TUCSON, Ariz. – Phoenix Mars lander researchers are poised to begin operations with the spacecraft’s organic chemistry ovens and mini wet cell laboratory, after an excellent initial digging test that proved the lander’s robotic arm is ready to deliver soil to the units. An initial icy soil sample will be dropped into the Thermal and Evolved Gas Analyzer (TEGA) instrument this week, meaning that by next week researchers should have initial results in the search for life-critical organics on the surface of Mars.
Piasecki Aircraft says its X-49A SpeedHawk compound helicopter met or exceeded objectives during the first phase of U.S. Army-funded flight-testing, including increased speed and reduced vibration. The Essington, Pa.-based company is continuing to fly the X-49A, a Sikorsky YSH-60F equipped with Piasecki’s vectored-thrust ducted propeller (VTDP) and a wing, while a government review of the test data is completed.
South African Air Force (SAAF) JAS 39C/D Gripen fighters will soon be armed with European IRIS-T air-to-air missiles supplied by Diehl Defence of Germany under a contract signed May 28, the company announced at the ILA 2008 aerospace exhibition in Berlin. The order from South Africa represents the second export sale of IRIS-T outside the six-nation consortium (Germany, Greece, Italy, Norway, Spain and Sweden) that jointly developed the infrared-guided missile, says Diehl Defence executive Claus Gunther.
SOLID STATE: Boeing achieved the highest known simultaneous power, beam quality and run time for any solid-state laser when it fired its new thin-disk laser system repeatedly in recent tests, the company said June 3. In each firing, the high-energy laser achieved power levels of more than 25 kilowatts for multisecond durations, with a measured beam quality suitable for a tactical weapon system. According to Boeing, the tests prove the concept of scalability to a 100-kilowatt-class system based on the same architecture and technology.
Britain’s parliamentary financial watchdog, the National Audit Office, has criticized the Defense Ministry for its “protracted” efforts to eventually overcome its inability to field a limited number of Boeing Chinook heavy lift helicopters. The NAO’s “Chinook Mk3 Helicopters” report, released June 4, says the “shortage of helicopters to support operations has been exacerbated” by the Defense Ministry’s failure to move more quickly to determine and implement a resolution to the problem. Ordered in 1995
GREEN AVIATION FORUM September 12, 2007 Brussels, Belgium Green Aviation — No longer just social responsibility but strategic imperative. IDENTIFY: Best practices in aircraft emissions, energy consumption and conservation. Fiscal ramifications of the European Union Emission Trading Scheme Register today at www.aviationweek.com/forums or call +1.212.904.4483.
JOHNSON SPACE CENTER – The space shuttle Discovery docked with the International Space Station (ISS) June 2, delivering the main element of Japan’s big Kibo laboratory module after a picture-perfect launch May 31. Mission commander Mark Kelly eased Discovery onto its pressurized mating adaptor on the end of the station’s Harmony node at 2:03 p.m. EDT, completing a journey that started with liftoff from Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center right on time at 5:02 p.m. EDT May 31.
Political appointees in NASA’s Headquarters Office of Public Affairs inappropriately manipulated coverage of climate-change science the agency funded, apparently to keep it within the bounds of Bush administration positions on the issue, the agency’s inspector general (IG) has concluded after a year-long probe requested by Congress.
TOKYO – Lockheed Martin’s F-22 Raptor still appeals to Japan’s leadership, but there’s an implacable demand for Japan’s industrial participation in any aircraft it operates, which appears to be diminishing demand for the Raptor.
ARMY BAE Systems, Ground Systems Division, York, Pa., was awarded on May 23, 2008, a $525,298,032 firm-fixed price contract for remanufacturing of M2A3 and A3 Bradley Fire Support Team Vehicles. The work will be performed in York, Pa., and is expected to be completed by Oct. 31, 2011. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. One bid was solicited on Sept. 14, 2007. TACOM, Warren, Mich., is the contracting activity (W56HZV-05-G-0005).
AIR FORCE Booz-Allen and Hamilton Inc. of Herndon, Va., is being awarded a cost plus fixed fee contract for $50,534,488 (estimated). The action will provide Naval Network Warfare Command Survivability Analysis. At this time $1,000,152 has been obligated. The 55th Contracting Squadron, Offutt Air Force Base, Neb., is the contracting activity (SP0700-03-D-1380, DO 0254).
Harris Corp. announced June 2 that it plans to remain independent, quashing weeks of speculation that it could be sold off or merged with another defense contractor. The Melbourne, Fla.-based electronics and communications company said in a statement that it “is not pursuing a merger or a sale” but acknowledged that it had been approached by other companies interested in “various types of transactions.”
EADS and Thales will jointly develop, manufacture, market and sell passive radars on the international market, especially to French, German and other NATO armed forces, under an “exclusive agreement” finalized May 27. The agreement was signed at the ILA 2008 aerospace show in Berlin. It was forged to allow EADS Defence Electronics of Ulm, Germany, and Thales Air Systems of Limours, France, to “capitalize on their knowledge and experience acquired” so they can offer competitive products to customers, a statement by the two firms says.
SEOUL – South Korea may buy surplus Boeing AH-64D Block I Apaches, which first entered service with the U.S. Army in 1999, at an estimated cost of about 1 trillion won ($970 million). The South Korean army has had a longstanding requirement for heavy attack helicopters under the project AH-X since 1990. The project went ahead slowly, entering the candidate evaluation phase only in 2001. Contenders were the AH-64D, Bell AH-1Z and Kamov Ka-52K at that time, when parliament cancelled it.
The industrial consortium behind the NATO Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) system still hopes NATO states will give the program a formal go-ahead this year. A proposal is to be ready soon for the next phase of the program, which should lead to the fielding of four Global Hawks starting in 2012, Northrop Grumman officials say. The AGS system is based on the Block 40 Global Hawk.
SEOUL – South Korea’s KFX stealth fighter project faces a strong risk of being scaled down at a policy review planned for later this month. The Agency for Defense Development, a research and development body, is lobbying hard for the project to survive at least in an exploratory development phase if the government refuses to pay for a costly prototype or technology demonstrator. Without the KFX, the agency’s air system development division would be left with little to do.
ROYAL TRAINING: The U.K. Armed Forces signed a contract with a Lockheed Martin-VT Group joint venture called Ascent that will provide the services with military flight training for the next 25 years. The initial contract is worth $1.26 billion, and may reach $11.9 billion over the life of the contract. Ascent will be responsible for running the U.K. Military Flying Training System program, providing comprehensive training to flight crews in the Royal Navy, Royal Air Force and the Army Air Corps.
LAUNCH DELAY: Arianespace has again delayed the launch of the third U.K. Skynet military communications satellite because of a launcher software mismatch. A new date has not yet been set. The mission, which includes the commercial telecom satellite Turksat 3A, had initially been scheduled for May 23 but was pushed back to the night of May 30-31 because of the need for unspecified launch vehicle checks.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicated new calendar listing.) June 2 - 4 — The 2008 Navy Opportunity Forum, “Transitioning Technology to the Fleet,” Hyatt Regency, Crystal City, Va. For more information go to www.navyopportunityforum.com
MKV MATH: The U.S. Missile Defense Agency’s (MDA) Multiple Kill Vehicle-L (MKV-L) carrier vehicle will employ engagement management algorithms to perform tracking and discrimination, guidance and control and battle management functions. Lockheed Martin announced it has successfully demonstrated those algorithms in a software test bed environment, opening the door to further development and real-time demonstrations in a prototype flight computer with complex threat scenarios.
LUNAR STUDIES: NASA plans to issue a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) on June 6 for Lunar Surface System concept studies. The agency is seeking innovative ideas for tackling anticipated lunar exploration challenges including moving regolith, energy storage, minimum functionality habitats, consumables packaging, avionics and software. NASA will conduct a briefing on the BAA on the day of its release at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington. Responses will be due July 7, and NASA expects to award study contracts by mid-August.
Boeing says it plans to explore proposals for the U.S. Air Force’s forthcoming Next-Generation Unmanned Aerial System (NG-UAS) program, which aims to field a new combat drone by 2015. Once a competition begins, bids are likely to also come from General Atomics Aeronautical Systems and Northrop Grumman.
CARRIER DEFERRED: France’s decision on whether to build a second aircraft carrier to complement the Charles de Gaulle is likely to be pushed back until 2011 or 2012, when the government will have a better idea of cost savings expected from a defense ministry streamlining plan also in preparation. French President Nicolas Sarkozy had been expected to announce a decision in June. The defense ministry had hoped to free up money for the carrier by cutting back other naval programs such as the Fremm multimission frigate.
