LAST LAUNCH: NASA has set July 8 at 11:40 a.m. EDT for the launch of the space shuttle program’s final flight, a 12-day supply mission to the International Space Station using Atlantis and a crew of four astronauts. The target date was announced May 20 following shuttle program assessments of the mission preparations and the condition of Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center, where Endeavour lifted off May 16 on the STS-134 mission. NASA will establish a formal launch target during a Flight Readiness Review on June 28.
REAPER RELOCATION: The Royal Air Force next year plans to reactivate the just-disbanded XIII Sqdn. as its second Reaper unmanned aircraft unit and move control of the air vehicle to the unit’s new home base at RAF Waddington. So far, RAF Reapers have been controlled from Creech AFB, Nev., collocated with U.S. Air Force operations. The shift comes as the U.K. is preparing to double its Reaper force to 10 air vehicles at a cost of £135 million ($219 million).
POSTPONED DAWN: Efforts continue to deploy the troublesome C-band antenna reflector on Intelsat’s New Dawn satellite, although the spacecraft’s Ku-band has been deployed and is undergoing on-orbit testing, Intelsat spokeswoman Dianne Vanbeber says. Ku-band antenna deployment had been on hold while Intelsat and spacecraft manufacturer Orbital Sciences Corp. diagnosed the C-band problem. In the event that C-band capability can’t be established, “We have over 20 other satellites covering Africa, so we have other resources upon which to draw,” Vanbeber says.
HOUSTON — Mission managers approved plans on May 20 for a Soyuz-based photo shoot of the shuttle Endeavour while the winged ship is docked to the International Space Station—a portrait for posterity that NASA hopes will serve as an enduring symbol of the shuttle program’s contribution to the 15-country station partnership. Earlier, Endeavour astronauts Drew Feustel and Greg Chamitoff logged the first of four mission spacewalks, a 6-hr. excursion in which one task was curtailed by the failure of a spacesuit CO2 sensor.
LONDON — As the European Union looks to restructure its R&D spending plans, the U.K. aerospace and defense industry is signaling its concern about the direction Brussels policy makers are taking. In particular, industry officials worry that the dedicated funding line for aerospace research could disappear as Europe moves to what it calls the Common Strategic Framework (CSF) to replace the long-established multi-year Framework Program. The EU currently is in FP7, which runs through 2013, and is debating how to structure the follow-on financing regime.
HUMVEE RECAP: While industry awaits the official requests for proposals from the U.S. Army and the Marine Corps for the long-awaited Humvee recapitalization program, no one is quite sure yet what the exact requirements will be, or if the two services will come together to offer a joint request. Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Chiarelli says that due to President Obama’s demand for $400 billion in defense budget cuts, “the services are working together to look at programs, redundancies and duplications” wherever they can.
DETERRENT DESIGNS: The U.K. government is proceeding with early design activity for the future submarine to take over the role of the country’s nuclear deterrent, replacing the Vanguard Class starting in 2028. The so-called initial gate approval was made last week, with formal program go ahead, or main gate, planned in 2016. The new submarine will carry fewer warheads and Trident II missiles. The government projects the program to cost £11-14 billion ($18-23 billion).
Three telecommunications satellites built in India, Japan and the U.S. were sent to geostationary transfer orbit Friday following launches on a Russian Proton and a European Ariane 5 separated by 1 hr., 23 min. and half a world.
Lockheed Martin plans to review proposals for an alternate helmet system for the stealthy F-35 late next month, a company executive tells Aviation Week. Larry Lawson, executive vice president overseeing the Joint Strike Fighter for the company, says a selection is expected by the end of August. This alternate technical solution will be developed in parallel with continued work on the primary helmet made by Vision Systems International (VSI).
U.S. Marine Corps Gen. James Cartwright has drafted a memo to senior officials in the Office of the Secretary of Defense and four-star officers that is likely to support certification of the Global Hawk program to move forward despite a recent cost overrun.
CENTENNIAL CHALLENGE: Grappling with the conundrum of how to sustain public interest and private-sector investment for the decades it would take to make long-distance space travel possible, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and NASA are seeking ideas for an organization that could operate for a century or more independent of government funding or oversight. Darpa is seeding the 100-Year Starship study “to develop a viable and sustainable model for persistent, long-term, private-sector investment” in the disciplines needed for interstellar travel.
NEW DELHI — Indian Defense Minister A.K. Antony says India’s much-anticipated choice in its Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) program could occur before the end of March 2012. India wants to expedite the deal in part because Pakistan is expecting a speedy delivery of 50 JF-17 aircraft, which originally were to be spread out over two years, according to defense ministry officials.
BEIJING — The Japanese air force believes it can repair as many as six of 18 Mitsubishi Heavy Industries F-2Bs that were immersed in seawater in the March 11 tsunami at Matsushima air base. The air force estimates the repairs would cost 5-6 billion yen ($61-73 million) per aircraft, a figure quite comparable with the price of new fighters elsewhere. The work would take five years.
SNAGGING SWEDEN: Sikorsky has secured a contract from Sweden for 15 UH-60M Black Hawks, beating out an offer from Eurocopter for EC725s. For Sweden, key to the program was being able to rapidly field the helicopters to fill an urgent operational need in Afghanistan stemming from delays in the NH Industries NH90 program. This is the first order in Europe for the UH-60M.
German Defense Minister Thomas de Maizière on May 18 revealed his vision of the future of the Bundeswehr, Germany’s armed forces. The Bundeswehr will be reduced from its current 220,000 to 185,000 troops. The aim is for the Bundeswehr to be capable of sustaining international deployments totalling around 10,000 troops, compared to the current 7,000.
RAAF TRAINER: Flying operations of the Royal Australian Air Force’s Pilatus PC-9/A two-seat, single-engine turboprop fleet, the major basic training aircraft of the Australian Defense Force (ADF), were “temporarily” suspended starting May 18 after a crash due to a suspected engine failure. The two crewmembers, a qualified flying instructor and an instructor trainee, ejected safely. The aircraft crashed about 1 km short of a runway on the edge of RAAF Base East Sale.
SINGAPORE — Swedish shipbuilder Kockums AB has chosen Singapore’s Imdex maritime defense show to unveil its FlexPatrol concept, the first proposed export ship to be based on the stealth technology of the radical Visby corvette class.
The bipartisan leadership of the Senate Commerce Committee wants NASA to start briefing its staff this month on progress meeting provisions of the NASA reauthorization act that President Barack Obama signed last December.
SINGAPORE — The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) plans to issue a tender seeking wet leases on fixed-wing aircraft. The government has granted approval for the initiative and the tender will be issued no later than next year, MMEA Director General Amdan Kurish tells Aviation Week on the sidelines of the Imdex naval defense show in Singapore.
SINGAPORE — Concerns over China’s growing submarine fleet are leading Asian nations to invest in anti-submarine warfare (ASW) capability. The Malaysian Navy uses six Westland SuperLynx helicopters for ASW, but wants ASW helicopters with more capability and plans to buy six, a senior official from the navy tells Aviation Week on the sidelines of this week’s Imdex naval defense show in Singapore. The government has included the requirement in the country’s 10th Malaysia Plan 2011-2015, he says.
IN CONSIDERATION: Australian defense officials said May 19 that an “exposure draft” of the Defense Trade Controls Bill will be released in the “next few months” for “broader consultation” with the country’s defense industry and academia. The announcement kicks off the next stage of local review of the Australia-U.S. Defense Trade Cooperation Treaty, which was signed in 2007 and ratified by the U.S. Senate last September. To meet congressional concerns over balance of federal powers, the U.S. Congress passed implementing legislation right before ratifying the treaty.
