In observance of the U.S. Independence Day holiday, Aerospace Daily & Defense Report will not publish an issue on July 4. The next issue will be dated July 5.
Northrop Grumman hopes to demonstrate a week-long flight by a Global Hawk unmanned aircraft using autonomous aerial refueling at high altitude from another Global Hawk acting as a tanker. The week-long flight is an option under Northrop’s 24-month, $33 million contract from the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Project Agency for the KQ-X unmanned tanker demonstration. This is a follow-on to an autonomous aerial refueling demonstration conducted by Darpa in 2006 using a NASA F/A-18 and a 707 tanker.
LONDON — The Luftwaffe’s efforts to renew its airborne signals intelligence capability have moved one step closer to realization with the first flight of the Euro Hawk unmanned aircraft. The Euro Hawk, a derivative of the Global Hawk Block 20 the U.S. Air Force is buying, flew on June 29 from 10:32 a.m. to 12:24 p.m. local time from Palmdale to Edwards AFB, Calif., where the initial checkouts are taking place. The air vehicle reached 32,000 ft.
As expected, the World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled that some launch aid subsidies Airbus received from European governments for its aircraft programs are “actionable”—a ruling the European Union (EU) says it may appeal.
STATUS QUO: Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments President Andrew Krepinevich warns that one unintended consequence of fiscal pressures on national security could be even less inherent technology development. With no other superpowers like the former U.S.S.R. jockeying with the U.S. for military supremacy, and financial restraints pushing down on the Pentagon, the U.S. military is increasingly looking toward recapitalizing existing forces rather than modernizing them. For example, Krepinevich says, the Navy looks to build more DDG-51s than costlier DDG-1000s.
The U.S. Army Ground Combat Vehicle (GCV) will be one of the first test cases for Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ acquisition reform push. Contractor teams recently submitted bids for the GCV, which the Army plans to use to replace the stalwart Bradley. But the Army wants more than just an upgraded Bradley. Thanks to lessons from Iraq and Afghanistan, the service wants a vehicle designed from the ground up to withstand blasts from improvised explosive devices.
LONDON — The U.S. Joint Strike Fighter program office is developing options to allow the Netherlands to withdraw from the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter initial operational test and evaluation phase. A Dutch delegation recently met with U.S. officials to discuss the issue. The Dutch participation in the IOT&E phase is in limbo as a result of a combination of factors: a parliamentary move prior to recent general elections and the uncertainty over the country’s leadership owing to no clear election outcome.
The Obama administration plans to create a single, independent licensing agency as part of its drive to modernize and streamline U.S. export controls. The move would merge the licensing activities of the State, Commerce and other departments. “The administration supports the creation of an independent entity,” National Security Advisor James Jones told a Senate Aerospace Caucus lunch in Washington June 30.
PARIS — Eutelsat has selected EADS Astrium to supply a new satellite to replace W5. The new spacecraft, known as W5A, will be launched to 70.5 deg. E. Long. to renew and expand capacity for government services, broadband, cellphone backhauling and video in Europe, Africa and central and southeast Asia. To be orbited in the last quarter of 2012 by a yet-to-be-named launch provider, the 48-tranponder Ku-band satellite will supply more than double the capacity of W5, which was launched in 2002.
BENGALURU, India — India’s coastal security apparatus has once again been put on high alert. This follows a high-level meeting last week chaired by Indian Defense Minister A.K. Antony, who stressed the need for increased vigilance to counter any threats from the sea. Coastal surveillance measures have come under scrutiny following the terrorist attack in Mumbai on Nov. 26, 2008.
HOUSTON — A Russian Progress cargo capsule began a two-day journey to the International Space Station on June 30, following a liftoff from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The spacecraft with its 4,900 lb. of supplies is scheduled to reach the orbiting science laboratory on July 2 at 12:58 p.m. EDT. The cargo includes propellant, water, oxygen, research gear, spare parts and other equipment.
HEAVY LIFTING: NASA is seeking proposals and industry input on heavy-lift rocket concepts and propulsion technology. Total funding for the study effort will be $8 million, with individual awards up to $625,000. The proposal deadline is July 29. The information gathered “may help lay the groundwork for humans to safely reach multiple potential destinations, including asteroids, Lagrange points, the Moon and Mars,” NASA says. The agency suggests that “in-space architectural elements” like propellant depots and space transfer stages can be included.
BENGALURU, India — The Indian navy has commissioned two more water jet-propelled fast attack craft (WJFAC) in Visakhapatnam. Built by Kolkotta-based Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers, the INS Cankarso and INS Kondul are the fifth and sixth in a series of WJFACS to join the Indian navy. The remaining four fast-attack craft (FAC) from the Car Nicobar class are due to join the services by December.
The House Appropriations subcommittee that funds NASA withheld spending on human space exploration in Fiscal 2011 until the congressional authorizing panels devise a clear program for it. At a markup for the 2011 Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies appropriations bill, Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-W.Va.), the subcommittee chairman, said planning for U.S. human space exploration “has been effectively on hold for well over a year,” and remains to be settled.
BRUSSELS — NATO is consolidating working groups involved with managing unmanned vehicle activities as part of a broader effort to streamline the alliance’s bureaucracy. NATO reform efforts have long called for a reduction in the number of working groups to reduce the costs of maintaining the alliance and ensure more money is available for actual missions.
-- AEROSPACE/DEFENSE -- LIFE SCIENCES -- CLEANTECH Download the White Paper Now: www.eflorida.com/nanowp Farnboroughh 2010: Visit the Florida Pavillion: Hall 3 B20-21 Florida. Innovation Hub of The Americas.
The machinists at Spirit AeroSystems in Wichita ratified a 10-year contract by default when a strike vote by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers did not garner enough votes. The union voted on the contract June 25, the day the previous contract expired, and members and company officials were learning of the details of the contract June 28.
BRUSSELS — The Australian government has finished work on the structural upgrade of older F/A-18s. Ten of the strike fighters received a center barrel replacement to stretch their service life to 2020. Although the government says the program has formally concluded, there are indications that delays in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter could lead eventually to an expansion of the F/A-18 effort to bridge any capability gap.
BRUSSELS — The U.S. Army plans to expand the level of integration of unmanned vehicles with helicopters and ground personnel. One of the next steps to more closely link unmanned aircraft with combat operations will involve upgrading the Textron AAI Shadow 200 to allow payload control by ground personnel using the One System Remote Video Terminal (OSRVT), says Lt. Col. Jennifer Jensen, product manager for common systems integration at the Army’s UAV program office. The Shadow operator maintains control of the air vehicle.
PARIS — Europe’s Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) has begun yielding critical data on the Earth’s geoid and gravity field, even though the spacecraft, launched in March 2009, has only been in full operation since November and barely two months worth of data have been collated to date.
Pentagon ground-vehicle purchasing contracts and contract modifications accounted for about 10% of 2009 acquisition costs for which the Defense Department did not provide the name of the contractor, according to an Aerospace DAILY analysis of contracting data provided by the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting. In 2008-09, the Pentagon withheld contr actor names for nearly $3 billion worth of contracts, according to the analysis.
