MOSCOW – Russia’s rotary industry is revamping its helicopter plans and extending them to the end of the next decade as it pursues government subsidies and grapples with engine supply problems. Russian Helicopters, which consolidated the country’s helicopter manufacturers, is now pursuing a three-stage strategy to sustain the sector throughout the coming decade. The revised plan sits within the government’s civil aircraft and defense procurement program that is scheduled to go into effect in 2011.
Boeing has shipped DirecTV 12, the last satellite in its 2009 delivery book, to Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in anticipation of a late-December launch on a Proton/Breeze M. A model 702, the satellite is the eleventh Boeing has built for DirecTV, although it varies slightly from DirecTV 10 and 11, which were launched in 2007 and 2008, Program Manager Steve Schmitt said.
NIGHT VISION: The U.S. Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) in Patuxent River, Md., awarded Vision Systems International (VSI) a $6.7 million contract for Night Vision Cueing and Display (NVCD) units Dec. 1. VSI will provide image intensified night vision with symbology insertion, expanding the capability of the Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System (JHMCS) for 24-hour operations. The NVCD system provides 40 degree field-of-view night vision capability in a lower profile and lighter weight package than traditional aviator night vision goggles.
The International Space Station – home to a dozen space travelers only last week – is down to two crew members after Soyuz TMA-15 safely returned to Earth early Dec. 1 with three long-duration Expedition 21 crew members onboard. The space shuttle Atlantis landed Nov. 27 with seven more – Expedition 21 flight engineer Nicole Stott and the orbiter’s original crew of six. That leaves only NASA’s Jeff Williams, the Expedition 22 commander, and Maxim Surayev of the Russian space agency to man the space station until another Soyuz arrives in three weeks.
Russia’s United Aircraft Corp. (UAC) is aiming to merge the combat aircraft business under its control, bringing Sukhoi and MiG together in a single unit in 2012. Control of fighter manufacturer MiG was finally achieved following an additional share issue in October. According to the restructuring strategy approved by the UAC board in late November, the 2010-12 period will see it establish commercial aircraft, special missions aircraft, and combat aircraft business units.
Intelsat 15, a high-power Ku-band spacecraft built by Orbital Sciences Corp., is beginning several weeks of in-orbit checkout after launch Dec. 1 on a Land Launch Zenit-3SLB from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Based on Orbital’s Star spacecraft bus, the 2,484-kilogram (5,477-pound) satellite will relay video and data to Intelsat users in Russia, the Middle East and Indian Ocean regions. Liftoff came at 4 p.m. EDT, and the mission lasted about six and a half hours before spacecraft separation.
IED TEST: The U.S. Army and Boeing announced Dec. 1 that a September test was completed during which a laser system mounted on an Avenger combat vehicle destroyed 50 improvised explosive devices (IEDs). During the laser firings Sept. 22-24 at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Ala., Laser Avenger neutralized multiple types of IEDs, including large-caliber artillery munitions, smaller bomblets and mortar rounds. The system operated at safe distances from the targets and under a variety of conditions, including different angles and ranges.
SWISS ARMS: Swiss voters have massively rejected a proposal to ban weapons exports. The Group for a Switzerland without an Army had gathered the necessary 100,000 signatures to force a referendum on the issue, but 68% of those voting Nov. 29 were against such a ban.
AIR GROUNDED: Australian military forces have marked the formal end of the army’s fixed-wing aircraft fleet. A ceremony at Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Base Townsville Nov. 20 noted the handover of three King Air 350 aircraft from the army to the air force. The aircraft, formerly operating under Army Aviation’s No. 173 Air Surveillance Squadron, will now be flown by RAAF’s No. 38 Squadron.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown confirmed Nov. 30 that an additional 500 U.K. personnel will be sent to Afghanistan, and said that another eight coalition nations – besides the U.K. and the U.S. – are willing to provide further military support for the operation.
OMAHA, Neb. – Goodrich and ATK are beginning to manufacture a one-of-a-kind reconnaissance satellite that will be launched by the end of next year to support urgent needs from military leaders overseeing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Called Operationally Responsive Space-1 (ORS-1), the spacecraft is needed to provide a new layer of electro-optical and infrared reconnaissance to airborne collectors, such as unmanned aerial systems and high-altitude aircraft, as well as to the sophisticated national intelligence satellites overhead.
Seven NASA astronauts rode the space shuttle Atlantis back to Earth after spending 11 days in space getting the International Space Station (ISS) ready for the day when shuttles will no longer be flying. Atlantis touched down on the shuttle landing strip at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) at 9:44 a.m. EST Nov. 27. The orbiter has one more mission to go — STS-132 next May — before it is retired for good as NASA wraps up the shuttle program.
ARMY GM GDLS Defense Group LLC., Sterling Heights, Mich., was awarded on Nov. 20, 2009 a $42,555,068 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to fund the Stryker modernization program, which will bring it to Milestone B/preliminary design review. The work is to be performed in Sterling Heights, Mich. (81 percent); and London, Ontario, and Canada (19 percent); with an estimated completion date of Sept. 30, 2011. One bid was solicited with one bid received. TACOM LCMC Stryker, Warren, Mich., was the contracting activity (W56HZV-07-D-M112).
OSPREY UPGRADE: Bell Boeing’s V-22 Osprey benefitted from several contract announcements Nov. 30, including a $105 million contract modification to perform a Block C upgrade of 91 MV-22 and 21 CV-22 aircraft. The modification also provides for the engine particle separator upgrade and installation of a shaft driven compressor inlet barrier filter. The work is expected to be completed in October 2014.
The U.S. Army is coming up short in securing the right tenants for its manufacturing arsenals, a recent U.S. Government Accountability Office report (GAO) says. “The Army has determined that, of the 44 tenants, only four are engaged in activities that have helped to strengthen the arsenals’ core manufacturing capabilities or related work force skills,” the GAO says in its report.
Japanese controllers are checking out a new optical reconnaissance satellite designed to monitor North Korea and other potential military threats after its launch on an H-IIA rocket Nov. 28. The optical information-gathering satellite (IGS) lifted off from the Tanegashima Space Center in Southeast Japan at 10:21 a.m. local time (8:21 p.m. EST Nov. 27). The spacecraft separated nominally 20 minutes later, according to Japanese press reports.
The new-generation fighter that China will field in 2017-2019 will be an improved J-10, the Chinese air force says, seemingly ruling out a genuine competitor to the Lockheed Martin F-22 and F-35. The clarification, citing an unnamed official, has appeared in a report published in English by the country’s most prestigious newspaper, the People’s Daily—which means that it is an announcement and that China wants foreigners to notice it.
SES has ordered four multimission satellites from EADS Astrium in a move that will expand its broadband and broadcasting capacity while underscoring satellite operators’ increasing reliance on bulk orders.
