The premature loss of India’s Chandrayaan-1 lunar orbiter on Aug. 29 was a blow not only to the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), but also to lunar scientists who had just started using its U.S.-provided synthetic aperture radar in conjunction with a similar unit on NASA’s new Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) for bistatic observations aimed at finding water ice at the moon’s poles.
Astronauts Danny Olivas and Christer Fuglesang were set to finish replacing a spent ammonia-coolant tank on the International Space Station (ISS) late Sept. 3 EDT in the second of three extravehicular activities (EVAs) of the STS-128 mission on the shuttle Discovery. As they worked to get ready for the spacewalk, Discovery Commander Rick Sturckow and pilot Kevin Ford were standing down from a possible maneuver to get the docked orbiter and ISS out of the way of a threatening piece of space debris.
MOSCOW — Russia is preparing to deliver a batch of MiG-29M Fulcrum multirole fighters to Syria, but another part of the deal — the delivery of MiG-31E Foxhound long-range fighter interceptors — remains uncertain, according to Russian press reports. In an interview with the Kommersant daily newspaper, United Aircraft Corporation chief Alexey Fedorov said he hopes the MiG-31 portion of the deal will go through, which would improve the financial position of the Nizhny Novgorod Sokol aircraft manufacturing plant.
TOKYO — Tokyo’s new governing Democratic Party of Japan is not expected to distance itself from the U.S. or to strip defense budgets — in fact, Japanese defense officials are looking at 2010 as the year that the U.S. may change its laws about exporting the F-22 Raptor. Meanwhile, any policy changes in Japan would likely be minor and reflect the directions set by previous governments.
Disgruntled officials from the military and industry accuse military leadership of offering up intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) programs for cuts so that they can preserve high-profile platforms.
Northrop Grumman is developing a common autonomous airborne sense-and-avoid system for both the U.S. Air Force RQ-4B Global Hawk high-altitude long-endurance unmanned aircraft and its U.S. Navy RQ-4N Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) derivative. Originally the services were pursuing separate solutions for operating the aircraft in national airspace, but the Navy has announced its intention to award Northrop Grumman a sole-source contract to develop a common system that also will be scalable to medium-altitude unmanned aircraft.
SEE THRU: The U.S. Army plans to upgrade two Forester radars, built under a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency program to detect and track individuals and vehicles moving under foliage, so they can be deployed on Boeing A160T unmanned helicopters to two unnamed Latin American countries. The upgrades would reduce weight and improve detection and geolocation performance, mode flexibility and system usability. Syracuse Research built the radars, but the Army is seeking competitive bids for the upgrades.
Despite being more than 30 years old, Sikorksy’s Black Hawk helicopter is enjoying renewed popularity among the U.S. Army and Navy as well as growing interest from foreign customers.
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports that since 2003, Congress has appropriated at least $106 billion for Pentagon contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that private contractors currently make up about 57 percent of the Pentagon’s total force in Afghanistan, and 48 percent in Iraq.
Japan’s unmanned H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) has passed a NASA flight readiness review and is in final preparations for liftoff from Tanegashima Space Center on its first mission to the International Space Station (ISS) on Sept. 11 local time. On Aug. 30, the encapsulated vehicle was transported to the Vehicle Assembly Building at Tanegashima, where it is being mated to the second stage of its H-IIB rocket and having the final elements of its pressurized cargo installed.
ONGOING DISPUTE: Government referees upheld part of a bid protest by Northrop Grumman against the selection of General Dynamics in a long-disputed U.S. Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) deal called Uni-Comm for enterprise operations, maintenance and management of data, voice, land mobile radio and video conferencing facilities.
NEW DELHI — In one of the biggest search-and-rescue (SAR) operations undertaken in the country, Indian air force helicopters, an Su-30, a remote-sensing Beech aircraft and the Indian Space Research Organization’s Risat satellite were deployed Sept. 1 to search for a helicopter carrying Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, chief minister of the South Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. India is said to have asked the U.S. Defense Department to help with real-time satellite images as well.
General Electric (GE) and Rolls-Royce have opened talks with U.S. defense officials on a fixed-price contract offer for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) alternative F136 engine that they hope will be a bellwether for the government’s acquisition reform goals by forcing a similar reaction from incumbent F135 engine supplier Pratt & Whitney (P&W).
The 13 astronauts and cosmonauts on the International Space Station (ISS) and the space shuttle Discovery continued transferring cargo from the Leonardo pressurized logistics module Sept. 2, after two of their number started an unprecedented on-orbit swapout of a depleted ammonia tank in a six-hour, 35-minute spacewalk late Sept. 1.
LONG REIGN: More than 150 attendees from 15 countries are expected to mark the 50th anniversary of the S-61 helicopter at the 12th annual International Sea King Maintenance Symposium in New Haven, Conn., this week. The first prototype flew in March 1959 after Sikorsky Aircraft developed it for the U.S. Navy. Today, more than 550 Sea King and S-61 commercial variants operate in more than 20 nations.
LONDON — The U.K. Royal Air Force (RAF) has lost a second Chinook helicopter in operations in Afghanistan in less than a month. Following a “hard landing” during a mission on Aug. 30 near Sangin, the aircraft was destroyed when safe recovery of the airframe was deemed impossible. None of the four crew and 15 troops onboard were injured. According to a British Defense Ministry statement, the helicopter “is believed to have … sustained damage to the undercarriage, nose and front rotor, which subsequently made it unflyable.”
Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) has delivered a communications unit to NASA that will enable the company’s Dragon spacecraft to dock with the International Space Station (ISS).
HIT THE SPOT: Boeing says the U.S Air Force’s Airborne Tactical Laser technology demonstrator “defeated” a ground target — an unoccupied stationary vehicle — during an Aug. 30 test flight over White Sands Missile Range, N.M. Damage assessment is under way, but the vehicle will “temporarily/permanently be unavailable for its intended use,” says 808th Armament Systems Group Director Elizabeth Thorn.
LONDON — Painfully aware of the vulnerability of British defense expenditures and the risk that 2010’s Strategic Defense Review will be driven by cost rather than capability, the U.K.’s Defense Industries Council (DIC) lobbying group is broadening its efforts to sustain government support for the sector, or at least limit the damage as budgetary pressures mount. In two documents published Sept. 1, the DIC argues that the sector provides an important — and undervalued — contribution to the U.K. economy, while supporting national security and foreign policy.
MORE ’BOTS: As part of the $286 million Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) xBot contract, iRobot Corp. has received an order for $35.3 million from the U.S. Army for 486 iRobot PackBot 510s with FasTac Kit, to be delivered by March 31, 2010. The total contract value to date under the IDIQ is about $125 million. The U.S. Army so far has taken delivery of more than 2,500 teleoperated Packbots, which are used for ordinance disposal, route clearance and other surveillance duties.
NEW DELHI — Last month’s export authorization from the U.S. government now permits Northrop Grumman to have discussions with the Indian navy on the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye, a platform that provides a highly adaptive form of airborne early warning and control (AEW&C). A U.S Navy representative, E-2 New Business Manager John Beaulieu, last week made an eight-hour presentation to the Indian navy on the E-2D after a request for more technical clarifications following a request for information last year.
Boeing’s appointment of Integrated Defense Systems (IDS) chief James Albaugh to lead the company’s Commercial Airplanes unit is the third time in the past two years that Boeing has tapped senior leaders from IDS to step in to guide its troubled commercial airplane programs.
A&D Programs Conference November 2-4, 2009 Phoenix, AZ A&D Finance Conference December 2-3, 2009 New York, NY Defense Technology & Requirements Conference February 17-18, 2010 Washington, DC AVIATION WEEK Laureates Awards March 17, 2010 Washington, DC
