SINGAPORE — Mongolia is moving ahead with plans to purchase its own Earth-observation satellite, according to Mongolia’s defense minister, Luvsanvandan Bold.
BEIJING — China’s Tiangong 1 orbital module and Shenzhou 8 spacecraft have entered the prelaunch preparation phase ahead of their mission to demonstrate docking technology needed for future manned flights. The two are to be lofted separately in the second half of this year, according to a schedule announced in March.
NEW DELHI — French naval defense company DCNS has signed a contract for an Indian firm to assist with the indigenization of the Scorpene submarine. The contract was signed between Flash Forge India Pvt. Ltd., based in Visakhapatnam, and DCNS India Pvt. Ltd. on June 7. The six Scorpenes that comprise “Project 75” (P75) are under construction at the Mumbai-based Mazagon Docks Ltd. (MDL) in collaboration with DCNS, at a cost of $4 billion.
ST. LOUIS — Boeing says it is one of the companies bidding for the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Reusable Booster System technology risk-reduction effort. The program will initially run three-four years to fully assess technology readiness for the concept and then could lead to an actual technology demonstration. Darryl Davis, head of Boeing Phantom Works, notes the effort is one of the Air Force’s top science and technology priorities.
HOUSTON — Russia’s Soyuz TMA-02M/27S spacecraft lifted off from Central Asia on June 7, initiating a two-day trip to the International Space Station (ISS) for a three-man multinational crew prepared to transition the orbiting science laboratory from the shuttle dominated assembly/outfitting era to the utilization phase.
ST. LOUIS — With the U.S. Air Force remaining tight-lipped about the KC-46A aerial refueling tanker program, Boeing says the program will benefit from lessons learned on previous troubled tanker developments and that program risks are manageable. One of the biggest questions hangs over the decision to, for the first time, apply a Boeing 787-type cockpit system to the 767.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The U.S. Air Force plans to fold operations, maintenance, systems engineering and sustainment work at the Eastern and Western Test Ranges and the Space and Missile Systems Center into a single contract, estimated to be worth about $3.8 billion over 10 years.
Japan’s Mitsubishi Electric Corp. (Melco) will spend 3 billion yen ($37.4 million) to double its annual satellite-production rate, reflecting government policy and a growing satellite market. Under plans announced June 6, the company will enlarge its Kamakura Works facility to 7,700 sq. meters (83,000 sq. ft.), which will support production of eight large satellites a year instead of four. Work on the factory is expected to be complete by March 2013.
PHILADELPHIA — A strong showing during Afghanistan war operations has driven enough U.S. and international CH-47 Chinook interest to assure production until the end of the decade.
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) is extending the time needed to review proposals from contractors vying for a contract worth up to $10 billion for 10 years of work sustaining the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) missile shield system. Lockheed Martin/Raytheon and Boeing/Northrop Grumman are locked in a duel for the work. MDA had planned for a downselect in early summer; this is now slated for November.
PHILADELPHIA — Boeing expects to continue its niche acquisition activities and is looking at infrastructure security as one potential area for investment. Infrastructure security is gaining increased attention at Boeing. Although the field is still “fragmented” and the company is still defining how exactly it should look at the field, it is one area where a deal could emerge, says Chris Raymond, vice president for business development and strategy for Boeing’s defense business. At this point, a specific acquisition opportunity has not been identified.
BEIJING — The South Korean air force plans to choose next year among the Boeing F-15SE Silent Eagle, Eurofighter Typhoon and Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning for its F-X Phase 3 program, subject to funding from parliament.
PHILADELPHIA and NEW DELHI — The Indian cabinet’s decision to proceed with a U.S. foreign military sale purchase of 10 C-17s should stretch the California-based Boeing production line until 2014. The exact timeline will be dictated by the delivery schedule included in the yet-to-be-signed letter of agreement between the Indian government and the U.S. The 10 aircraft are expected to be delivered in two batches — five aircraft one year and five more the next.
SINGAPORE — Airbus Military is a strong contender to win a contract for fixed-wing military transports to replace the Indonesian air force’s aging Fokker F27s. For more than a year now, Airbus Military has been negotiating to transfer production of its C-212 aircraft to Indonesian Aerospace in an effort to capitalize on the Southeast Asian country’s lower cost base, but Airbus Military wants to ensure it gets sales out of Indonesia before it transfers the C-212 production line.
SINGAPORE — Japan appears set to increase its investment in unmanned systems, in response to lessons learned from the Fukushima nuclear disaster that followed the March 11 earthquake/tsunami. The nuclear disaster highlighted how useful robots are in dealing with such situations, says Japan’s defense minister, Toshimi Kitazawa, who addressed delegates at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore June 4.
PHILADELPHIA — Boeing expects the first flight test of the Arrow 3 ballistic missile interceptor to take place toward the end of the year. The program so far has matched all six “knowledge points” by which its progress is being measured, with three more due to be completed this year, says Mira Ricardel, who heads Boeing’s missile defense activities.
Pratt & Whitney is looking for cost savings on the next batch of F135 engines for the vertical-lift F-35B Joint Strike Fighter, but warns the steep procurement cut imposed by the Pentagon will push up the price. “It is a challenge to maintain affordability when the production volume is reduced so significantly,” says Bennett Croswell, president of Pratt’s military engines business.
LOCKHEED ATTACKED: Investigation of the “significant and tenacious” May 21 cyberattack on Lockheed Martin’s computer network has concluded that the March breach at secure identity-authentication provider RSA “was a direct contributing factor,” the defense giant says. In March, RSA acknowledged that an “extremely sophisticated” cyberattack “in the category of the advanced persistent threat” had succeeded in extracting information related to its widely deployed SecureID two-factor user authentication system.
PHILADELPHIA — Boeing officials are offering to continue production of the GPS IIF satellite for the U.S. Air Force despite a decision by the service to move on to the Lockheed Martin GPS IIIA program. Roger Krone, president of Boeing Network and Space Systems, says the company is willing to maintain the existing prices for further sales of GPS IIF satellites to the Air Force. He made his comments June 6 during briefings for the media in advance of the Paris Air Show.
The outcome of talks due for completion this summer about final requirements for the next increment of U.S. Air Force GPS satellites could affect the constellation’s ability to support next-generation FAA air traffic requirements. USAF is finalizing plans for the next increment of GPS III satellites, dubbed GPS IIIB, and questions loom about what new technologies will be included.
LONDON — India and Pakistan are increasing the size of their nuclear weapon arsenals and delivery mechanisms, even as the total global stockpile of nuclear warheads is decreasing, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) asserts.
