WIND OF CHANGE: Qinetiq is building a revised configuration of its Zephyr high altitude long-endurance (HALE) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). It will likely fly for the first time early in 2010. Zephyr 7, as the latest variant is known, has several design modifications intended to improve its aerodynamic performance and potentially further increase endurance. Changes are thought to include a greater wingspan and modified wing-tip design, as well as a reconfigured tail.
S-92A ALERT: Service difficulties with the Sikorsky S-92A main gear box lubrication system has prompted Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. to publish a safety advisory informing operators of impending changes in the rotorcraft flight manual (RFM) procedures. The move was prompted by the March 12 crash of a S-92A (C-GZCH) operated by Cougar Helicopters. The aircraft was transporting workers from St. Johns, Newfoundland, to an oil platform in the Hibernia field. Shortly after departure, the crew reported mechanical problems and requested a return to St. Johns.
LAUNCH COUNTER: The U.S. Air Force plans to launch the seventh Global Positioning System (GPS) IIR-M satellite aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket March 24 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. The launch window opens at 4:34 a.m. and will remain open for 15 minutes. The Lockheed Martin-built GPS IIR-20(M) satellite is the first to be launched this year, and offers improved accuracy, enhanced encryption, anti-jamming capabilities and a second civil signal to provide dual-frequency capability and improve resistance to interference.
RUBLE TROUBLE: In-year funding for the Russian air force’s fifth-generation fighter, known as PAK FA, may be cut by 940 million rubles ($28.2 million) as part of proposed cuts by the government to the country’s 2009 defense budget. First flight of the prototype is expected by the end of 2009, with state acceptance of the type completed by 2015. Budget documents also include increased expenditure for building a naval aviation training center at Eisk in the Krasnodar region, to replace the Saki facility in the Ukraine.
Word on upcoming U.S. defense program terminations is expected late this week or early next week in the form of program budget decisions or program decision memorandums, according to an official with insight into major U.S. Air Force programs. “The final budget goes to [Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ office] on April 2nd and then it’s released on the 21st,” the official said.
The crew of the space shuttle Discovery installed the fourth and final solar array on the International Space Station (ISS) during a spacewalk March 19. Spacewalkers Steve Swanson and Richard Arnold bolted the S6 truss element onto the starboard end of the truss, completing the station’s 310-foot long backbone and providing a platform for the last 240-foot-long solar array wing, which is folded into the truss.
Three top U.S. commanders told a Senate hearing March 19 that they can’t be sure whether North Korea plans to launch a communications satellite or test an offensive missile during an announced missile launch next month. But the heads of Pacific Command, Strategic Command (STRATCOM) and Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command said they believed the U.S. already has the capability to knock out an attacking North Korean missile.
BEAUCOUP BUCKS: French armaments agency DGA says a €2.3 billion ($2.9 billion) government economic stimulus package approved late last year will help boost military hardware procurement to the highest level in decades. DGA Chief Executive Laurent Collet-Billon says purchase authorizations will rise to €20.3 billion this year, more than double the €9.2 billion allocated in 2008. The extra funding will permit the acquisition of 60 additional Rafale fighters, five more EC725 transport/medevac/search-and-rescue helicopters and three Fremm multimission frigates.
MOSCOW — A reduction in defense spending being considered under a revised federal budget plan threatens key Russian launcher and satellite navigation projects, even though space budgets are not expected to be impacted by the new plan.
Instead of trying to ban anti-satellite (ASAT) weaponry, the U.S. government should push an international “rules of the road” that outlines unacceptable actions, according to a group of scholars, including a former two-star U.S. Air Force general, testifying before the House Armed Services strategic forces panel. Meanwhile, U.S. deterrence against foreign harm to its space assets is possible, they said, although such planning is scant and current responsibility too diverse.
LOADS CALIBRATION: Boeing completed loads calibration testing of the first P-8A Poseidon test aircraft the week of March 9, which the company says was two weeks ahead of schedule. Loads calibration is one of the prerequisites for the U.S. Navy flight clearance process. During the tests, up to 80 percent of the highest expected flight loads were applied to the aircraft’s fuselage, horizontal stabilizers, vertical fin and wing structures. Completion of loads calibration ensures that test aircraft T-1 is ready for airworthiness testing, which will being later in 2009.
Sen. James Webb (D-Va.) is warning the Pentagon that a shortfall in U.S. Navy funding is the strongest argument yet for reversing the service’s recent decision to relocate the homeport of its newest carrier from Norfolk, Va., to Naval Station Mayport in Jacksonville, Fla. A former Navy secretary, Webb wrote DOD March 17 that the Navy’s $417 million shortfall in fiscal 2009 funding for ship maintenance and $4.6 billion unfunded budget requirements are justification for disapproving any funding request for the homeporting decision.
FACE-OFF: On the heels of the U.S. Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) scathing report that called for the Army to restructure its controversial $160 billion Future Combat Systems modernization program, the House Armed Services Air and Land Subcommittee is holding a hearing to bring the report’s author face to face with the Army brass heading up the program.
AeroVironment will fit a fuel-cell power system into its “all-environment” Puma AE small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), giving the hand-launched, special-operations UAV a long-duration capability. Protonex Technology has been awarded a $3.3 million Defense Department contract to develop “a robust, deployable preproduction fuel cell power system” as a drop-in replacement for the rechargeable batteries used in the Puma AE.
HAND-HELD: Rockwell Collins has received a $450 million follow-on contract to provide Defense Advanced Global Positioning System Receivers (DAGRs) to the U.S. Air Force GPS Wing. The contract calls for Rockwell Collins to provide the hand-held GPS position and navigation receivers through 2016. The company has delivered more than 290,000 DAGR units and more than 1.5 million accessories since it was selected by the Air Force for full-rate production in 2003. This latest award brings the total value of the DAGR contracts to $1.15 billion.
PARIS France may be forced to cut A400M numbers and is already exploring the option of leasing Boeing C-17s as it tries to craft a rescue package for the struggling Airbus Military program and to sustain its airlift capacity. A revised A400M contract is unlikely before the end of 2009. “We have to take an in-depth look at how the present contract might be modified under acceptable conditions,” Laurent Collet-Billon, director general of French armaments agency DGA, told reporters March 18.
JOHNSON SPACE CENTER, Houston Veteran Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata’s long-duration stay on the International Space Station (ISS), which began March 17 when he transferred his Soyuz seat liner to the station’s Russian lifeboat, kicks off an ambitious human spaceflight effort for Japan that could eventually see Japanese landers on the moon. The key to Japan’s plans for the human portion of its space program centers on the H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV), an autonomous cargo carrier scheduled to make its first flight to the ISS in September on an H-IIB rocket.
Northrop Grumman has exceeded 100kW in laboratory tests of an electric laser, completing the final milestone in the U.S. Army-led Joint High Power Solid State Laser (JHPSSL) technology demonstration program.
PICKING WRECKAGE: The U.S. military is picking over wreckage of the Iranian unmanned aircraft it shot down in Iraq in February. “We’re in the process of exploiting the debris that we’ve recovered,” a Pentagon spokesman said. “I don’t know if it was a drone that was capable of sending signals back or whether it was merely recording and then was going to return and its video or data then exploited by the Iranians.” Coalition aircraft over Iraq shot down an Iranian-made Ababil 3 model unmanned aerial vehicle about 60 miles northeast of Baghdad (Aerospace DAILY, March 18).
Analysis conducted by the U.S. Air Force shows there is an ideal fleet mix, but that framework depends on the operational scheme laid out by the joint force commander, according to retired Gen. Gregory Martin.
United Launch Alliance has rolled the Atlas V rocket carrying the U.S. Air Force’s second Wideband Global Satcom (WGS-2) spacecraft back from Launch Complex 41 to its integration building at Cape Canaveral, where technicians are attempting to determine the cause of the upper-stage liquid oxygen leak that resulted in the scrubbing of the previous day’s launch attempt.
WALKING PAPERS: Three senators have sent a letter to President Obama asking for the removal of NASA Inspector General (IG) Robert Cobb, “following years of complaints and investigations into Cobb’s work as the government’s watchdog at NASA,” according to a statement from the lawmakers’ offices. “We respectfully ask that you take immediate action to put an end to conflict of interest and cronyism in the IG process by replacing Mr. Cobb and nominating a qualified candidate,” wrote Sens.
