NATO might be calling on its members to raise their defense spending, but if the alliance’s airborne early warning program is anything to go by, that message maybe falling on deaf ears.
Upper ranks of the Chinese government have decided to split off the collection of factories and design institutes known as Avic Engine, say industry officials in China. The future of a separate subsidiary that is struggling to build a competitive civil turbofan, Avic Commercial Aircraft Engines (ACAE), is unconfirmed, but the unit must face a large risk of being folded into the mainstream aviation propulsion group, losing funding and priority.
Within a day of the announcement of Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s resignation, two promising candidates for replacing him quickly opted out. Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), who is likely to lead Democrats on the Senate Armed Services Committee next year, said, “No.” And then the former head of Pentagon policy, Michele Flournoy, who is the CEO of the Center for New American Security, told the think tank’s board she would not leave her current job.
Members of the 20-nation European Space Agency (ESA) plan to meet Dec. 2 at the ministerial level to approve billions of euros in financing for major programs over the next few years, including a new generation of rockets and participation in the International Space Station (ISS) through 2020.
The scheduled Nov. 28 launch of the SES Astra-2G satellite atop a Russian Proton rocket was postponed Nov. 26, owing to a problem with a gyro unit in the rocket’s Briz M upper stage. Russian space agency Roscosmos said prelaunch tests were halted on the pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, and both the rocket and spacecraft have been returned to their assembly building.
The European Space Agency (ESA) and mobile satellite communications provider Inmarsat have signed a contract valued at €15 million ($19 million) to provide satellite-based air-traffic monitoring as part of the European Union’s Single European Sky ATM Research (Sesar) initiative. Dubbed Iris Precursor, the Nov. 26 agreement is intended to upgrade Inmarsat’s SwiftBroadband service to meet standards set for ground-based VHF data links that will allow flight plans to be updated continually to maintain optimal trajectories. The U.K.
The International Space Station (ISS) returned to full six-person staffing late Nov. 23 with the arrival of three U.S., European and Russian crewmembers. They are prepared to kick off external changes in advance of the dockings of U.S. commercial crew transports and host a pair of veteran astronauts trained for a yearlong stay. Meeting the ISS program objectives is intended to support activities beyond the current 2020 deadline for station operations and provide medical researchers with new insights into the physical and mental challenges of long-duration human deep-space exploration.
Despite threats of contractual retaliation from Moscow, French President Francois Hollande has indefinitely postponed delivery of the first of two Mistral-class helicopter assault ships to Russia, citing ongoing conflict between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian forces. Since suspending the 2011 contract in September, Hollande has been loath to cancel the €1.12 billion ($1.4 billion) Mistral deal. The first ship is dubbed Vladivostok and located at the Saint-Nazaire shipyard in France.
Japan has chosen the Northrop Grumman E-2D Hawkeye over the Boeing 737 AEW&C to fill a requirement for four surveillance aircraft, while also confirming it will proceed with orders for the Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk and Bell Boeing MV-22 Osprey. Three RQ-4s will be ordered in the fiscal year beginning April 2015, says NHK television. The timing of orders for the other types is unknown. The mid-term plan also set out the requirement for three surface-surveillance drones. RQ-4 beat the propeller-driven General Atomics Guardian ER, which is based on the U.S.
The U.K.’s F-35 test team has begun captive-carry trials of non-U.S.-made munitions for the aircraft. The Raytheon Paveway IV and the MBDA Asraam, both destined for use on F-35Bs were carried on external pylons for the first time last month. The weapons are scheduled for the Block 3F package.
Russian Helicopters is flight-testing the Mi-171A2 medium helicopter, the latest iteration of the Mi-8, equipped with new engines, rotors and glass-cockpit avionics. Developed by the Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant, the Mi-171A2 is powered by two digitally controlled, 2,400-shp, Klimov VK-2500PS-03 turboshafts, replacing the Mi-8/17’s 2,200-shp TV3-117s. The Russian KBO-17 avionics suite developed by Radio-Electronic Technologies includes multifunction displays, TV and infrared sensors and increased automation to reduce the crew to two.
Bombardier has completed the ultimate-load wing-up bending test on the CSeries static test airframe at Saint-Laurent, Quebec. The test took the structure to 150% of design load. Static-testing is planned to be completed this year, the company says, while the fatigue-test article at IABG in Germany has logged more than 7,000 cycles. Four CS100 test aircraft have now returned to flight, with the fifth and final one still to fly this year. The first of two stretched CS300 test aircraft has begun ground runs.
Hanwha Group will dominate South Korea’s aircraft engine, artillery and military electronics sub-sectors with the acquisition of a major stake in the defense businesses of conglomerate Samsung Group. Hanwha says it will buy a 32.4% share in Samsung Techwin, which in turn owns Samsung Thales jointly with Thales. Samsung Techwin makes the K-9 155mm self-propelled gun and, under license, General Electric F404 and T700 engines. Samsung Thales supplies the South Korean defense forces with radar and combat systems.
India’s newest Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle is perched on the launch pad at Sriharikota Island in the Bay of Bengal, weeks away from its first experimental flight.
More Bumps In The Road Likely The loss of the Orbital Antares launch vehicle and of SpaceShipTwo in the course of less than a week is certainly proof that spaceflight is complex and dangerous.
