Amy Butler (Washington), David A. Fulghum (Washington), Graham Warwick (Washington)
The reputation of Predator manufacturer General Atomics Aeronautical Systems as an innovator appears to be tarnishing as the company strains to fulfill the obligations of a number of contracts for the Pentagon.
NASA is seeking ideas from industry about communications and navigation services that could be used by future lunar explorers over the next quarter-century. The request for information (RFI) calls for concepts for terrestrial network services and ground stations, Earth-orbiting satellites, Moon-orbiting satellites and lunar surface capabilities, among other categories.
Charles P. Blankenship, Jr., has been appointed vice president/general manager of commercial engines at GE Aviation , Evendale, Ohio. He was general manager of GE Energy’s Aeroderivative Gas Turbine business and had been general manager for small commercial engines.
Southwest has released a winter schedule that eliminates a net of 190 one-way frequencies—including 22 departures at Chicago Midway, 13 at Baltimore/Washington Airport and 11 in Las Vegas—which means it will be offering about 4% fewer flights than it did this past winter. Most of the cuts simply reduce the number of frequencies in a market, but three city pairs will lose service completely when the schedule kicks in on Jan. 11: Phoenix-Birmingham, Nashville-Oakland and Nashville-Seattle.
South Korea is a high-tempo laboratory where a futuristic, multinational military machine is being pieced together. But the process is being hobbled by events beyond its borders that include U.S. personnel turnover of about 85% a year, Washington’s budget battles, the vagaries of digital technology and combat a half world away.
Inmarsat is preparing to apply for a European hybrid mobile satellite service license as demand for MSS bandwidth continues to surge worldwide. The operator’s decision follows a European Union decision on Aug. 7 to launch an auction for 2 GHz. of S-band spectrum (AW&ST Aug. 11, p. 20). On Aug. 22, Inmarsat concluded preliminary agreements with Thales Alenia Space and ILS to build and launch a hybrid satellite, EuropaSat, pending the outcome of the auction. The 5.7‑metric-ton, 8.5 kw. EuropaSat spacecraft would be launched in early 2011. Applications are due in by Oct.
Aviation Week restates the notion that the Air Force’s so-called 2018 bomber will “begin fielding in 2018” (AW&ST Aug. 4, p. 28) in one form or another. That is 10 years away, and the “formal requirements” have not yet even been released. This deadline is preposterous, given USAF’s track record of the last 30 years. By comparison, the F-22 RFP was issued in 1986, and the YF-22 was selected in 1991. If “fielding” means initial operational capability (IOC), the F-22 reached IOC in December 2005, 19 years after the RFP and 14 years after the prototype flew.
The Japanese Ministry of Defense will ask parliament for ¥95 billion ($86.6 billion) to upgrade 22 F-15Js and buy parts for a further 38 in the budget year that begins on Apr. 1. Development delays with the Kawasaki Heavy Industries C-X airlifter have resulted in the elimination of funding—presumably initial procurement funding. The ministry has also chosen not to ask for money for extra Boeing AH-64D Apache helicopters.
The Dutch army plans to field five short-range, tactical unmanned aircraft to support military operations in Afghanistan. The nation’s Defense Materiel Organization is asking companies about a potential acquisition program, with the goal of having the UAVs operational by March 2009 with the capability of providing the army with 180 hr. of imagery per month. The requests for proposals ask for lease pricing quotes of one-, six- and 12-month periods through 2010.
Iran’s flight test of a space launch vehicle failed Aug. 17, according to radar tracking by a U.S. Navy destroyer and infrared data from U.S. Air Force Defense Support Program (DSP) missile-warning satellites. Gordon Johndroe, with the U.S. National Security Council, confirmed the Aug. 17 test saying “the Iranian development and testing of rockets is troubling and raises further questions about Iranian intentions.” Key data on the failure was provided by the USS Russell, an Arleigh Burke class destroyer patrolling the Persian Gulf.
Allen Boyd (see photo) has become vice president for Tactical Communications Systems at ITT Communications Systems , Fort Wayne, Ind. He was senior director for the Joint Tactical Radio System and military satellite communications programs and senior director for ground vehicle solutions for Rockwell Collins, Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Boeing will build up to 215 CH-47F Chinook heavy-lift helicopters over five years for the U.S. Army under a multi-year contract worth a potential $4.3 billion. The contract covers 191 firm and 24 option aircraft and will save more than $449 million over annual procurement, according to Boeing. Deliveries will begin in January 2009, and two-thirds of the helicopters will be new-build. Boeing is also building six CH-47Fs for the Netherlands and has signed a contract with an unidentified Middle East customer for four helicopters with an option for 16.
Northrop Grumman’s AQ-8B Fire Scout UAV has begun payload-integration and data-link flight tests as the U.S. Navy moves toward technical evaluation (Techeval) of the aircraft early next year. Flights with Flir Systems’ Brite Star II electro-optical/infrared sensor and Cubic tactical control data link are underway at NAS Patuxent River, Md. Techeval is scheduled for early 2009 on board a Perry-class frigate, leading to operational evaluation in the third quarter and initial operating capability soon thereafter.
David A. Fulghum (Osan AB, South Korea), Douglas Barrie (London)
Reconnaissance in South Korea is sophisticated, but it’s only a preview of the advanced capabilities sought by military planners. Information from the small force of U-2s based at Osan AB will be supplemented by near-real-time information from high-flying, Global Hawk strategic-range unmanned aircraft flying out of Guam or perhaps even South Korea as well. Operation of low- and mid-altitude Predator and Reaper tactical UAVs also is envisioned.
Managers on NASA’s Constellation Program may know by early next year what kind of budget hit they face for letting their target initial operational capability (IOC) for the Orion crew exploration vehicle slip a year. Tight funding and technical issues pushed the IOC to September 2014 (AW&ST Aug. 18/25, p. 42). The last time NASA changed its Orion IOC—from 2011 to 2013—it added $384.8 million to its development contract with Lockheed Martin, according to the Constellation program office.
Lockheed Martin has completed its acquisition of Tenix Group’s interest in RLM Holdings—a radar, systems engineering, integration and logistics management business based in Adelaide, Australia. RLM began in 1997 as a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Tenix.
Initial launch pad checks of the space shuttle Atlantis for its mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope should be getting underway during the first week of September, pending the resolution of orbiter/external tank umbilical mating difficulties. Atlantis was to roll out to Launch Complex 39A as early as Aug. 30, but United Space Alliance technicians had difficulty extracting a jammed ground support system bolt used initially to align the hydrogen umbilical side of the tank’s massive rigging structure with the orbiter’s belly.
ARPA, with the Central Intelligence Agency, jointly funded the classified Corona program to develop a film-return photo-reconnaissance satellite. Operating under the cover of ARPA’s Discoverer test program, Corona successfully returned the first spy-satellite photographs in August 1960, and launches continued until 1972.
Indonesia’s Lion Air has taken delivery of the first Boeing 737NG equipped with Honeywell’s 3D weather radar system, the RDR-4000 3D, which is already flying on Boeing and Airbus wide-body aircraft. Lion Air will be taking delivery of 120 737NGs through 2013. Lion Air also intends to adopt Honeywell’s Stable Approach Monitor system for added situational awareness for their flight crews when it is available next year. SAM will tell pilots when the aircraft is approaching the runway in an unsafe manner.
Aviation Week & Space Technology publishes a handful of special editions annually, each one intended to deliver to our print and online readers content that is particularly enlightening, distinctive visually or thought-provoking. Examples include issues highlighted by our annual photo contest, the Top-Performing Companies studies, the alternating Paris and Farnborough air shows, and topical themes such as our recent examination of the U.S. presidential election candidates and their positions on aerospace/defense subjects.
Launch of Malaysia’s Measat-3A satellite has been pushed back indefinitely while manufacturer Orbital Sciences assesses the damage done after a crane struck the spacecraft Aug. 9 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Land Launch was preparing the communications bird for a planned Aug. 21 liftoff on a Zenit-3SLB rocket when a crane operator struck it while moving a piece of ground equipment after the spacecraft was mated with the rocket’s upper stage, according to Land Launch.
As the Army and Navy prepare to take over more missile defense programs from the Missile Defense Agency, a dispute is brewing in the Pentagon over who will pay for their operations and sustainment. In the case of the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense system, the bill is expected to be higher than the Army can manage, says Lt. Gen. Kevin Campbell, chief of the service’s Space and Missile Defense Command. He suggests the creation of a “defense-wide” account to pay for the maintenance.
Goodrich and Rolls-Royce want to work closely on engine control technology through a 50/50 joint venture that would support Rolls engines. The venture would combine Goodrich units in Birmingham, England, and Belfast, Northern Ireland, where systems are designed and manufactured, while Rolls would contribute knowledge on integrating engine controls with the actual powerplants. Goodrich would have aftermarket products and services support responsibility. The deal could see about 1,100 Goodrich employees and 500 Rolls staffers transferred into the new operation.
Northrop Grumman will use Wind River VxWorks 653 software in development of integrating modular avionics for the X-47B Navy-Unmanned Aerial Combat System. Northrop Grumman said VxWorks will allow it to migrate to Arinc 653 while assuring Multiple Independent Levels of Security systems. The Navy’s Unmanned Combat Air System Carrier Demonstration project is aimed at maturing safety-critical technologies such as avionics to reduce the risk of introducing UAVs to aircraft carriers.
As it enters its sixth decade, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency faces challenges in seeing ahead at a time when the U.S. military’s focus is firmly on the present and on fighting two wars.
