SHUTTLE SHUFFLE: The space shuttle Atlantis was rolled from Launch Complex 39A back to the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center Oct. 20, clearing the way for the rollover of Endeavour to 39A from Complex 39B for launch around Nov. 14 on mission STS-126 to the International Space Station (ISS). Atlantis was to have launched by now on a servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope, but malfunctions onboard the observatory have forced a servicing mission delay until at least February 2009. Endeavour was to roll to Pad 39A by Oct.
The French army has begun operations with its SA341/342 Gazelle helicopters in Afghanistan. The rotorcraft were sent there in the wake of a disastrous August patrol in which 10 French military personnel died. Lack of air cover was partly blamed for the mission gone wrong, prompting soul-searching in France and the decision to increase the helicopter force in Afghanistan. The Gazelles will eventually operate the HOT anti-tank missile, but that hasn’t happened yet. The helos are there to provide both reconnaissance and close air support if needed.
A small battle is brewing across Capitol Hill over whether Congress genuinely appropriated $5 million to fund a study toward space-based interceptors that conservative advocates have long desired and Democratic-led critics have equally opposed.
NASA’s Interstellar Boundary Explorer mission (IBEX) was launched successfully from Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean Oct. 19, kicking off its planned two-year mission to map the outer edge of the solar system. Equatorial launch via Orbital Sciences’ Pegasus booster took place at 1:47 p.m. EDT, and the spacecraft separated from the third stage of the rocket at 1:53 p.m. The operations team is continuing to check out spacecraft subsystems, according to NASA. Heliosphere
MINUTEMAN SECURITY: Boeing announced Oct. 20 that it will manufacture and deliver control system hardware and modification kits to improve security at more than 450 Minuteman III facilities as part of the U.S. Air Force’s Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Security Modernization Program. Boeing will perform the production work under a $10 million subcontract to Northrop Grumman Mission Systems. The 42-month contract has a maximum value of $27 million. The security systems are called Fast Rising B-Plug Kits, and essentially are improved access hatches.
NAVY Bechtel Plant Machinery Inc., Pittsburgh, Pa., is being awarded a $348,986,474 cost plus fixed fee contract for naval nuclear propulsion components. The work will be performed in Pittsburgh, Pa., (77 percent) and Schenectady, N.Y., (23 percent). Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. No completion date or additional information is provided on Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program contracts. The Naval Sea Systems Command is the contracting activity (N00024-09-C-2108). ARMY
Piasecki is preparing to modify the X-49A SpeedHawk for high-speed flight-testing under a second program phase, and the firm indicates that Capitol Hill and the Pentagon are signaling their support to keep pursuing the unique rotorcraft. The company’s confidence has grown recently after a period of ambiguity over the sole prototype. CEO John Piasecki says U.S. Army funding is in place to begin work on Phase 2, while the Navy has signaled that it will allow Piasecki to push the X-49A beyond the SH-60F’s approved flight envelope (Aerospace DAILY, June 11).
The U.S. military has undertaken numerous efforts to tackle recruiting and retention issues, but a dramatic overhaul of compensation and personnel management systems may be the only way to effect true change, according to a recent report by the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA).
The U.S. Navy is considering deploying its first Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to an air base near Iraq to experiment with its ability to conduct maritime surveillance, according to defense officials. Navy officials declined to discuss the exact location for a deployment. “Longer-term options for the system may include additional deployment situations – allowing the system to demonstrate its unique persistent maritime ISR capabilities in various overseas environments,” says Chuck Wagner, a spokesman for Naval Air Systems Command.
Saab will lay off more personnel in an effort to expand its cost savings program to counter several negative trends in its commercial and military business. The Swedish aerospace and defense company had already set a 1 billion Swedish kronor cost savings program through 2010. Now it has said it will cut its work force by another 500 to reach 1.5 billion Swedish kronor at that time. The cuts are to come mainly through attrition.
LONDON – Top managers of Europe’s aerospace companies have written in concert to their respective governments warning of the risks to the commercial aerospace sector from the current economic upheaval. Finance and industry ministers of Europe’s leading aerospace nations, including France, Germany, Italy, and the U.K., are all understood to have been sent letters last week. Senior managers of European aerospace companies discussed the issues facing the sector earlier this month, agreeing on key points to be made to their respective governments.
SMALL STUFF: Iridium Satellite says its new Iridium 9555 handset introduces a smaller size, brighter display, a speaker phone, programmable international codes for dialing and improved short messaging services and e-mail capabilities. Prior Iridium handsets have been far larger than the best cell phones on terrestrial networks. The update to the current 9505A handset is 27 percent lighter, 30 percent smaller and includes an internally retractable antenna. Talk time is 4 hours. The 9555 was displayed Oct. 20 at Iridium’s annual partner conference in Miami.
SUFFOLK CENTER: Boeing opened a new experimentation center in Suffolk, Va., Oct. 20, to help government customers with simulation services. Customers will be able to examine new concepts of operations, explore options, analyze performance, refine requirements, enable rapid development and testing of capabilities and cut risk, Boeing said. The company’s Advanced Systems’ Analysis, Modeling, Simulation and Experimentation organization built and will operate the center.
TSAT TOPPLED: An acquisition decision memorandum terminating the existing Transformational Satellite competition – after more than $1 billion of technology maturation funding went into the effort – is awaiting signature by Pentagon acquisition czar John Young. But a Pentagon spokesman says the program isn’t quite dead yet. “We have seen the news reports about TSAT, however, as of right now, no final decision has been made on program status...
NEW DELHI – The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is all set to launch its Chandrayaan-1 lunar orbiter on an upgraded polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV-C11) in the early hours of Oct. 22. Some 700 scientists and technologists are working around the clock to send India’s first spacecraft mission beyond Earth orbit from the Satish Dhawan Space Center spaceport, known as SHAR (Sriharikota Range), located on an island in the Bay of Bengal about 80 kilometers north of Chennai.
Eurocopter has signed a contract with Ukraine’s Ministry of Emergencies for the acquisition of two EC145 helicopters for rescue, emergency medical evacuation and firefighting. The aircraft, to be delivered in 2009, will be based around the Kiev where the Ukrainian “Ministry of Emergencies and Affairs of Population Protection from the Consequences of Chernobyl Catastrophe” says it will be able to react quickly and efficiently to emergency situations that require the use of helicopters.
The U.S. Defense Department’s cancellation of the Army’s Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH) program has set off a flurry of activity within the service. The Army’s operations director, Lt. Gen. James Thurman, told reporters early Oct. 17 that he will do everything he can to push new requirements back to DOD’s high-level Joint Requirements Oversight Council by January 2009 and re-open competition for an aircraft.
RE-ALLIED: U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and South Korean counterpart Lee Sang-hee say the United States will continue to provide “U.S.-unique capabilities” to the countries’ combined defense against North Korea, according to a new joint communiqué. Gates also reaffirmed South Korea’s protection under the so-called nuclear “umbrella” that the United States affords Pacific allies so that they do not have to develop their own nuclear weapons. The defense ministers Oct. 17 further praised legislation in Congress that would “elevate” South Korea’s status for U.S.
NAVAL FIRES: The National Defense Industrial Association’s (NDIA) Strike, Land Attack & Air Defense Division will study approaches to joint naval fires for around 2020 at the request of the U.S. Navy. The study, commissioned by the Director of Surface Forces (OPNAV N86), will assess the effectiveness of a variety of ship-based weapon systems, especially in the littorals and against moving targets. Other conditions include their performance in adverse weather and their ability to minimize collateral damage within the overall mission.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicated new calendar listing.) Oct. 20 - 23 — 13th Annual Expeditionary Warfare Conference, 21st Century Expeditionary Warfare Challenges, Opportunities and the New Maritime Strategy, Marriott Baypoint Resort, Panama City, Fla. For more information go to www.ndia.org/meetings/9700
CRYPTIC PURCHASE: Thales has completed the acquisition of nCipher, a U.K. company specialized in encryption productions. The purchase, for £50.7 million ($88 million), will further reinforce Thales’ position in the information and communications system security business, building on previous acquisitions such as the security activities of Alcatel-Lucent. nCipher is active in application security, payment authentication/identity systems, network security and secure telephony.
