AIR FORCE Lockheed Martin Corp., Missiles and Fire Control of Orlando, Fla., is being awarded a firm fixed price contract for $80,000,000. The contract action will provide Gunship Multi-Spectral System 2 for the AC-130 Gunship. The purchase will include the 12 production units, three readiness spares packages kits, depot level spares, technical orders and data. At this time all funds have been obligated. 667th AESS/PK, Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8629-08-C-2402). NAVY
The planned last launch of a U.S. space shuttle is a little less than two years away – on May 31, 2010 – when the shuttle Endeavour is scheduled to lift off with a final load of supplies for the International Space Station (ISS). Under a new flight manifest issued July 7, NASA plans 10 more shuttle flights starting with the Oct. 8 launch of Atlantis on the final mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope.
BEIJING – China says the liquid oxygen-kerosene 120-metric-ton (265,000-pound) thrust engines of its upcoming Long March 5 rocket have passed initial tests, while significant progress has been made on the plant at Tianjin that will build the launcher. State media say the rocket will be 59.5 meters (195 feet) high and the launch weight will be 643 metric tons (1.42 million pounds). The diameter of the Long March 5 has previously been given as 5 meters (16 feet 5 inches), compared with 3.35 meters for the current Long March 3.
PARIS –The French air force has qualified the Rafale F3 multirole standard, which will give the fighter a naval attack, reconnaissance and nuclear attack capability. The first aircraft built to F3 standard will be delivered in early 2009, although not all of the associated weapon systems – AM39 antiship missile, Reco NG pod and ASMPA nuclear cruise missile – will necessarily be ready by then.
Eurocopter will produce EC725 Super Cougar medium helicopters at its Helibras subsidiary in Brazil under an agreement in principle signed on June 30 by the Brazilian and French governments. The protocol signed by Defense Minister Nelson Jobim and French Ambassador Antoine Pouilleute “reinstates Helibras as a manufacturer of large-sized helicopters,” with the Brazilian armed forces as the initial customer.
ARMY Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., Stratford, Conn., was awarded on June 30, 2008, a $46,310,832 firm fixed price contract for four UH-60M helicopters, material inspection and installation of auxiliary power unit kits. The work will be performed in Stratford, Conn., and is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, 2012. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. One bid was solicited on Oct. 20, 2005. U.S. Army Aviation & Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., is the contracting activity (W58RGZ-08-C-0003).
SABENA SUPPORT: The French defense ministry has awarded Sabena Technics, an affiliate of TAT Group, a contract to maintain and support its fleet of five DHC 6 Twin Otters, nine Mystere XX and 41 Embraer 121 Xingu aircraft. The award is for a period of four to five and a half years.
A group of former senior managers who served in federal agencies with roles in Earth science and human health is calling for the creation of a new federal agency “to meet the unprecedented environmental and economic challenges facing the nation.” An Earth Systems Science Agency (ESSA) would combine the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) into a single organization, according to the proposal published in the July 4 issue of Science.
ARMOR TESTING: Northrop Grumman and Oshkosh’s Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) family of vehicles has completed armor testing. Plasan USA was selected to design and engineer the vehicle’s armor and conduct ballistic and mine-blast testing on the team’s JLTV prototype. After the first round of testing, the armor passed all threshold capability and achieved several objective-level force protection requirements, according to the companies. Plasan is using an advanced composite-technology armor system to conserve weight.
LONDON – The U.K. Defense Ministry and BAE Systems are discussing development of a large, long-endurance reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), known as Mantis, against a backdrop of debate within the ministry over its strategic UAV acquisition approach. BAE Systems has been working on the Mantis program for some time, with the project drawing on classified work the company has been carrying out for the ministry. Talks aimed at finalizing ministry support for Mantis are believed to be ongoing.
The top leaders of the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) have written Defense Secretary Robert Gates citing misgivings about moving North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) from Cheyenne Mountain to Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado.
Brazil is to help India develop an airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft based on the Embraer EMB-145 regional jet and carrying an indigenously developed radar. Flight-tests are to begin in 2012, the India defense ministry says. Under the agreement, signed on July 3, Embraer will modify the EMB-145 to carry the active-array antenna under development by the Indian Defence Research & Development Organisation’s (DRDO) Centre for Airborne Systems (CABS).
TEN THOUSANDTH: The 10,000th Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle soon will be heading for the front lines after having rolled off the assembly line July 3. The MRAP still has to be equipped with weapons, radios and other equipment at the U.S. Navy’s Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR) in Charleston, S.C. Once completed, the vehicle will be handed off to U.S. Transportation Command to be transported by air or sea to Iraq or Afghanistan.
UNMANNED OPS: U.S. Army and Air Force leaders met June 30 to discuss the development of a new, joint unmanned aerial system (UAS) concept of operations (conops) to maximize the contributions the systems can provide to joint forces in the field. The new conops will lay the foundation for UAS acquisition, airspace, air defense, force structure and organizational strategies, the services said. The Army-Air Force team has been working together for the past several months to identify current and future UAS requirements.
The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory is preparing for a second week of flight-tests this year with a Calspan Learjet in November to evaluate how sensors and algorithms could help an unmanned air vehicle (UAV) sense and avoid other aircraft.
The first batch of scientific papers from the Jan. 14 flyby of NASA’s Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging (Messenger) reports the discovery of huge volcanoes on the closest planet to the sun, and settles once and for all the question of what produces Mercury’s magnetic field.
LONDON –The British Defense Ministry and industry have finally inked the main contracts – worth around $6 billion – covering the build program for the Royal Navy’s two-next generation aircraft carriers. The program is now meant to see the first enter service in 2014, with the second to follow in 2016. The first ship will go operational with the Harrier GR9, before the planned U.K. service entry of the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter in 2017.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicated new calendar listing.) July 14-17 — Pacific Operatonal Science & Technology Conference. Hilton Hawaiian Village, Honolulu, HI. For more information call 703-247-2599 or go to www.ndia.org July 14-20 Farnborough (England) air show. For more information call +44 (125) 253-2800, fax +44 (125) 237-6015 or go to www.farnborough.com
Boeing and the U.S. Air Force are in talks over development of a larger, piloted blended wing body (BWB) “X-Plane” demonstrator that would follow-on from the current subscale X-48B unmanned BWB demonstrator now flying at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.
The Netherlands government is locked in a head-to-head fight with the country’s aerospace and defense industry over its decision that Dutch industry should pay 10.3 percent of all revenues from F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF)-related orders through 2053 to the state. The revised percentage was announced July 1 by Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs Maria van der Hoeven, replacing the preliminary figure of 3.5 percent that was agreed to in 2002.
TANKER TRAJECTORY: After two botched U.S. Air Force attempts to procure a fleet of KC-135 replacement tankers, the Pentagon’s civilian leadership is stepping in. Acquisition czar John Young is overseeing the corrective actions needed after the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found numerous problems with how the service conducted the competition between a Northrop Grumman/EADS team’s A330 design and a Boeing 767 variant.
