ASK LATER: U.S.-based Iridium says it will delay selection of a manufacturer for its second-generation MSS constellation, Iridium Next, to the second half of this year. The decision may be partly tied to a change in consideration for a proposed takeover of Iridium by GHL Acquisition Corp., announced on April 28, that will delay the sale by several months. The change was prompted by a shift in equity market valuations since the original agreement in September.
IED ASSESSMENTS: The U.S. Air Force is awarding a $58.5 million cost plus fixed fee contract to Wyle Laboratories, Inc,. of Huntsville, Ala., for data collection, interoperability assessments, research, analysis, and reliability test and engineering for the Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Interoperability Project.
MISSILE WORRY: According to U.S. intelligence officials, Japan is validating its bid to acquire F-22s by pointing to China’s growing fleet of advanced fighters like the Su-30MKK and a new, high performance, air-launched cruise missile. But Japan’s major threat is “Chinese ballistic missiles, and no fighter is going to solve that problem,” notes a veteran U.S. Air Force analyst.
ARIANE ELECTRONICS: Thales Alenia Space has been picked by Astrium Space transportation to supply electronic equipment and services for 35 new Ariane 5 ECA heavy launchers. The award means Thales Alenia will supply half of the electronics for the ECAs, which are to be launched between 2011 and 2015.
EUTELSAT BOSS: Michel de Rosen, Chairman/CEO of specialty glass manufacturer SGD, will replace Giuliano Berretta as chief executive of Paris-based telecom satellite operator Eutelsat. He will join Eutelsat on July 1 as deputy CEO and assume the position of chief executive after the next shareholders meeting in November. Berretta will remain as chairman.
NASA is billing shuttle Endeavour’s return to the International Space Station (ISS) as one of the most complex space shuttle missions ever, as the astronauts use up to three robotic arms simultaneously over the course of five spacewalks.
NEW BLOOD: Three new flight directors are joining the ranks at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, where they will manage space shuttle flights and International Space Station expeditions. Dina Contella, Scott Stover and Ed Van Cise “are senior flight controllers who have lead management experience and an average of 10 years of flight control experience,” says John McCullough, chief of the Flight Director Office at Johnson. One of the new flight directors will be the 80th in the history of U.S. human spaceflight, NASA says.
DEJA VU: The Swiss will again have a nationwide vote on whether to hold a moratorium on fighter purchases. Swiss pacificist group has secured enough signatures to force the vote on its proposal for a 10-year moratorium. In 1993, a similar effort to block the Swiss purchase of F-18s was rejected by voters. Switzerland is scheduled to select between the Dassault Rafale, Eurofighter Typhoon and Saab Gripen early in 2010. The vote is expected to take place in 2011.
Two House defense authorizing subcommittees have bucked the Obama administration’s wishes and directed the Pentagon to continue the alternate engine program for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and buy more carrier-based aircraft to close a fighter jet shortfall.
Intelsat plans to purchase four new satellites to replace five aging spacecraft serving the Asia-Pacific region. Three of the aging satellites were launched in 1998-2001. They were initially earmarked for renewal in 2010-12, but the decision was made to replace them early. Capital expenditures were raised by $75 million to pay for the accelerated renewal. In first-quarter results, Intelsat reported a $499 orbital asset impairment and said it was raising 2009 capital outlays by another $100 million.
WARTHOG SUPPORT: The U.S. Air Force is dividing responsibility for modernizing and sustaining its A-10 attack aircraft over the next 10 years among three “associate prime contractors”: Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. Lockheed has been the prime since 1997, but in 2007 Boeing won the contract to re-wing the aircraft. Now all three companies will compete for individual task orders under the overall Lifecycle Program Support contract, which is worth up to $1.6 billion over the initial four years.
HALE HYDROGEN: By the end of June, Boeing and Aurora Flight Sciences plan to begin a three-phase ground test program with the liquid-hydrogen propulsion system for a high-altitude, long-endurance (HALE) unmanned aircraft. This is to culminate next summer in the demonstration of four days’ continuous operation of the complete propulsion system, including nacelle and propeller, at a simulated 60,000 feet in an altitude chamber. Boeing’s twin-engine HALE concept is designed to carry a 2,000-pound payload for seven days or 500 pounds for 10 days.
LONDON — The British Defense Ministry is considering retaining its Nimrod R1 electronic intelligence aircraft for three years beyond its notional out-of-service date, as it attempts to identify a replacement. At the same time efforts are underway to conclude delivery of the Nimrod MR2 successor, the MRA4 maritime reconnaissance and attack aircraft, up to six months in advance of the previous schedule.
PROJECT LIBERTY: The U.S. Air Force’s first MC-12W flew its first combat sortie in Iraq on June 10. The service began developing the so-called Project Liberty aircraft last year after calls from U.S. Central Command for more intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance support. This is the first of 37 MC-12Ws expected. The first seven are built on the Hawker Beechcraft KingAir 350 with the remainder based on the 350ER. These aircraft will carry a combination of electro-optical and infrared sensors as well as laser illuminators and designators for targeting.
CLEAR TO TRAIN: National guardsmen and emergency responders will be able to train in the use of unmanned aerial systems (UASs) for search and rescue following FAA approval to fly the AAI Aerosonde in unrestricted airspace over Crisis City, a mock-up disaster zone near Salina, Kansas. Previously the UAS was limited to flying in restricted airspace over the adjacent Smoky Hills Weapons Range. The UAS is operated by Flint Hills Solutions jointly with Kansas State University, which is setting up the UAS Technology Evaluation Center.
SECURITY DETAIL: EADS has named the suppliers of the security and support (S&S) mission equipment package to be installed in 200 of the U.S. Army’s 345 planned Eurocopter UH-72A Lakota light utility helicopters. The package includes an L-3 Communications electro-optical/infrared sensor, Sierra Nevada video downlink, LCX Systems moving map and Ranger Rotorcraft touchscreen displays and voice recorder. Army National Guard units will use S&S-equipped UH-72s for homeland defense and other missions.
PARIS — Honeywell officials are finalizing arrangements for an additional U.S. Army order of T-Hawk unmanned aerial systems, which are designed to be carried via backpack and deployed short distances for surveillance. The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency helped to develop the aircraft, which is a ducted fan propulsion design. The 17.5-pound air vehicle is capable of up to 50 minutes of flight at a maximum speed of 40 knots. The datalink has about a 10-kilometer radius.
A NASA-funded study found that a human-rated Delta IV heavy rocket could be a cheaper route to the International Space Station than NASA’s Ares I crew launch vehicle. But the human-rated United Launch Alliance rocket would be less expensive only if the Ares V heavy-lift moon rocket development is deferred, the Aerospace Corp. study reports. And the Delta IV alternative could add two years or more to the “gap” in U.S. human access to orbit if it starts this year, according to the unreleased study obtained by Aviation Week.
The commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps says the V-22 Osprey “will be a magnificent airplane” in Afghanistan and will be there as long as there are Marines there, but first the Corps has to feel it out aboard a deployed ship.
The U.S. Army’s military deputy for budget says that despite economic pressures related to the global recession and the Obama administration’s shifting of spending priorities, he’s confident that Defense Secretary Robert Gates will restore modernization funding starting next year.
