Fuel suppliers and experts will gather with airline representatives Sept. 8-9 at the U.S. Commerce Department to discuss potential results of the pending certification of alternative fuels for commercial aircraft use. Certification of coal or natural gas-to-liquid synthetic, using the Fischer-Tropsch process, is possible as early as December if it is approved by members of the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), a standards-setting agency comprising the major engine manufacturers and fuel authorities.
NASA’s Kennedy Space Center reopened for the first shift Aug. 22 after being closed since Aug. 20 while Tropical Storm Fay stalled over Florida’s Space Coast. Workers at nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station were advised to continue to “shelter in place” while supervisors met at the site to assess conditions for a return to normal operations. A so-called ride-out crew that remained on site at KSC throughout the storm reported “minor damage” to some facilities and some “water intrusion that will require mopping up,” NASA reported.
BREAKING UP: The USS Bunker Hill’s Aegis combat system initialization Aug. 25 will mark the first step in a planned series of ship-activation milestones toward the U.S. Navy’s most modern Aegis-class cruiser, Naval Sea Systems Command officials are proclaiming. Industrial work on Bunker Hill’s combined combat system and hull, mechanical, and electrical modernization effort began in February and should wrap up in early 2009. The Advanced Combat Build 08 program will decouple the Aegis system’s hardware and software, allowing upgrades to them separately, says Rear Adm.
The U.S. Army is planning to wrap up testing of a new digital datalink (DDL) that is expected to reduce interference in controlling its Raven unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) by the end of fiscal 2009, according to Tim Owings, deputy project manager for unmanned aircraft systems for the service’s aviation program executive officer.
GEORGIA RELIEF: The chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee says Congress will take up assistance to the Republic of Georgia – including aid for its damaged military – when lawmakers return after their summer recess. “We will turn our attention to providing the assistance that Georgia needs to rebuild its infrastructure, provide humanitarian relief, aid its damaged military and help shore up its currency,” Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.) said during a trip to Georgia Aug. 22. Berman and Rep.
A controversial program to share classified satellite imagery with nonfederal agencies – including local law enforcement – is one of the unresolved issues Congress faces when it returns from its summer break early next month. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) last October delayed its planned launch of the new National Applications Office (NAO), following complaints from the House Homeland Security Committee about a lack of written guidelines to ensure privacy and civil liberties (Aerospace DAILY, Oct. 3, 2007).
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicated new calendar listing.) Aug. 30 - Sept. 1 — Cleveland National Air Show, “Featuring: U.S. Navy Blue Angels, U.S. Army Golden Knights, Military Demonstrations and Fly-bys, Exhibits, Simulators, Tanks, and More,” Burk Lakefront Airport, Cleveland, Ohio. For more information call 216-781-0747 or go to www.clevelandairshow.com
Rigorous trajectory requirements for a pair of NASA aeronautics experiments probably contributed to a loss of control that forced range-safety destruction of the experimental Alliant Techsystems ALV-X1 launcher early today. Kent Rominger, vice president for advanced programs at ATK, said the “very unique and demanding” trajectory imposed by the Hypersonic Boundary Layer Transition (HyBolt) experiment and the Sub-Orbital Aerodynamic Re-entry Experiment (SOAREX) may have overtaxed vehicle control systems.
WAVERING WAIVER: Members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) are expressing reservations on the wording of the proposed waiver that would allow the U.S.-India civil nuclear cooperation deal to go forward. The exemption for India is required because New Delhi has refused to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which allows countries to be part of worldwide nuclear commerce. India wants a “clean waiver” from the NSG and has made it clear it is unwilling to accept any conditional exemption. The 45-nation NSG is scheduled to meet on Sept. 4-5.
EUROPASAT: International Launch Services (ILS) will launch the S-band EuropaSat spacecraft for Inmarsat aboard a Proton rocket in early 2011 under a newly signed contract. Thales Alenia Space of France is developing the 5,700-kilogram (12,600-pound) EuropaSat based on its Spacebus 4000C3 platform. The satellite will provide mobile broadcast and two-way telecommunications services throughout Europe.
CLOSING WINDOW: The closing window of opportunity for Senate ratification of the U.S.-U.K. Defense Trade Cooperation Treaty is focusing minds on whether the deal will be approved under the present U.S. administration. The treaty has been submitted to both the British Parliament and the U.S. Senate, but has yet to be cleared. Whether there is enough space in the remainder of the U.S. legislative calendar – and whether the Senate will of a mind to approve the treaty – is the source of considerable interest in London.
SNIFF TEST: The U.S. Army Research Development and Engineering Command is awarding General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products around $15.7 million for the first year of a six-year contract for Joint Service Lightweight Standoff Chemical Agent Detector (JSLSCAD) systems and spare parts. General Dynamics’ technology uses a passive infrared detection system that automatically searches for chemical agent vapor clouds.
FLYING HIGH: The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Enterprise Acquisition Gateway for Leading Edge (EAGLE) task order vehicle is too important for technology vendors to ignore, according to Washington-area consultancy Input, especially in fourth quarter FY’ 08, when industry watchers expect a spending spree through EAGLE. Fourth quarter FY ‘0 7 spending through EAGLE was “exceptionally” high, skyrocketing to $2.4 billion, Input says. This is almost quadruple the spending from the previous three quarters of the year combined.
SECURITY DEBATE: Foreign policy and national security will be the topics when Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.) hold their first televised national debate Sept. 26. They will square off at the University of Mississippi for a 90-minute event moderated by Public Television Service newscaster Jim Lehrer. The debate will be broken into nine 9-minute segments. The moderator will introduce a topic and allow each candidate two minutes to comment, followed by five minutes of open discussion. Different formats will be used at the other debates on Oct.
American, French and South Korean aircrews are getting a close look at one of the world’s fabled aircraft – the Indian Air Force’s (IAF) Su-30MKI strike fighter. An Indian air force group of 50 pilots and weapon systems officers – flying eight Su-30MKIs, two Il-78 tankers and an Il-76 transport – are just finishing a month-long deployment to the United States with a training cycle at the latest, annual Red Flag aerial combat exercises based at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev. (Aerospace DAILY, July 10).
ATACMS BOOST: Lockheed Martin has received an $80 million contract from the U.S. Army Aviation & Missile Command for more Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) Unitary missiles. Deliveries for this order, the first since a $194 million order last fall, will begin in August 2010 and end in March 2011. Each ATACMS missile is approximately 13 feet long and two feet in diameter. One missile can reportedly defeat company-sized targets beyond the range of conventional tube or rocket artillery, Defense Technology International reported in June.
The U.S. Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) apparently is having difficulties using performance-based contracting (PBC), ensuring competition and transparency in its overall contracting, and handling the agency’s pending Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) move from Northern Virginia to Ft. Meade, Md., in 2010.
Russia has claimed humanitarian motives in its use of the International Space Station (ISS) to collect overhead imagery of South Ossetia shortly after it invaded the breakaway Georgian province. On Aug. 9 Cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko used a digital camera equipped with an 800mm telephoto lens and a video camera to photograph “after-effects of border conflict operations in the Caucasus,” according to the ISS status report for that day published by NASA on its website.
Combat that’s been talked about for the last century – unmanned systems destroying other unmanned systems – is now a reality following the destruction by an MQ-9 Reaper of a vehicle carrying a remotely controlled explosive device in southeast Iraq. A week ago, the Reaper – the larger, higher-flying, faster and better-armed version of the MQ-1 Predator – dropped a 500-pound laser-guided GBU-12 on the vehicle.
QUICK, SLOW: Second guessing continues as to just when the U.K. Defense Ministry will complete what it originally billed as a quick review of its procurement commitments prior to launching into Planning Round 09. The output is now anticipated in the “autumn.” The Labour Government’s continuing poor performance in the polls – it lags far behind the Conservative opposition – also is calling into question the long-term validity of the review effort.
The competitors for the U.S. Air Force’s $15 billion combat, search and rescue (CSAR-X) helicopter replacement program can get even higher marks for their proposals if they give the service more than what it’s asking for – but they do so at their own risk.
INTELSAT ORDER: Intelsat has picked Orbital Sciences Corp. to build the Intelsat-18 (IS-18) communications satellite. To be based on Orbital’s STAR-2 platform, IS-18 will carry 24 C-band transponders to cover the Northern and Southern Hemispheres and 12 Ku-band transponders to provide services to the United States, French Polynesia, Australia, New Caledonia and other Pacific Islands. IS-18 will replace Intelsat’s IS-701 spacecraft.
The past is the future for Holloman Air Force Base, N.M., where remotely piloted aircraft operations began in 1947, and which is now on the cusp of becoming home for the next Unmanned Aircraft System Formal Training Unit (FTU).
The Forward-Based X-Band Radar-Transportable (FBX-T) radar, which Washington is proposing to position inside the Middle Eastern ally, will be operated entirely by U.S. military personnel to be stationed in a segregated location, according to sources in Israel. The U.S. personnel’s location would be off-limits to Israeli access, similar to proposed radar and missile bases in Poland and the Czech Republic and other U.S. military bases worldwide. The radar station will be established in a remote area in the southern Negev desert.
