TANKER RFP: U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and his Pentagon office will decide by mid-June whether the Pentagon’s acquisition czar or the Air Force will lead the next attempt to buy new aerial refueling tankers for the Air Force. The defense secretary also said that regardless of who leads the effort, he is further leaning toward asking the deputy secretary of defense to watch the competition.
FAVORABLE ENDEAVOUR: The launch of space shuttle Endeavour on STS-127 is expected to go ahead as planned at 7:12 a.m. EDT on Saturday, June 13, a NASA spokeswoman said in a pre-flight briefing June 9. The agency said all systems have been checked, and the payload bay doors have been closed, clearing the way for the countdown to begin at 9 a.m. June 10. NASA expects an 80 percent chance of favorable weather at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., during the launch window.
After completing what Raytheon calls a series of “crucial” tests of a Rockwell Collins datalink bound for its Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) II design, officials are looking ahead to flight tests of the two-way, encrypted system on a UH-1 helicopter. Rockwell Collins encountered problems meeting schedule for the datalink’s application into the Harpoon Block III weapon; this was a key reason by the Navy terminated the Harpoon upgrade earlier this year.
The U.S. Air Force isn’t waiting for congressional approval to proceed with dismantling the multi-billion dollar Transformational Satellite architecture that was proposed for termination by Defense Secretary Robert Gates last month. The service announced June 8 it was terminating for convenience the Transformational Satellite Communications System Mission Operations System (TMOS) contract with Lockheed Martin. TMOS was to be the ground support infrastructure for the new jam-proof satellite communications architecture.
The Japanese Defense Ministry probably will delay its order for fighters under the F-X program until at least the fiscal year beginning April 1, 2011, a move that may lift Lockheed Martin’s chances of winning the competition. The delay minimizes one of the chief advantages of competitors over the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II — their earlier availability. By delaying its order the ministry is also giving the U.S. more time to change its mind regarding its ban on exporting Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptors.
U.S. export control lists need to be constantly updated so less crucial technologies can be removed to make room for newer technologies that pose a security risk if sold internationally, President Barack Obama’s nominee to be the State Department’s arms control negotiator told lawmakers June 9. Noting that the lifecycle of cutting-edge technologies can be “as short as 18 months,” Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.) told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that “we have to understand what it is we have to protect.”
NASA is set to launch its long-awaited Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter June 17, carrying synthetic aperture radar (SAR) similar to one that already is returning tantalizing data from its perch on India’s Chandrayaan 1 lunar orbiter. The LRO and its piggyback Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) impactor are ready to blast off on an Atlas V as early as 3:51 p.m. EDT, with subsequent windows at 4:01 p.m. and 4:11 p.m. EDT on June 17 and more opportunities on June 18.
Norway’s defense ministry is to begin negotiations on the purchase of up to 56 Lockheed Martin F-35As after parliament voted to accept its recommendation of the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) over the Saab Gripen NG. Negotiations are expected to take two years, and the government is required to return to parliament in the spring for authorization to begin negotiating the final contract. Norway is already a partner in the JSF program.
ARLINGTON, Va. — The Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) program office is appealing to small businesses for new ideas. The program office has introduced an open architecture structure, which allows a wider range of companies to compete for projects, according to Howard Pace, deputy program executive officer for JTRS. “Even the smallest software shops can now compete to produce the best applications. Competition is our best friend in government,” he said at the Navy Opportunity Forum here.
LONDON — The British aerospace sector — both defense and commercial — faces at least a lean couple of years, with its strategic future dependent on government and industry measures to sustain its long-term health. The 2009 annual survey from the lobby group the Society of British Aerospace Companies (SBAC) shows that business peaked in 2007-08, and that the wider recession is now significantly affecting the sector.
A new pilot plant in Barcelona will demonstrate and test regenerative life support system technologies that could one day be used to recycle waste products and provide food, water and oxygen for long-term exploration missions on the moon or Mars.
Scaled Composites is increasing the tempo of test flights of the WhiteKnight Two (WK2) mothership for Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShip Two (SS2) space tourism vehicle as it prepares to fly the carrier aircraft for its first long-distance flight to Las Cruces, N.M., next week.
PARIS — The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Planck cosmic background surveyor is on its final trajectory, following a critical corrective maneuver on June 5. The maneuver, involving a series of repeated 6-second pulse burns every minute for up to 30 hours, began at 1:28 p.m. EDT. The pulsed burn technique was required because of Planck’s 1 rpm rotation rate, which permits the nonsteerable thrusters to fire for only six seconds during every 60-second rotation.
DONKEY WORK: The U.S. Army plans to award Kaman a follow-on contract to increase the reliability and reduce the susceptibility and vulnerability of the Burro+ unmanned cargo variant of its K-Max external-lift helicopter. Funded through congressional add-ons, the Burro program is examining use of a medium-lift unmanned helicopter for autonomous resupply. Increased performance to reduce exposure time as well as armor and threat-avoidance maneuvers will be studied. Kaman has teamed with Lockheed Martin to offer K-Max for a Marine Corps unmanned cargo aircraft requirement.
EADS is proposing to the German government that it meet its near-term, medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aircraft surveillance needs by creating a partnership with France on the Harfang (formerly the interim SIDM) system.
Planetary scientists are awaiting the first transmission of science data from NASA’s Kepler planet-finding mission to arrive on June 18, after the spacecraft has spent more than a month staring at a stretch of sky in the Cygnus and Lyra constellations.
The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) hopes to kick off a “roadable aircraft” program in fiscal 2010 called the Transformer (TX) Vehicle. DARPA is looking for a vehicle that lifts off from a road to fly over obstacles, terrain, ambushes and roadside bombs.
PARIS — France has decided to deploy its new Tiger attack helicopter to Afghanistan in a bid to reinforce its close combat attack capability and prove the new system in combat. Speaking to reporters last week, Defense Minister Herve Morin said French President Nicolas Sarkozy had accepted his recommendation to field the aircraft, which army brass have been pushing for months. He indicated that three helicopters will be dispatched to replace older Gazelle rotorcraft currently deployed in the Afghan theater, and that they will arrive on station this summer.
