Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

The launch and landings will unfold over four Russian Soyuz missions launched and recovered from Kazakhstan.

The U.K. has become the first nation outside of the U.S. to begin "organic" Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter test operations.

As happens every few years, Congress has requested a report on how effectively Darpa transitions new technologies to the services.

Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) is introducing a new maritime surveillance and anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare aircraft at Aero India 2015.

The new bill follows the $18 billion topline for the agency included in the fiscal 2015 spending bill already adopted.

"We have a big smile on our face," said French arms procurement chief Laurent Collet-Billon during an annual media address here Feb. 9, one day after Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian confirmed press reports that Paris and Cairo are in talks over a state-backed arms package for Egypt.

Efforts to reach Mars with humans in the 2030s received a strong endorsement last week from participants in October’s Second Mars Affordability and Sustainability Community Workshop.

The trophy is presented in recognition of significant lifetime contributions to the exploration of space.

Summer Arctic sea ice levels could potentially fall to zero before the end of this century, scientists warn.

“DOT&E assessed that the Mk 54 torpedo is not operationally effective as an offensive ASW weapon,” Pentagon testers say.

The first group of Kazakh pilots and technicians has already arrived at the aircraft’s assembly facility in Irkutsk, Russia, for one-month type conversion ground training.

The manufacturer had been studying the causes of an incident involving an NH90 in Termez, Uzbekistan, last June when it found that some technical improvements to the overhead panel were needed.

To help counter the erosion of military superiority, the Defense Department plans to make increased use of modeling, simulation and prototyping, as well as modularity to enable technology insertion in existing systems.

The U.S. State Department has approved the sale of four General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to the Netherlands.

The event marks the growth of India’s indigenous navy LCA program, aimed at achieving an aircraft carrier compatibility technology demonstration.

Engineers are currently assembling the aircraft in Italy, where shakedown flights will be conducted before it is dismantled and sent to Philadelphia in preparation for testing of the aircraft’s deicing system in Minnesota toward year’s end.

Launch of a SpaceX Falcon9 with the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) was scrubbed 2 min. before liftoff.

To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) Feb. 9-11 — Airworthiness, Condition Based Maintenance (CBM) and Health and Usage Monitoring Systems (HUMS) Specialists’ Meeting, Huntsville, Alabama. For more information go to www.vtol.org/events/airworthiness-cbm-and-hums-specialists-meeting Feb. 10-12 — U.S. Naval Institute, 2015 WEST Conference. For more information go to www.usni.org/events/2015-west-conference

Bombardier and Lockheed Martin are bracing for delivery disruptions to their respective Q400 and C-130J assembly lines after a massive fire destroyed around 80% of General Electric’s Dowty production site in the U.K. that makes propellers for both models. The fire, which broke out at the Staverton facility around midnight on Feb. 5, gutted the main manufacturing plant at the heart of the Dowty Propellers site that employs around 250 workers. All 29 of the employees who were in the building at the time escaped without injury.

AEDC, TN, reopened 4T wind tunnel (operates at Mach .05-Mach 2.5) following $33m upgrade for >1000 psf store separation testing. MARSHALL AEROSPACE & DEFENSE appointed David Jurkowski as Vice President Government and Industry Relations, based in Vancouver, BC. BOEING has USAF contract to supply CONECT digital communication system kits for installation on 10 more B-52s.

A commercial lunar base proposed by Bigelow Aerospace “looked like a really good idea” after a yearlong interagency review led by the FAA. But the U.S

/site-files/aviationweek.com/files/uploads/2015/02/asd_02_06_2015_dmin.pdf North America Northrop Grumman, Boeing and Lockheed Martin each have formed teams to plan for the yet-to-be-defined air superiority fighter competitions that would replace the U.S. Navy’s F/A-18E/F and U.S. Air Force’s (USAF) F-22. However, developments and significant funding are not expected for several years.

AIRBUS made first flight of first (022) of four A400Ms for ROYAL MALAYSIAN AIR FORCE. STRATEGIC DEFENSE INTELLIGENCE forecasts global military rotorcraft market will grow 2.6% annually to $27.3b by 2025. SIKORSKY AIRCRAFT began bladed ground testing on first of two prototype S-97 Raiders. EMBRAER made first flight of KC-390 tanker/transport; it has order commitments for 32 (28 from BRAZILIAN AIR FORCE).

With electronic warfare becoming increasingly important for U.S. Navy platforms and conceptual operations, the service is looking to control the domain just as it would in the undersea, surface and air realms. Indeed, the service wants, in the words of Adm. Jonathan Greenert, chief of naval operations, “to figure out how we can beat things electronically first.” To that end, the Navy wants to develop expertise in what it calls Electromagnetic Maneuver Warfare (EMW).

The Crowsnest system devised by Lockheed Martin consists of four IAI Elta ELM-2052 AESA radars, with two fitted into a composite pod, mounted on each side of the helicopter on the Merlin’s two weapon pylons.