Despite the government-wide effort to trim spending, the head of the Missile Defense Agency suggests a global buildup of missiles may insulate some of the MDA's signature programs—the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system and the Phased Adaptive Approach for Europe—from major budget reductions. Even excluding the U.S., China, Russia or NATO, as many as 6,250 missiles with ranges of 300 km (186 mi.) or more have been produced, Lt. Gen. Patrick O'Reilly said during a speech at the Atlantic Council.
When the Obama administration killed the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (Npoess) last year, it ended the prospect of a single next-generation platform to monitor Earth's weather, atmosphere, oceans and near-space environment for military and civil users. The erstwhile partners, the U.S. Air Force and NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), have moved on to replacement programs—the Defense Weather Satellite System (DWSS) from Northrop Grumman and the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) from Ball Aerospace.
The U.S. intelligence community is headed for billions of dollars in budget reductions over the next decade, with significant cuts expected to contractor ranks, the director of national intelligence (DNI) warned an industry conference last week. DNI James Clapper told the Geoint 2011 conference in San Antonio that he wants half of the projected cost savings to come via information technology improvements, especially through new cloud-computing services. Other savings will come from cutting back on contractors and overseas facilities.
In a recent Feedback, reader Virgil Soule proposes that a tilt-wing be designed and implemented with tiltrotors (AW&ST Oct. 3, p. 8). Tilt-wings, though they may generally have a higher cruise speed, tend to generate higher downwash velocities in hover and are noisy critters—as witnessed by the XC-142, CL-84 and the never-to-be-realized Ishida design. None were ever produced, for the reasons stated. Soule touts a 300-kt. cruise speed for a tilt-wing. The latest block of MV-22s is now achieving 280 kt. and 300 kt. is a reachable goal.
Alexandre de Juniac has been appointed chairman and CEO of Air France. He succeeds Pierre-Henri Gourgeon, who has resigned. De Juniac was chief of staff for International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde during her tenure as French finance minister. Jean-Cyril Spinetta, chairman of the Air France-KLM board, has become chairman and CEO of the group, and Leo Van Wijk is the new deputy CEO.
Virgin Galactic's Spaceport America operations base will be equally busy carrying to sub-orbit research payloads and space tourists, say developers at the newly dedicated facility here.
Frank Morring, Jr. (Washington and Cape Town, South Africa)
NASA will store some rocket engines, slow work on others and study still more as it struggles to squeeze the heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS) Congress has ordered into a flat $3 billion annual budget for development. Early flights of the SLS will use surplus space shuttle main engines (SSMEs) and, as side-mounted strap-ons, the five-segment solid-fuel motors developed for the terminated Ares I crew launch vehicle's first stage.
USAF Lt. Col. (ret.) Price T. Bingham (Melbourne, Fla. )
I will not be surprised if the Air Force decides to cut the Joint Stars program as discussed in “Intelligence Quotients” (AW&ST Sept. 26, p. 30). Ever since Desert Storm, the service's leadership has demonstrated an appalling lack of understanding regarding the critical importance of seeing and targeting ground movement over a wide area. Evidence of this continues with the assertion that Global Hawk provides equal coverage!
What does the future hold for space travel? While we can extrapolate from basic trends, experience shows we must also consider the possibility of wild-card breakthroughs in propulsion physics. While this might sound like science fiction, enough progress has been made to suggest how sensibly to pursue the ambition of interstellar flight.
Robonaut 2 (R2), the legless humanoid developed by NASA and General Motors, is moving for the first time since its launch to the International Space Station in February aboard the space shuttle Discovery. On Oct. 13, the robot moved its arms in response to commands from NASA control facilities in Houston and Huntsville, Ala. The two-armed robot, positioned in the U.S. Destiny laboratory module, was awakened electronically for the first time on Aug. 22. “We have his arm stretched out,” radioed NASA astronaut Mike Fossum, who was floating next to R2.
Imagine the ability to make any part from any material directly from your computer or smartphone. What could you build? What if you could translate the 0s and 1s of a digital file or the pixels of a picture into matter? What if you could ascribe specific physical properties to any pixel in that file? What would you be able to do with that part?
U.S. Navy Rear Adm. (ret.) Edward “Sonny” Masso has been named chairman of Washington-based Not Alone, a not-for-profit organization chartered to increase awareness and treat post-traumatic stress disorder and reduce suicide rates of returning veterans and their families. He was deputy chief and commander of naval personnel in his final flag assignment.
An increasing number of airlines will be coming to loggerheads with lessors regarding maintenance reserves and conditions for return of leased aircraft, now that more carriers are tapping the lease market. Airlines are responsible for aircraft line maintenance, such as A checks. But C and D checks, the heavier checkups, are far more expensive, so lessors usually require maintenance reserves—monthly installments the airlines must pay to cover the cost of these future, pricey checks.
The H-92 is the military variant of Sikorsky's S-92 civil model. It is powered by two GE CT7-8C turboshaft engines rated at 2,550 shp each. When configured for the land assault mission, the H-92 provides a 200-nm radius of action and the ability to carry 22 troops at 3,000 ft. on a 91.5F day. Five H-92s were produced through 2010, with approximately 70 units forecast for production in 2011-20.
A U.S.-India joint study group cosponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington and the Aspen Institute India in New Delhi says the U.S. should train and provide expertise to the Indian military in areas such as space and cyberspace operations, “where India's defense establishment is currently weak, but its civil and private sector has strengths.” The U.S. also should help strengthen India's indigenous defense industry, the think tanks assert.
In 2001, Kawasaki began development of the C-2 to provide a replacement for the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force's C-1As and C-130Hs. The C-2 is a twin-engine tactical transport aircraft powered by two General Electric CF6-80C2 turbofans rated at 52,500 lb. thrust each. Maximum payload is 82,892 lb. First flight occurred in January 2010. Twenty-four C-1s are forecast to be produced in 2011-20.
Cape Town, South Africa—On the surface, the African continent seems custom-made for putting spacecraft to work solving problems on the ground. Desperately poor people are scattered across 55 nations, linked—if at all—by substandard roads and communications networks. Resources as basic as food and water are often in short supply, and the legacy of colonialism casts a shadow over a populace ill-equipped by education and skills to address the structural problems that it left behind.
In 1990, Beech teamed with Pilatus to propose the T-6 tandem-seat trainer (based on the Pilatus PC-9 Mk II) for the U.S. Air Force/Navy Joint Primary Aircraft Trainer System program. The T-6, which is powered by a Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-68 turboprop, was selected as the Jpats winner in 1995. The Air Force and Navy intend to eventually acquire 782 T-6s, of which more than 513 have been delivered. Though it was developed for a U.S. military program, the T-6 has been well received outside the U.S.
The U.S. Central Command's investigation into the Aug. 6 Boeing CH-47 Chinook crash in Wardak Province, Afghanistan, confirms the primary cause of the accident was an insurgent-fired rocket-propelled grenade strike to the aft rotor blade as the helicopter approached its combat landing zone.
Commonly used in search-and-rescue and offshore duties, the AW139, a twin-engine, 15-passenger civil/commercial helicopter, is powered by two Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6C-67C turboshaft engines rated at 1,679 shp each at takeoff. Originally named the AB139 when the AW139 was a joint venture between AgustaWestland and Bell, the name was changed when Bell withdrew from the program. The AW149 is a slightly larger military transport variant powered by two 2,000-shp-class GE CT7-2E1 engines. An AW149 prototype completed its maiden flight in November 2009.
Two quarters do not make a trend, but a new mid-year report from Aviation Week's Top-Performing Companies (TPC) study provides fresh clues about the effects leaner defense budgets and rising demand for commercial jets are having on the aerospace and defense industry's publicly traded corporations. The results are worth a close look, because while stock prices reflect the direction investors think a company is heading, the TPC study provides a snapshot of its operational performance.
The Mi-28 is a twin-engine, tandem-seat attack helicopter. In Russian military use, the Mi-28 has become the successor to the Mi-24. First flight occurred in 1982. The current version is the all-weather/night-capable Mi-28N; deliveries began in 2006. The Mi-28N is powered by 2,194-shp Klimov TV3-117VMA turboshafts. Through 2010, 34 Mi-28s were built. A further 91 are forecast for production in 2011-20.
No Singaporean has gone into space and the government has no desire to spend billions to change that, but the city-state is seeking to further develop as a space industry center in the Asia-Pacific region. Astrium Satellite Services, Arianespace, DigitalGlobe, GeoEye, Intelsat and Iridium are just some of the global players that have Singapore offices, mostly their Asia-Pacific headquarters.
The V-22 tiltrotor aircraft has two Rolls-Royce AE 1107C turboshaft engines housed in wingtip-mounted nacelles that can rotate from full vertical for heliborne operation to full horizontal for forward, wing-borne flight. The MV-22 version is in production for the U.S. Marine Corps, while the CV-22 is in production for the U.S. Air Force. Approximately 150 V-22s were built through 2010; 296 more are forecast to be built in 2011-20.
The F-22 is a single-seat air superiority and ground attack aircraft selected in 1991 as the U.S. Air Force's next air superiority fighter. Initial flight occurred in 1997. Propulsion is provided by two 35,000-lb.-thrust Pratt & Whitney F119-PW-100 afterburning turbofan engines. Some 172 F-22s were produced through 2010, including test aircraft. Planned USAF procurement is for an additional 24 aircraft through 2012, when production will stop. The U.S. government prohibits the export of the F-22.
