Engineers at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center are developing an in-orbit test bed to validate techniques for refueling satellites that weren’t designed to be refueled, using procedures growing out of the experience gained servicing the Hubble Space Telescope. Preston Burch, the Hubble program manager, said Jan. 11 that the experiment would use the Canadian-built Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator, known as Dextre, to simulate cutting into a spacecraft’s insulation, tapping into its fuel plumbing, and refilling its tanks to extend its service life.
NEW DELHI — India’s cancellation of the contract for six A330 inflight refuelers on Dec. 30 is worrying international companies, which complain that transparency is decidedly lacking in Indian defense procurement.
Lockheed Martin hopes to deliver the final software version for the DDG-51 Machinery Control System (MCS) by Jan. 15, two weeks ahead of schedule. Pat Allen, a senior manager of business development for Lockheed Martin, said the company has been working in a compressed time frame to deliver the hardware and software on schedule. “We’re confident we’ll make that milestone,” he said.
Lockheed Martin’s missile defense business is looking ahead to a few key milestones early in 2010, including first flight of the PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement Interceptor, first flight of the intermediate range LV-2 target and the first shootdown test of the Airborne Laser, which includes a fire control system supplied by the corporation.
MAIN ENGINES: Lockheed Martin announced it has installed the two main propulsion diesel engines on the third Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), Fort Worth, which is scheduled to be delivered to the U.S. Navy in 2012.
The Pentagon and its aerospace contractors need to work more closely to form a plan to foster a healthy contractor industrial base amid flattening defense procurement budgets, according to Dennis Muilenburg, president of the recently renamed Boeing Defense, Space and Security.
AIR FORCE Boeing Co., Huntington Beach, Calif., was awarded a $34,300,000 contract to implement the following changes to the functionality available for the Family of Advanced Beyond Line-of-Sight Terminals Increment 1: CTRD update version 9.2; Simple Key Loader 6.0 interface to data set manager (DSM) for DSM, flash control station profiles; and implementation of auto broadcast features on XDR. At this time, $500,000 has been obligated. 653rd SNND/PK, Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass., is the contracting activity (F19628-02-C-0048-P00180).
ALABAMA LAKOTA: The Alabama Army National Guard unveiled two of its four new UH-72A Lakota light utility helicopters (LUH) in a ceremony Jan. 9. The EADS North America-built LUH will be based in Birmingham, Ala. and perform aerial command, control and reconnaissance missions in support of homeland security operations. The new helicopters will replace Alabama’s aging OH-58 Kiowa helicopters.
Lockheed Martin will integrate five additional legacy waveforms with its Airborne Maritime/Fixed Station Joint Tactical Radio System (AMF JTRS), prompted in part by the recent successful execution of the program’s critical design review (CDR), according to company leadership.
Lockheed Martin is preparing for a May live fire test of its Nulka decoy from its Extensible Launch System (ExLS), which has the potential to be fielded aboard U.S. Navy ships in the future. The ExLS is a launching system developed to adapt certain missiles and munitions in an All Up Round canister configuration into both the MK 41 and MK 57 Vertical Launching Systems (VLS) or in a stand-alone configuration.
NEW UAV: France has ordered a fourth Harfang medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) unmanned aerial vehicle from EADS. The 33.7 million euro ($49 million) purchase, which includes a third control system, was made under a procedure put in place to accelerate critical weapons procurement. The new Harfang — officially known as the Interim MALE UAV (SIDM) — will be delivered this summer to the Adour squadron in southwestern France for training and national air defense duty.
All three of the finalists for NASA’s 2018 New Frontiers space science mission would reach out and touch a nearby heavenly body. NASA will spend about $3.3 million on each of the finalists for mission-concept studies that will help in the final selection of the agency’s third New Frontiers spacecraft by mid-2011. That mission will be capped at $650 million, plus launch costs.
COLLISION AVOIDANCE: The U.K. Royal Air Force should consider “fitting a suitable [collision warning] system to the Tutor aircraft as priority,” according to the findings of the board of inquiry into a fatal crash released last week. Two Grob G115E Tutor primary trainer aircraft were involved in a mid-air collision in February 2009, resulting in the death of four people. The report also recommends that the aircraft’s “canopy frame and handle should be modified to introduce a less intrusive design.”
NO LUCK: Arianespace Chairman/CEO Jean-Yves Le Gall says efforts to penetrate the protected Russian satellite market have gone for nought. Le Gall says Gazprom Space Services, which picked Arianespace to launch two Yamal 400 spacecraft, has let the agreement lapse, and instead will orbit the spacecraft with a Russian launcher, presumably the Proton. International Launch Services, which operates the Proton for commercial use, declines to comment.
U.S.-built sensors that detect enemy sensors searching for allied aircraft targets is one of several new technology twists being developed for combat use in Afghanistan and Iraq. Others involve using targeting sensors to let helicopter pilots see through dust “brown outs” and find the source of dumb small arms or unguided weapons fire.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) Jan. 19 - 22 — Soldier Technology US, “Developments, Trends and Opportunities in North America’s Infantry Modernization Community,” Hyatt Regency, Crystal City, Va. For more information go to www.soldiertechnologyus.com Jan. 20 - 21 — Strategic and Tactical Missile Systems Conference, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, Calf. For more information go to www.aiaa.org
It did not take long for Wes Bush to make his mark on Northrop Grumman Corp. Three days after he became CEO on Jan. 1, the 120,000-employee military contractor announced that its headquarters will move to the Washington region in 2011, decamping from Los Angeles, where Jack Northrop founded the company 70 years ago.
TOTAL VACUUM: The White House has gone dark on its new space policy as President Obama and his top aides wrestle with the airport-security issue, and it’s unclear when NASA will get clear guidance on what to do.
