SEJIL SUCCESS: Iran’s successful May 20 test of its Sejil-2 two-stage rocket indicates “significant” advances in the nation’s long-range rocketry, a former senior defense official says. The flight shows progress in the nation’s indigenous production capability as well as progress in the challenge of staging events, the official says. A similar missile was flight tested in November but failed. This recent test, however, demonstrated proper operation for both stages of the missile’s flight, and this weapon has a 2,000-kilometer (1,240-mile) range.
MOVING DAY: On May 30, NASA will roll Space Shuttle Endeavour from Launch Pad 39B to Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, in preparation to launch on STS-127 next month. Endeavour was stacked at Pad 39B ready to lift off to rescue the crew of STS-125 in the event of an on-orbit emergency. The STS-127 crew’s launch dress rehearsal, known as the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test, will take place from May 31 to June 2.
CUTTING CORNERS: It appears that affordability has now become the key driver for the Obama administration when it comes to defense spending, and additional program cuts may be likely during the quadrennial review, notes James McAleese of McAleese & Associates. The 2010 Pentagon budget request and supplemental “Overseas Contingency Operations” request favor the U.S. Navy, while flat-lining the Army and Air Force, McAleese points out.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) May 27 - 29 — AHS International 65th Annual Forum & Technology Display, Gaylord Texan Convention Center, Grapevine, Texas For more information go to www.vtol.org Jun. 1 - 4 — 2009 Joint Navigation Conference, “Military Navigation Technology: The Foundation for Military Ops,” Wyndham Orlando Resort, Orlando, Fla. For more information go to www.jointnavigation.org
TICKET BOUGHT: Inmarsat has picked European launch provider Arianespace to orbit its Alphasat I-XL communications satellite in 2012, using an Ariane 5 ECA from Arianespace’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. Astrium will build the 6-metric-ton satellite based on its Alphabus platform. Alphasat I-XL will join Inmarsat’s 11 geostationary spacecraft offering mobile voice and data services across Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
HELPING TEXTRON: The U.S. government’s Export-Import Bank has stepped in to help struggling Textron by authorizing a $500 million loan to enable the company to finance international sales of its Cessna aircraft and Bell helicopters. The loan covers deliveries to the end of 2010, and Ex-Im will replenish Textron’s coffers every month based on demonstrated export sales. Textron approached Ex-Im because it was unable to raise funds in the capital markets at competitive rates.
Fielding nonchemical, electrically generated Solid State Laser (SSL) technologies that can act as a deterrent against both guided and unguided mortar fire should be a priority for Pentagon planners, several think tank analysts said May 20 on Capitol Hill.
THALES TAKEOVER: Thales has a new chief executive and new major shareholder now that Dassault Aviation has completed the deal to buy Alcatel-Lucent’s 20.8 percent share in the defense and aerospace electronics company. Dassault already owned 5 percent in Thales. The deal closed on May 20. As part of the transaction, Denis Ranque was forced out as Thales chairman and CEO. He has been succeeded by Luc Vigneron, who was head of Nexter, a French military ground vehicles company.
SCOUT’S HONOR: Although the U.S. Army’s Future Combat Systems (FCS) manned ground vehicles are cancelled, the unmanned air systems (UAS) and unmanned ground vehicles are not. The Army has already bought eight FCS Class IV UASs — MQ-8B Fire Scout unmanned helicopters — but no payloads. While the Class I ducted-fan Micro Air Vehicle is already deployed operationally, there are no plans yet to field the Fire Scouts, but some will go to the experimental brigade combat team at Ft. Bliss to begin developing operating concepts to be spun out of FCS, says Col.
ZEPHYR CONTRACT: U.K.-based Qinetiq has received a $44.9 million U.S. Navy contract to deliver seven Zephyr solar-powered long-endurance unmanned aircraft by 2014 for accelerated testing leading to an operational deployment, possibly within 18 months. The hand-launched Zephyr 7 will be able to carry a small payload to high altitude for a week or more.
CYBER CALL: The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, U.S. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, highlighted U.S. cyber, space and ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) concerns to House appropriators May 20. “Our nation’s cyber vulnerabilities could have devastating ramifications to our national security interests,” Mullen said in prepared testimony.
TURNING POINT: The U.S. Air Force chief of staff is declaring a turning point in a cultural and operational evolution to unmanned aerial systems (UAS) from manned aircraft within the service. “This is an inflection point,” Gen. Norton Schwartz says. The chief, an airlift pilot and former head of Transportation Command, acknowledged that there may be a loss of verve among some USAF members who grew up around the panache of piloting high-performance fighters.
A new program to develop a high-speed, long-range airborne weapon that can engage aircraft, cruise missiles and air defenses is part of the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s $3.25 billion fiscal 2010 budget request. The Triple Target Terminator (T3) would be carried internally or externally on fighters, bombers and unmanned aircraft, allowing them to switch between air-to-air and air-to-surface capability and increasing the variety of targets engaged on each sortie.
U.S. military officials in charge of running weapons storage and accounting at the Afghanistan National Army (ANA) Depot 1 need to improve their operations, according to a recent report by the Pentagon Inspector General (IG). Some of the weapons cannot be accounted for, the IG says. “We identified material internal control weaknesses in accounting for weapons provided to the ANA,” the IG’s report says.
SHIP SLIP: Because of projected cost increases, the U.S. won’t be able to achieve a planned 313-ship Navy by 2038 unless it commits much more money to shipbuilding, an analyst with the Congressional Budget Office says. Eric Labs, senior CBO analyst for naval forces and weapons, says the average price of a naval vessel has risen from $1.2 billion per ship (in constant 2009 dollars) during the Reagan Era military buildup of the 1980s to a projected $2.2 billion to $2.5 billion per ship for 296 ships over the next 30 years.
Following several attacks on its Afghanistan-deployed forces, the German defense ministry is buying a counter rocket, artillery and mortar (C-RAM) system. Rheinmetall has secured the €120 million ($160 million) contract to field the short-range air-defense system, part of the larger German SysFla air defense modernization umbrella program. The latest contract includes two of the C-RAM systems. About €110 million is for the hardware, with the rest going for ammunition. There’s also a €20 million option for supporting efforts, including training.
The Iraqi navy has taken a big step in its fleet enhancement plan by taking delivery of its first patrol ship. The Fatah patrol ship 701 was handed over during a ceremony at La Spezia, Italy. The vessel was built by the Fincantieri shipyard. Three more ships of the type are due to go to Iraq. The Fatah has been designated the Iraqi navy’s flagship. The crew of 34 has been training in Italy since January.
NASA’s rover project team is preparing to use the same simulated Martian soil material employed by the Phoenix Lander team in 2008 to help develop an escape maneuver for the Spirit rover, which has become bogged down in the planet’s soft surface. “Spirit is obviously in a serious state because she’s embedded,” says John Callas, Spirit and Opportunity project manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Callas told Aerospace DAILY that JPL remains committed to saving the stalled rover, despite the fact that it is well past its expected service life.
DEFENSE REFORM: The House and Senate have passed defense acquisition reform legislation endorsed by President Barack Obama after defense authorizers reached a compromise on their competing versions of the bill. Negotiators for both legislative bodies worked out the language for the combined legislation May 19. The Senate passed it the next day, 95-0, and on May 21, the House passed it by an overwhelming majority. Obama, who endorsed reforming the Pentagon’s procurement system in April, wanted a bill to sign before the Memorial Day holiday.
WASTE NOT: NASA has given the Expedition 19 crew aboard the International Space Station the formal go-ahead to begin drinking the water from the station’s urine recycling system. Mission control in Houston radioed the good news to the crew May 20. The move is a key milestone toward supporting the six-person crew that will be occupying the orbiting outpost by the end of this month, and also will help reduce water transport requirements in the post-shuttle era.
The Pentagon spent more than $2.7 billion on “miscellaneous items” in 2008 for which the contractor was listed as “not available” — a rare omission for Defense Department documentation — according to an Aerospace DAILY analysis of an independent national database of government contracting data.
STONEWALL OSPREY: The U.S. Marines were scolded and sent home by Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, May 21 when the service arrived unprepared for a hearing.
