Washington, D.C. March 7, 2012 The Aviation Week Laureate Awards recognize individuals and teams for their extraordinary accomplishments. Their achievements embody the spirit of exploration, innovation and vision that inspire others to strive for significant broad-reaching progress in aviation and aerospace. Join us at this black tie dinner and celebrate the best of the industry’s best!
Washington, D.C. March 7, 2012 The Aviation Week Laureate Awards recognize individuals and teams for their extraordinary accomplishments. Their achievements embody the spirit of exploration, innovation and vision that inspire others to strive for significant broad-reaching progress in aviation and aerospace. Join us at this black tie dinner and celebrate the best of the industry’s best!
General aviation groups are urging U.S. regulators to withdraw LightSquared’s conditional waiver for a broadband wireless network, saying the GPS system must be protected from all sources of interference. Their comments are in response to a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) request for input on LightSquared’s December petition for a ruling that commercial GPS receivers are not entitled to protection from interference caused by a broadband wireless network operating within technical parameters set by the government.
NEED BRAC: Lawmakers are cringing at the idea, but the Pentagon remains adamant that to best deal with the budget cuts that Washington enacted into law last August, the military must be free to pursue another round of base realignment and closure (BRAC). The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, says a BRAC is already needed just to deal with the first part of the Budget Control Act’s cuts, not to mention if the full, $1 trillion effect of so-called “sequestration” is triggered. “By the way, I didn’t pass the Budget Control Act,” Dempsey says.
As of the end of January, the K-MAX unmanned helicopter had delivered over 100,000 lb. of cargo on more than 50 resupply missions in Afghanistan, according to numbers provided by Lockheed Martin, which produces the K-MAX along with Kaman Aerospace. The U.S. Marine Corps flew its first-ever unmanned cargo resupply mission in Afghanistan on Dec. 17, sending the K-MAX on a mission to supply Marines stationed at a small combat outpost with 3,500 lb. of food and equipment.
HOUSTON — NASA is equipping itself with a flexible strategy to push the development of cross-cutting technologies identified by a National Research Council panel as essential to the space agency’s strategic pursuits, including deep-space human exploration, according to the agency’s chief technologist. The strategy will allow NASA to adjust to the budget pressures Congress is likely to face as it considers the 2013 budget that President Barack Obama unveils on Feb. 13, according to Mason Peck, who took over the two-year-old chief technology post in January.
Claims by Hawker Beechcraft that the U.S. Air Force’s choice of Embraer’s AT-29 Super Tucano over its AT-6 to equip the Afghan air force is “fundamentally flawed” and will cost U.S. jobs are being dismissed as misinformation by winning bidder Sierra Nevada Corp. (SNC). The normally closed-mouthed SNC has issued a public rebuttal of the claims as Hawker Beechcraft’s (HBC) lawsuit challenging the Air Force’s decision works its way through federal court, accusing its rival of using delaying tactics.
LONDON — OHB Systems has reinforced its position as the dominant satellite industrial player in the Galileo system, securing a deal to build eight more of the precision navigation and timing satellites after having already beaten out Astrium once for the initial batch of 14 spacecraft.
The U.S. Air Force is proposing to cut 123 fighters and 133 airlifters as it manages spending reductions triggered by a flattening defense budget and declining operational demands. Air Force Secretary Michael Donley, at an Air Force Association event in Washington on Feb. 2, previewed more details of the USAF portion of the fiscal 2013 budget request that comes out Feb. 13.
The Pentagon’s ongoing budget rollout has members of Congress scrambling in all different directions as if trying to gather up pieces of a broken puzzle. The list of items against which some lawmakers are pushing back is long and growing. There’s a steeper round of budget reductions, force structure cuts, base realignment, reductions to the Air National Guard, the cancellation of the Global Hawk Block 30, delays to the Joint Strike Fighter and more.
HOUSTON — NASA Space Station Program Manager Mike Suffredini extended a vote of confidence to the Russian space agency on Feb. 2, as officials in the partner nation sort through the recent ground test failure of a Soyuz capsule that will force a six-week delay in the launch of the next three-person crew to the orbiting space laboratory. Crew returns and future launches will likely slide throughout 2012 as well to ensure the briefest interruptions in sustained six-person station operations to keep research activities at the highest levels.
SPECIAL STRESS: With the Obama administration’s newly planned decrease in overall ground forces and increased reliance on Special Operations Forces (SOF), congressional researchers are warning that there could still be limitations to SOF growth no matter how much the White House, Pentagon and Congress are willing to spend. “While DOD maintains that it is willing to increase its investment in SOF, there are limitations on expansion because of stringent qualification and training standards,” a Jan. 11 report to lawmakers says.
HELP WANTED: Australia is starting to outline the workforce it thinks it needs to match up against a plan for more than $200 billion in defense spending over the next decade, starting with the Future Submarine Project, slated to be Australia’s largest-ever single defense project. “A steady supply of steelworkers, welders, electricians and mechanics is needed, among many other trades. And we also need engineers, systems analysts, accountants and specialists in air and marine transport,” says Sen. Kim Carr, minister for defense materiel.
The U.S. Army’s Ground Combat Vehicle office is teaming up with the armed service’s Network Integration Evaluation (NIE) effort at Fort Bliss, Texas, this spring to test several non-developmental vehicle technologies as part of its larger analysis of alternatives/non-developmental testing and evaluation program.
Sikorsky has issued five technology challenges to entrepreneurs, offering winners access to a new innovation incubator in Stamford, Conn., where the helicopter manufacturer will provide technical and business mentoring. Sikorsky Innovations, the company’s technology development organization, is the first corporate sponsor of the Stamford Innovation Center, which opened on Feb. 2. with the goal of incubating new businesses in Connecticut.
Boeing has been awarded a $277 million contract from U.S. Naval Air Systems Command to support flight tests of the Raytheon Advanced Aerial Sensor (AAS) radar on the P-8A Poseidon maritime multimission aircraft.
MANILA — Philippines President Benigno Aquino has reignited the debate about whether the country should get fighters. Following the U.S. agreement to give 24 second-hand F-16s to Indonesia for free, Aquino is now calling for the U.S. to give the Philippines a similar deal, and has tasked the Philippines Air Force (PAF) to look into it. The Philippines has had no fighters since 2005, when it phased out its last Northrop F-5s.
THINK TWICE: Foreign military sales, financing and other U.S. defense exports will help the U.S. industrial base in years to come, but do not expect a rising tide that lifts all boats, regardless of how companies promote their growing international revenue, says a Wall Street analyst. “While we think there will be winners in the quest for international growth, it will not be as robust as some investors may expect,” says Michael Lewis of Lazard Capital Markets.
Rocket-engine testing for U.S. human spaceflight is getting off to a roaring start in 2012, with Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) announcing the first hot-fire test of its SuperDraco hypergolic engine, and NASA preparing to begin testing the powerpack of the J-2X cryogenic upper-stage engine for its planned Space Launch System (SLS) heavy lifter.
MANILA — The Philippines Air Force (PAF) plans to buy more military transports, light attack aircraft and helicopters to help in the country’s ongoing fight against Muslim insurgents in the south.
