Doug Cooke, NASA associate administrator for the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate, will retire on Oct. 3 after 38 years with the agency. The exploration directorate has been merged into the new Human Exploration and Operations (HEO) Mission Directorate, and Cooke has said he wanted to retire after NASA chooses a reference design and procurement strategy for the heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS) that Congress has ordered. He will serve as deputy to HEO associate administrator William Gerstenmaier until his departure, NASA said Aug. 16.
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — U.S. missile defense and radar giant Raytheon and top Israeli missile house Rafael are teaming to market the latter’s Iron Dome counter-rocket and mortar project to the Pentagon.
HOUSTON — A flight-like Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle/Launch Abort System (MPCV/LAS) test article is poised for a new series of acoustic-level tests at the Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co. Reverberant Acoustic Chamber near Denver that will simulate the launch and escape environments for future human deep-space missions. The first of three test sessions progressively simulating the actual spacecraft launch configuration is scheduled to begin Aug. 17.
ARMY General Dynamics Land Systems, Sterling Heights, Mich., was awarded a $29,750,240 cost-no-fee contract. The award will provide for the material sets and associated labor to be used for the conversion of 60 M1A2 tanks to a M1A2S configuration for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The work will be performed in Lima, Ohio. One bid was solicited, with one bid received. The U.S. Army TACOM LCMC, Warren, Mich., is the contracting activity (W56HZV-11-C-0350).
Nigeria plans to orbit its second Earth-observation satellite — plus a student-built testbed — on a Russian Dnepr launch vehicle Aug. 17, continuing a joint effort with Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL) to bring satellite skills and applications to the most populous African nation. The mission launching from Yasny, in Southern Russia, will give Nigeria the ability to pinpoint individual buildings for urban planning in its sprawling cities, and to monitor crops more precisely.
Frontier Airlines is expanding its presence in Kansas City, Mo., by adding service to Las Vegas and Houston Hobby Airport, starting Nov. 1, on 99-seat Embraer 190 aircraft. With the additions, the low-cost carrier will serve 18 destinations nonstop from Kansas City. As a result of the service expansion, which follows the addition of three other routes within the past year, Frontier will be expanding its facilities at the airport to include a fifth gate in Terminal C. Republic Airways, Frontier's parent company, has crew and maintenance bases in Kansas City.
Canada and Costa Rica have tentatively approved an open skies accord to replace a bilateral air services agreement from 1996. The deal, which must still be ratified by both countries, follows open skies agreements Canada has signed with Brazil and Mexico (Aviation Daily, Aug. 11).
EADS CFO Hans-Peter Ring arrived in New York last week for meetings with institutional investors and analysts in the middle of a stock market meltdown. “Obviously the markets feel that there is [the threat of] a double-dip recession,” he says. But if that does happen, Ring is confident the company’s Airbus unit is prepared.
Brazil’s finance ministry has granted its approval of Grupo TAM’s proposed merger with Chile’s LAN Airlines. The backing from the Treasury Department’s Secretaria de Acompanhamento Economico, while noting there are overlaps on three passenger and 10 cargo routes, says the merger should be approved without restrictions because the airline industry is sufficiently competitive to assure the airlines will not dominate the sector.
DONE DEAL: Sweden-based Saab has completed its acquisition of Sensis Corp., a radar-systems company based in East Syracuse, N.Y. The acquisition should open the door for more growth in the North American market for the Saab Group, the Swedish company said in a statement. Sensis placed 14th on the leading list of Defense Department contractors for 2010 radar expenses, excluding airborne systems, according to an Aerospace DAILY analysis of federal contracting data.
Australia’s Strategic Airlines plans to build on its new Hawaii routes by linking to mainland U.S. destinations, challenging the established players in the lucrative transpacific market. “Ultimately we are planning to add connections to the U.S. mainland and beyond,” Strategic Chief Commercial Officer Damien Vasta tells Aviation Week following the announcement of flights from Melbourne and Brisbane to Honolulu. Vasta has previously signaled that the beyond-Hawaii links could be achieved through a code-share or interline agreement.
For the second time this year, the U.S. Army has asked the three industry teams bidding on its Ground Combat Vehicle (GCV) program to extend their bids.
Latvian airline Air Baltic continues to grow traffic in spite of a long-standing dispute among its shareholders. The airline saw traffic increase by 7% in the first seven months of the year. In the same period, the load factor improved by six points to 73%, albeit lower than industry average.
Israel will build a new international airport at Timna near the Red Sea resort of Eilat to boost tourism in the southern region of the country. The airport will be named after the late Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon.
NEW DELHI — India is likely to receive the final batch of five MiG-29K/KUB fighters from Russia by December, a defense ministry official says. “With this, Russia will complete the delivery of 16 carrier-borne MiG-29K/KUB fighters to the Indian navy,” the official said over the weekend. India and Russia signed a contract in January 2004 for 12 single-seat MiG-29Ks and four two-seat MiG-29KUBs.
Air Lease Corp. is in talks with Boeing about the re-engining plan for the 737NG, but has questions about whether the aircraft can be competitive with the rival Airbus A320NEO (new engine option).
MCLEAN, Va. — U.S. intelligence officials say the country needs to be careful about where it makes any additional budget cuts in cyber-protection and space-related programs. “There are ways to find efficiencies in the budget,” said U.S. Rep. Michael Rogers (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and a former Army officer as well as the former FBI special agent in the Chicago bureau’s organized crime unit investigating public corruption.
Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) will continue to churn out the U.S. Navy’s next LPD San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ships at its Avondale shipyard in Louisiana even as the company winds down operations there, according to HII executives. The closure should continue as planned, operationally and financially, the executives say.
SAND DRAGON: Northrop Grumman has been awarded a $26.2 million U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory contract for the Sand Dragon B program to deploy Bat-12 long-endurance, heavy-payload small unmanned aircraft to Afghanistan to counter improvised explosive devices. AeroMech Engineering has a previous Sand Dragon contract supplying its Fury-B flying-wing UAV. The 12-ft. wingspan Bat-12, also a flying wing, is rail-launched and net-recovered and has a 10-hr. endurance carrying a 30-lb. multisensor payload.
ARMY General Dynamics Land Systems, Sterling Heights, Mich., was awarded a $12,586,165 cost-no-fee contract. The award will provide for the procurement of material items and associated labor supporting production and conversion of 42 M1A2 tanks to a M1A2S configuration for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The work will be performed in Lima, Ohio, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 30, 2012. One bid was solicited, with one bid received. The U.S. Army TACOM, Contracting Center, Warren, Mich., is the contracting activity (W56HZV-11-C-0005).
