Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

Northrop Grumman is flying prototypes of a new quick-change targeting pod designed to carry multiple payloads, including a Selex-ES infrared search and track (IRST) system, and has a contract to test it on an unspecified tactical aircraft.

By Guy Norris
Boeing is accelerating production of its P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft amid mounting signs of additional international sales and solid funding for planned U.S. Navy procurement.

By Tony Osborne
Defense ministers in the Baltic States are discussing options for a joint midrange air defense system to cover the three countries to counter potential Russian aggression.

U.S. Navy Naval Air Systems Command (Navair) program managers failed to follow U.S. Navy policy concerning waivers and certification for initial operational test and evaluation (IOT&E) of the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye aircraft and the distributed targeting system for the P-8A Poseidon, the Pentagon Inspector General (IG) says.

The Los Angeles-class attack submarine SSN 754 USS Topeka arrived at its new homeport of U.S. Naval Base Guam recently – the fourth submarine assigned there.

In the wake of a recent review of U.S. Navy homeporting operations, the U.S. Government Accountability Office is calling for better accounting of the strategy.

By Graham Warwick
Google is to continue with development of a solar-powered stratospheric unmanned aircraft for Internet delivery, despite confirming the prototype crashed on its first flight in New Mexico.
Aerospace

By Mark Carreau
Mars One is pledging new transparency in its increasingly scrutinized, three-year-old, investor and reality television-based campaign to establish a small but growing permanent human settlement on the Red Planet in the late 2020s.

By Guy Norris
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden is once again warning that, unless its commercial crew efforts are fully funded in fiscal 2016, the agency will miss its 2017 deadline of using U.S. spacecraft to deliver astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS).

By Tony Osborne
BAE Systems has been awarded a £1.7 million ($2.58 million) contract to study the feasibility of a common weapon launcher capable of dropping multiple air-to-ground weapons from a single pylon.

The U.S. and its Asia-Pacific allies – like Australia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Thailand, and the Philippines – need to change their relationships to match the times, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter says.

Scott Seymour, president and CEO of Aerojet Rocketdyne, is retiring and will be succeeded by Eileen Drake, the company’s chief operating officer. The changes take effect June 1, the company announced.

By Mark Carreau
John Grunsfeld, Steve Lindsey, Kent Rominger and Rhea Seddon were inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame on May. 30.

The guided-missile cruiser CG 62 USS Chancellorsville departed from San Diego recently for Yokosuka, Japan, where the ship will join the U.S. 7th Fleet’s Forward Deployed Naval Forces as the first forward-deployed ship fitted with the latest Aegis Baseline 9 combat system.

By Mark Carreau
The Planetary Society’s LightSail-A mission planners have plotted a possible June 2 early deployment of their novel Mylar solar propulsion technology after re-establishing contact with their tumbling, software-hobbled 3U CubeSat.

When it comes to securing Pentagon contracts, it all comes down to making the best proposal, and a top Navy deals evaluator says the key is this: write it right.

In light of the recent mishaps involving U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps aircraft, the spotlight is shifting squarely onto maintenance issues caused or exacerbated by the lack of funding due to sequestration and other funding concerns.

To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) June 4—Aerospace Today...and Tomorrow - An Executive Symposium, Kingsmill Resort, Williamsburg, Virginia. For more information go to www.aiaa.org/ATT2015/

BOEING completed maintenance on USAF E-4B (based on 747-200) advanced airborne command post at San Antonio.

BOEING completed maintenance on USAF E-4B (based on 747-200) advanced airborne command post at San Antonio.

By Guy Norris
After five months on the ground, Boeing has finally resumed airworthiness testing for the KC-46A aerial refueler program.

By Guy Norris
Despite NASA’s intent to find multiple deep-space missions for the Space Launch System (SLS) currently in development, agency Administrator Charles Bolden has reaffirmed that there will be no quick decision on using the rocket for its planned mission to Jupiter’s icy moon Europa.

Pentagon procurement chief Frank Kendall says every F-35 partner nation has expressed interest in participating in a massive block buy of the Lockheed Martin jets to start in fiscal 2018.

By Tony Osborne
Incorrectly installed engine control software caused the fatal crash of an A400M airlifter in Spain on May 9, a senior Airbus Group official says.
Defense

Stealth and cost are among the reasons why the U.S. Navy’s new Ohio Replacement ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) is larger than its predecessor despite having two-thirds the weapon capacity, according to Adm. Joe Tofalo, Navy director of undersea warfare.