RUSSIAN HELICOPTERS and KRET (both part of State Corporation Rostec) began testing Mi-171A2 advanced medium multirole helicopter with KBO-17 avionics suite; two aircraft (one flight/one ground) are now being tested with a third currently in assembly. GENERAL DYNAMICS ELECTRIC BOAT has $311m U.S. Navy contract for planning yard work, engineering and technical support for nuclear submarines; contract has total potential value of $1.5 billion over five years if all options are exercised.
RUSSIAN HELICOPTERS and KRET (both part of State Corporation Rostec) began testing Mi-171A2 advanced medium multirole helicopter with KBO-17 avionics suite; two aircraft (one flight/one ground) are now being tested with a third currently in assembly. GENERAL DYNAMICS ELECTRIC BOAT has $311m U.S. Navy contract for planning yard work, engineering and technical support for nuclear submarines; contract has total potential value of $1.5 billion over five years if all options are exercised.
Solar Impulse plans to start and finish its 2015 solar-powered round-the-world flights in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. Testing and training is to begin in Abu Dhabi in January. The Solar Impulse 2 aircraft, which made its first flight from Payerne, Switzerland, in June, is scheduled to be shipped by cargo aircraft to Abu Dhabi by the end of the year. Local renewable energy company Masdar will be the host partner. The round-the-world flights are planned to take place over five months from the beginning of March to the end of July 2015.
MOSCOW — The Russian navy has begun operating the first serially upgraded Ilyushin Il-38N maritime patrol and anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft. The flights started recently at the 859th combat employment and retraining center of naval aviation in Yeysk, on the Azov Sea, Ilyushin says. This modernized aircraft was handed over to the military in July and is expected to be used for conversion training.
The U.S. Navy has developed a Deck Simulator Shock Machine (DSSM) that the service says improves shipboard electronics reliability while saving $75,000 per test. The machine evaluates state-of-the-art, vibration-sensitive electronics cabinets weighing up to 1,500 lb. on shock isolation mounts, Navy officials say. One of two such machines worldwide, the mechanism sits on 22,000 lb. of steel and concrete and records the effects of simulated underwater explosions on electronics equipment.
The FAA has granted six aerial photo and video operators permission to use small unmanned aircraft (UAVs) for filming on closed sets through a process the agency says provides a model for early approval of commercial UAVs for other applications. The six operators applied for exemptions to the ban on flying commercial UAVs in national airspace in petitions coordinated by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). They are The FAA is still working to approve a seventh operator, says Administrator Michael Huerta.
The U.S. Navy’s Surface Maintenance Engineering Planning Program (Surfmepp) now has a better way for planning maintenance for surface ships. The program successfully completed its “baseline availability work package/availability work package” (BAWP/AWP) process earlier this month for all surface ships. With the new package, Navy officials say, “All surface ships now have an articulated, technically rigorous and engineered maintenance oversight process that supports each ship reaching its expected service life.”
HOUSTON – New U.S. and Russian crewmembers floated aboard the International Space Station (ISS) early Sept. 26, following a late-night sprint to the orbiting science lab aboard a Soyuz capsule with just one of two solar power arrays properly deployed.
Package carrier DHL Parcel is to begin unmanned-aircraft delivery flights from Norden in Germany to the North Sea island of Juist. The research flights will be conducted in collaboration with RWTH Aachen University. Amazon and Google are both developing unmanned-aircraft delivery systems, but are being hampered by the FAA’s ban on commercial UAV flights in national airspace, even for research purposes. Amazon is flying indoors and Google has tested its UAV in Australia.
The U.S. moved to strike Syria in part because an al Qaeda offshoot group targeted as part of the operation was growing close to developing explosives that could evade detection at airports, according to top U.S. officials. “The briefings we had indicated there was a growing ability to put together an explosive device which could get through the security at airports,” Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) told reporters earlier this week.
The U.S. Navy’s DDG 1000 Zumwalt destroyer completed the light-off of its Main Turbine Generator set earlier this month, making it self-sufficient on its own power. The lead ship of the three-vessel DDG 1000 fleet is 92% complete and currently going through the test-and-activation phase at General Dynamics’ Bath Iron Works shipyard. The ship successfully activated its fuel systems, advanced induction motors (AIM) and generators, with fuel onload and AIM light-off completed in July. IPS
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. ( Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) Sept. 29-Oct. 1 — 12th Annual Maritime Reconnaissance & Surveillance, Crowne Plaza Rome, St. Peter’s Rome, Italy. For more information go to www.maritimerecon.com/ Sept. 30-Oct. 2 — Offshore patrol Vessels, The Radisson Blu Royal Hotel, Dublin, Ireland. For more information go to www.offshorepatrolvessels.com/
