TESTING COMPLETE: Boeing announced the completion of mission system flight-testing for the U.S. E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) Block 40/45, which the company says is the largest upgrade in the history of the fleet. Between April 2007 and July 2009, Boeing and the U.S. Air Force’s Joint Test Force flew missions aboard Test System 3, an AWACS test aircraft, to complete the System Design and Development program.
LONDON – More defense investment would help ammunition-starved British forces operationally in Afghanistan and Iraq, but the chances of any boost are slim. The defense budget already is suffering 7.5 percent inflation per year, British military officials say. The tight budget has been affecting operations since the spin up to the Iraq invasion of 2003 and the prolonged combat there and in Afghanistan.
NEW SATS: Arabsat has issued a request for proposals for two new spacecraft to meet exploding demand for broadcasting and telecom services in the Middle East and Africa. One of the satellites, Badr 3, will add expansion and redundancy capacity at Arabsat’s 26 deg. E. Long. Middle East TV neighborhood. The other, Arabsat 5C, will serve telecom users at 20 deg. E. The spacecraft are to be launched in 2011.
Wall Street analysts are smiling on the early and friendly contract award to Northrop Grumman for detail design and construction of the future USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), the lead ship in the U.S. Navy’s next class of aircraft carrier. “We had been expecting contract award in late Q4, so the early date adds clarity to [Northrop Grumman’s] long-term outlook at Shipbuilding,” Credit Suisse analysts said in referring to Northrop’s recently restructured shipbuilding unit.
SAN DIEGO – A push from within the military space community to create a more effective enterprise architecture is butting up against a bureaucracy that isn’t used to seeing ground control and satellite systems as separate entities, necessitating the need for dramatic change within the existing oversight framework, according to a panel at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Space 2008 Conference and Exposition here.
The space shuttle Endeavour is being stacked on its external tank and solid rocket boosters in the Kennedy Space Center Vehicle Assembly Building following the rollover of the vehicle from the Orbiter Processing facility Sept. 11. Endeavour is to be hauled to Launch Complex 39B early Sept. 19 where it will be readied for the STS-400 rescue backup for the STS-125 Hubble servicing mission set for launch Oct. 10.
BAE Systems is drawing up a plan to integrate its Remote Guardian System (RGS) defensive gun on the Boeing CH-47 Chinook heavy-lift helicopter as the all-quadrant weapon is prepared for in-flight firings on the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey tiltrotor.
SAN DIEGO – Although the latest report on the U.S. Coast Guard by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Inspector General (IG) found overall computer network security to be strong, several vulnerabilities were revealed that could place the network at risk.
HAWKEYE TRAINING: The U.S. Navy has awarded Rockwell Collins a $68 million contract, with a total target price of $164 million, to provide the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye Integrated Training System for Aircrew (HITS-A). The company has provided Naval Air Systems Command and the E-2C community with support and simulation equipment for the past eight years. The Advanced Hawkeye will feature a state-of-the-art radar with increased capability, as well as upgraded aircraft systems and avionics to improve supportability and readiness.
SAN DIEGO – The recent Allard Commission report calling for the basic abolishment of the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) and the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) is “just a study,” SMC chief Lt. Gen. John Sheridan said Sept. 10, reserving judgment on what might come of its recommendations.
BAE Systems has contacted Bristol Aerospace to see whether the laser seeker it is developing for the Hydra 70 rocket could also be offered on the Canadian company’s more powerful CRV7 weapon, used by several NATO nations. Physically, the guidance section developed for the 2.75-inch diameter Hydra 70 rocket under the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) program will fit on the CRV7, says George Adamakos, business development manager.
The U.S. Department of Defense announced Sept. 10 that it is terminating the U.S. Air Force refueling tanker competition for the time being, and will be shifting money to continue maintaining the aging KC-135 fleet.
SAN DIEGO – Fifteen proposed foreign military sales (FMS) have been announced by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), with all but two of them being made to countries in the Middle East. The slew of FMS – worth about $11.5 billion altogether if none are blocked by Congress – mark the first foreign sale of Terminal High Altitude Air Defense (THAAD) fire units and follow the Bush administration’s plan to boost allied military capability in the region (Aerospace DAILY, Jan. 16).
SAN DIEGO – A now-familiar warning about the perils of a technology work force of diminishing numbers and skill was sounded here Sept. 9 by speakers at the opening session of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics’ (AIAA) annual Space Conference and Exposition. California Lt. Gov. John Garamendi advised industry leaders to take an active part in promoting education. “Your engagement in the education system” is vital, he said. “Make those linkages between your work and the education system.”
SAN DIEGO – NASA says potential delays to the launch of the final space shuttle flight from Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) could force it to push back the key demonstration flight of its Ares successor to mid-2009.
Following the congressionally mandated addition of a fourth satellite, the U.S. Air Force’s Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) program’s total estimated cost has reached roughly $9.24 billion, according to the service. The fourth satellite, combined with some additional development costs associated with the first three spacecraft, have caused the program to breach the 25 percent Nunn-McCurdy cost growth cap (Aerospace DAILY, Aug. 1).
BIG ONE: Northrop Grumman has received a $5.1 billion, 7-year cost plus incentive fee contract award for the design and construction of the Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the company announced Sept. 10. The company’s Shipbuilding sector will perform the work, which includes construction, design activities, engineering services, procurement of materials and hardware to support construction and logistics activities. This new class of carrier replaces the 1960s-era Nimitz-class.
SAN DIEGO – Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) is offering a commercial version of its planned Dragon spacecraft to carry experimental payloads and even deploy small satellites from 2010 onward. Called DragonLab, the vehicle is derived from the free-flying, reusable spacecraft now in development to resupply the International Space Station (ISS) under NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) competition.
SAN DIEGO – NASA plans to defer the preliminary design review of its Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) until around mid-2009 as it contends with key decisions such as the final choice of material for the thermal protection system.
Senate defense appropriators look to provide roughly 98 percent of the Bush administration’s regular fiscal 2009 budget request, including full funding or more for the U.S. Army’s Future Combat Systems, the Missile Defense Agency, Navy shipbuilding and Air Force fighters.
Ground controllers in Xian are testing the optical and infrared imaging systems aboard China’s first two Huanjing disaster monitoring spacecraft following a piggyback launch Sept. 6 onboard a Long March 2C booster. The launch took place at the Taiyuan Space Center south of Beijing. The 1,034-pound Huanjing-1A and -1B satellites each carry four cameras: two CCD cameras with a resolution of 98.4 feet, an infrared camera with a resolution of about 400 feet and an “ultralight image-formation meter” with a resolution of 5 nautical miles.
Longer duration firings of the high-energy laser onboard the U.S. Missile Defense Agency’s Boeing 747 Airborne Laser (ABL) will begin in October-November following the initial, brief “first light” firings onboard the aircraft in ground tests at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.
FRUITFUL FRIGATES: Canada said Sept. 5 it will award two long-term contracts for roughly $2 billion to Lockheed Martin Canada for the combat systems integration (CSI) design, construction and in-service support under the modernization of Canada’s 12 Halifax-class navy frigates. The CSI contract, worth about $1.4 billion, is for upgrading command-and-control systems, redesigning the operations room and reconfiguring the ships’ masts for a new radar suite. The in-service contract, worth $600 million, covers the combat system’s long-term servicing needs.
MRAP PARTS: BAE Systems Survivability Systems, LLC of Fairfield, Ohio, will receive up to $9.8 million more under an existing contract from the Defense Logistics Agency for spare parts for U.S. Army and Marine Corps Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles. Deliveries are scheduled to be completed by Feb. 10, 2009.
