TESTING: Initial flight trials were started in early June by EADS Defense Electronics of its latest AN/AAR-60(V)2 version of the missile-launch detection system (MILDS-F) in a Danish air force F-16 from Aalborg Air Base. MILDS is an advanced sensor system that detects and tracks UV emissions of approaching missiles, particularly shoulder-launched heat-seeking SAMs.
The worldwide military surface communications market of the next decade will be dominated by General Dynamics, Rockwell Collins and Thales, according to a new study. The three companies together will represent more than 47% of a $12.8 billion market projected between now and 2015, said the study, by Forecast International, a market research company based in Newtown, Conn.
LE BOURGET, France - Pakistan hopes to conclude a deal quickly to acquire a mix of new and used Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcons, a U.S. defense official said June 15. Air Force Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kohler, director of the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), said he recently discussed the matter with Pakistani officials, who hope to take advantage of a new U.S. willingness to ease longtime restrictions on defense trade with Pakistan.
Lockheed Martin Corp. has awarded General Electric Co. a $50 million contract to provide CT7-8E engines for use during the system development and demonstration phase of the U.S. Navy's VXX presidential helicopter replacement program. The work under the contract, announced June 15, will begin immediately and continue through 2008. The engines will be assembled at GE's facility in Lynn, Mass. The CT7-8E is a derivative of GE's T700/CT7 family of turboprop and turboshaft engines.
The U.S. Coast Guard's HH-65 Dolphin helicopters were the focus of renewed attention June 15 when a House subcommittee met to learn more about pressures related to the Guard's law-enforcement duties, including whether it is affecting the aging helicopters. Luis Fortuno, the resident commissioner for Puerto Rico and a nonvoting member of the House of Representatives, said that during a recent visit to Coast Guard operations in the Mona Passage, he was expecting to fly in one of the Dolphins. Instead, he was flown aboard an airplane.
The space shuttle Discovery rolled back out to Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center on June 15, where it will await launch during a window lasting from July 13 to 31. The shuttle began rolling out from the Vehicle Assembly Building at 1:58 a.m. and arrived at the pad at 12:17 p.m.
LE BOURGET, France - Charles Edelstenne, Dassault Aviation's chairman and CEO, is celebrating qualified success as his firm rebounds with strong sales evenly split between its Falcon Jet and military product lines from the down times of the late 1990s and earlier this decade.
Language in a congressional report has spurred at least one company to pursue the idea of using ground-based high power microwave technology to defend commercial airliners from shoulder-fired missiles.
LE BOURGET, France - Many European aerospace companies, including Safran, which owns Snecma, and Rolls-Royce are keenly awaiting the outcome of a World Trade Organization subsidies dispute between Boeing and Airbus. "It definitely could affect us," Safran executive board chairman Jean-Paul Bechat told Aviation Week's ShowNews.
Peter B. Teets has been elected to the board of trustees. Teets retired as president and chief operating officer of Lockheed Martin Corp. and is a former undersecretary of the Air Force and director of the National Reconnaissance Office.
LE BOURGET, France - AgustaWestland has made a public commitment that there will be no further job cuts at its Westland facility in Yeovil, United Kingdom. At the same time, the company has once more pointed a finger at the British Ministry of Defence for not placing promised contracts and therefore putting jobs at risk, according to Aviation Week's ShowNews.
NEW DELHI - India and Ukraine have signed a memorandum of understanding calling for cooperation in outer space research for civil purposes. The decision follows President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam's visit to the Ukrainian space agency. G. Madhvan Nair, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation, accompanied Kalam on the trip. The two space agencies are to develop an action plan by October. Ukraine also has sought collaboration with India on developing a 150- to 200-seat transport aircraft.
The United States is unlikely to regain its prominence in the global commercial expendable launch market given continued flat launch demand and the introduction of potential new competitors such as Japan, according to a new study by Futron Corp.
LE BOURGET, France - Northrop Grumman Corp., prime contractor for the U.S. Navy's E-2D Advanced Hawkeye, has begun talks with foreign industry about possibly including them in building the airborne early-warning (AEW) system.
The U.S. Naval Air Systems Command on June 10 awarded units of Lockheed Martin and L-3 Communications contracts for work on P-3 and EP-3 aircraft. Lockheed Martin Aircraft and Logistics Centers, Greenville, S.C., was awarded a $121.4 million award for phased depot maintenance, structural inspections, kits and modification and installation programs. L-3 Communications Integrated Systems, Greenville, Texas, was awarded $104.2 million for the same work.
The U.S. Navy has awarded a task order with the National Center for Defense Robotics (NCDR) to produce two Dragon Runner unmanned ground vehicles for delivery to the Robotic Systems Joint Program Office. The NCDR has in turn subcontracted with Pittsburgh-based Automatika Inc. to build and deliver the evaluation Dragon Runners, which are intended for potential use by the U.S. Army, NCDR and Automatika announced June 13 in a joint statement.
The Nordam Group, which repairs aircraft and provides maintenance, repair and overhaul services to commercial and U.S. military aircraft, said June 13 that it is moving its European headquarters from the Netherlands to Toulouse, France. Nordam Group announced the move at the Paris Air Show, under way at Le Bourget. The company, headquartered in Tulsa, Okla., plans to be in the new Toulouse offices by late 2005.
LE BOURGET, France - The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program office expects the U.S. Air Force to update its purchase plans for the stealthy jet by year's end, according to a program official. Air Force Brig. Gen. Charles Davis, deputy program executive officer for JSF, said June 13 that he expects the Air Force figure of 1,763 aircraft to change because the number amounts to a one-for-one replacement of the F-16 and A-10, a ratio the Air Force no longer believes it needs.
The International Space Station program is recalculating the amount of time it can support a stranded shuttle crew in the event of an emergency, due to the continued failure of the Elektron oxygen generation system and the current failure rate of the station's oxygen-generating candles.
LE BOURGET, France - The surprise elimination of the Eurofighter Typhoon from Singapore's fighter contest has focused more attention on the Dassault Rafale, the remaining European contender. The Rafale and the Boeing F-15 remain in the competition (DAILY, April 22). The contest has turned into a grudge match, because the last time that the Rafale was up against the F-15 - in Korea - Dassault and the French government were convinced it was only U.S. government pressure that swung the contest against them.
The sea basing capability being developed for the Marine Corps will allow the service to deploy 15,000 Marines anywhere in the world in 10 to 12 days as soon as 2015, according to the commandant of the Marine Corps. "And when you are able to respond that fast, it is going to change the calculus of the battlefield," Gen. Michael W. Hagee said in an interview with the Pentagon Channel, the Defense Department's television outlet.
The House moved June 14 to approve $16.5 billion in fiscal 2006 spending for NASA, including brushing aside a Democratic attempt to divert $200 million to law enforcement grants. Rep. David Obey (D-Wis.), the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, proposed an amendment to H.R. 2862 that would have moved $100 million from Project Prometheus and another $100 million from the moon-Mars initiative to cover the Community Oriented Policing Services and other law enforcements grants that were cut in the annual spending bill.
TESTING COMPLETE: Dallas-based Vought Aircraft Industries recently completed successful testing of its first enhanced wing for the U.S. Air Force's RQ-4B Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle built by Northrop Grumman, the company said. The tests simulated forces experienced during specific "gust load" winds. The testing was part of an effort to allow the Global Hawk to carry a larger payload while maintaining platform performance specifications, the company said. Vought's work has included design development, fabrication, assembly and structural testing of the wing.
