MANTIS FLIES: The U.K.’s Mantis medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) demonstrator has completed a series of test flights using the range at Woomera in Australia. The first flight was made Oct. 21, but was only revealed Nov. 13. Several mission-representative trials have since been carried out, marking the culmination of phase one of the Mantis program, which has now been concluded. The BAE Systems-led effort is being jointly funded by the U.K.
Sen. John McCain, who singlehandedly started investigations that led the U.S. Air Force to scuttle plans to lease Boeing 767 tankers in 2002, is now raising questions about the service’s source selection methodology for yet another attempt to procure replacements for aging KC-135 refuelers. The questions from McCain, the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, are outlined in an Oct. 29 letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates that was also sent to Pentagon acquisition czar Ashton Carter and Air Force Secretary Michael Donley.
MERLIN CRASH: U.K. Royal Air Force crash investigators are in El Centro, Calif., examining the wreckage of an AW101 Merlin HC3 medium helicopter that crashed at a nearby airfield being used for night landing exercises. Three of the crew sustained injuries in the mishap, which occurred early on Nov. 9 at Holtville, Calif. The aircraft, which fell on its side after a hard landing, was one of four Merlins deployed to El Centro for Exercise Merlin Vortex, a four-month pre-Afghanistan-deployment training program that is due to be completed this month.
TECH SHARING: The U.S. Air Force’s Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC) is renewing its technology-sharing agreement with Onera, the French national aerospace research facility. AEDC also has an official data exchange agreement with HEG of the German Aerospace Center, one of Europe’s major hypersonic test facilities.
The AW149 medium twin-engine military helicopter program is proceeding following the successful first flight of an initial risk reduction/demonstrator aircraft that combines the airframe and the avionics of the 149 and the dynamic train and engines of the AW139. The flight took place in manufacturer AgustaWestland’s Italian Vergiate plant Nov. 13. During the 20-minute flight, the basic systems and general handling of the helicopter were evaluated.
HOSTING BOLDEN: Look for some kind of endorsement for space cooperation in the joint statement issued at the end of President Obama’s meeting this week with Chinese President Hu Jintao, including an invitation to NASA Administrator Charles Bolden to visit his counterpart in Beijing next year. But just who that counterpart will be remains to be seen. In negotiations with U.S.
UNPACKING: International Space Station (ISS) crew members are unloading Russia’s Poisk mini-research module, which docked permanently to the zenith side of the Zvezda service module Nov. 12 after an automatic rendezvous. The combination airlock/docking port carried some 1,800 pounds of supplies, and also will serve as a mount for space-exposure experiments. The space shuttle Atlantis will carry a second Russian mini-research module to the ISS on its final mission in May 2010.
PARIS — Arianespace says workers have begun installing a mobile gantry at the new Soyuz launch pad being constructed at its Kourou, French Guiana, spaceport to give the European launch provider a medium-lift launch capability.
MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. — NASA’s Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) has provided such a dramatic affirmation of decades of speculation that there might be abundant water trapped in the Moon’s polar craters that there is already talk that the space agency should return for more detailed exploration, perhaps by lunar rovers.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) Nov. 16 - 17 — Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Crowne Plaza Hotel - St. James, London, London, U.K. For more information go to www.smi-online.co.uk
ROTARY REQUIREMENTS: The U.K. looks to be about to yet again revisit its military helicopter program with some form of announcement likely from Bob Ainsworth, the secretary of state for defense, on changes to its future rotary wing strategy. The ministry was last week keeping its head down on national press reports that London was going to purchase additional Boeing CH-47 Chinooks. A ministry official confirmed that helicopter plans are once again being re-examined. Alongside the additional rotary lift, the U.K.
SOYUZ SOJOURN: Arianespace says the first two Soyuz launchers to operate from a new Soyuz launch pad at its Kourou, French Guiana, spaceport have left Russia aboard the MN Colibri, one of the vessels the launch provider uses to transport launch vehicles from European manufacturing sites to Kourou. The vehicles are due to arrive in the final week of November. Soyuz operations from French Guiana are due to start in April 2010.
SUB SYSTEMS: Lockheed Martin Australia is pairing with Acacia Research to pursue the combat system integrator role for the Royal Australian Navy’s Future Submarine project, SEA 1000. The 12 next-generation submarines will replace Australia’s existing Collins-class boats. SEA is expected to be the Australian government’s largest-ever single defense project. Under the teaming agreement, Lockheed Martin Australia will lead overall management of the program pursuit.
Contrary to predictions by the People’s Liberation Army Air Force’s deputy chief, Gen. He Weirong, China is unlikely to field a new fighter with F-22-like capabilities within 10 years, according to U.S. aerospace industry and U.S. Air Force officials.
AASM DROP: For the first time, the French air force has dropped the AASM air-to-ground guided weapon equipped with an imaging infrared (IIR) seeker from the Rafale fighter. The Sagem-developed weapon is the second in the family of standoff bombs, augmenting the GPS-guided AASM that’s been in operational use since last year. The IIR version uses its seeker for terminal guidance to increase the weapon’s precision using scene-matching algorithms. The Oct. 27 test was performed by the CEAM air flight-test center based at Mont-de-Marsan.
NASA will attempt to reverse the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit out of the patch of soft soil where it has been trapped for almost six months, but acknowledges that if this fails the rover will probably be stuck there for good. The attempt is planned for Nov. 16, when the rover will be sent a command for about 5 meters of wheeldrive, with results expected back at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) the following day.
HYLAS INTEGRATION: The communications payload for Hylas-1, a flexible payload Ka-/Ku-band satellite intended to provide broadband service in Europe, has been shipped from the Astrium payload plant in England to Bangalore, India, where it will be integrated with a bus supplied by the Indian Space Research Organization’s commercial arm, Antrix. To be launched in 2010 by Arianespace and operated by Avanti Communications, a U.K. startup, Hylas-1 will be the second spacecraft to be built jointly by Astrium and Antrix.
PARIS — In the run-up for its planned first flight early next month, the A400M prototype has been handed by Airbus Military to the flight-test organization to initiate the required ground trials. The milestone sets off a series of test events to ensure flight instruments are working correctly, the TP400 turboprops are ready, and the engine/aircraft interface poses no concerns. The next few weeks will see engine run-ups, then taxi tests, beginning with low-speed tests reaching a maximum 60 knots, and rejected takeoff brake tests at 120 knots.
An engineer fired by Lockheed Martin a decade ago and who filed a whistleblower suit claiming that the company had troubles with its F-22 Raptor stealth coatings and resorted to adding hundreds of pounds of additional material to reach the U.S. Air Force’s signature standards has seen his court case moved across country. The suit asks for Lockheed to reimburse the government $50 million for each of the 187 aircraft contracted for.
Iridium reported growth in subscribers and commercial revenue for the third quarter of 2009, offsetting continued weak subscriber equipment sales and a drop in net income due to the company’s recent acquisition. The announced results are for Iridium’s “operational predecessor,” Iridium Holdings LLC, and cover the period July 1 to Sept. 29. On Sept. 29, 2009, GHL Acquisition Corp. completed its acquisition of Iridium, forming a publicly traded company called Iridium Communications Inc. (Aerospace DAILY, Oct. 1).
