SPRINGFIELD, Va. – Energy as a source of geopolitical power – and stress – is changing global security and has major implications for U.S. defense needs, according to an analysis by David Potts of Lockheed Martin for the Government Electronics and Information Technology Association (GEIA).
Engineers working on the early design of NASA’s planned Ares V heavy lift launch vehicle have about 600 aerodynamic data points on the big rocket’s performance during ascent after a series of wind tunnel tests run with a 15-in. outer mold line model. Based on the latest configuration of NASA’s planned next-generation moon rocket, the tests simulate the aerodynamic loads the vehicle will experience from shortly after liftoff until it drops its twin solid-fuel boosters at a speed of about Mach 4.3.
MILESTONE PASSED: Northrop Grumman announced it has completed successful qualification testing of single board computer (SBC) engineering models. The Maxwell Technologies-built SBCs will handle the hundreds of millions of instructions per second (MIPS) involved in spacecraft control and data processing on the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS). The qualification level tests simulated the dynamic and thermal environments encountered during launch and operation in space.
SPACECRAFT AWARD: Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) says it has won a contract for a high-powered spacecraft for “one of the world’s premier satellite operators.” A spokeswoman says the satellite will be based on its 1300-series design and is for a longtime customer who is not ready to announce yet. SS/L announced the win in advance because it will materially affect its earnings, in compliance with Securities and Exchange Commission rules prior to the announcement of its third-quarter results.
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LONDON – The first of the Royal Saudi Air Force’s (RSAF) Tranche 2 Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft was flown Oct. 20 from BAE Systems’ Warton facility in the north of England. Saudi Arabia has 72 Typhoons on order, with formal delivery of the type to the RSAF expected to begin in June or July 2009. October also saw the start of deliveries of Tranche 2 aircraft to the U.K. Royal Air Force (RAF). The RAF will receive 91 Tranche 2 aircraft. The first two were delivered to RAF Coningsby Oct. 21.
PARIS – The European Space Agency (ESA) has decided to slip its ExoMars mission from 2013 to 2016 to allow more time to put together financing for the lander/rover project. A decision to rescope the mission to carry a much bigger array of scientific instruments has boosted the price tag to more than 1.2 billion euros ($1.6 billion), from 650 million euros originally, and ESA member states, in particular Italy and Germany, have made it clear they are not willing to put any more money into the initiative.
MDAC AGENDA: The U.S. Defense Department’s Missile Defense Advisory Committee will meet late this month and early November over developing and deploying space-based sensors and interceptors for U.S. homeland defense, as well as deployed forces and allies, from ballistic missile attack. The committee will also discuss countering adversary space systems and anti-satellite weapon systems. Topics tentatively scheduled for classified discussion Oct.
The contract award for the U.S. Air Force’s beleaguered $15 billion combat, search and rescue (CSAR-X) helicopter replacement program is likely to be slipped until May or June of next year, according to sources familiar with the acquisition. The Air Force has been steadfastly standing by its stated plan to award the contract this fall – with a Defense Acquisition Board (DAB) review scheduled for December – but additional review of the contract is taking longer than expected, sources say (Aerospace DAILY, Oct. 15).
APACHE AWARD: U.S. Army Aviation & Missile Command has awarded an $11 million contract to QinetiQ North America’s Systems Engineering Group to provide airworthiness and qualification engineering to the Apache Helicopter Division of the Aviation Engineering Directorate. QinetiQ is to provide review of airworthiness documents and system safety issues and risk management assessments.
BOMBS AWAY: The U.S. Navy has said it took delivery of its first Lockheed Martin-led Dual-Mode Laser-Guided Bomb (DMLGB) under a contract valued at $260 million. The DMLGB is supposed to provide Navy F/A-18s and Marine Corps AV-8Bs the ability to drop a precision weapon with a Global Positioning System-aided inertial navigation system (INS) or laser-guidance in all weather conditions. It entails a retrofit to an existing laser-guided bomb kit, upgrading the existing computer control group with an INS/GPS capability.
AXCESS POINT: BAE Systems has demonstrated networked communications technology that bridges dissimilar radio systems. The so-called Assured Exchange of Communications and Enterprise Services System (Axcess) is designed to enable pilots and soldiers to communicate with Internet protocol-based radios that span multiple bandwidths and frequencies. The company demonstrated the system during the U.S. Air Force’s Electronic Systems Group’s Capstone II test event in Patuxent River, Md.
MAINTAINING TIES: Boeing officially awarded Alsalam Aircraft Co. – a Saudi Arabian company partially owned by Boeing Industrial Technology Group – a three-year, $29 million contract to provide programmed depot maintenance for the Royal Saudi Air Force C-130 fleet. Under the contract, Alsalam will perform repairs, inspections, maintenance and modifications and repainting work for 50 C-130 transport aircraft at its facilities in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The Pentagon and other federal agencies should develop a more cohesive plan for collecting, storing and checking biometrics data, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) says in a recent report. GAO recommends that DOD establish guidance specifying a standard set of biometrics data for collection during military operations in the field, and that the secretaries of Defense and Homeland Security address biometrics data sharing gaps in accordance with U.S. and international law.
Lockheed Martin CFO Bruce Tanner on Oct. 21 downplayed the financial effect if the Pentagon’s embattled Transformational Satellite (TSAT) program is shelved – as is now expected – and asserted that Lockheed’s position as the provider of TSAT’s predecessor should leave it well situated. Citing the company’s Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellite system, Tanner told analysts during the company’s financial earnings call that “TSAT is kind of the follow-on to secure communications.
Sierra Nevada Corp. agreed Oct. 21 to pay $38 million to acquire SpaceDev, an 11-year-old company near San Diego that produces a wide range of space products, including microsatellites and maneuvering orbit transfer vehicles.
ACQUISITION STRATEGY: Rockwell Collins intends to buy SEOS, a global supplier of highly realistic visual display products for commercial and military flight simulators, the company announced Oct. 17. After the deal is completed, which is expected within a month, SEOS will operate under the Rockwell Collins name and become part of the Simulation and Training Solutions unit.
The backshell for the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) has arrived at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., as NASA scrambles to get the troubled rover mission ready for its launch next fall. The backshell is half of the two-part Lockheed Martin-built aeroshell that will encapsulate the golf cart-sized rover and protect it from atmospheric friction when it makes its descent to the surface of Mars. The aeroshell is 15 feet in diameter, which is nearly twice the size of the aeroshells that protected the Mars Exploration Rovers.
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An independent review team is set to meet Oct. 22 to assess risks associated with returning the Hubble Space Telescope to operation before astronauts visit the orbiting observatory next year for a servicing mission. The review team, headed by Wallops Flight Facility director John Campbell, and the Hubble program itself are continuing to work on correcting the two on-board anomalies that stymied controllers just as they were wrapping up a complex set of commands designed to reactivate the telescope after an automatic shutdown Sept. 27.
The U.S. Coast Guard is estimating that commodity price increases and a steep exchange rate between the euro and the U.S. dollar will drive $100 million in cost growth on the next new National Security Cutter. But the final price tag remains nebulous. Rear Adm. Gary Blore, Coast Guard Acquisition chief, said, “We won’t have a proposal [on the fourth ship] until this spring. Then we’ll know what industry says the cost impact will be.”
United Technologies (UTC) has named Hamilton Sundstrand President David Hess, 53, to succeed Stephen Finger as president of Pratt & Whitney when Finger retires Jan. 1, 2009. Hess led Hamilton Sundstrand as the leading component supplier for the Boeing 787 with eight major packages comprising 1,300 major components. The company also won major awards to supply the Airbus A380, Joint Strike Fighter, Sikorsky CH-53K helicopter and Embraer and Mitsubishi regional jet families.
