The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee questioned the U.S. Navy’s progress on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter during a hearing on Capitol Hill May 14 discussing the service’s fiscal 2010 budget request. Rep. Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) questioned why there are only three JSF aircraft in research and development when “we’re supposed to have thirteen.”
PARIS — Europe’s pioneering Herschel and Planck telescopes, 20 years in the making, are finally en route to their orbital position 1.2 million kilometers (746,000 miles) from Earth, following a high-stakes dual liftoff. The twin-satellite payload blasted off from Kourou, French Guiana, atop an Ariane 5 ECA booster at 10:12 a.m. local time (3:12 p.m. CET) on May 14. At 3:38 p.m. CET Herschel, the top passenger, separated from the Ariane 5 upper stage at an altitude of 1,150 kilometers over the east coat of Africa.
JOHNSON SPACE CENTER, Houston — Astronauts John Grunsfeld and Drew Feustel overcame a balky latch bolt to accomplish their main tasks on the first extravehicular activity (EVA) of the STS-125 mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope.
The fiscal 2010 U.S. defense budget may call for terminating programs like the presidential helicopter and ground vehicles for the U.S. Army’s Future Combat Systems, but the concepts behind them are still sound, Defense Secretary Robert Gates says.
Though a Defense Acquisition Board meeting to review the readiness of the U.S. Navy’s E-2D Advanced Hawkeye to enter production has been delayed, program manager Capt. Shane Gahagan says he expects approval soon. The meeting could take place by the end of the month, he says. Already, three pilot production aircraft are in early production in preparation for operational evaluation to begin in the first quarter of 2012. The first of these aircraft will be delivered next year.
SEEKING GATEWAY: During a Pentagon roundtable with reporters May 14, U.S. Air Force Gen. Norton Schwartz, the chief of staff, said one issue for him to pursue is moving ahead with an Interim Gateway system, which would shuttle a variety of communications around the battlefield, from FM radio to satellite communications. A Defense Acquisition Board meeting to firm up a strategy forward was delayed until June. It is widely expected that the Global Hawk Block 20 will carry the payload and be ready to field around fiscal 2012, according to an Air Force official.
Industry is being asked to propose concepts for reusable launch vehicles that could be used for a range of Defense Department requirements, from suborbital flights to heavy-lift missions. The Reusable Booster System (RBS) request for information (RFI) issued by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is a step toward the possible X-plane flight demonstration of a lower-cost, more-responsive launch vehicle combining a reusable first stage and expendable upper stage.
A&D Programs Conference November 2-4, 2009 Phoenix, AZ A&D Finance Conference December 2-3, 2009 New York, NY Defense Technology & Requirements Conference February 17-18, 2010 Washington, DC AVIATION WEEK Laureates Awards March 17, 2010 Washington, DC
Commercial aircraft ferrying Defense Department personnel and cargo into danger zones like Iraq do not need onboard defenses against surface-to-air missiles, the head of U.S. Transportation Command (TRANSCOM) told lawmakers May 13. U.S. Air Force Gen. Duncan McNabb testified that DOD tactics, techniques and procedures — including “being able to do random approaches” and threat assessments — make it unnecessary to equip aircraft from the Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF) with defenses against missile attacks.
PARIS — The Rafale strike fighter industrial team says it remains in the Indian fighter competition even though an Indian defense official has said it was kicked out. “We are still preparing, actively, technology demonstrations for later this year and early next year,” says Jean-Noel Stock, who leads Rafale efforts at Thales, which is responsible for around a third of the weapons system. He stresses that Rafale is still in competition for the 126-fighter deal.
NEW CARRIER: The last of the Nimitz-class aircraft carriers was delivered to the U.S. Navy on May 11 by prime contractor Northrop Grumman. The USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) is the 10th ship of the class but includes innovations such as a new vacuum marine sanitation system, propellers, jet fuel distribution system, underwater hull-coating system, and other control systems and piping materials, according to the Navy and Northrop. Just over 1,000 feet long, it weighs 97,000 tons, can carry more than 80 combat aircraft and can sail faster than 30 knots.
The U.S. Navy is risking its near-term readiness and long-term fleet sustainment, according to 10 senators who are calling for the Senate Appropriations Committee to fully fund an estimated $425 million shortfall for ship depot maintenance and repair in the fiscal 2009 supplemental budget request. While much of the budget debate has focused on the recently unveiled FY ’10 budget, lawmakers are also still wrestling with supplemental funding from FY ’09.
The U.S. Navy should take a page or two from the commercial shipbuilding industry if it wants to become more efficient and reduce the burgeoning costs of its programs, according to a new report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO).
Lockheed Martin and Sensis have won competitive contracts to develop prototypes of the U.S. Air Force’s next-generation long-range radar, which will replace the Northrop Grumman TPS-75 transportable air surveillance radars now deployed. Lockheed has been awarded $24.85 million and Sensis $21.93 million for the 20-month technical development phase of the Three-Dimensional Expeditionary Long-Range Radar (3DELRR) program.
INTELSAT LOSS: Intelsat reported a $557.6 million loss for the first quarter of 2009, with revenue of $631.8 million. CEO Dave McGlade said business is steady despite a difficult economic environment and that Intelsat has a solid $8.7 billion backlog. Business highlights for the first quarter include the Australian Defence Force’s agreement to purchase a specialized UHF communications payload aboard the Intelsat 22 satellite, scheduled for launch in 2012. That contract is valued at about $167 million.
The crew of STS-125 successfully grappled the Hubble Space Telescope and placed it in Atlantis’ payload bay with the orbiter’s robotic arm while the shuttle and telescope orbited 340 miles above the Earth May 13, marking another milestone in the ambitious final servicing mission. While approaching Hubble, the crew experienced some communications trouble with the telescope, which would accept commands from Atlantis but did not acknowledge them back to the crew. The problem was eventually solved.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, appeared on Capitol Hill May 13 for the first time since the Obama administration unveiled its full fiscal 2010 budget request, and Republican lawmakers wasted no time in expressing their concerns.
Australian ship builders Forgacs and NQEA are the preferred suppliers for structural blocks for the three Aegis air-defense destroyers of the Hobart-class for the Royal Australian Navy. The companies will build 70 percent of the modules, each fitted out with wiring and equipment and weighing about 200 metric tons. Forgacs is based in Newcastle, with NQEA in Cairns.
AgustaWestland will deliver the first of 16 Boeing ICH-47F Chinook heavy-lift helicopters to the Italian Army in 2013 under an almost €900 million ($1.22 billion) contract signed on May 13. The contract includes an initial five years of logistic support as well as an option for an additional four helicopters. The contract was expected to be signed in fall 2008, but was put off by a funding shortage that has resulted in a one-year delay in the first delivery.
TITUSVILLE, Fla. - Boeing plans to bolster support for the hard-pressed 747-based Airborne Laser (ABL) missile defense program by quickly following an upcoming first full-scale missile shootdown demonstration with laser interceptions of everything from short-range tactical weapons to intercontinental ballistic missiles.
A last-minute anomaly with the flight termination system forced controllers to scrub another attempt to launch the U.S. Air Force TacSat-3 testbed on a Minotaur 1 rocket last Friday, delaying the mission until May 19 at the earliest.
CARGO CARRIED: A new unmanned Russian Progress cargo vehicle docked to the Pirs compartment of the International Space Station at 3:24 p.m. EDT May 12, carrying 2.5 tons of food, fuel and supplies. Known as Progress 33, the spacecraft launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan May 7. It replaces Progress 32, which undocked from the station on May 6 filled with trash and other discarded items.
