The South Korean government will press ahead with the KF-X fighter and KAH attack helicopter programs, despite parliamentary opposition, under a national aerospace industry development plan. The government has decided that the KAH should be a new aircraft, not a derivative of the Surion utility helicopter of Korean Aerospace Industries. A civil derivative of either the KAH or Surion also will be delivered.
ROVER READY: The French Defense Ministry says U.S. Rover air-to-ground tactical datalinks will begin operational trials aboard French aircraft in Afghanistan in February. The links are being installed aboard Rafale and Mirage 2000D fighters and Harfang medium-altitude long-endurance UAVs. France is acquiring 25 Rover units from L3 Communications and Thales under an urgent operating requirement issued last year. U.S. brass have reportedly complained that the Harfangs, in particular, are of limited usefulness without a datalink.
NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory spacecraft is being encapsulated at Astrotech’s processing facility near Kennedy Space Center in Florida in anticipation of launching next month on an Atlas V rocket. Built at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., the spacecraft was shipped by truck to Astrotech last June for a planned launch in November of that year. But liftoff was pushed back as a result of delays with another spacecraft that sent ripples through the launch schedule, according to Dana Brewer, program executive for SDO.
As a dozen U.S. Marine Corps MV-22 Ospreys sailed toward Haiti Jan. 21, the first cut of a concept of operations (conops) for a Joint Future Theater Lift (JFTL) aircraft was drafted that outlined how a vertical heavy lifter would support humanitarian efforts.
The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter continues to face developmental issues because of a lack of test aircraft, according to the fiscal year 2009 annual report by the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E) that was recently briefed to lawmakers.
The U.S. Marine Corps is sending about a dozen tiltrotor MV-22 Ospreys to Haiti aboard the USS Nassau (LHA 4) to help with the earthquake relief effort.
The U.S. Air Force chief of staff, Gen. Norton Schwartz, says that changes to the much-awaited request for proposals (RFP) for the next-generation aerial refueler will “lessen the financial risk” for bidders.
CZECH OUT: The Obama administration is seeking a Reciprocal Defense Procurement Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Czech Republic, according to a notice in the Federal Register. In turn, the Pentagon is requesting industry feedback regarding its experience in public defense procurements conducted by or on behalf of the Czech Defense Ministry or armed forces. The U.S. has similar deals with 21 countries. The MOUs exempt qualifying countries from some Buy American restrictions, and U.S.
U.S. mobile satellite service pioneer TerreStar has received authority from the Federal Communications Commission to integrate terrestrial use of its 20 MHz S-band spectrum into its geostationary hybrid network. The FCC also granted a number of technical waivers that will permit TerreStar to integrate its Ancillary Terrestrial Component more efficiently. The license will permit the operator to begin rolling out integrated satellite/terrestrial communications using its TerreStar-1 spacecraft, launched on July 1.
PARIS — Despite a sharp drop-off in civil helicopter orders, Eurocopter was able to grow its orderbook last year largely on the back of military and other government business. Moreover, the company is still pressing ahead with new developments, and this year plans to launch its Dauphin replacement program, the 4-5 metric ton X4, potentially with backing from the French government. An engine decision has yet to be made, with Eurocopter listening to potential providers.
A testing delay for the F-35 program will prompt an increase in the per-unit cost of the stealthy single-engine fighter “for a period,” says the U.S. Air Force chief of staff, Gen. Norton Schwartz. Schwartz says the boost will not, however, be enough to breach requirements under the Nunn-McCurdy reporting law, which triggers a mandatory Pentagon review of alternatives and notification of Congress in cases of a significant cost and schedule overrun.
PATUXENT RIVER Md. — A new test bed for advanced rotorcraft technology will soon provide the U.S. Naval Aviation Center for Rotorcraft Advancement (NACRA) the opportunity to perform quick reaction testing — and potentially, faster fielding — of new systems. The so-called T-Rex (shorthand for Test Bed-Rapid Warfighter Response and Experimentation) will arrive at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md., in April 2010 in the form of a UH-1N Huey helicopter. T-Rex will be operational by the summer.
NATO deployed its alliance-owned C-17s to Haiti this week, marking the first humanitarian assistance flight for the fleet based at Papa air base, Hungary. Sweden used some of its allotment of flight hours for the earthquake relief mission under the pooling mechanism governing the Strategic Airlift Capability consortium. The airlifter carried aid from several Scandinavian countries.
NEW DELHI — India’s unwillingness to sign the long-gestating Logistics Support Agreement and the Communications, Interoperability and Security Memorandum of Agreement (CISMOA) with the U.S. has prompted U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates to remark: “On the U.S. side, we have not done a good job spelling out [the] benefits of signing these agreements.”
On a normal day, the airport at Port-au-Prince, Haiti, would see an average of about 12 to 13 flights a day. As of Jan. 16, it had received 600 flights in four days, and since then has been averaging more than 100 flights a day, with 180 relief-laden planes landing and taking off on Jan. 17 alone.
PARIS — Among the hurdles that will have to be cleared before Europe can mount an effort to build an all-new successor to the Ariane 5 is convincing Germany to join the endeavor.
PARIS — The European Space Agency and NASA have issued joint announcements of opportunity for instruments to be carried on the orbiter planned under their twin ExoMars mission. The orbiter, to be launched in 2016, will be devoted to mapping trace gases present in the Martian atmosphere — in particular methane, a telltale sign of possible life first discovered on Mars in 2003.
PARIS — Thales Alenia Space says a pair of new deals with Gazprom and the European Space Agency (ESA) helped make 2009 one of its most successful years ever.
BEIJING — China has launched a third satellite for its planned Compass navigation and positioning system, aiming for initial operations to begin in 2012. The satellite, launched by a Long March 3C rocket, is one of five that are planned for geostationary orbit. They will work with 30 other satellites in low orbits to create a rival to the U.S. Global Positioning System, the European Union’s Galileo and Russia’s Glonass.
Joining the U.S. Air Force’s Global Hawk UAV in the Haiti relief effort is Elbit’s Skylark, which is being flown by Evergreen International Aviation, a McMinnville, Ore.-based aviation services company. Global Hawk has been flying over Haiti for several days now, running 14- to 16-hour orbits to provide thousands of images of the disaster area to both soldiers and civilians. But the Skylark flights are a sign of the significant role that private contractors will inevitably play in the recovery and reconstruction effort.
AIR FORCE EOSPACE Inc., Redmond, Wash., was awarded a $11,842,411 contract which will provide a program to develop and demonstrate revolutionary advances in photonic links for radio frequency antenna transmit and receive applications. At this time, $567,000 has been obligated. Det 1 AFRL/PKDB, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8650-10-C-7002). ARMY
