Northrop Grumman is looking at the potential of “really large” unmanned airships for commercial freight transport, Tom Vice, president of the company’s Aerospace Systems segment, said in Washington Aug. 20. Comparing the effect of such a system on air freight to the advent of the 747 freighter in its day, Vice said that while there is “a lot of work to do” on the concept, the company has looked at promising technologies, and said that the company would continue the work — if it does so — in partnership with a large air freight hauler such as FedEx or UPS.
EADS STAKE: Vnesheconombank (VEB), Russia’s Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs, has sold its 5% stake in EADS. VEB reduced its stake to just under 3% at the end of July and has now divested its entire shareholding, industry sources tell Aviation Week. The sale is understood to be part of a broader plan to address the ongoing financial difficulties at Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company (SCAC), the producer of the Superjet 100. SCAC has debt amounting to around $2 billion, $1 billion of which is owed to Vnesheconombank.
NEW DELHI — The Indian navy fears there are no survivors on the INS Sindhurakshak submarine, which sank in its dockyard with 18 people onboard after an explosion and fire. “The state of ... [the three recovered bodies] and conditions within the submarine leads to the firm conclusion that finding any surviving personnel within the submarine is unlikely,” an Indian navy spokesman says.
The U.S. Navy and NASA conducted a stationary recovery test of the agency’s Orion space capsule in the well deck of the amphibious transport dock LPD-24 USS Arlington last week while it was berthed at Naval Station Norfolk’s Pier 12. “This is a building block for the United States to conduct manned space flight again,” says NASA Recovery Director Louie Garcia.
The National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI), acting in partnership with NASA’s human research program, plans to establish a Center for Space Radiation Research—budgeted at $2 billion annually—to focus on the effects of space radiation on astronauts assigned to deep-space missions. NSBRI issued a request for applications (RFA) on Aug. 14, seeking proposals from U.S research teams from academia, federal research centers, the private sector and labs established by state and local governments.
As demand from the U.S. military for its small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) winds down, AeroVironment is looking to move into the tactical missile, mission services and commercial markets. International sales of its small UAS, production ramp-up on the Switchblade lethal unmanned aircraft and finding customers for surveillance services and the Global Observer hydrogen-fueled high-altitude/long-endurance UAS are key to the company’s strategy to diversify its business.
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NEW DELHI — India’s first dedicated military communications satellite, GSAT-7, will be launched at the end of August, a senior scientist says. GSAT-7, which will primarily serve the Indian navy, is slated for launch on Aug. 30 from Europe’s spaceport at Kourou, French Guiana, aboard an Ariane 5 rocket, a scientist at the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) says.
CANBERRA — South Korea appears poised to order 60 Boeing F-15SE Silent Eagles for its F-X Phase 3 competition, throwing a lifeline to the venerable fighter’s production line and offering the manufacturer an opportunity to improve it for future contests.
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — U.S. Missile Defense Agency Director (MDA) Vice Adm. James Syring plans to push for at least two Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) tests next year and more routine flight trials in the years to follow. “It is important for us to get back to regular, more than annual...flight-testing of the GBI [Ground-Based Interceptor] system,” Syring said during a speech Aug. 14 at the 16th Annual Space and Missile Defense Symposium here.
EXTRA SCRUTINY: For contractors helping to provide the U.S. Defense Department’s emerging “Joint Information Environment” (JIE), expect a lot more scrutiny. Development of the Pentagon’s new cloud-oriented information network will include no-notice inspector general reviews, personnel moves, integrated financial execution and planning, and converged enterprise services and chief information officer functions, according to the Defense Information Systems Agency’s director. Air Force Lt. Gen.
PALM BEACH and PANAMA CITY, Fla. — After years of treading water, the U.S. Navy’s Remote Multi-Mission Vehicle (RMMV) program appears to be making solid headway again, and program officials now feel the unmanned undersea vehicle (UUV) will give them the bang of a minesweeper for the bucks of a semi-submersible. Built by Lockheed Martin, the RMMV is a mission-module centerpiece for mine warfare operations planned for the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS).
