SES says it has been affected by further solar array failures on its fleet of Lockheed Martin A2100 spacecraft. In August, the satcom operator reported a small reduction in commercial capacity on two satellites, AMC-4 and AMC-16, with “some potential future additional degradation.”
AVIATION WEEK Aerospace & Defense Finance Conference NOV. 19-20, 2008 New York, NY Listen in as A&Ds top CEOs pitch their 2009 and beyond business plans to Wall Street. The only investor event of its kind open to industry! Learn more at www.aviationweek.com/conferences or call +1.212.904.4483
Most members of the House and Senate Armed Services committees up for re-election managed to survive challenges at the polls Nov. 4, although one race isn’t over yet.
Honeywell has received its first major production contract for the ducted-fan RQ-16A Micro Air Vehicle (MAV), with a $65 million U.S. Navy order for 90 systems to meet an urgent need for the “hover-and-stare” vehicles to detect improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Each with two backpackable air vehicles and laptop ground station, the systems will be delivered in 2009 to explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. The production order follows in-theater assessment of the MAV during 2007.
DRAGONLAB: Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) announced Nov. 4 that it is developing a new reusable spacecraft called DragonLab, which will accommodate pressurized or unpressurized experiments and be launched on the company’s upcoming Falcon 9 rocket. The spacecraft can provide a platform for on-orbit experiments, according to SpaceX, and will allow for payload recovery. The company plans to hold a DragonLab users workshop Nov. 6 to give potential customers the opportunity to learn more about the system and ask questions.
Electronic and cyber-attack weapons for the U.S. Air Force’s F-15Es are getting closer with the award of a contract to Boeing and Raytheon to develop and flight-test an advanced radar to modernize the Strike Eagle fleet of 224 aircraft. The $238 million development and demonstration contract will feed into the Radar Modernization Program (RMP) and possibly an electronic upgrade package about which both companies are intentionally vague (Aerospace DAILY, Oct. 31).
The German army has taken delivery of the first Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) FLW 100 lightweight stations to outfit ground vehicles deployed in Afghanistan. The handover Oct. 31 was only the start of delivery of more than 400 weapon stations. The contract the defense ministry signed last July calls for delivery of 230 light and 190 heavy weapon stations.
ST. LOUIS – Boeing is exploring a cut in its annual production rate of C-17 transports from 15 to eight per year in hopes of keeping the troubled production line open through an increasingly tough fiscal environment.
ELECTRIC FLIGHT: Boeing is to refine the configuration of an airlifter powered by multiple electrically-driven fans under a $473,500 Advanced Distributed Electric Propulsion (ADEPT) study contract from the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The study will also assess the high-lift performance provided by the ADEPT propulsion system integrated with the airlifter’s wing. NASA has previously studied embedded and distributed propulsion systems for blended wing-body transports.
A Los Angeles Superior Court jury has ruled that Boeing and its Boeing Satellite Systems International (BSSI) unit will be liable for $236 million in punitive damages in relation to a lawsuit for fraud and breach of contract brought by ICO Global Communications.
PARIS – Dassault Aviation, whose Rafale is a contender in India’s Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) competition for 126 fighters, has voiced concerns over India’s focus on low price as the main selection criteria, saying that the six bidders do not fall under the same category.
A Chinese Long March 3B rocket has successfully launched Venesat-1, Venezuela’s first telecommunications satellite. The 5.1-metric ton spacecraft, also known as the Simon Bolivar Satellite, was launched from the Xichang launch complex in Sichuan on Oct. 30. Equipped with 28 C-, Ku- and Ka-band transponders and designed to remain operational for 15 years, it was supplied under an in-orbit delivery contract with China Great Wall Industry Corp. (CGWIC) and built by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. (CAST), using China’s new DFH-4 bus.
A sense of history in the making engulfed most of Washington and indeed the whole United States on Nov. 4 as voters decided who they wanted to occupy the White House and control Congress starting next year. Supporters of Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.) waited anxiously for most of the day, while congressional watchers pondered an expected Democratic surge on Capitol Hill. Vote results were not available by press time for Aerospace DAILY, but further updates can be found online at www.AviationWeek.com. Expected pain
Sweden has now formally kicked off the competition to field new armored vehicles ready to be operationally available in 2014. In June, the Swedish government started talking to industry and now has made the call to proceed rapidly with the acquisition phase. The program is expected to include at least 100-150 vehicles, although Swedish armaments agency FMV says the number could grow significantly beyond that.
Pentagon acquisition chief John Young says the congressional cut to Joint Strike Fighter funding in fiscal 2009 will cause problems executing the test schedule for the program. Congress cut advance procurement funding for the first three U.S. Navy F-35C carrier variants, which were to have been procured in FY ’10. The aircraft are planned for operational testing. “Those planes are critical,” Young told a group of reporters at the Pentagon Oct. 30.
LOOSE NUT: Investigators have found that a loose nut on an electrical capacitor connection inside a battery charger prompted a hydrogen buildup that caused a fire at an unmanned Minuteman III launch facility near F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo., in May. A spark ignited from a loose connection inside the charger, and this may have occurred after commercial power was restored to the area following thunderstorms. The fire damaged some cables leading to the nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile, but it did not enter the launch tube or damage the missile.
MOON BOUND: Indian controllers are continuing orbit-raising maneuvers with the Chandrayaan-1 lunar orbiter as it moves toward a Nov. 8 rendezvous with Earth’s natural satellite. A three-minute burn of the probe’s 99-pound-thrust Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) Oct. 29 pushed it into a new elliptical six-day Earth orbit with an apogee of 267,000 kilometers (165,910 miles) and a perigee of 465 kilometers.
AIR FORCE The Air Force is modifying a firm fixed price contract with DTS Aviation Systems of Fort Worth, Texas, for $11,456,736. This action will provide for contractor logistics support for the C-21 Aircraft, consisting of maintenance, repair and support functions. At this time all funds have been obligated. OC-ALC/727 ACSG/PKA, Tinker Air Force Base, Okla., is the contracting activity (FA8106-05-C-0001/P00125). NAVY
TAIWANESE TREMORS: The Taiwanese military is maintaining its longstanding opposition to commercial airlines taking the shortest route between the island and mainland China, with officials citing the need to guard against surprise air attack. Defense Minister Gen. Chen Chao-ming says he supports the policy of charter flights that don’t go through the sensitive restricted zone in the Taiwan Strait.
LYNX SENSORS: The Brazilian navy has ordered six Sea Star SAFIRE III infrared multisensor surveillance systems for its Super Lynx helicopters, for use in maritime patrol and fleet security missions. The contract with manufacturer FLIR Systems also has options for another six SAFIRE III systems. The value of the award was not disclosed, per the request of the Brazilian defense ministry. FLIR Systems has delivered more than 70 airborne sensor systems to the Brazilian military, municipal and federal police, as well as private operators, the company says.
The Pentagon failed to properly follow acquisition procedures in buying fleets of cars, trucks and other nontactical vehicles for use in Afghanistan, according to a new Defense Department Inspector General (IG) report. The IG inspected records from the Regional Contracting Center Bagram, the Combined Joint Task Force (CJTF)-82, and the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA), which failed to follow proper acquisition procedures, auditors said.
GEOEYE PARTNER: Italy’s Telespazio S.p.A. will serve as the Europe/North Africa Commercial Regional Affiliate for GeoEye Inc.’s new GeoEye-1 high resolution imaging satellite under an arrangement announced in Dulles, Va., Oct. 29. The deal also gives the Rome-based company access to Ikonos satellite imagery collected after Dec. 31. The U.S. government must approve the imagery-collection, processing and sales rights granted the Italian company for both spacecraft. GeoEye-1 is set to become fully operational later this fall.
There’s more at stake in the Nov. 4 U.S. elections than control of the White House, with a number of top congressional leaders fighting to keep their seats while Democrats seek a veto-proof majority in the Senate and even wider control in the House of Representatives.
