EADS Astrium has inked a long-term framework agreement with Antrix, the commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organization, to launch the company’s Earth observation satellites on India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).
Textron Inc., the parent of Cessna Aircraft, Bell Helicopter and Textron Systems, was added Oct. 1 to the New York Stock Exchange’s list of companies that cannot be shorted, becoming the latest beneficiary of a temporary U.S. Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) ban on short selling to calm tumultuous financial markets.
Turkey has formally started the competition to provide two air and missile defense systems to the country’s armed forces. Bids for both the Low Altitude Air Defense Missile System (LALADMIS) and the medium altitude air defense missile system are due Feb. 16, 2009; companies have until the end of this month to formally receive the request for proposals.
ALL-AROUND DEAL: Sikorsky Aircraft said Sept. 30 that it is partnering with Carson Helicopters to launch a modernization program for the S-61 helicopters. “The Sikorsky Modernization Program will breathe new life into this iconic symbol of rotorcraft excellence, providing the enhancements needed to perform effectively in high/hot operating conditions and to put this aircraft back to duty for years to come,” claimed David Adler, president of Sikorsky Aerospace Services.
South Africa has accepted the first four fighters under an order for 26 Gripen C/Ds. A Sept. 30 DAILY article incorrectly identified the type of those four Gripens.
BLACK BUDGET: Classified acquisition funding has more than doubled in real terms since fiscal 1995, according to Washington watchdogs, and 18 percent of the Defense Department’s requested acquisition funding is for classified, or “black,” programs. The findings, under OpenTheGovernment.org’s latest annual Secrecy Report Card, try to identify trends in public access to government information. Black funding includes $14.4 billion in procurement and $17.5 billion in research and development (R&D) funding.
ALABAMA MISSILE: Boeing announced Sept. 30 the August delivery of the first production Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) kinetic warhead kit built in Huntsville, Ala. The delivery came almost one year to the day after Boeing announced it would transfer its missile defense production work from Anaheim, Calif., to Huntsville. The placement of the SM-3 production work in Huntsville expands production capability and co-locates Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense production with similar missile defense activities. Boeing received approval from the Missile Defense Agency and the U.S.
A relatively small $125 million contract to Northrop Grumman signals a potentially big shakeout in the world of electronic attack (EA) and network-centric operations, which many consider the heart of future joint aviation concepts.
The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) is using six new “phenomenologies,” or methods, by which to collect and analyze data to help soldiers in the field and war planners. They include what Navy Vice Adm. Robert Murrett, the Pentagon’s NGA director, calls “gravitometrics,” which helps locate underground passageways. The sensor used is a gravitometer.
Israel requested a possible purchase of 25 F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) aircraft, with an option for 50 more – including short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing (STOVL) versions – the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) announced Sept. 29. The total value of the contract, if all options are exercised, could reach $15.2 billion. The initial buy would be 25 conventional-takeoff-and-landing (CTOL) aircraft with an option to purchase an additional 50 CTOL and STOVL aircraft.
BIG HAUL: Oshkosh Defense has been awarded a new $180 million contract by U.S. Marine Corps Systems Command for more than 1,500 reducible-height armor kits to be supplied to the Marine Corps for the Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement (MTVR) fleet. MTVR is an all-terrain logistics vehicle used by the Marines and Navy Seabees, and the kits will meet the service’s requirements of transporting armored MTVRs at a reduced height of 8 feet 2 inches to allow the vehicles to be stored on previously inaccessible decks on prepositioning ships.
The $630 billion-plus stopgap spending bill signed into law by President Bush includes $487.7 billion to fund the Defense Department and more than $40 billion to fund the Homeland Security Department through the end of fiscal 2009.
MISSILE MODELING: Science Applications International Corp. has received two task orders from the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command (AMCOM) to provide modeling and simulation to the Army Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center’s Systems Simulation and Development Directorate. Both orders run five years and their combined value is $160 million, if all options are exercised. Work will be performed primarily at Redstone Arsenal, Ala., and falls under AMCOM’s Expedited Professional and Engineering Support Services contract.
House Armed Services Committee (HASC) members have written Defense Secretary Robert Gates to express concern over the U.S. Army’s plan to cut big legacy programs to fund Future Combat Systems (FCS), urging the Pentagon chief not to sacrifice older platforms for new under the next long-term budget plan.
A Russian Dnepr-1 rocket orbited a Thai surveillance spacecraft, Theos, from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan last night, following the resolution of a long overflight dispute between the Kazakh and Uzbek governments. The dispute, which concerned possible downrange damage from the first stage of Dnepr boosters launched from Baikonur, had held up the mission for months. It was originally due to launch in late 2007 (Aerospace DAILY, Sept. 5).
Northrop Grumman’s Oblique Flying Wing (OFW) program will not proceed to an X-plane flight demonstrator. The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) confirms that OFW has concluded following the preliminary design effort. The OFW was a tailless variable-geometry flying wing designed to combine long subsonic loiter endurance with high supersonic dash speed. By increasing sweep as the aircraft accelerated, the leading edge always remained within the shock cone, reducing drag.
FINAL LANDING: Regulators at the U.S. Defense Department have issued a final rule changing the conditions under which DOD may waive a prohibition on entering into a service contract to acquire a military flight simulator. Section 832 of the fiscal 2007 defense authorization act banned the award of a defense service contract for simulators unless DOD determines that a waiver is necessary for national security purposes and provides an economic analysis to the congressional defense committees.
BRITISH TRAINERS: Boeing and the U.S. Air Force celebrated the opening of the F-15E Mission Training Center (MTC) at Royal Air Force Lakenheath in Suffolk, U.K., on Sept. 30. The center began operations in April 2008 and has supported 350 training missions so far while maintaining a 100- percent availability rate, the company says.
Lockheed Martin is studying widebody derivatives of its Hercules military airlifter able to carry larger loads, but believes the “C-130XL” would only be a niche product and not a replacement for its C-130J tactical transport. The C-130XL is one of several concepts being studied to fill the “white space” requirement for intra-theater transport of heavy U.S. Army equipment in the 2020 timeframe, says Jim Grant, vice president of business development for global mobility.
NASA is facing major disruption to its planned space shuttle and Ares 1-X test flight schedules triggered by the Sept. 26 system failure on the Hubble Space Telescope, and will not know the full extent of the delays until Goddard Space Flight Center engineers complete health checks of a replacement part.
The U.S. Army’s long-term budget plan for fiscal 2010-2015, called the Program Objective Memorandum (POM), shows nearly $45 billion in plus-ups for the controversial Future Combat Systems (FCS), at the expense of legacy platforms like Stryker and Abrams. The Army is presenting its modernization goals to DOD for evaluation, with billions of dollars devoted to fielding all of FCS. The first so-called “spinout” set of technologies is supposed to be on its way to lighter infantry brigade combat teams (IBCTs), while heavier-equipped BCTs are next in line.
The U.S. Air Force is considering initiating a second government-industry cooperative project to host an experimental ballistic missile warning sensor on a commercial spacecraft after crafting a first-of-a-kind deal earlier this year, according to a senior service official.
KILLER BEE: Raytheon Company’s KillerBee unmanned aircraft system (UAS) demonstrated its interoperability, integration and functionality during a test in early September. During the demonstration, Raytheon flight operations crew simulated a combat environment by delivering the KillerBee system to a remote location via Humvees. The mission used U.S. Marine Corps combat operations center hardware and an operator controlled the KillerBee with a variant of Raytheon’s Universal Control System.
