China used a Long March 3A rocket to place a weather satellite in geostationary orbit on Dec. 23, 2008, wrapping up an 11-launch series for the year that set a new pace for the country’s rapidly advancing space program. Liftoff of the launcher carrying the Feng Yun 2E spacecraft came at 8:54 a.m. local time (7:54 p.m. EST Dec. 22) from the Xichang launch center in southwest China, bound for an orbital position at 105 degrees East Longitude.
L-3 Communications’ Link Simulation & Training division has won the competition to provide new simulator centers for U.S. Air Force F-16 pilot training, defeating incumbent service providers Boeing and Lockheed Martin. Link has been awarded an $88.2 million contract that includes options to buy up to 20 mission training centers (MTC) for Block 40/50 F-16s. Each MTC will house networked simulators allowing multiship training.
South Korea is moving ahead with its FA-50 light fighter project, signing a development contract with Korea Aerospace Industries on Dec. 26. The government has chosen the Israel Aerospace Industries’ EL/M-2032 radar for the FA-50 after the United States, exercising its right to prevent the aircraft from becoming an F-16 competitor, blocked the first choice, the Selex Vixen 500E.
Northrop Grumman has been awarded a production contract for the B-2 radar modernization program (RMP), a key upgrade required to “ensure sustained operational viability” of the stealth bomber fleet, the U.S. Air Force says. The upgrade was required after the U.S. Commerce Department directed the Air Force to stop using the B-2’s current radar frequency. The RMP moves the radar from a band where the B-2 is a secondary user to a frequency where it is a primary user.
BEIJING — The space industry base that China is building at Tianjin will handle all the main technical processes in making spacecraft and rockets, says the project’s backer, China Aerospace Science & Technology Corp. Activities at the base will form a complete chain stretching from research and development, to trial production, testing and manufacturing.
NEW BIRD: Space Systems/Loral has identified Intelsat as a customer for a satellite to be ready for launch in 2010 that the company mentioned but did not identify when it did its third quarter earnings report. The 45th satellite built by SS/L for Intelsat over the years, the new spacecraft will be named Intelsat 17 and will replace Intelsat 704 at 66 deg. East longitude. It will provide C- and Ku-band transmissions for Fixed Satellite Services.
Having terminated its Battle Control System-Mobile (BCS-M) effort in November, the U.S. Air Force is retrenching and shifting funds into a new entity — the Battlespace Command and Control Center, or BC3. Two years ago, the U.S. Air Force was touting the promise of both its fixed (BCS-F) and mobile BCS systems, despite a history of mounting costs and schedule slips. The service said BCS-F would meet its goal of marrying NORAD and FAA radars to prevent terrorists from carrying out 9/11-style attacks by using commercial jets as flying bombs.
The coming year promises to be “just as big a year, if not a bigger year than 2008” on the International Space Station (ISS), says Kirk Shireman, deputy ISS program manager at NASA. This past year saw the addition of two major pressurized laboratories and some lengthy repairs. But 2009 will see the station get its fourth and final solar array wing in February; a “porch” on Japan’s Kibo laboratory in May for space-exposure experiments; a crew doubled in size to six by midsummer, and the first visit of Japan’s robotic H-II Transfer Vehicle in September.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicated new calendar listing.) Jan. 26 - 28, 2009 — 6th Annual Tactical Power Sources Summit, Hilton Alexandria Old Town, Alexandria, Va. For more information go to www.idga.org/us/tacticalpower
NASA has awarded its two Commercial Orbital Transportation System (COTS) contractors separate contracts worth about $3.5 billion altogether to deliver cargo to the International Space Station (ISS) through 2016.
Textron has cut its fourth quarter earnings forecast by more than half amid a slumping economy, but says its Bell Helicopter and Industrial units should partially offset weaknesses in its Cessna Aircraft and Industrial businesses. The industrial conglomerate also announced it will liquidate or sell off most of its struggling commercial finance business.
LUNAR PREP: NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) completed thermal vacuum testing at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., NASA announced Dec. 22. The testing simulated the extreme hot, cold and airless conditions of space, and concludes the orbiter’s environmental test program. LRO will be shipped to Kennedy Space Center in Florida in early 2009 to be prepared for its April 24 launch aboard an Atlas V.
Brazil has signed contracts worth $12 billion with France covering coproduction of 50 Eurocopter EC725 Caracal helicopters and four Scorpene conventionally powered submarines. The contracts were formally signed Dec. 23 in Rio de Janeiro by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and visiting French President Nicholas Sarkozy. A key part of the deal is the transfer of French technology to Brazil. The defense cooperation agreement includes French assistance with development of a nuclear-powered submarine.
MINERVA AWARDS: Under its new Minerva Research Initiative, DOD announced plans Dec. 22 to make awards to academic institutions to perform scholarly research in the social sciences. The initiative is a DOD-sponsored, university-based social science basic research program focusing on areas of strategic importance to U.S. national security policy. The Minerva program seeks to increase DOD’s intellectual capital in the social sciences, improve its ability to address future challenges and build bridges between DOD and the social science community.
Raytheon says it has received confirmation from NASA and the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) that a water-detecting sensor system aboard the Chandrayaan-1 lunar orbiter has been activated and is fully functional. Raytheon provided the antenna, transmitter, analog receiver and software for the Mini Synthetic Aperture Radar (MiniSAR), which Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory integrated onto the spacecraft. Raytheon also supplied system engineering, integration and test support.
NASA astronaut Mike Fincke, Expedition 18 commander on the International Space Station (ISS), and Flight Engineer Yuri Lonchakov ventured outside the orbiting facility late Dec. 22 and installed a probe that will measure environmental conditions that may have caused two returning Soyuz vehicles to fall into a perilous “ballistic” reentry.
UNIFIED COMMAND: DOD announced it has updated its Unified Command Plan (UCP), a strategic document that establishes the missions, responsibilities and geographic areas of responsibility for commanders of combatant commands. The 2008 UCP, signed by President Bush Dec. 17, codifies U.S. Africa Command and assigns several new missions to the combatant commanders. Other changes include updating cyberspace operations responsibilities to U.S. Strategic Command and the realignment of certain U.S. Northern and Southern Command areas of responsibility.
The revision of the U.S. Army’s field training manual, or FM 7-0, emphasizes the importance of training across the spectrum of conflict and takes advantage of a now combat-seasoned force, according to Army training chief Lt. Gen. James Thurman.
BUILD A BRIDGE: Oshkosh Defense has been awarded a $5 million contract modification from U.S. Army Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) to recap approximately 30 Common Bridge Transporter (CBT) variants of the Oshkosh Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck (HEMTT). Under the modification, Oshkosh will tear down the 10-year-old A0 configuration CBT HEMTTs and recapitalize them into Oshkosh’s current HEMTT A2 Load Handling System (LHS) models.
NO REWARD: The U.S. Air Force officially declared Dec. 23 that it will close the existing Transformational Satellite Communications (TSAT) program solicitation without awarding a contract. A new draft request for proposals is expected as soon as this week to include Internet Protocol routing but not laser communications. The formality follows a move by Pentagon acquisition chief John Young who already ordered the service to restructure the program and pursue a version that lacks laser crosslinks for shuttling data quickly through space (Aerospace DAILY, Dec. 9).
RACAL NABBED: Esterline Technologies has reached a deal to acquire Racal Acoustics, a London-based provider of combat communications equipment, for 115 million pounds ($169.3 million). Racal manufactures communications systems ranging from lightweight noise-reducing headsets to advanced battlefield secure telephone networks. The company, which has nearly 200 employees, was sold off by France’s Thales in 2004 and is currently owned by ECI Partners, a U.K. private equity firm. Esterline says it expects to close the deal within 45 days. Jefferies & Co.
