David A. Fulghum (Washington), Douglas Barrie (London)
Talks with the U.S. and five other concerned countries are replacing Iran’s broadside of missiles and defiant words that followed discovery of its new uranium enrichment facility near the north-central holy city of Qom. The missile firings last week, part of the Great Prophet 4 exercise, included a Shahab 3 variant, a Tondar surface-to-surface design derived from the SA-2 surface-to-air missile and Zelzal short-range missiles fired from a new dual launcher.
The NTSB’s preliminary statistics on 2008 U.S. transportation fatalities indicate aviation deaths increased slightly to 572 in 2008 from 550 in the previous year, with almost 87% or 495 occurring in general aviation accidents. The resulting GA fatal accident rate is 1.25 per 100,000 flight hours.
David A. Fulghum (China Lake Naval Air Warfare Center, Calif.)
A series of air corridors radiating from China Lake gives researchers here access to most of the key UAV-friendly facilities, training ranges and weapon test sites in the western U.S.
The International Space Station (ISS) is welcoming two new crewmembers and preparing to transition to Expedition 21 following the launch of Soyuz TMA-14 from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan.
North Korea has avoided large-scale combat since 1954, but portions of its capabilities are now being updated with techniques, technology and tactics gleaned from the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Among the top threats to the government in Seoul are North Korea’s 80,000 soldiers trained in special operations and recently schooled in the employment of enhanced improvised explosive devices (IEDs) whose use was refined in the Middle East.
Airbus will likely deliver 13 A380s this year after Singapore Airlines asked for its last handover to slide into 2010. That means the A380 delivery level will be the same as last year, and short of the 14-aircraft target Airbus had set this year—the second downward revision. The aircraft maker still plans to deliver more than 20 A380s next year, although a firm number hasn’t been established. Many of its customers are deferring some A380 deliveries to preserve cash.
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A leading Australian defense official reiterated his nation’s interest in the Joint Strike Fighter after touring prime contractor Lockheed Martin’s production line in Fort Worth this week. “The visit has reinforced my confidence that the JSF is the right aircraft to meet Australia’s future air combat needs and represents value for money for the Australian taxpayer,” says Greg Combet, minister for defense personnel, materiel and science. While the 2009 Defense White Paper confirmed Australia will buy about 100 JSFs, Combet also noted Sept.
While the missile-defense spotlight is still on Obama’s decision to cancel plans for 10 silo-based interceptors in Poland in favor of a mobile, SM-3-based architecture, a less prominent European ballistic missile defense effort is having its own problems. And, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is not helping Lockheed Martin’s effort to push forward with the Medium Extended Air Defense System (Meads), a missile- and air-defense system that incorporates a 360-deg. radar and new, more-capable missile than today’s Patriot systems. Marine Corps Gen.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown told the U.N. General Assembly last month that London is studying whether it could cut its fleet of next-generation ballistic missile submarines to three from four. The potential cut is being portrayed by the U.K. as a move toward encouraging other nuclear states to consider reducing their nuclear capabilities, while also offering an incentive to non-nuclear states.
In regard to Norman Augustine’s Viewpoint article “A Race to the Bottom” (AW&ST Aug. 24/31, p. 57), there is one avenue of potential educational changes that I have not yet seen addressed. At most universities, nontechnical-related courses are required. Economics, humanities and other subjects that do not directly contribute to a technical education account for about two years in a 4-5-year degree program. How about replacing these courses with technical classes that will get typical high school graduates up to an acceptable technical standard?
How ironic! The FAA will now force airlines to train pilots the way most military air forces do: by mentoring junior pilots and instituting professional development committees (AW&ST Aug. 3, p. 40). The next bastion to come down should be the seniority list; there is no room in any cockpit for incompetent pilots.
Efforts to rebuild the Iraqi air force will take a big step forward this month when Cessna AC-208 Combat Caravans are cleared to start shooting laser-guided Hellfire missiles. Rebuilding the service was always a tall order, and the task is even more difficult now that the coalition advisers have less time than initially envisioned to complete their activities.
Lockheed Martin and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne (PWR) are developing a turbine-based combined-cycle propulsion system that could be flight tested in a Mach 6 demonstrator, filling the void left by the cancellation of the hypersonic Blackswift vehicle in 2008.
Space Systems/Loral has shipped Intelsat 14 (IS-14) from its factory in Palo Alto, Calif., to Cape Canaveral AFS for launch later this year on an Atlas V. With a hybrid C- and Ku-band payload for data, voice and video in fixed satellite services, IS-14 will replace Intelsat 1R at 315 deg. E. Long.
Meanwhile, Gates remains squarely on the fence about what to do in Afghanistan. “Two areas where it is clearly worse are in the north, particularly in Kunduz, and in the west, particularly in Herat,” says Defense Dept. spokesman Geoff Morrell. “But I know of no decision that would mark a clear change of strategy toward those areas.” Gates has expressed opposition to “a limited offshore, remote counterterrorism operation,” Morrell says. But the Pentagon chief is also concerned about placing too many U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
Boeing is preparing for an unprecedented wave of simultaneous certification tests on the 747-8 and 787 by using the extra time caused by delays to train, refresh and qualify a new group of flight-test engineers and pilots. Yet, at the same time, it is considering shedding administrative staff as part of wider layoff plans
Facing a spending freeze, the U.S. military is concentrating on maintaining its mostly legacy rotary-wing fleet, with upgrades and improvements driven by demands from combatant commanders in Afghanistan.
Efforts to expand the international footprint for the RQ-4B Global Hawk unmanned aircraft are starting to take hold, as purchases of the intelligence and surveillance system by Germany and NATO continue to move forward. Northrop Grumman this week is due to formally roll out the Euro Hawk—a Block 20 Global Hawk-based system being developed in conjunction with EADS to become Germany’s future signals intelligence platform to replace its Atlantic manned sigint aircraft.
NASA Ames Research Center has shifted the impact target for its Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (Lcross), which is set to slam into the Moon’s south pole at 4:30 a.m. PDT on Oct. 9. Instead of the smaller Cabeus A1 crater, the orange region to the left of M1 in this image (see arrow), Lcross will impact the larger main Cabeus crater. The change was prompted by new understanding of hydrogen concentrations in the Cabeus region following cross-correlations with the latest Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and Lunar Prospector data sets.
Life-cycle sustainment and support for the P-3 Orion got off to a flying start with the delivery of the first set of new production P-3 wings to Lockheed Martin’s launch customer, the Royal Norwegian Air Force. The company regards the wings as the cornerstone of its P-3 aircraft service life-extenstion program (Aslep). Under Aslep, the outer wings, center wing lower surface assembly, horizontal stabilizer, wing and horizontal stabilizer leading edges, and various filet fairings are replaced, and new alloys are used.
French defense ministry officials are scrambling to protect a breakthrough export sale to Brazil from fallout of a Sept. 24 accident in which two naval Rafale fighters were lost. According to the ministry, the Rafales were engaged in routine tests to readjust the catapults on the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle to handle the heavier mission weight of the multirole Rafale F3 variant being introduced into navy inventory.
British Secretary of State for Defense Bob Ainsworth said last week any decision to provide more troops for Afghanistan in the short term will need to be taken in the light of the ability to have them adequately equipped. The ruling Labour government has been criticized for the perceived lack of adequate equipment provided to British forces
