ARMY General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products, Williston, Vt., was awarded on June 10 a $285,970,132 cost-plus contract. The award will provide for the fiscal 2011 option exercise for the production of the Hydra-70, 2.75-in. rockets. The work will be performed in Burlington, Vt., and Camden, Ariz., with an estimated completion date of Sept. 30, 2015. One bid was solicited with one bid received. The U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., is the contracting activity (W31P4Q-11-C-0190). NAVY
The five-segment rocket variant considered for NASA’s heavy-lift Space Launch System was not flight tested in the Ares I-X configuration, as indicated in a June 17 article. It has been ground tested horizontally as a four-segment booster with a dummy fifth segment and upper stage.
PARIS — Sikorsky is hoping to ride a wave of recent export successes to also establish a firm industrial foothold in the hot Indian growth market. India has two helicopter requirements on the horizon that Sikorsky is eyeing closely. One is a coast guard mission for which the U.S. manufacturer is bidding a tailored S-76. But the far larger program is a medium-helicopter requirement, which could lead to production of 300-500 rotorcraft.
LE BOURGET — The U.S. Air Force is planning to establish a unit cost target for the next-generation bomber program that will dictate what capabilities are achievable in the new system, according to a senior industry executive. “Affordability will be paramount,” Gary Ervin, president of Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems, tells Aviation Week. “Cost will be a key performance parameter.” Ervin declined to discuss the company’s plans for a bomber proposal, citing strict guidance from the Air Force limiting public discussions of the program.
ISLE OF MAN — Excalibur Almaz says it could be launching manned space tourism operations by 2014. Displaying two space stations and one of its four Reusable Re-entry Vehicle (RRVs) at its Jurby, Isle of Man facility, the company says it will need to fly up to six orbital flights per a year before it becomes financially viable to launch a space station. Each of the RRVs are designed to carry two passengers plus a commander, at roughly £35 million ($57 million) a seat for five days.
PARIS — Both the Airbus Military A400M and Airbus A380 will not participate in the daily flying display at Le Bourget because of unrelated technical incidents. The A400M will only participate in the opening ceremony fly-by. The flight demonstration has been canceled for precautionary reasons after an engine gearbox problem was found on a test flight aircraft.
LE BOURGET — The European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Defense Agency (EDA) signed a cooperative agreement June 20 aimed at using space assets to develop European capabilities for crisis management and common security and defense.
LE BOURGET — With France and the U.K. looking to pursue a bilateral medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aircraft program, EADS warns of creating competing European programs by not going for a broader, cooperative approach. If the French and British work alone “the risk is all the countries develop their own program,” says EADS CEO Louis Gallois. “We need a European program,” he says. If not, “we’ll have two.”
Aircraft Composite Repair Management Forum September 26, 2011 Hotel Meliá Avenida América, Madrid, Spain This technical education forum will highlight key developments, challenges, and best practices in aircraft composite repair and maintenance technology. Walk away empowered with valuable information to assist decisions on future strategy and planning at your organization!
PARIS — The Honeywell/Pratt & Whitney Advanced Turbine Engine Co. (ATEC) says it is on track to demonstrate up to 25% fuel savings on its future HPW3000 engine contender for the U.S. Army that could save up to $1 billion in fuel costs per year.
PARIS — As the Pentagon attempts to trim $400 billion from its long-term budget plans, a detailed industrial base study could emerge as a guide for which contractors and sectors can withstand additional funding reductions, Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn says.
PARIS — Eurocopter, the EADS helicopter business, is prioritizing its potential bid for the U.S. Army Armed Aerial Scout (AAS) program over what could be an iffy chance at winning the forthcoming U.S. Air Force Common Vertical Lift Support Program (CVLSP), according to Dominique Maudet, executive vice president for global business and services. This slightly more conservative position on CVLSP prospects comes after EADS’ failed bid for the U.S. Air Force’s aerial tanker program.
PARIS — After a lull, EADS North America is seeing increased interest from the Pentagon about a potential purchase of Airbus Military C-212 light transports. There have been “intensifying interest” in the last month for the C-212 to potentially serve as a new light mobility aircraft, says Sean O’Keefe, CEO of EADS N.A. The program outline is still emerging, but O’Keefe says it could entail the purchase of 50-100 aircraft.
PARIS — EADS Astrium expects to achieve €400 million ($572 million) in annual savings by 2015 after trimming some 2,000 workers from the company’s 17,000-strong European workforce over the next five years, Astrium CEO Francois Auque said June 18.
The U.S. Air Force and Boeing are testing a fix to correct an electrical problem on the first GPS Block IIF satellite that was launched May 27, 2010, and is now in orbit. The satellite’s “M” code signal, optimized to reduce jamming for military operations, has been shut off until there is verification that the problem has been solved. The glitch was discovered during testing of another GPS IIF satellite on the ground, according to program sources.
GUNNING FOR GUNSHIPS: Alenia Aeronautica, Selex Galileo and Alliant Techsystems this week plan to announce a strategic partnership to work together on an AC-27J gunship concept. The U.S. Special Operations community for some time was interested in such a system, but unable to secure funding. A program revival is still several years off. ATK is making a strategic push to become a gunship specialist, having performed similar work on the Airbus Military CN-235 and Cessna Caravan.
NASA’s Glenn Research Center wants proposals for possible solar electric propulsion (SEP) demonstration missions that could advance the technology needed to push beyond low Earth orbit for human and robotic missions to deep space. A broad area announcement (BAA) issued by the Cleveland field center is open to non-government U.S. organizations with ideas for a demonstration mission that would fly through the Van Allen Belts to shake out the technology for converting sunlight into high-efficiency electric propulsion.
Maj. Gen. Ellen Pawlikowski, the new commander of the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center, granted nearly all of the available award fee to Lockheed Martin for high marks on the GPS III program, a project that she dubs a “flagship” for her center. The company earned just over $24 million for Performance Period 3, which spanned from May 15, 2010, to May 14, 2011, according to a June 16 memo from Pawlikowski to Joanne Maguire, Lockheed Martin Space Systems executive vice president.
TOKYO — Japan has terminated operations for its first infrared space telescope, Astro-F, after controllers were unable to restore battery operations aboard the satellite. This satellite had renewed the 20-year-old all-sky maps made by Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS), a joint project of the U.S., U.K. and the Netherlands.
Fresh off a hearing about continued cost increases on Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) on June 16 approved a bill that would require the government to buy the next batch of aircraft on a fixed-price contract, requiring the Pentagon’s largest contractor to absorb any additional costs. “That’s really an overhaul of how we acquire large items such as the Joint Strike Fighter,” Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), committee chairman, told reporters June 17 in unveiling the markup.
GIVING SHELTER: The Indian army has received integrated, thermally regulated shelters to protect soldiers against the extreme climatic conditions of the Himalayan region. The shelters, designed and developed by the country’s Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO), are equipped with integrated temperature regulators, biodigestors and air-monitoring systems, says V.K. Saraswat, scientific adviser to the defense minister. The shelters have been designed to withstand earthquakes, winds up to 120 mph and temperatures down to -35C.
PARIS — Marshall Aerospace is trying to entice the U.K. to upgrade some of its Royal Air Force C-130s to address maritime patrol needs left unmet following the cancellation of the Nimrod MRA4 program. At this point, the company is still in the early stages of defining its plans. It notes that “we would be seeking to address part or all of the maritime capabilities (search and rescue, maritime surveillance, maritime patrol and maritime attack) although the solution is not defined.”
