ORLANDO, Fla. — Cracks on an F-35B’s primary support structure found last year are more extensive than previously thought, triggering a halt in ground-based durability testing until the fourth quarter of this year. The initial cracks were found on section 496, a primary wing carrythrough bulkhead, last fall, prompting officials to stop the ground-based testing at hour 9,400 during the second life’s worth of use — or second 8,000 hr. of equivalent flight hours — to investigate the issue.
ORLANDO, Fla. — The U.S. Air Force’s re-engined Lockheed Martin C-5M has reached initial operating capability (IOC), with the first 16 aircraft delivered to Dover AFB, Delaware. Gen. Paul Selva, who leads Air Mobility Command, declared the modified strategic airlifter operational Feb. 21. Selva has been nominated to take over U.S. Transportation Command.
ORLANDO, Fla. — The U.S. Air Force is planning to launch two new and previously classified space situational awareness satellites into geosynchronous orbit this year, according to Gen. William Shelton, who leads Air Force Space Command. The spacecraft were developed covertly by the Air Force and Orbital Sciences under the Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program (GSAP), according to service officials.
As the Office of the Secretary of Defense weighs a premature retirement of the U-2, manufacturer Lockheed Martin’s argument to save the program is that “there is no other high-altitude platform that can do the mission.”
LONDON — The U.K. defense ministry is planning to float the first of its new Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers this summer. The 65,000-tonne HMS Queen Elizabeth is due to be christened by the Queen on July 4. The dock at Rosyth, Scotland, where the ship is being built, will then be flooded later that month, putting water under the carrier’s keel for the first time. The defense ministry states that sea trials will begin in 2017 and the first flight trials with the F-35B Lightning II aircraft are due to begin in 2018.
LOS ANGELES — The Australian government has approved the long-expected acquisition of Boeing P-8 maritime patrol aircraft under an initial $A4 billion ($3.6 billion) program that calls for deliveries to start in 2017.
LOS ANGELES — Engineers at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center are completing key load tests on elements of a large hypersonic inflatable aerodynamic decelerator (HIAD) that ultimately could enable larger payloads to be delivered to the surface of other planets, or returned to Earth.
Development of the CH-53K heavy-lift helicopter for the U.S. Marine Corps is staying on track, Sikorsky says, as the $3.5 billion program enters the ground and flight-testing phase. Sikorsky has completed the ground-test vehicle (GTV) and one of four flight-test aircraft, with the other three in final assembly at its development test center in West Palm Beach, Fla.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) feb. 25 - 27 — AeroDef Manufacturing Summit and Exposition, Long Beach Convention Center, Long Beach, Calif. For more information go to www.aerodefevent.com feb. 27 - 28 — International Helicopter Symposium, Anaheim Convention Center, Anaheim, Calif. For more information go to www.vtol.org/events/international-helicopter-safety-symposium-ihss
LONDON — The U.K. Defense Ministry has lifted a temporary halt on operations of its Airbus A330 Voyager multi-role tanker transport aircraft. The aircraft resumed flying on Feb. 21, after a 12-day halt in operations following an in-flight incident involving one of the aircraft over Turkey on Feb. 9.
Assembly of the first of Sikorsky’s two industry-funded S-97 Raider helicopter prototypes is 25% complete at its West Palm Beach, Fla., development test center and on track for a rollout in September and first flight by year’s end. The manufacturer is pinning its hopes on demonstration of the rigid coaxial-rotor Raider’s high speed and maneuverability in convincing the U.S. Army to take another look at its shelved requirement for a new armed aerial scout (AAS) helicopter.
BLACK HAWKS: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced that a long-awaited $3.5 billion contract to co-produce Sikorsky Black Hawk utility helicopters has been finalized. The deal includes an initial run of 109 T-70 Black Hawks to be assembled by Turkish Aerospace Industries for the army. Sikorsky says a formal announcement will be made when the program is launched in March. The T-70 is a Turkish derivative of the S-70i international Black Hawk now assembled in Poland by Sikorsky subsidiary PZL-Mielec.
HOUSTON — After a dozen years, NASA’s university-level student rocket competition is growing more difficult — much more like the real-life efforts to introduce powerful new propulsion sources like the agency’s deep space-enabling Space Launch System heavy lift rocket.
Rolls-Royce is producing upgrade kits for T56 engines in anticipation of a contract from the U.S. Air Force to retrofit an initial batch of Lockheed Martin C-130H airlifters. The inventory buildup is based on Congress including $15.7 million for engine upgrades in the fiscal 2014 omnibus spending bill.
TANKER NAMED: The U.S. Air Force has finally given its newest aerial refueler, Boeing’s developmental KC-46, a name. Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh announced Feb. 20 at the Air Force Association’s Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Fla., that the aircraft will be dubbed the “Pegasus,” referring to the winged stallion from Greek mythology. The aircraft, however, has yet to fly. The first Boeing 767-2C, a commercial jetliner outfitted with plumbing and wiring for the military refueling modifications, is slated to roll out of the factory this summer.
BAE Systems’ profits fell by £800 million ($1.33 billion) in 2013 because of reduced government spending in the U.S. Significant drops in sales were felt in the company’s U.S.-based Platforms and Services business and in cyber and intelligence, as well as in its electronic systems businesses. But overall sales were up 2%, from £17.9 billion in 2012 to £18.2 billion in 2013, thanks mainly to increased sales and new contracts in the Middle East.
Lockheed Martin has completed a company-funded flight test of its dual-mode seeker for the Joint Air-to-ground Missile (JAGM), as the U.S. Army edges towards development and production of a new version of the Hellfire missile. Originally intended as an all-new, joint-service replacement for the Hellfire with a tri-mode seeker and increased range, JAGM has evolved into a program to develop the seeker for a new version of the Hellfire, with tri-mode capability and new rocket motor as potential future upgrades.
The Pentagon is going on the offensive over electromagnetic spectrum (EMS) management issues — both internally and externally — according to officials’ comments on Feb. 20 as they unveiled the U.S. Defense Department’s long-awaited EMS strategy. “It’s an objective to be more proactive than reactive,” said U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Robert Wheeler, the department’s deputy chief information officer (CIO) for command, control, communications, computers and information infrastructure capabilities.
Raytheon has tested the latest Block III version of its Griffin miniature air-to-ground missile, which public documents say is to enter service this year on U.S. Air Force special operations gunships. The Block III enhancements, which apply to both the AGM-176A aft-launched and -176B forward-launched versions of the 33-lb. weapon, are an improved laser seeker and multi-effects warhead to increase lethality.
U.S. Naval Support Weapon Systems Support (Navsup WSS) officials this month approved a program to modify spare F/A-18 Hornet windshield panels to fit Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornets and EA-18G Growlers, Navy officials say. The initiative, known as the F/A-18 Windshield Logistics Engineering Change Proposal (LECP), will save the Navy approximately $8 million in fiscal years 2015 and 2016, according to the service.
