With airline testing of biofuels making headlines, a small U.S. engineering consultancy is aiming to prove that biodiesel could be a renewable and safer alternative to kerosene rocket fuel. U.S. firm Flometrics has tested commercial B100 biodiesel as a replacement for RP-1 kerosene in a Rocketdyne LR-101 rocket engine. In the one ground test completed “we found the Isp [specific impulse] was about 4 percent less than RP-1, but the difference may be less once we figure out the best mixture ratio,” CEO Steve Harrington says.
The Obama administration should lead a “reformulation” of U.S. Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) programs to focus on combating international terrorism and other current threats, according to a new congressionally mandated report from the National Research Council. “A bold vision is again required,” says Ronald Lehman, director of the Center for Global Security Research at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and co-chair of the committee that wrote the report.
The Pentagon has included the U.S. Air Force’s $15 billion combat, search and rescue (CSAR-X) helicopter replacement acquisition among the programs meant for the chopping block in upcoming budget deliberations, say industry and government sources familiar with the program procurement.
RESEARCH COLLABORATION: Boeing and the U.S. Army’s Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command have launched a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) to coordinate and fuse multiple types of sensor data in a secure environment for Integrated Air and Missile Defense and space situational awareness concept exploration. The CRADA, signed Feb.
Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) is singling out the U.S. Air Force’s embattled F-22 fighter program as one of the weapon systems that should not be sacrificed in the next budget, despite its lack of utility in current conflicts. “We should never focus on the current fight to the exclusion of the next fight,” Chambliss said March 11 in Washington. “We have invested billions and we will invest billions more,” in programs like the F-22, Virginia-class submarines and Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD), he said.
Demonstration of an anti-brownout landing system combining see-through radar, sensor fusion, synthetic vision and automated flight controls has been completed successfully, helicopter manufacturer Sikorsky says. The Sandblaster system has been developed by Sikorsky, with Honeywell and Sierra Nevada, under a $6.9 million U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) contract awarded in May 2007.
MOVING FORWARD: The European Commission (EC) has approved the proposed purchase of a 26.56 percent share in Thales by Dassault Aviation. The EC inquiry focused on space, civil/military aviation and military flight simulators, where the two companies cooperate or have client-supplier relationships. The French government owns 38 percent of the voting rights in Thales and shares control of Dassault Aviation with the Groupe Industriel Marcel Dassault through TSA, a state holding company.
Debris from a spent rocket motor passed within 4.5 kilometers of the International Space Station March 12, forcing the crew into the Soyuz capsule as a precaution. The crew – Expedition 18 Commander Mike Fincke and flight engineers Yuri Lonchakov and Sandra Magnus – spent about 10 minutes in the Soyuz, which serves as the station lifeboat. Had there been a collision requiring the station to be abandoned, Lonchakov would have been able to pilot the Russian vehicle to an emergency re-entry and landing.
Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) thinks that without a split buy of the U.S. Air Force’s refueling tanker, the nation will not have tankers. Murtha, who chairs the House Appropriations defense subcommittee, also addressed rumors that the Obama administration could be considering scaling back or halting the tanker effort, among other programs. “What you’ve heard in the papers is not true,” Murtha told a group of investors and select press at the National Press Club March 12. “The administration did not say we’re not going to have tankers.”
The U.S. Defense Department this year should formally draw up requirements for more aviation, civil affairs and psychological operations in its special operations forces (SOF), according to a leading Pentagon figure on the issues. Michael Vickers, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations/Low-Intensity Conflict & Interdependent Capabilities, said at an Aviation Week conference March 11 that the Quadrennial Defense Review is also likely to reiterate a demand to grow U.S. SOF, as previously planned, and possibly even more.
SHUTTLE CHECKS: Engineers at Kennedy Space Center have determined that a change in bolt-tightening protocols will allow them to more quickly troubleshoot a hydrogen leak that has stymied launch of the space shuttle Discovery. As a result, NASA is pressing ahead for another launch attempt on March 15. The leak forced a scrub March 11 late in the launch countdown for the mission to deliver solar arrays and life support gear to the International Space Station (Aerospace DAILY, March 12).
LIGHT, TACTICAL: Two vehicles on the list for Defense Department procurement are looking slightly redundant: the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected All-Terrain Vehicle (M-ATV), or MRAP “Lite,” and the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV). Pentagon spokesperson Geoff Morrell called the M-ATV an “immediate need,” adding the JLTV is a long-term objective of the Army’s, and will act as a more agile Humvee replacement.
DEFLATING BUDGET: The Pentagon is looking at ways to trim its procurement spending by about 2-3 percent in its fiscal 2010 baseline budget, DOD Deputy Comptroller Kevin Scheid says. In 2009, the Pentagon budget included $181.2 billion for weapons purchases. Scheid also says that while larger cuts to the Pentagon’s major weapons programs are possible in later budgets, decisions on those cuts won’t be made until planning for the fiscal 2011 budget moves ahead.
The BAE Systems-led Mantis medium altitude long endurance (MALE) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) demonstrator is now at the Woomera test range in Australia, with a first flight anticipated very soon. The acquisition of a long-term MALE capability is a priority for the U.K. Defense Ministry. It has already acquired a handful of General Atomics Reapers to meet an urgent operational requirement. The Reaper and the Mantis both are candidates to meet the ministry’s procurement aspiration.
FT. WALTON BEACH, Fla. – U.S. Special Operations Command is proposing to start a new gunship in the fiscal 2010 budget, but it remains to be seen whether the tight fiscal environment will support a new program, according to Pentagon officials. Keith Sanders, deputy director of air warfare for the Pentagon acquisition chief, says the gunship will be a more flexible system than today’s AC-130H/U aircraft. One requirement likely to emerge is to operate the gunship safely in an urban environment such as Baghdad.
TANKER PLEA: The Reserve Officers Association (ROA) issued a statement March 11 regarding the new Air Force tanker, declaring that “the Pentagon must expedite” its acquisition. “Tankers are the key cog in all joint military operations,” the statement reads. “The acquisition of a new Air Force tanker must rise to be DOD’s number one acquisition requirement.” ROA called the current KC-135s Eisenhower-era aircraft that “potentially pose a danger to the men and women who operate them.”
COUNTERTERRORISM: ITT Corporation has been awarded a $317 million order to produce an additional 4,501 CREW 2.1 Vehicle Receiver Jammers (CVRJs), vehicle-mounted systems that prevent the detonation of improvised explosive devices. The systems will be used by the U.S. Marine Corps. The CVRJs will be mounted on various armored vehicles and other military transport equipment, and will be deployed to current military operations.
Calling the Pentagon’s mismanagement of its budget a horizontal variation of a Ponzi scheme, Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii) said Congress needs to do more to control Defense Department spending. “We are talking about a strategy for acquisition,” and not just cutting programs, Abercrombie said March 11 at Aviation Week’s Defense Technology and Requirements Conference in Washington. He pleaded with the media not to “turn this into another drama of whose throat gets cut,” as that would detract from the nation’s strategic interest.
MOSCOW – A Russian communication satellite is experiencing in-orbit difficulties once again, begging the question of how long it will remain in service. The spacecraft, Express-AM2, was launched on March 30, 2005, and has been in operation since June 16 of that year. It was manufactured by Reshetnev ISS with a payload from Thales Alenia Space and is owned by Russian Satellite Communication Company (RSCC).
ROLL OUT: The D.C. National Guard will officially receive three of the six UH-72A Lakota Light Utility Helicopters it has ordered on March 12 in Washington, D.C. The EADS North America-built helicopter is replacing the UH-1 Huey for the Guard. The U.S. Army began fielding the aircraft to the National Guard and active duty units in 2008. Three of the eight helicopters slated for fielding were flown to D.C. from the EADS plant in Mississippi, three more will be delivered to the National Guard unit in April and two more are expected to be fielded in 2012 to the D.C.
SHOW SOME ID: BAE Systems has completed an architecture study to improve the U.S. Army’s ability to identify hostile aircraft. The company developed an electronic support measures (ESM) sensor to improve Army air defense and reduce fratricide through real-time recognition of so-called noncooperative targets. The Army’s Common ESM Sensor for Air Defense (CESAD) system will locate, classify and identify hostile and neutral targets that cannot easily be identified by Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) systems.
HELO ORDER: Mexico’s Ministry of Defense has ordered six medium-lift EC725 helicopters from Eurocopter, the EADS unit announced March 10. The six twin-engine, Cougar-class helos, which can carry 29 passengers and two pilots, will be used mainly for transport and security missions. The amount of the contract was not disclosed. It was the first Eurocopter order placed by the defense ministry although the Mexican Naval ministry operates Eurocopter Panthers.
MELBOURNE, Australia – The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II may be redesigned to improve its ability to absorb heat from its electronics and systems. The aircraft is meeting the specification for thermal management, but the Joint Strike Fighter program’s deputy executive officer, Maj. Gen. David Heinz (select), says he is asking contractors to assess the costs of changes to give it a bigger margin over the requirement.
