Sikorsky has begun flight-tests of the CH-148 Cyclone maritime helicopter for the Canadian Forces, with the delayed first flight taking place from the company’s development center in Florida Nov. 15. Sikorsky was awarded a C$1.8 billion ($1.5 billion) contract in November 2004 to build 28 CH-148s to replace Canada’s long-serving Sea King ship-based helicopters. First delivery was originally scheduled for the end of this month, but has been delayed by development issues.
NASHUA, N.H. – BAE Systems is demonstrating new communications algorithms that can compress as many as five simultaneous, stealthy radio conversations into the same time and frequency slot. BAE Systems’ demonstration is part of the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Interference Multiple Access (DIMA) communications program.
POWER OUTAGE: An MQ-1B Predator unmanned aircraft crashed at Balad Air Base, Iraq, on June 2 because of a catastrophic electrical system overload, a U.S. Air Force accident investigation has concluded. The overload was due to a failure of either the number 2 alternator or a cable between it and the dual alternator regulator, which led to a primary control failure. Eight Predators were lost in theater during fiscal 2008.
U.S. Defense Department leaders may have effectively choked off further F-22 procurement through their narrow interpretation of fiscal 2009 defense lawmaking. Despite some congressional insistence that the Pentagon spend $143 million in advance procurement for 20 F-22s in FY ’09, Pentagon acquisition czar John Young on Nov. 19 stood by a DOD announcement last week to allocate only $50 million for long-lead parts for four aircraft.
LOS ANGELES – Results from the U.S. Army’s C4ISR On-The-Move Event 08 exercise last summer at Fort Dix, N.J., indicate that the network-centric operations (NCO) capability is mature enough to be fielded, Boeing says.
LAUNCH ORDER: Honeywell has received a $52 million contract for the first production batch of F124-200 engines to power Alenia Aermacchi’s M-346 advanced jet trainer. The Italian air force is launch customer for the twin-turbofan M-346, with an order for 14 aircraft to be funded by the country’s economic development ministry. Honeywell also is preparing to offer an afterburning version of the engine, the F125IN, to re-engine the Indian air force’s Sepecat Jaguars. A request for proposals is expected early next year.
NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) has arrived at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., for final preparations prior to its scheduled January launch aboard an Orbital Sciences Taurus rocket. Built by Orbital and dedicated to the study of carbon dioxide and the carbon cycle in the atmosphere, OCO will be launched into a 438-mile-high near-polar sun-synchronous orbit inclined 98.2 degrees to the equator. From there it will map the globe once every 16 days, flying in formation with five other spacecraft in the NASA-led A-Train constellation.
Hawker Beechcraft has been awarded a $171.5 million contract by the U.S. Air Force’s Big Safari special-mission modification group to supply 23 King Air 350ER twin-turboprops for ISR missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, with an option for six more.
POWER UP: Boeing has completed Avionics Modernization Program (AMP) upgrades on its third C-130. The aircraft moved into ground test and evaluation at Boeing’s San Antonio, Texas, facility Sept. 26. The company illuminated the aircraft’s electrical systems on Oct. 1. During the 10-month installation, AMP 3 received a fully integrated, night-vision-goggle compatible, digital glass cockpit and a new digital avionics system. Boeing said successful power up is an important step toward first flight, which is scheduled for February 2009.
DOWN SIZING: Boeing announced Nov. 19 it will cut about 800 positions at its Integrated Defense Systems facility in Wichita, Kan., in 2009. The company attributed the work force reductions to the end of some programs and the delay in the U.S. Air Force tanker replacement program. The layoffs will extend to both salaried and hourly workers. Sixty-day layoff notices will be delivered to about 76 employees on Nov. 21, and the balance of the notices will proceed throughout next year.
Ball Aerospace is getting an early crack at integrating a key sensor into the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Preparatory Project (NPP). Northrop Grumman, which is building the main NPOESS constellation, delivered the Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES) sensor a week ahead of schedule, according to the company. Based on 25 years of scanning radiometer technology at the Redondo Beach, Calif.-based company, CERES instruments already are flying on NASA’s Earth Observing System (EOS) spacecraft.
STEVENS OUT: Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), perhaps the most powerful lawmaker in aerospace and defense issues in Washington, has lost his re-election bid, marking the end of a historic Senate career that came to rule over everything from the Pentagon’s purse to NASA and FAA legislation. Stevens conceded Nov. 19 to Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich, whose win also boosts Democratic control of the 100-person Senate to at least 58 members. Stevens was found guilty by a jury Oct. 27 on all seven counts of making false statements on Senate financial documents.
The current growth plan for the U.S. Army is not sufficient, according to service secretary Pete Geren, and the service will either have to increase numbers or shrink demand if it is to be successful. Geren enumerated challenges facing the Army for an audience at the Center for National Policy Nov. 18. Properly sizing the Army was at the top of his list, which also included full spectrum readiness, better preparing Guard and Reserve components for operations, improving and streamlining contracting and acquisitions and family support. Growing
The U.S. Air Force and the Bush administration have themselves to blame for failing to gain the necessary funding and support to secure the number of F-22 Raptors the service says is necessary, according to a recent draft report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). The Air Force and administration have consistently failed to justify the strategic need for the Raptors the service wants, and the F-22 is but one example of a continuing trend for military procurement, says the report, released last month.
ROME – Finmeccanica has improved both revenue and profit through the first nine months of the year, although the company’s debt continues to increase, before even accounting for the costs of the DRS Technologies acquisition. Nevertheless, notwithstanding the global economic slowdown, the company led by Pier Francesco Guarguaglini confirms its outlook for the whole of 2008.
The chairman of the House Armed Services’ air and land forces subcommittee says he’ll focus on restoring military readiness and resetting war-battered personnel and equipment in the coming congressional session. Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii) tells Aerospace DAILY his panel’s priorities will mirror those of House Armed Services Chairman Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) “in the sense that readiness will be the keystone and the foundation for whatever we do.”
Northrop Grumman has begun flight-testing its Scalable Agile Beam Radar (SABR) for retrofit to the F-16. The development comes as industry awaits a U.S. government policy decision on the exportability of active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar technology.
LONDON – Short-term funding and policy issues threaten the future well-being of the U.K. defense industrial base, and by extension the country’s military capabilities, senior industry lobbyists here are claiming. Mike Turner, chairman of Britain’s Defense Industries Council and a former BAE Systems CEO, told the British Parliament’s defense committee Nov. 18 that funding pressures and a failure to adequately support the long-term equipment program risk severe consequences for the industrial base there.
SPACE NET: Engineers from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory have transmitted dozens of space images to and from the Epoxi spacecraft, marking what the agency calls the first step in creating “an interplanetary Internet.” The team used software called Disruption-Tolerant Networking (DTN), which sends information using a method that differs from the normal Internet’s TCP/IP. Engineers began a series of DTN demonstrations in October.
AVIATIONWEEK DT&R March 11 - 12, 2009 National Press Club Washington, DC -- New Administration -- New Priorities -- New Focus CHANGE — the defining word of the 2008 presidential campaign will come to defense planning, budgeting and programming.
SIMULTANEOUS SATS: Raytheon, builder of the U.S. Navy’s Multiband Terminal, announced Nov. 18 it has demonstrated simultaneous communications using low, medium and extended data rate wave forms. The company is under a $1.1 billion contract with the Navy that will lead to worldwide deployment of the Multiband Terminal on more than 300 ships, submarines and shore stations. The recent demonstration of simultaneous communications is the first of its kind, according to Raytheon, and was achieved using advanced extremely high frequency satellite simulators.
PARIS – Dassault Aviation has struck a deal to enter exclusive talks to buy the 20.8 percent stake in Thales now owned by Alcatel-Lucent. Details are to be worked out by mid-December. The agreement leaves EADS, which also had ambitions to take over Thales, on the sidelines. Dassault has offered a €38-per-share price for the Thales stake. Dassault already holds 5 percent in Thales and was considering selling its stake before making the bid. The maker of the Rafale fighter and business jets signaled its wider interest in Thales last month.
Astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper lost a bag of tools overboard Nov. 18 as she and fellow spacewalker Steve Bowen started the next step in a complex station-repair process that won’t be finished until 2010. Bowen had a duplicate set of tools with him, and extravehicular activity (EVA) overseers at Mission Control Center-Houston were hopeful the pair would be able to finish the first EVA of the STS-126 International Space Station (ISS) logistics and repair mission as planned.
AIR CAV: Boeing’s F-model CH-47 Chinook has been fielded by soldiers in the 1st Cavalry Division in Ft. Hood, Texas. This is the third unit to field the aircraft since it was certified combat-ready in July 2007. The company fielding the aircraft has conducted extensive exercises to simulate air assault, resupply and transport operations in combat. The new helicopter features a modernized airframe, Rockwell Collins’ Common Avionics Architecture System (CAAS) cockpit and BAE’s Digital Advanced Flight Control System (DAFCS).
SAN DIEGO – The global economic crisis is choking off financing for some suppliers of aerospace and defense (A&D) components, forcing some original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to step in to keep their supply chains running.
