The Space Based Laser (SBL) Integrated Flight Experiment program will need tens of millions of dollars above its current funding level to move into the design phase within the next few years, according to U.S. Air Force Col. Neil McCasland, the project's director.
The X-40A demonstrator vehicle successfully performed a third free-flight test on April 26 at Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards, Calif., NASA announced. As was done on two previous tests, the unpowered X-40A was lifted by an Army Chinook helicopter to around 15,000 feet and released. In the third test, the X-40A was released at 7:33 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time, reached a speed of about 430 feet per second and completed the test when the wheels rolled to a stop at 7:35 a.m. PDT.
THE ROYAL AIR FORCE's most up to date version of the Tornado, the GR4, has been declared fully operational, the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence announced. The aircraft features forward-looking infrared vision equipment and updated avionics and flight controls. It will now be available for deployment on future operations, including with the U.K.'s Joint Rapid Reactions Force.
The U.S. Air Force and Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, Orlando, Fla. on April 26 conducted the first full-up live-warhead test of the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) at White Sands Missile Range (WSMR), N.M. The autonomous missile was released from an F-16D at Mach 0.80 flying at an altitude of 7,000 feet, or 2,800 feet above the test range desert. In an 18-minute flight, JASSM flew through its six waypoints, pushed over, sought its target - a command van simulating an air defense site - and destroyed it.
Boeing is considering ranges for its new "sonic cruiser" of up to 10,000 nautical miles - which would allow nonstop service between cities as far apart as Sydney and New York. The sonic cruiser, which currently has no model designator, will carry between 175 and 250 passengers, and will cruise at 41,000 feet at speeds between Mach .95 and .98, according to Boeing.
Rep. Bob Filner (D-Calif.) has introduced a bill that would prevent the U.S. Marine Corps from buying V-22 Ospreys for a year. Filner believes a one-year procurement moratorium is needed to determine whether the tiltrotor aircraft is safe and reliable after it experienced two fatal crashes last year. Filner introduced his bill April 24, less than a week after a review panel set up by the Defense Dept. recommended proceeding with the Osprey but at a slower pace (DAILY, April 19).
Aviation and aerospace leaders, space explorers, a Russian/U.S. rocket development team, U.S. Coast Guard heroes and an electronics innovator were inducted into the Aviation Week&Space Technology Laureates Hall of Fame at a dinner at the Smithsonian Institution National Air&Space Museum on April 25. Laureate recipients are permanently enshrined in the Hall of Fame, which is anchored by a display in the Air&Space Museum. The 2000 Aviation Week&Space Technology Laureate recipients are:
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) will have a major role to play in 21st Century military operations, but they still have plenty of maturing to do, according to the UAV "roadmap" just released by the U. S. Defense Department. The report says that UAVs are relegated to reconnaissance roles in large part because of their unreliability in comparison with manned systems. The accident rate for UAVs is 10 to 100 times the rate for manned aircraft, according to the report.
The U.S. Navy's Standoff Land Attack Missile-Expanded Response (SLAM-ER), made by Boeing, conducted its first developmental test launch utilizing its Automatic Target Acquisition (ATA).
International Licensees, LLC announced April 26 it bought the business and assets of Orbcomm Global, which provides satellite-based monitoring, tracking and messaging services. International Licensees is a consortium of Orbcomm licensees and other investors which plans to refocus the company in coming weeks, according to Don Franco, chairman of Satcomm International Group Ltd., a major shareholder in Orbcomm's European licensee.
Problems with the International Space Station's command-and-control computers forced mission controllers April 25 and April 26 to scrap a planned robot-to-robot handoff of a 1.5-ton packing crate from the station's new arm to its smaller counterpart on board space shuttle Endeavour. NASA will try to perform the three-hour task today if the computer problems can be solved. "We're into something here that we don't understand," said Milt Heflin, mission operations manager at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.
An article in The DAILY of April 25 incorrectly stated that Stephen A. Cambone will be nominated for the position of under secretary of defense for policy, due to an erroneous White House announcement. Cambone will be nominated to be principal deputy under secretary of defense for policy.
NASA'S Hubble Space Telescope has taken 100,000 pictures with its Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2, built by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., JPL announced.
Boeing Satellite Systems Inc. is leading a team of industry experts in a bid to build a new weather instrument to provide timely, accurate and cost-effective weather data for civilian, military and scientific users, the company announced April 25. The team has submitted a proposal to the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environment Satellite System (NPOESS) Integrated Program Office for the Conical Microwave Imager Sounder (CMIS) weather instrument, according to Boeing.
The second satellite for XM Satellite Radio of Washington, D.C., is aboard the Sea Launch platform on its way from Long Beach, Calif. to the equatorial Pacific Ocean, where it is scheduled to be launched into orbit on May 7. Sea Launch's Odyssey platform, carrying XM's "Roll," is sailing 3,000 miles to the launch site on the equator at 154 degrees West longitude, where the assembly and command ship, Sea Launch Commander, will join it, Aerospace Daily affiliate AviationNow.com reported.
Although there is widespread agreement that the United States must improve the leadership and management of programs designed to combat terrorism, consensus on how to do it has proven elusive. Two House committees, in an effort to move toward agreement, are reviewing jointly several proposals that have some common elements.
The Federal Aviation Administration issued an emergency airworthiness directive prohibiting extended dry operation of the center tank fuel pumps on all Boeing 737 series aircraft, Aerospace Daily affiliate Aviation Daily reported. FAA said the action is necessary to "prevent ignition of fuel vapors due to the generation of sparks and a potential ignition source inside the center tank caused by metal-to-metal contact during dry fuel pump operation, which could result in a fire or explosion of the fuel tank."
Despite lower sales, aerospace giant Lockheed Martin posted first quarter earnings nearly double those reported a year ago at this time. Company executives said this week that net profits for the quarter reached $105 million, or 25 cents per share, compared with $54 million, or 14 cents per share, for the same period one year ago.
NASA expects to have a better idea later this year whether its foreign partners on the International Space Station Alpha can revive the Habitation Module and the Crew Return Vehicle (CRV), NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin said at a congressional hearing April 25.
The NASA Aeronautics Support Team (NAST) is urging Congress to double funding for NASA's aeronautics program, arguing that current funding levels aren't adequate to keep the U.S. civil aircraft industry competitive, preserve American military aviation superiority, and ease congestion at the nation's airports.
(Editor's note: The following is excerpted testimony from the responses by Under Secretary of Defense, Comptroller-nominee Dr. Dov S. Zakheim to written questions from the Senate Armed Services Committee. He testified April 24.)
Aerospace and defense contractor General Dynamics, of Falls Church, Va., announced April 25 it has signed an agreement to acquire Newport News Shipbuilding Inc. in a $2.6 billion transaction that would make the company the only builder of nuclear submarines and aircraft carriers. The acquisition, approved by the boards of directors of both companies, is to be accomplished through a cash tender offer for all of Newport News Shipbuilding's publicly held outstanding shares, at a price of $67.50 per share, according to General Dynamics.
Russian officials have proposed joint manufacturing of the Airbus A319 transport aircraft, using Russian manufacturing capacity, to French Minister of Science Research Roger-Gerard Schwarzenberg. The European consortium of EADS and BAE Systems of the U.K own Airbus, which is based in Toulouse, France. Schwarzenberg met with Russian Minister of Science and Technology Alexander Dondukov on April 23. After the meeting, Dondukov told reporters about the Airbus proposal.
Alliant Techsystems (ATK) was awarded a multi-million contract from Boeing to manufacture composite structures for the Boeing Delta II, Delta III and Delta IV space launch vehicles, the company announced April 25. The contract runs through calendar year 2008, and the company did not disclose the terms. Under the contract, ATK Aerospace Composite Structures Co., of Clearfield, Utah, will manufacture payload fairings, payload adapters, centerbodies and interstages for the Delta vehicles.
A group of engineers working for the Volvo Group AGM have developed a highly advanced method of cooling rocket nozzles, the company announced April 25. The technique, known as film cooling, uses gases sprayed at supersonic velocity along the inside wall of the engine nozzle to cool the wall and improve its strength. The technique was developed for the next generation of the Vulcain propulsion unit for Ariane rockets, according to Volvo.
