CAPE TOWN, South Africa — The Google Lunar X Prize has already had its desired effect, spurring a vigorous competition among 26 teams which have spent almost as much as the $30 million the search-engine giant put up in prize money for reaching the Moon’s surface and sending back pictures. Some of the teams are selling piggyback rides on their spacecraft to help fund the development, potentially putting small lunar-science missions within the reach of nations and even universities that otherwise would not be able to afford them.
LOS ANGELES — Space Exploration Technologies Inc. (SpaceX) could be facing a further delay to its NASA cargo resupply demonstration flight of the Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft planned for December. Although lately targeted toward Nov. 30, and more recently Dec. 19, the demonstration docking with the International Space Station could be in danger of sliding into early 2012.
Under a long-term, €275 million ($364.4 million) agreement with the European Space Agency (ESA), Astrium will spearhead a public-private partnership to establish an independent European Data Relay Satellite system with operational transmissions scheduled to begin in 2014.
House lawmakers skewered Obama administration officials Oct. 4 on the decision to sell Lockheed Martin F-16 upgrades to the Taiwanese government, rather than brand-new F-16 C/D aircraft. But the officials indicated the story is not over. They might be open to selling F-16 C and D aircraft in the future.
CHEMICAL DESTRUCTION: The U.S. has destroyed 89% of its original chemical weapons stockpile, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Oct. 3. She provided the update while reiterating that Washington is “committed to the complete elimination of chemical weapons stockpiles in the United States and around the world.” She says 188 countries have joined the international community and renounced chemical weapons. The latest U.S. tally is up from about 59% destroyed in April 2009 (Aerospace DAILY, May 1, 2009).
AIR FORCE Northrop Grumman Corp., Aerospace System, San Jose, Calif., is being awarded an estimated $54,227,582 cost-plus-incentive-fee contract modification to provide logistics support activities required to support the Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle fielded systems and subsystems used in peacetime operations, which includes fielded air vehicles, engines, payloads, ground segments, and support segments. WR-ALC/GRCKA, Robins Air Force Base, Ga., is the contracting activity (FA8528-11-C-0003-PZ0001).
The F-35B, which a year ago was in the midst of major scrutiny for dismal testing performance, has taken a major step with its first landing on the U.S. Marine Corps’ USS Wasp amphibious ship. The F-35 Joint Program Office confirmed the landing Oct. 3. A second short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing (Stovl) Joint Strike Fighter is expected to arrive on the ship within days, kicking off a series of ship trials designed to ensure the F-35B can operate on the Marine Corps’ amphibious ship decks.
CAPE TOWN, South Africa — NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and his European Space Agency counterpart, Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain, failed to settle their differences on restructuring the two agencies’ joint robotic Mars exploration program at a meeting Oct. 3, and now hint that it may be time to bring Russia or another partner into the mix. At issue is how much of the joint program that was worked out when the two agencies had a brighter fiscal outlook can be salvaged in today’s tougher economic environment.
LPD-22 TRIALS: The future LPD-17 class amphibious transport dock ship LPD-22 San Diego completed builder’s trials Oct. 1. LPD-22 is the sixth LPD-17 class ship and the second ship of the class to be completely built at Huntington Ingalls Industries in Pascagoula, Miss. LPD-22 is scheduled for commissioning in 2012 and will be homeported in San Diego. Four other LPD-17 class ships are under construction on the Gulf Coast.
RIGHT STUFF: NASA says it will seek applicants for its next class of astronaut candidates starting in early November. Future crewmembers will support long-duration missions to the International Space Station (ISS) and even “deep-space” exploration activities beyond low Earth orbit. But the ride could be rough for would-be astronauts for a while. U.S. astronaut ranks are dwindling in the near term as NASA prepares to pay Russia to launch astronauts to the ISS until a U.S. commercial crew transport is ready.
AIR FORCE The Boeing Co., Huntington Beach, Calif., is being awarded a not-to-exceed $469,000,000 firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract modification for a foreign military sales requirement for the Indian Air Force (IAF) C-17 Globemaster III Sustainment Partnership Program. This action incorporates support of the IAF aircraft into the “virtual fleet” which includes aircraft maintenance, upgrades, and sustainment. ASC/WLMK, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8614-04-C-2004, PO0436). ARMY
ARMY EOIR Technologies Inc., Fredericksburg, Va., was awarded an $83,750,574 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract. The award will provide for the maintenance and logistics support for the Constant Hawk-Afghanistan and light detection and ranging aircraft. The work will be performed in Fredericksburg, with an estimated completion date of June 26, 2012. One bid was solicited, with one bid received. The U.S. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., is the contracting activity (W15P7T-11-C-H001).
OFF AND RUNNING: A former U.S. Marine and analyst with a K-Street think tank is heading outside the Beltway, hoping the citizens of Oklahoma will send him back to Washington as a Republican member of Congress in 2013. Sept. 30 was retired Lt. Col. Dakota Wood’s last day as a land and irregular warfare expert for the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. He formally kicks off his campaign Oct. 6. During his time in the Marine Corps, Wood conducted defense, policy and political analysis.
NEW DELHI — The Indian air force (IAF) soon will place a follow-on order for six C-130J medium-lift transport aircraft, says Air Chief Marshal Norman Anil Kumar Browne. “Talks with the U.S. government and Lockheed Martin for the new batch of aircraft are on, and the order is expected to be placed by January 2012,” Browne says. In January 2008, the IAF signed a deal for six C-130Js for about $1.1 billion. Deliveries started in December 2010; five have arrived so far.
LONDON — China has been one of Russia’s best export customers for weapons, but it is a relationship neither side feels entirely comfortable with. One example is that China bought Russian fighters — strengthening relations — then built copies of them, which created tensions between Beijing and Moscow.
THAI CONTRACT: Saab has secured a 104 million Swedish kronor ($15.2 million) contract from the Thai government to continue work on the country’s air command and control system. The deal is part of a larger agreement with the Royal Thai Air Force that has included the purchase of 12 Gripen fighters — six have been delivered — and one Saab 340-based airborne early warning system. The contract extension will see Saab continue to work on the air force’s command and control architecture through 2013.
LONDON — When defense ministers from NATO member states meet this week in Brussels, missile defense will be on the agenda. And while concrete decisions are not expected, Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen hopes to be ready to declare some meaningful progress next year.
NEW DELHI — The Indian navy is scouting for military helicopters to succeed its anti-submarine and troop-carrying Sea King and airborne early warning Kamov helicopters. The initial process began with a request for information that was released a couple of months back, Indian navy spokesman Commander P. Satish tells Aviation Week. The navy also is planning to refurbish its current fleet of Sea Kings and Kamovs. “The Indian navy’s fleet of helicopters is relatively old; hence it is due for [upgrading] and replacement,” Satish says.
Though the U.S. Marine Corps’ Harrier fleet is expected to last until 2024, the service is in talks with the U.K. to purchase its aircraft to provide parts to keep the AV-8B flying until the delayed Lockheed Martin F-35 enters service. Lt. Gen. Terry Robling, the Marine Corps commandant for aviation, says his main concern for the Harrier fleet is parts obsolescence, especially for the avionics and mission computers. The Harrier was originally built by McDonnell Douglas, which has since been bought by Boeing.
If and when U.S. House and Senate appropriators get around to finalizing fiscal 2012 defense appropriations, history shows the two chambers will have a lot to work out even if deficits and elections were not further complicating efforts. An Aviation Week Intelligence Network review of standing House and Senate defense spending bills shows that between them, appropriators changed one-third of the lines in the Pentagon’s research and procurement budgets, for instance. Yet the chambers agreed on the change only 5% of the time. (See chart below.)
United Space Alliance has received a $49.4 million, yearlong extension under its NASA Space Program Operations Contract at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., to maintain and upgrade launch facilities for future use by commercial and agency spacecraft. The agreement, in force through Sept. 30, 2012, also specifies modifications to the Vehicle Assembly Building, Launch Pad 39B and Crawler Transporter 2 as part of NASA’s 21st Century Ground Systems initiative.
