ON RESERVE: As the State Department and other agencies begin to develop their roles under President Barack Obama’s recently unveiled Afghanistan-Pakistan (AfPak) plan, the Reserve Officers Association (ROA) cautioned against assigning Reservists to volunteer nonmilitary jobs in Afghanistan. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton recently discussed the possibility of using Reserve officers for nonmilitary jobs supporting efforts in the region, which the ROA said is already happening.
WING TANK MAINTENANCE: Tank Devils will start doing structural wing tank maintenance services for two Spanish Air Force P-3s through a contract signed between EASA CASA and Taurus Aerospace’s Tank Devils on April 21 at Aviaton Week’s MRO Americas conference in Dallas. Work on both aircraft will be performed in Seville, with the first starting in June and the second starting late this summer, said Jose Luis Tova, head of MRO and material support procurement for EADS CASA, which is responsible for maintenance on the Spanish Air Force’s seven P-3s.
MRAP CHANGES: BAE Systems Tactical Vehicle Systems LLP of Sealy, Texas, has been awarded a $19,036,693 contract modification to purchase Capability Insertion Engineering change proposals for 1,800 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, the Defense Department said April 24. The work will be performed at the Kuwait Refurbishment Facility, with final deliveries expected to be completed by July 30, 2010. The Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico, Va., is the contracting activity.
Raytheon officials say the first flight of their Small Diameter Bomb II (SDB II) control test vehicle (CTV) was successful, and the next flight is slated for this summer.
HYBRID SPY: With persistent surveillance one of the key shortfalls emerging from current operations in theater, the U.S. Army is looking for a prototype unmanned hybrid airship, the Long Endurance Multi-payload Vehicle (LEMV), that could be tested in Afghanistan within 18 months. The LEMV is to be able to stay aloft for three weeks at a time, station-keeping at 20,000 feet while carrying a 2,500 pound multi-intelligence payload and operated from a standard Army ground station.
HAZARD-LESS: The United States has now destroyed more than 59 percent of its chemical weapons, including more than 96 percent of the country’s entire nerve agent stockpile. “We understand our obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention, and we are fully committed to the complete destruction of our stockpiles as rapidly and as safely as possible,” declared Robert Mikulak, U.S. Representative to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. U.S. reductions are carried out in Pueblo, Colo., and Umatilla, Ore.
The space shuttle Atlantis will drop to a lower orbit as soon as it releases the Hubble Space Telescope to reduce the risk from orbital debris on the upcoming mission to service the orbiting observatory.
HAVOC DELIVERIES: An initial batch of six Mil Mi-28N Havoc attack helicopters has been delivered, according to the Russian news agency RIA Novosti. The attack helicopters were provided to operational units of the North Caucasus Military District, according to Novosti.
May 6-7, 2009 Hilton Suites Chicago – Magnificent Mile Chicago, IL Proven Tactics on Bird Strike Risk Mitigation Learn more at www.aviationweek.com/events or call +1.212.904.4483. Click here to view the pdf
DROPPING BY: The U.S. Army flew one of its CH-47 helicopters to Chicago-based Northstar Aerospace in a first-of-its-kind visit. According to Northstar, the Army visited the Chinook subcontractor to “underscore the important role the company plays in supporting Army aviation.” Northstar is Boeing’s sole-source contractor of CH-47 transmission components. The aircraft was piloted by Col. Newman Shufflebarger, the Army’s project manager for cargo helicopters, and CW5 Gary Newsom.
Korean Air is close to taking over Korea Aerospace Industries, consolidating the country’s aircraft-building sector into a single company. The airline, which has its own aerospace division, has long expressed an interest in buying its rival, and almost stitched up a deal to do so in 2003. Since major shareholders of Korea Aerospace are now willing to sell, a takeover looks likely — but not inevitable. Management, labor and political opposition could yet get in the way.
The drive to reform the Pentagon’s weapons acquisition system is picking up steam with additional legislation expected to be introduced this week. Leaders of the House Armed Services Committee said April 24 that they plan to introduce their own bipartisan reform bill. A similar bill has cleared the Senate Armed Services Committee and is expected to go to the Senate floor in May.
NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) need to improve management and oversight of the next generation of geostationary satellites to ensure data continuity through 2028, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) April 27 - 29 — 2nd Annual Tactical Vehicles Summit, “Enhancing Survivability in All Terrain,” Washington, D.C. For more information go to www.idga.org/us/tvs April 27 - 30 — 7th Annual Maritime Homeland Security Summit, “Builds Partnerships for Maritime Security and Enhanced Domain Awareness,” For more information go to www.maritimehssummit.com
CARGO CANCELLATION: Rumors that the U.S. Army’s Joint Cargo Aircraft (JCA) program will be canceled caused frustration April 23 during a House Armed Services Air Land Subcommittee hearing on Army aircraft programs. The story was first reported April 21 in The Hill, and Chairman Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii) accused the Pentagon of leaking the information. He was annoyed the Army could not answer more questions about the program during the hearing because the defense budget has not yet been made public. Brig. Gen.
Federal lawmakers will almost certainly have to again consider whether to export F-22s to Japan, a recent Congressional Research Service (CRS) report says. “The debate over the export of F-22s, though not new, has become more pointed as the end of procurement funding (FY2009), and the closure of the assembly line, nears,” the CRS said in its report. “Whether to continue production of the F-22 is an issue that will confront the 111th Congress early in its first session.” It’s a tough issue, the CRS said.
The U.S. Coast Guard is hoping the Great Lakes Icebreaker Replacement Act (H.R. 1747) will help it build a new ship to add to its small icebreaker fleet.
The U.S. Army’s revived Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH) program may not end up being a helicopter at all, depending on the results of the service’s analysis of alternatives (AOA) on its aircraft fleet.
The slowdown in civil aerostructures business is forcing Saab to restructure and lay off another 300 employees, with more furloughs possible. “There has been too low production volume,” says SAAB Chief Executive Officer Ake Svensson. As a result, “we are reviewing the organization of the whole aeronautics segment.” More focus will be put on aerosystems and the continued push to sell more Gripen fighters.
LOS ANGELES – Scaled Composites has taken the unusual step of going public with an update on flight-tests of its WhiteKnightTwo (WK2) mothership for Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo space tourism venture following a tail-scrape incident on the latest test flight at Mojave, Calif., on April 20.
