Science teams have gained access to a new platform for long-endurance, high-altitude missions now that a pair of RQ-4 Global Hawks have joined the inventory at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards, Calif. Working in cooperation with Global Hawk maker Northrop Grumman, the Dryden flight team’s first mission is expected in April or May 2009 for the Airborne Science Program headed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.
POWER EXCHANGE: Russia and Canada are to develop a turbo-shaft variant of the Pratt & Whitney Canada PW127 to power the Mil Mi-38 medium-lift helicopter. A memorandum of understanding covering development and production of the PW127TS was signed May 15 between Russian Helicopters Corp., the Ufa-based engine manufacturer UMPO, the Central Institute of Aero Engines and Pratt & Whitney Canada. Russian certification of the PW127TS engine is planned for 2011, with the Mi-38 to enter service in 2012.
SKYNET: Arianespace has pushed back the launch of the U.K. military communications satellite Skynet 5C to the night of May 30-31 to run unspecified launch vehicle checks. The launch, which also will orbit the Turksat 3A telecom satellite, had been scheduled for May 23.
SHARED SUPPORT: The British Defense Ministry is considering purchasing 200 common mission support systems for its AgustaWestland Future Lynx and WAH-64 Apache helicopters. The terminal would be used to provide the aircrew with a mission rehearsal tool, with the ability to upload and download data from the terminal to the helicopter. If procured, the mission support system will enter service with the Apache by the end of 2010.
Lockheed Martin’s GPS IIIA win, announced May 15, could lock the company into a long-term relationship with the U.S. Air Force, potentially edging Boeing out of the precision timing and navigation market. GPS III consists, potentially, of three blocks of satellites. Col. Dave Madden, director of the GPS program office at the Space and Missile Systems Center in Los Angeles, says the Air Force’s intent is to “have a long-term relationship with one partner,” though the service can reopen bidding at any time in the future.
If it is selected by the U.S. Army, Northrop Grumman and Oshkosh’s version of the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) will be the first Army vehicle to be powered by diesel-electric drive.
SHORT FUZE: Boeing will have 33 months to demonstrate the effectiveness of Guidance Integrated Fuzing (GIF) technology developed under the Seeker Integrated Target Endgame Sensor (SITES) program. The $5.2 million U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Task 2 contract is designed to help Boeing develop fuzing capability for SITES that will reduce weight on the Joint Dual Role Air Dominance Missile (JDRADM).
The NASA Phoenix Mars lander, carrying the most complex laboratory hardware ever sent to the surface of another planet, is receiving final commands prior to its May 25 powered descent to the Martian surface. Two final maneuvers are possible to tweak the trajectory toward a 60-mile long landing ellipse on a north polar plane just south of the planet’s permanent polar ice cap.
MASER: Researchers backed by the European Space Agency will begin evaluating results of four microgravity experiments in fluid physics and metallurgy following a successful sounding rocket mission from the Esrange Space Center in the Swedish Arctic. The Maser 11 mission on a two-stage solid-fuel rocket based on the Brazilian VSB 30 first stage reached 252 kilometers (157 miles) in altitude May 15, providing 6 minutes, 26 seconds of microgravity for the experiment package in its suborbital trajectory.
SUPPLEMENTAL SIDESTEP: The Senate is expected to take up the contentious supplemental bill to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan this week – possibly as soon as May 19. The $193.9 billion measure cleared the Senate Appropriations Committee last week loaded with non-defense spending amendments. President Bush has threatened to veto any version that tries to set policy for the Iraq war or goes over his spending ceiling of $183.8 billion for the rest of fiscal 2008 and part of FY ‘09.
GROWLER SUPPORT: The first EA-18G Growler squadron will receive its first aircraft on June 3 at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Wash., where Boeing has established a new support center. The Growler Support Center (GSC) will provide technical and logistics support for the aircraft in coordination with the base’s existing supply chain management facility.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicated new calendar listing.) May 19 - 20 — Next-Generation Radio Communications, “For Defense, Homland Security & Public Safety,” Harrah’s Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nev. For more information go to www.technologytraining.com.
Canada has reduced the number of new fighters it plans to purchase to 65 from 80, and stresses that it has not formally selected the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) despite having participated in its development. The reduced requirement for new combat aircraft was revealed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper when he unveiled the Conservative government’s new ‘Canada First’ defense strategy in Halifax last week.
ON ITS WAY: Crew members on the International Space Station (ISS) should have another 2.5 tons of supplies to unload this week, following another Russian launch of an unpiloted Progress cargo carrier toward the orbiting facility May 14. Progress M-64/29P was scheduled to dock with the FGB nadir port on the ISS May 16. Its cargo includes oxygen, water and food for the three-man Expedition 17 crew.
BIG DEAL: Eutelsat has concluded a package insurance deal for launch plus one year of operation that it calls one of the biggest ever signed by a fixed satellite service operator. The company said the deal, covering seven spacecraft currently under construction, offers “highly favorable terms” permitting launch using “the full range of available launch vehicles on the market.” The transaction could lessen the threat of a sharp insurance rate hike following a recent spate of launcher and satellite failures.
OSPREY EXPORT: International interest in the Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey has picked up since the U.S. Marine Corps deployed the tiltrotor transport to Iraq, and the Osprey is to be demonstrated to Norway, which has a requirement for 10-12 new search and rescue (SAR) aircraft, according to V-22 program manager Col. Matt Mulhern. Japan and Israel also have expressed interest in the tiltrotor.
ROTOR STUDY: The Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff will deliver a study on DOD rotorcraft survivability by August 1, 2009, reporting their findings to congressional defense committees. In an amendment to the fiscal 2009 Defense Authorization Bill, Congressman Joe Sestak (R-Penn.) proposed a closer examination of military rotorcraft accidents and solutions to improve survivability.
AgustaWestland has signed a long-term partnership agreement with Moscow-based Oboronprom that could lead to the European helicopter maker setting up a production line in Russia. Details of the Russian production facility are still under study. The two parties are now working on finding a production site and figuring out how best to implement such a large effort. Helicopters produced off that line would be sold globally, not just in Russia and neighboring countries.
Intelsat has reported a net loss of $412.7 million for the first quarter of 2008, chiefly due to $313.1 million in restructuring and transaction costs associated with the February acquisition of Intelsat by Serafina Holdings, a holding company controlled by BC Partners and other private equity investors. The acquisition caused operating expenses for the quarter to double as compared to the same period last year, reaching $692.4 million.
U.S. Air Force Lockheed Martin F-22 stealth fighters have sent sensor data to ground stations and other aircraft for the first time, both directly and via an airborne network gateway. The datalink demonstrations were conducted during the Joint Expeditionary Force Experiment (JEFX 08) at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., in late April, details of which are now becoming available.
SpaceX says it’s not tracking any major technical issues in the final weeks before the third launch attempt for its Falcon 1 rocket, which is expected in the last week of June from Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. The Falcon 1 has had two test flights but has yet to reach orbit. The first flight attempt ended just seconds after liftoff due to a fuel leak, while the second attempt in March 2007 made it to space but didn’t go fast enough to achieve orbit because of fuel sloshing (Aerospace DAILY, March 22, 2007).
GPS III AWARDED: Lockheed Martin has won the U.S. Air Force’s $1.5 billion next-generation Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite contract award over Boeing. The contract includes two development satellites plus options for 10 additional spacecraft. GPS III will incorporate new anti-jam features, including a high-powered spot beam system.
The Royal Norwegian Navy (RNoN) is equipping its six Ula-class diesel-electric submarines with bow-mounted, forward-looking active mine-avoidance sonars and keel-mounted, downward-looking active multibeam echo sounders under a contract awarded to Kongsberg Maritime of Horten, Norway, on May 14. The upgrade is designed to enhance the boats’ capability to safely navigate in very shallow waters, for example during intelligence-gathering and special operations forces support missions close to potentially hostile coasts.
KOREASAT: Thales Alenia Space and Orbital Sciences Corp. will supply a new telecom satellite, Koreasat 6, for Korea Telecom. Thales Alenia will be responsible for integrating, testing and launching the spacecraft and ground segment, and will supply the payload. Orbital will supply a Star 2 satellite bus for the 30-transponder spacecraft. Thales Alenia also supplied Koreasat 5, a dual-use telecom intended for KT and the Korean defense ministry.
