STRAIGHT ARROW: Representatives from the Israeli Missile Defense Organization and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency collaborated on a test launch of the Arrow II interceptor missile April 7 in Israel. The Arrow, a joint venture between Boeing and Israel Aerospace Industries, intercepted a target missile simulating an Iranian Shehab-3 ballistic missile over the Mediterranean. This was the sixteenth test of the Arrow. Israel also is working on a higher-end interceptor to destroy longer-range Iranian ballistic missiles with higher closing velocities. The U.S.
National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) Director Scott Large is resigning his post effective April 18. He notified Defense Secretary Robert Gates on April 8. Large was appointed to the post in October 2007. As NRO director, he has been responsible for overseeing procurement and operation of the nation’s classified satellite fleets, and he has managed a massive secret budget.
The gradiometer aboard the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) is online and gathering data, as the spacecraft gears up to begin science operations this summer.
GOSAT SCIENCE: The “Three Parties” behind Japan’s Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite (Gosat) — JAXA, the National Institute for Environmental Studies and the Ministry of Environment — have issued their second research announcement for scientists using data from Gosat’s Thermal and Near IR Sensor. Launched in January, Gosat is the principal orbiting observatory focused on carbon dioxide and methane emissions monitoring. Gosat focuses on the sources of emissions.
Space Dynamics Laboratory (SDL), a nonprofit research and development corporation owned by Utah State University, is preparing to deliver the main sensing unit of NASA’s upcoming Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) to Ball Aerospace for integration into the spacecraft. SDL pioneered the “solid hydrogen” cooling technology at the heart of the WISE spacecraft, which is due to be launched in November to survey the entire sky in four mid-infrared bands spanning from 2.8 to 26 microns.
COUGAR UPGRADES: Force Protection received a $158 million contract modification from U.S. Marine Corps Systems Command to supply Force Protection Cougar Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles with the Oshkosh Corp. TAK-4 Independent Suspension Kits. Force Protection, Oshkosh and MRAP Joint Program Office engineers collaborated to integrate the TAK-4 system onto the Cougar, with the intention of providing the vehicle with better mobility and maneuverability in Afghanistan’s difficult terrain. The work is expected to be complete by December 2009.
PARIS – EADS is hoping to reach its 50 flight hour target with the Marshall Aerospace C-130 serving as the flying test bed for the A400M’s TP400D turboprop engine before July. The goal to reach that milestone in the second quarter is not easy, though. So far the test bed has flown about 15 hours since its first flight in mid-December. But improving weather should allow the pace of flight-testing to increase.
With the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) industry still struggling to find heavy-fuel engines that are competitive with gasoline powerplants in power-to-weight ratio, Aurora Flight Sciences has won a contract to study a high-output turboelectric diesel engine for small UAVs. Heavy-fuel engines are the holy grail for UAV makers as they run on JP-8 or diesel fuel already in the military logistic pipeline. But according to Aurora, they are currently too heavy for use in small UAVs, which instead run on automotive or aviation gasoline.
JAXA has begun a series of pad tests for its H-IIB launcher at the Tanegashima Space Launch Complex with a 10-second captive firing of the Mitsubishi twin-motor first stage. With Mitsubishi Heavy Industries as its partner, JAXA is developing the H-IIB to lift the H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) to the International Space Station. The effort is JAXA’s first public-private partnership.
The German navy has taken delivery of the overhauled Rottweil, which has been converted from a mine-clearance vessel capable of deploying unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) to a platform for divers skilled in anti-mine operations. It is the first vessel of its type within NATO, the German navy says.
The Pentagon has been a little too loose with procedural controls over certain cash reporting accounts, a recent Pentagon Inspector General (IG) report says. Specifically, the IG questions internal controls over DOD Statements of Accountability (SOA) and the reporting of Cash and Other Monetary Assets (COMA) on the department’s Agency-Wide financial statements.
LONDON — After being purchased by H3 Aerospace, Grob Aircraft is making strides to rebuild its trainer aircraft business and has now secured the first sale under its new corporate banner. The deal covers the sale of more than 20 G115 trainers to VT Aerospace, Grob says. The contract’s value through the life of the program tops €10 million ($13.5 million). VT Aerospace has a fleet of 97 Grob Aircraft. The company provides training support to the British Royal Air Force.
NAVY NOMINEE: President Barack Obama has nominated Robert O. Work, a vice president at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA) to be under secretary of the Navy. Work has written extensively on naval strategy, including a report that the planned 313-ship navy is too expensive and unnecessary if a focus is shifted from size to capability, including a networked, interoperable national fleet consisting of Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and Military Sealift assets. Work served 27 years in the U.S.
NASA has named the science mission operations director for its Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), which is set to enter “open door” flight-tests in July and August. Erick Young, a specialist in designing science instruments at the University of Arizona-Tucson, will supervise and provide technical guidance to the combined Universities Space Research Association and Deutsches SOFIA Institute staff, as well as manage the airborne observatory’s equipment, instruments and support facilities.
The U.S. Navy wrongly reported tens of billions of dollars in shipbuilding equipment as expenses instead of construction costs, the Pentagon Inspector General (IG) says. In its report, the IG also questions the Navy’s system of ship evaluation and says some of the service’s internal controls are lacking. “For the eight classes of ships, the Navy improperly recorded approximately $29 billion of shipbuilding payments as expenses instead of CIP (Construction-in-Progress) on the March 31, 2008, financial statements,” the IG reports.
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GOOD SHOT: Raytheon fired eight Excalibur Ib precision-guided artillery projectiles during a Feb. 27 test for U.S. Army program officials. The company claimed the tests, announced April 7, were a “contract milestone” designed to show off stable controlled flight and safe muzzle exit, as well as validate the simulation used to predict the munitions’ performance. All test objectives were met, and the weapon “exceeded” ballistic accuracy expectations, the company said.
RAN PLAN: The Royal Australian Navy has announced a Submarine Sustainability Program that will follow a five-phase strategy designed to develop a “sustainable” submarine work force over the next five years, officials said April 8. The chief of the navy, Vice Adm. Russ Crane, released the plan “to dramatically improve Australia’s submarine work force, after concerns a lack of numbers is placing an unacceptable strain on personnel.” The strain on seagoing submariners will be eased by increasing crew sizes from 46 to 58 people.
U.S. Defense Department officials are providing more details on the fiscal 2010 missile defense budget proposal just unveiled by Defense Secretary Robert Gates. Gates’ April 6 announcement — which is now being dubbed “Black Monday” because so many programs were killed or cut back — revealed that the Missile Defense Agency’s (MDA) FY ’10 budget is expected to be reduced by $1.4 billion from roughly $9 billion, and include the scaling back of the Airborne Laser (ABL) and the scrapping of the Multiple Kill Vehicle program (Aerospace DAILY, April 7).
PARTS CASE: Federal prosecutors in Washington say an Iranian national was arrested and charged this month, along with 10 other defendants, in a conspiracy to export U.S.-made military aircraft parts to Iran. Baktash Fattahi, an Iranian national and legal U.S. resident, was arrested in California on April 3 on charges of conspiring to deliver 13 different types of controlled aircraft parts restricted under the U.S. Munitions List by way of Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
