HOUSTON — NASA and SpaceX, the agency’s front-running Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) partner, declared themselves ready for a late April launching of the first privately developed cargo mission to the International Space Station, following an April 16 Flight Readiness Review (FRR).
LONDON — Cuts to the German military could lead to a contraction of the defense industry, particularly with smaller suppliers, warns the country’s aerospace lobby group, BDLI.
HOUSTON — NASA is looking to firm up future Mars exploration options by August, as the agency rebounds from a proposed 20% cut in the planetary exploration program that forced it to withdraw from a budding partnership with the European Space Agency (EGSA) for the ExoMars missions in 2016 and 2018. Though the long-term federal funding outlook is uncertain, NASA’s recently established Mars Program Planning Group (MPPG) is looking at perhaps $700-800 million for either a lander or an orbital mission launch in 2018 or 2020.
HEAT VISION: Lockheed Martin has completed assembly of the Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) for NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, the company announced April 16. The work was done at the Lockheed Martin Space Systems Advanced Technology Center in Palo Alto, California, where environmental testing is about to begin. The University of Arizona and Lockheed Martin are responsible for the NIRCam instrument design, the instrument control and focal plane electronics and software.
U.S. ARMY Hamilton Sundstrand Corp., Windsor Locks, Conn., was awarded a $46,780,633 firm-fixed-price contract. The award will provide for the overhaul/upgrade services of the T700 fuel control in support of the UH-60 Black Hawk. Work will be performed in Windsor Locks, Conn., with an estimated completion date of Jan. 30, 2017. The bid was solicited through the Internet, with one bid received. The U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., is the contracting activity (W58RGZ-12-D-0073).
U.S. AIR FORCE The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Mo., is being awarded a $98,800,000 not-to-exceed cost-plus-incentive-fee and firm-fixed-priced contract to procure enhanced threat response redesign for the Massive Ordnance Penetrator, a quick reaction capability program. The location of the performance is St. Louis, Mo. Work is to be completed by March 30, 2014. AAC/EBDK/EDBJ, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity (FA868109-C-0280, P00034). U.S. NAVY
FORT WASHINGTON Md. — Key technology for the U.S. Navy’s proposed Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR) is advancing more quickly than the service brass had anticipated, casting doubt on some of the criticism leveled lately at the AMDR development program, says Rear Adm. James Syring, program executive officer for Integrated Defense Systems.
AMMO DELIVERY: India is likely to take delivery of 16,000 rounds of ammunition from Russia for its T-90 tanks this year. “A contract for procurement of 16,000 rounds of Fin Stabilized Armor Piercing Discarding Sabot (FSAPDS) ammunition for T-90 tanks was signed with Rosoboronexport ... in December 2010. It became effective in March 2011, and the complete consignment is likely to be delivered in the first half of 2012,” a defense ministry official says.
If there is one Pentagon program decision for fiscal 2013 that lawmakers are likely to reject, it is the decision to mothball Northrop Grumman’s Global Hawk Block 30. Plans to make 18 of the high-altitude UAVs and immediately lock them in storage, when they have been already used both on the battlefield and for disaster relief, have not gone over well with House lawmakers.
Industry leaders are optimistic about the technology and promise of the commercial space, pointing to advances made by private companies leveraging government investment and finding more efficient ways to contract, buy and build. Mark Sirangelo, corporate vice president at Sierra Nevada Space Systems, touted the outlook of his company’s Dream Chaser orbital transit, now in development with 12 industrial partners, during the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s 11th Annual Aviation Summit on April 12.
The U.S. Air Force plans to release a draft of its amended request for proposals (RFP) for the troubled Light Air Support (LAS) program on April 17, with a source selection eyed in early 2013. If this schedule holds, the first aircraft will not reach Afghanistan until the third quarter of 2014, a slip of 15 months. The program was originally crafted to quickly field light-attack aircraft for use by the Afghan air force as Washington begins to withdraw its soldiers.
Moving quickly to get its Robotics Challenge disaster-response competition off the ground, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) plans to award Boston Dynamics a contract to supply eight humanoid robots for use by competing teams.
PARIS — The Yahsat 1B (Y1B) telecom satellite owned by United Arab Emirates-based Al Yah Satellite Communications Co. is slated to launch April 24 aboard an International Launch Services Proton rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. When Y1B enters service, it will complete the two-spacecraft Yahsat system built by EADS-Astrium and Thales Alenia Space. Al Yah, however, is now considering ordering a third satellite and is soliciting interest from numerous manufacturers, according to industry officials.
Two Lockheed Martin/Kaman K-Max unmanned helicopters have logged more than 380 flight hours and carried more than 750,000 lb. of cargo to resupply U.S. Marine Corps outposts since beginning operations in Afghanistan in mid-December. The six-month deployment is aimed at demonstrating how unmanned cargo aircraft can be used to take vehicle convoys off dangerous roads. Operations are being funded month-by-month, and Lockheed and Kaman say they are ready to support an extended deployment.
BEIJING — Avic says it will put its highest priority in coming years on aero-engine technology, a field of aerospace in which China has conspicuously lagged. The group has set a budget of 10 billion yuan ($1.56 billion) for aero-engine work for the next five years, says Avic President Lin Zuoming.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) Apr. 17 - 19 — 13th Annual Science & Engineering Technology Conference/Defense Tech Exposition, "Outlook for Defense S&T in a Time of Austerity: Maintaining the Warfighter’s Edge During a Period of Transition," Embassy Suites Hotel at Charleston Convention Center, Charleston, S.C. For more information go to www.ndia.org/meetings
LONDON — Researchers at Germany’s DLR aerospace center hope to complete final ground tests of the Shefex 2 (Sharp-Edged Flight Experiment) hypersonics demonstrator in the next two to three weeks in preparation for a June launch. The mission initially was due to take place last year, but was delayed so different issues discovered during ground testing could be resolved. The new launch date being eyed is June 18.
SENDAI, Japan — Knocked out by the great tsunami on March 11 last year, the Sendai Maintenance Center of Japanese aerospace group Jamco is nearing full recovery.
HANDED OVER: Three months after its launch, the U.S. Air Force has accepted control of WGS-4 following Boeing’s in-orbit testing of the spacecraft, which is based on the 702HP commercial satellite bus. WGS-4 will be the first Block II in operation following USAF acceptance testing. Block II spacecraft feature three times faster data rate transmissions of airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance imagery as compared to Block I. WGS-5 is in production and due for launch in 2013. The WGS is the successor to the Defense Satellite Communications System.
UNMANNED PRESSURE: Military operations will be a significant contributor to the coming wave of unmanned aircraft in the national airspace system (NAS), according to John Langford, president and CEO of Aurora Flight Sciences Corp. Langford offers this measure of the pressure unmanned aircraft will bring to the NAS: Around 1999, there were about 100,000 unmanned flight hours yearly. It now approaches one million. Almost all those flight hours occurred outside U.S. airspace, in military vehicles on military missions.
NEW DELHI — China’s growing military profile is a source of increasing worry in India, as evidenced by a recent report from the Indian defense ministry. “Rapid infrastructure development in Tibet and Xinjiang has considerably upgraded China’s military force projection capability against India and improved its overall strategic and operational flexibility,” the report says. “India remains conscious and watchful of the implications of China’s military profile in the immediate and extended neighborhood.
NEW DELHI — India’s defense ministry on April 10 dismissed reports of ammunition and other stocks running low, and stressed that the country is fully prepared in the event of war. “I can assure you India is well-prepared and in a stronger position as compared to the past,” Defense Minister A.K. Antony says. His comments come in the wake of a statement made by S.K. Singh, the departing Indian army vice chief, who said hardly any ammunition was left with the service’s armored regiments.
SELECTED ACQUISITIONS: The Pentagon’s 2011 year-end Selected Acquisition Report includes four programs with cost decreases resulting from partial or full cancelation. The RQ-4A/B Global Hawk program cost decreased because of a quantity reduction of 21 from the cancelation of Block 30. Three programs had cost decreases from cancelation: the BDMS Airborne Infrared Program, JTRS Ground Mobile Radio and the National Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System.
