MOBILE LAUNCHER: Hensel Phelps Construction Co. will build the mobile launcher for NASA’s planned Ares I crew launch vehicle under a contract worth as much as $263.7 million. Based on one of the mobile platforms originally built for the Saturn V moon rocket in the 1960s and currently used for space shuttle launches, the Ares I launcher will stand about 390 feet tall. Power, communications, conditioned air and water will be provided for the mobile ground facility.
ABSENCE EXPLAINED: EADS North America CEO Ralph Crosby says the pace of the A400M transport now in development in Europe prevented it from being available for the U.S. Air Force’s HC\MC-130 program. That left the Lockheed Martin C-130J as the only option. Recently Pentagon acquisition chief John Young approved a sole-source deal with Lockheed for up to 68 of the J’s for the HC/MC-130 replacement.
QUIET BOOM: NASA is continuing its pursuit of a next-generation quiet supersonic aircraft by conducting joint research on sonic boom modeling with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). Japan is planning to fly the Silent Supersonic Technology Demonstrator (S³TD, or “S-Cube”) around 2012 to achieve a 3dB reduction in take-off noise through airframe shielding and a 50 percent reduction in sonic boom intensity through airframe shaping, as well as lower weight and drag compared to Concorde.
Defense electronics contractor DRS Technologies confirmed today that it is engaged in talks about a possible “strategic transaction.” The Parsippany, N.J.-based company confirmed the discussions in a brief statement after the Wall Street Journal reported that it was in advanced negotiations to be acquired by Finmeccanica. The Italian company has long been scouting for an acquisition to bolster its position in the large U.S. defense market. It has been particularly interested in the defense electronics sector.
The man responsible for providing power to General Dynamics’ corporate headquarters has now been chosen to run the company. Jay L. Johnson, CEO of Dominion Virginia Power and former Chief of Naval Operations, will succeed longtime CEO Nick Chabraja when he steps down from the top executive post at the Falls Church, Va.-based contractor on June 30, 2009. Johnson will join General Dynamics in September as vice chairman. Chabraja, who had earlier announced his plans to retire as CEO, will remain chairman until May 2010, the company said May 7.
AFGHAN AIR: U.S. Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) has responded to a direct request from Afghanistan’s president and minister of defense for Antonov AN-32 aircraft. The Navy’s International Program Office communicated the request to NAVAIR’s Support and Commercial Derivative Aircraft Program Office, which was directed to buy four AN-32s for the Afghan National Army Air Corps (ANAAC) through the Foreign Military Sales program. The aircraft were bought from commercial sources through an accelerated acquisition strategy.
LONDON – The British government May 8 finally confirmed its selection of the General Dynamics Piranha 5 to meet the utility vehicle element of its multibillion dollar Future Rapid Effect System (FRES) program. General Dynamics was competing with Nexter and Artec. The French government and industrialists have in recent weeks pushed to persuade the U.K. to drop its preference for the Piranha and opt for a VBCI-based design.
NEW CUTTER: The U.S. Coast Guard took preliminary acceptance of the National Security Cutter (NSC) Bertholf during a ceremony at Pascagoula, Miss., May 8. Capt. Pat Stadt hopes to take the ship and its crew to sea in about 10 days and stay under way for a week, performing damage control drills. The 418-foot ship will be in and out of the shipyard until June 13, and eventually be commissioned by the Coast Guard at Alameda, Calif., on Aug. 4.
Senate Appropriations Chairman Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) postponed the planned markup of the war supplemental spending bill May 8 because procedural and political disputes have delayed action on a similar bill in the House. Byrd said he “very reluctantly” agreed to delay the markup for a week at the request of House and Senate leaders. The Senate markup was rescheduled for May 15. Both measures are expected to exceed the $173 billion the Bush administration is seeking to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
NASA Administrator Michael Griffin announced May 7 that Ed Weiler will remain in place as NASA’s associate administrator for science. Formerly the director of Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., Weiler was made interim chief of the science directorate on March 26 following the departure of Alan Stern (Aerospace DAILY, March 27). Weiler has led NASA science before, serving as associate administrator from 1998 to 2004. He also served as chief scientist for the Hubble Space Telescope from 1979 until 1998.
J-2X TEST: Test engineers at Stennis Space Center will spend the next two years getting ready for a second round of hot-fire testing of NASA’s J-2X human-rated upper stage rocket engine for future missions to low Earth orbit and the moon. The last of nine tests of heritage J2 powerpack hardware ran for 400.45 sec. on May 8, finishing a series designed to establish starting-point data for the design of the uprated J-2X turbomachinery.
Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) has signed a contract to build 18 new satellites for Orbcomm Inc., with an option to buy up to 30 more to upgrade Orbcomm’s current constellation. Serving as prime contractor, SNC has lined up a team including Boeing Intelligence & Security Systems, ITT Space Systems and SNC subsidiary MicroSat Systems. SNC, Boeing and ITT will provide oversight, systems engineering, technical management, integration and mission assurance, while MicroSat will perform integration and testing.
The first shipborne deployment of the U.S. Navy’s MQ-8B Fire Scout vertical take-off and landing unmanned air vehicle (VTUAV) is planned for October 2009 on counter-narcotics missions in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. This follows the decision to conduct operational evaluation (opeval) of the Northrop Grumman unmanned helicopter on a Perry-class frigate because of delays with the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS).
FUNDRAISING: The Greater Washington Aviation Open (GWAO), an aviation and aerospace charity event held in Washington, raised a record $140,000 during its annual golf and tennis tournament May 5. The total amount donated by the group since its inception in 1989 to the Corporate Angel Network is now about $1.4 million. The charity assists cancer patients with transportation to treatment facilities by using empty seats on business aircraft donated by companies. Thousands of aviation, aerospace and defense professionals have participated in past tournaments.
BEIJING – An upcoming advanced Chinese Fengyun polar orbit weather satellite will be operated with an advanced U.S. supercomputer like those used at research facilities such as Los Alamos National Laboratories. The satellite will be used heavily by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), navy and air force, as well as civilian weather outlets. The first mission for the new Fengyun 3 second-generation design is set for launch as early as late May.
EL SEGUNDO, Calif. – Boeing Integrated Defense Systems is looking to partner with Indian companies on network-centric warfare initiatives and further expand its presence in the country. Such moves could make Boeing’s bid for India’s Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) more attractive, by tempting the Indian defense ministry with visions of the company’s platforms performing together against adversaries. Boeing is offering the F/A-18E/F, and submitted its bid on April 28. Competing platforms include the Gripen, F-16, MiG-35, Eurofighter and Rafale.
Naval defense authorizers in the U.S. House are moving legislation to pause the DDG-1000 destroyer program at the two lead ships, restart the DDG-51 production effort, secure the 10th LPD-17 and secure funding for the remaining two planned Lewis and Clark dry-cargo ammunition (T-AKE) ships.
House Armed Services Committee (HASC) leaders are proposing Congress provide an additional $3.9 billion for 15 C-17 airlifters in fiscal 2009 budget-making, as well as $523 million above the Pentagon’s request for F-22 advance procurement for 20 aircraft in fiscal 2010. The HASC air and land forces subcommittee’s efforts, eyed for full-HASC consideration next week, also include a suggestion for an additional $246 million for the counter-rocket, artillery and mortar system.
The second test satellite for Europe’s Galileo satellite navigation system has begun transmitting signals. Unlike signals sent by the first test satellite, launched in December 2006, those transmitted by Giove B conform to the MBOC (multiplexed binary offset carrier) common format agreed to in July 2007 by the U.S. and the European Union (EU) for the Global Positioning System and Galileo system. This will make it possible to design and test receiver equipment to the actual operational signal configuration.
The fusion of long-endurance radar, electro-optical and infrared surveillance with constant monitoring of electronic emissions could redefine military intelligence gathering and make it that much harder to keep aircraft stealthy, according to an expert with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory. Mark Longbrake, technical advisor to the sensors division at AFRL, outlined the fusion concept during a May 6 conference in Washington where researchers gathered to compare notes about antennas, radars and new, combination sensors.
The U.S. Coast Guard may still face issues with communications systems aboard its new National Security Cutter (NSC) if it tinkers with precertified command, control and communications systems after it accepts the ship. An Inspection and Survey (Insurv) report issued recently gave a 98 percent rating to the communications system aboard the new NSC, the Bertholf. The U.S. Navy, which runs the Insurv, determined the Lockheed Martin-built communications suite was ready for acceptance.
A key Democratic leader on the House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee is maneuvering to cut about a third of the Bush administration’s requested spending for ground-based midcourse missile defenses (GMD) in Europe next fiscal year. But some Republican panel members expect to try to fight back in the full-committee markup of the legislation next week, with a co-chairman of the House’s missile defense caucus calling for full funding of the $712 million request.
Halfway through critical design reviews (CDRs) for the Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor (JLENS) program, the U.S. Army is confident prime contractor Raytheon can deliver the first system to the warfighter on schedule in fiscal year 2011.
The Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) placed a direct commercial sale contract with Lockheed Martin May 7 for Sniper Advanced Targeting Pods (ATP) for the nation’s F-16 Block 52 aircraft. Currently, Sniper ATPs are flying on U.S. Air Force and multinational F-16s, F-15s, B-1s, F-18s, Harriers and A-10s, and are being integrated on the B-52. Although the value of the RSAF contract was not disclosed, a U.S. contract between Lockheed and Boeing in 2007 for 45 Sniper ATP pods on B-1B aircraft was valued at $2.8 million (Aerospace DAILY, Sept. 27, 2007).
NANO NANO: The House Science and Technology Committee approved legislation May 7 that will boost nanotechnology research and development in the U.S. The National Nanotechnology Initiative Amendments Act of 2008 amends the 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act, making several changes to the implementation process and priorities of the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI).
