved its version of NASA’s Fiscal 2011 spending bill July 21, providing a $19 billion topline – the same level as the Obama administration’s request – in a key step that furthers a nascent compromise between Capitol Hill and the White House.
AMP ON: Congress seems unlikely to cut the USAF C-130 Avionics Modernization Program (AMP) despite the armed service’s lack of enthusiasm for the embattled effort, according to consultancy Forecast International. “The United States has already spent about $1.5 billion on development and there’s also international interest to consider,” notes Forecast’s Adam Feld.
FARNBOROUGH — Boeing has completed the final design review for the Indian navy’s 737-based maritime patrol P-8I, a variant of the U.S. Navy’s P-8A, and is preparing to begin fabrication of the first aircraft in the fourth quarter.
UP IN THE AIR: Various problems encountered in the past may hinder use of unmanned aircraft on the U.S. border with Mexico or Canada, according to a recent report by the Congressional Research Service. “There are concerns regarding the high accident rates of UAVs, which have historically been multiple times higher than that of manned aircraft. Inclement weather conditions can also impinge on a UAV’s surveillance capability,” the nonpartisan service says.
FARNBOROUGH — Sukhoi’s T-50 PAK-FA fighter will be delivered to the customer in 2015, Sukhoi Director General Mikhail Pogosyan said in an interview at the Farnborough International Airshow here on July 20, notwithstanding Western skeptics who compare that timescale to other fighter programs. “It’s a matter of the experience that we have, the level of preparation and the solution that we have chosen,” he said. “We did not wait for a new engine, but modernized an existing engine, and we have a lot of bench testing. Combined, that gives us a chance to succeed.
FARNBOROUGH — Saab is continuing along the road to fully defining — and will soon make an important supplier decision on — its next-generation (NG) fighter’s self-protection suite. The Gripen NG will have a fiber-optic towed decoy as a baseline subsystem to help defeat radar-guided missile threats. A towed decoy is only an option on the current model, but the supplier choice is pending for the subsystem on the NG, says Eddy de la Motte, a Gripen International program official.
FARNBOROUGH — Northrop Grumman’s decision to cast off its shipbuilding business is more about its lack of synergy with other units than its underperformance, CEO Wes Bush says. “We see shipbuilding as a good business,” Bush tells AVIATION WEEK editors. “There are a lot of folks who have said, ‘This means Northrop Grumman gave up on shipbuilding.’ And that is not where we are.” Northrop announced last week that it would look at options to sell or spin-out its shipbuilding unit, which accounted for 17% of the U.S. defense giant’s sales last year.
The European Union, in a planned July 21 filing, will spell out at least seven legal points in its appeal of the June 30 World Trade Organization ruling on the U.S. case on illegal subsidies to Airbus.
FARNBOROUGH — The Brazilian air force has made an initial purchase commitment to the Embraer KC-390 military airlifter, with the goal of fielding the aircraft starting in 2016. The Brazilian government had previously only agreed to fund the development of the KC-390 and build two prototypes. The service plans to replace its entire fleet of C-130s with KC-390s eventually, says Brazilian air force chief of staff Lt. Gen. Juniti Saito, without saying what the total inventory objective is.
PERFORMANCE CRUNCH: Consultancy AlixPartners says the western aerospace and defense (A&D) sector is in for more consolidation, if only because companies will have to “drastically” cut costs and improve efficiencies to maintain their profit-making. “This will be hard given anemic demand, pressure to develop technologies to cut fuel consumption, and pressure to remain competitive,” according to an announcement discussing the “new normal” environment.
FARNBOROUGH — Mobile satellite operator Iridium is here at the Farnborough International Airshow to promote its solution to the problems highlighted by last year’s Air France Flight 447 accident over the Atlantic. All 228 passengers and crew perished when the Airbus A330-200 crashed, and the loss of the flight data recorder (FDR) deprived investigators of information they could have used to pinpoint the disaster’s cause.
FARNBOROUGH — General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) plans to offer its Avenger/Predator C unmanned combat air vehicle in two variants, with the second featuring radar absorbent materials, a Joint Strike Fighter-type electro-optical sensor and other features for survival in heavily defended airspace, according to Aircraft Systems Group President Frank Pace. “We are working that program, but it’s a few years out,” Pace said at the Farnborough International Airshow July 21.
SAUDI HAWK: Saudi Arabia’s ministry of interior is the launch customer for Sikorksy’s S-70i International Black Hawk, with an order for three helicopters for delivery from early 2011, plus options for another 12, for border protection, transport and other roles. Assembled in Poland by Sikorsky subsidiary PZL Meilec, the export variant of the Black Hawk made its first flight on July 1.
FARNBOROUGH — To protect the 2015 timeline for the development of an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar for the key Indian export campaign, the Eurofighter radar consortium is pre-funding the system’s development until March. Some workshare issues remain to be sorted out, but the development effort for the AESA that will replace the mechanically scanned antenna began this month. Eurofighter CEO Enzo Casolini says the work has been done on the back of an agreement in principle from the U.K., Germany, Italy and Spain to acquire such a system.
FORMATION FLIGHT: Sikorsky has completed the first autonomous formation flight (AFF) as it develops technology for an optionally piloted Black Hawk helicopter. For the June flight, the company’s AFF system was implemented on the U.S. Army’s JUH-60 Rascal fly-by-wire testbed, which then flew in formation with an unmodified EH-60L. The AFF system comprises a single camera to track the lead aircraft and flight-control algorithms to maintain relative position automatically.
