General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) is assessing international interest in the ability to enable third-party payload integration on its Predator B unmanned aircraft after completing a proof-of-concept demonstration using company funds. A “sovereign payload” capability would allow payload providers and system integrators other than GA-ASI to develop their own control software and ultimately integrate payloads on to the Predator on behalf of specific customer countries.
Multi-network Link 16 capability and the addition of a high-bandwidth data link are the next steps for the Multifunction Information Distribution System (MIDS) widely used by U.S. and allied forces. Development of the added capability is now under way following the approval for full production and fielding of the software-defined MIDS Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) Link 16 terminal.
A Panama Canal official confirms what Adm. Jonathan Greenert, U.S. chief of naval operations, has been saying for months—upcoming canal changes and improvements are likely to shift shipping trends and, therefore, warrant watching. The newly widened canal, set to open in early 2015, will attract larger ships—especially bulk carriers—laden with liquid natural gas and similar cargo, Oscar Bazan, canal marketing manager, tells Aviation Week.
Spacecraft controllers are checking out Telesat’s Nimiq 6 direct-to-home broadcast satellite after a 9-r., 14-min. launch mission on an International Launch Services (ILS) Proton Breeze M rocket that lifted off May 17 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The 4.5-metric-ton satellite reached its geostationary transfer orbit en route to its operational orbital slot at 91.1 deg. W. Long. From there its 32 Ku-band transponders will deliver direct-to-home television services to customers in North America for its Canadian operator.
NASA has cleared Innovative Space Propulsion Systems (ISPS), a Houston-based partnership developing green rocket engines, to fly a thruster testbed on the International Space Station (ISS)
KOUROU, French Guiana — The future of communication satellites appears to be moving toward larger, more powerful models, but satellite manufacturers such as Lockheed Martin will have the challenge of keeping within the capability of current launchers.
Boeing is working on minor modifications to its KC-46A refueler design following a major preliminary design review, and the company is focusing on reducing the risk of the integrated design through the use of several laboratories now under construction, says Maj. Gen. Christopher Bogdan, the U.S. Air Force’s KC-46A program executive officer.
A Japanese H-IIA rocket orbited two remote-sensing satellites May 17, one of them a South Korean spacecraft that marked Japan’s first international commercial customer. Liftoff from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launch site on Tanegashima Island in Southeast Japan came on time at 12:39 p.m. EDT, and the spacecraft separated as planned.
KOUROU, French Guiana — Sky Perfect JSAT Corp. of Japan, which says it is Asia’s largest satellite operator, plans to sign contracts this year to buy more satellites. Osamu Inoue, president of the company’s satellite and space business group, says Lockheed Martin and Sky Perfect are discussing a purchase.
OPEN PREDATOR: General Atomics Aeronautical Systems has demonstrated an open payload architecture for the Predator B unmanned aircraft, working with Selex Galileo and Cobham Aviation Services, which is responsible for through-life support for the MQ-9 Reapers operated by the U.K. Royal Air Force.
A House spending bill adds $5 billion to Pentagon procurement for fiscal 2013, with big increases for U.S. Navy ships and the National Guard. To a budget request of zero, the House Appropriations Committee defense bill adds $2 billion for National Guard and Reserve equipment. The House appropriators’ gift outdoes even House authorizers, who added $500 million. The appropriations bill was approved by the committee May 17.
Congressional language directing NASA to pick a single commercial crew vehicle to back during development threatens to boost the cost of commercial crew operations if it is adopted, according to a member of the presidential panel that recommended using commercial vehicles to transport U.S. astronauts to low Earth orbit.
A May 16 story incorrectly identified the communication unit that was replaced aboard the International Space Station in anticipation of the upcoming arrival of the SpaceX Dragon capsule. The unit is the Space Integrated GPS Inertial Navigation System, or SIGI, which is a piece of NASA hardware.
RAPTOR WATCH: All eyes are now on the U.S. Air Force’s F-22 Raptor. Given the Lockheed Martin fighter’s problems with its oxygen-delivery system, on May 15 Defense Secretary Leon Panetta placed restrictions on the jet’s operations. And Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, is asking what kind of impact this will have on operation, training and ultimately the nation’s security.
Lockheed Martin has conducted target tracking tests in preparation for the first flight of a miniature hit-to-kill interceptor designed to shoot down rockets, artillery shells and mortar rounds. The vertical-launch missile is being developed under the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center’s Extended Area Protection and Survivability (EAPS) integrated demonstration program.
The House is expected to vote this week on a bill that calls on the Pentagon to start on an East Coast Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system site.
Sequestration and the uncertain future it portends could have a lasting impact on U.S. Navy shipbuilding, says Michael Petters, CEO for Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII), the nation’s largest military shipbuilder. The so-called “sequestration” cuts to the federal budget, which are due to kick in if the Congress fails in its efforts to rein in the deficit, would amount to $500 million in reductions for the Pentagon alone.
GENOA — Italy has confirmed its intention to acquire 90 Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighters for its air force and Navy, with deliveries to start in late 2014 and extend through 2028-30. The air force put up a successful fight to buy at least a squadron of F-35Bs short-takeoff-vertical-landing (stovl) aircraft, against the wishes of the defense ministry, which wanted the air force to standardize on the F-35A conventional-takeoff-and-landing (CTOL) version, leaving the navy as the sole operator of the F-35B.
The concept of Air-Sea Battle — basically a tighter, but more flexible operational combination of the U.S. Navy and Air Force — is already creating some conceptual innovations, including submarines attacking air defenses without using explosives. Submarines, operating submerged, may be modified to conduct non-kinetic attacks of ground or ship-based integrated air defenses (IADs), says the chief of naval operations, Adm. Jonathan Greenert.
PARIS — The European Space Agency (ESA) is considering a plan to launch its next large-class science mission atop a Russian Proton rocket rather than an Ariane 5 to reap savings that would help the agency pay for its troubled ExoMars campaign.
