GD WIN-T: General Dynamics C4 Systems delivered the first Warfighter Information Network-Tactical (WIN-T) Increment 1 equipment to the U.S. Army recently. The delivery included networking hubs, network management suites and network nodes. The company is also under contract with the Army for Increment 2, fielding of which begins in 2009, which will provide soldiers with on-the-move broadband networking. Limited User Testing for Increment 3 is anticipated in 2011 and the award for Increment 4 is still pending.
The second Mercury flyby of NASA’s Messenger probe has filled in more blanks that will help scientists understand the closest planet to the sun, and other rocky planets as well.
COMMISSIONING CEREMONY: The U.S. Navy’s first Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) will be commissioned Nov. 8 at a ceremony in Milwaukee, Wis. Navy Secretary Donald Winter will deliver an address introducing the 378-foot Freedom. The commissioning follows that of the Independence, the second LCS seaframe, on Oct. 4. Northrop Grumman’s MQ-8B Fire Scout will be aboard the Freedom as it transits from Milwaukee to Norfolk, Va. The company is the LCS mission package integrator and helped complete the installation of the mission package computing environment into Freedom.
SOMEWHAT HEAVY: U.S. Marine Corps Systems Command has awarded Oshkosh Defense a $46 million contract modification for more than 170 additional Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacements for the U.S. Navy Seabees. The vehicles are expected to be delivered by September 2009. The variants produced under this contract modification include cargo trucks, dump trucks, tractors and a wrecker.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is raising questions about NASA’s ability to develop its follow-on Ares/Orion human spaceflight systems on time and on budget, given the agency’s recent history and fiscal tribulations. Under its Constellation program, NASA is planning initial operating capability (IOC) for the Ares I rocket and Orion spacecraft in March 2015, and has a 65 percent confidence level of making that target. (See charts pp. 6-8.)
BEIJING – Sweeping reforms of the Chinese aerospace sector will present the global industry with a team of focused competitors with specialties ranging from engines to fighters to aircraft equipment.
PARIS – The Indian air force appears eager to conclude negotiations with Thales and Dassault Aviation on the offset package for the upgrade of India’s 51 Mirage 2000s to the 2000-5 standard (M-2000H/TH upgrade), according to executives here. It is likely that the contract will be signed before India’s general elections in early 2009. But if it’s postponed, there is concern there could be a delay of at least two years and an escalation in costs.
A NASA-backed sampling system has registered a serious jump in atmospheric methane, adding a new worry for scientists monitoring greenhouse gas levels for their potential impact on global warming. Until early 2007, methane levels measured by the Advanced Global Atmospheric Gases Experiment ground network were relatively level for about 10 years.
PARIS – General Electric and Volvo Aero are extending their fighter engine partnership with Saab’s decision to use the F414 for the Gripen Next Generation (NG). The two engine makers were already cooperating on the regular Gripen, whose Volvo Aero RM12 is a modified GE F404, and now are looking for ways to expand workshare on the F414.
PROTON LAUNCH: An International Launch Services Proton Breeze M rocket has orbited Astra 1M, a Ku-band telecom spacecraft intended to deliver direct-to-home broadcasting services to continental Europe from SES Astra’s 19.2 deg. E. Long. position. The 32-transponder satellite, built by EADS Astrium, marked the third Proton M mission for ILS – and the fourth overall – since the vehicle returned to service in mid-August after a five-month shutdown.
The Phoenix Mars lander is near shutdown as sunlight at its arctic landing site is no longer enough to provide solar array power to charge its batteries daily. Loss of the lander in November or earlier has always been expected, following a successful mission that began with its landing May 25. Phoenix has lasted about six weeks longer that its original specification.
PARIS – With details of India’s defense procurement policy still unclear, bidders for the country’s Medium Multi-Range Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) may find it difficult to absorb the more than $5 billion expected to fulfill the 50 percent offsets expected of them.
China is pulling back the veil of secrecy around its space program by revealing new internal contracting deals for several new spacecraft and Long March boosters. It is also continuing an aggressive space launch pace by orbiting a dual-satellite mission within two weeks of another Chinese launch carrying two spacecraft.
APACHE SENSORS: Lockheed Martin announced it has completed test flights demonstrating a low-light-level sensor system for the U.S. Army’s Arrowhead-equipped AH-64D Apache helicopters. The Visible/Near Infrared (V/NIR) sensor will be integrated into the Modernized-Pilot Night Vision Sensor (M-PNVS) system. Pilots will now be able to better see street lighting by blending V/NIR sensor imagery with M-PNVS forward looking infrared imagery to improve situational awareness in low-light conditions.
Industry winners of development contracts for the U.S. Defense Department’s Joint Light Tactical Vehicle program won a combined $122 million in awards last week. The headline on a brief item Oct. 30 in Aerospace DAILY incorrectly identified the amount.
Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) expects to begin commercial flights of its newly announced reusable DragonLab spacecraft in 2010, and is in negotiations with potential customers for room on the vehicle.
The U.S. Air Force’s new Strategic and Nuclear Integration Office began operations at the Pentagon Nov. 1, part of the service’s establishment of a nuclear-only major command. The new directorate, also known as A10, will be led by Maj. Gen. Donald Alston, who will take the role of assistant chief of staff for Strategic Deterrence and Nuclear Integration. The announcement follows an Oct. 24 Pentagon press conference announcing a new major command, called Global Strike Command, devoted to the nuclear enterprise.
Indian pilots flying Su-30MKIs are extremely professional, but they’re still learning how best to fight with their new aircraft. That opinion comes from an unidentified, senior F-15 pilot taped while briefing senior retired U.S. Air Force officers about the most recent Red Flag exercise. The video was made available online at YouTube.com. The French pilots flying the new Dassault Rafale appeared to be there to collect electronic intelligence on the Indian aircraft, according to the USAF pilot, who wears an Air Force Weapons School graduate patch.
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – Ongoing arguments between the U.S. Air Force and Army over the value of mounted vertical maneuver are putting the brakes on the Joint Future Theater Lift Concept (JFTL), delaying the initial capabilities document (ICD) for a year and endangering budget planning.
President-elect Barack Obama, the next commander in chief starting Jan. 20, 2009, is expected to emphasize technological investments under national security and space exploration efforts at the expense – albeit still uncertain – of the Defense Department’s bigger-ticket acquisition efforts.
INCREASED PAYLOAD: U.S. Marine Corps CH-53D Sea Stallion and CH-53E Super Stallion engines soon should benefit from more power on hot temperature and high altitude flights thanks to engine upgrades. The CH-53D’s two General Electric T-64-GE-413 engines will be upgraded to the -416 model, which is in use on the –E model. The –E’s -416 engines will receive upgraded fuel controls along with titanium nitride compressor airfoils and improved hot section components, turning it into a -419 engine.
