Operational deployment of the U.S. Air Force’s Blue Devil 2 persistent-surveillance airship is on track for February 2012, less than 18 months after initial contract award, a senior official says. Blue Devil 2 is an optionally manned multi-intelligence platform based on a TCOM Polar 100 airship and being integrated by small Alexandria, Va.-based MAV6.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) May 17 - 18 — Aviation Week Events, Affordability Requirements Forum, National Press Club, Washington, D.C. For more information go to www.aviationweek.com/events may 17 - 19 — Technology Training Corp's Conference on Armed Unmanned Aerial Systems, Rio Hotel, Las Vegas. For more information call (301) 563-1210 or go to www.shephard.co.uk/events/
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — As NASA starts the countdown for Endeavour’s second launch attempt, engineers have homed in on a potentially faulty thermostat as the likely cause of the auxiliary power unit (APU) heater problem that scrubbed the first liftoff try. Launch of Endeavour on its 25th and final flight is targeted for 8:56 a.m. EDT Monday. Meteorologists at the 45th Space Wing predict a 70% chance of acceptable weather.
In the May 11 story headlined “Australia Cuts Defense As U.S. Dollar Makes Imports Cheaper,” the amount saved in the defense budget over four years should have been stated as AU$5.3 billion ($5.7 billion). In addition to cuts of AU$4.3 billion, AU$1 billion of currency savings are automatically taken by the Treasury.
GPS WORRY: As concern grows over likely jamming of the U.S. Global Positioning System by a planned broadband wireless network, the U.S. House of Representatives will vote soon on a provision added to the 2012 defense bill that requires the defense secretary to notify Congress if the Pentagon determines widespread interference will be caused by a commercial communications service.
TUCSON, Ariz. — Raytheon hopes to be on contract by summer for the development of two increments of the RIM-174 SM-6 Sea-Based Terminal (SBT) missile defense interceptor for U.S. Navy ships, according to senior company officials here.
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — The backshell, cruise stage and heat shield for NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) arrived at Kennedy Space Center Thursday night, with the rover and descent phase slated to follow next month. An Air Force C-17 Globemaster III carrying the MSL backshell and cruise stage took off early Thursday from March Air Reserve Base in California. The aircraft then stopped at Buckley AFB near Denver to pick up the rover’s heat shield.
NEW DELHI — India is likely to give the final approval this month for the purchase of 10 Boeing C-17 Globemaster III military transports from the U.S. “India’s defense deal with the United States for the 10 giant strategic airlift aircraft is in its final stages,” Indian air force spokesman Wing Commander T.K. Singha tells Aviation Week. “We are awaiting an approval from the Cabinet Committee on Security. It is expected to happen soon.” Final Approval
ALT FUEL: Work has begun to develop and approve specifications for synthetic jet fuel produced from cellulosic biomass, such as corn stover and forest waste, via an alcohol route similar to that for ethanol. Viewed as having significant potential to produce biofuel in commercial qualities, “alcohol oligomerization” will be the third alternative jet-fuel pathway to be approved after Fischer-Tropsch fuels from coal, gas and biomass and hydrotreated renewable jet fuels from animal and plant oils.
The U.S. Navy tried its latest cyber- and electronic-attack capabilities against government forces during the initial attacks on Libya, according to Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead. The results justify the increasing investment in those two areas of military technology in a time of declining budgets, he says.
Northrop Grumman is telling the U.S. Navy it could have a development-model high-power laser weapon ready for testing in four years following successful at-sea firings of its Maritime Laser Demonstrator (MLD). Tests of the containerized, 15-kw-class solid-state laser demonstrated the ability to damage small boats at operationally relevant ranges, says Dan Wildt, Northrop Grumman vice president for directed-energy systems.
INTELLIGENT DEBATE: A disagreement between House Republicans and the Obama administration over an unidentified intelligence community (IC) acquisition is breaking into the open, with the spat surfacing in the official White House statement on the House’s fiscal 2011 intelligence authorization bill.
NEW DELHI — User trials for India’s future main battle tank, the Arjun Mk. II Phase I, will begin in June, and the first batch of the advanced variant should be ready by 2014. Two regiments of the Arjun Mk. I are already deployed in India’s western sector of Rajasthan by the army, and a further order for 124 tanks has been placed with the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO).
Boeing is demonstrating the Unmanned Little Bird’s ability to operate from pitching and moving platforms as part of a program with the French defense ministry to look at vertical-takeoff-and-landing (VTOL) requirements for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) for the army and navy. In tests at Boeing’s Mesa, Ariz., plant, the unmanned version of the AH-6i helicopter has been flown to a six-degree-of-freedom motion table simulating a pitching ship’s deck and has performed landings on a moving trailer.
MAKING CHOICES: Departing U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates’s top deputy, William Lynn, suggests unmanned and long-range strike aircraft and cyber capabilities will be on the winning side as the Pentagon draws its budget down in coming years. According to the Pentagon, over the next 10-12 years, Gates says his approach would include continuing the efficiencies effort he began with Lynn and others last summer and cutting marginal capabilities and missions.
GRIM COUNTDOWN: As the three-day launch countdown for space shuttle Endeavour’s final mission began May 13, a countdown of another sort also was under way: Layoff notices were sent out last week to 2,800 of shuttle prime contractor United Space Alliance’s 5,600 employees informing them that they may be out of a job in 60 days. Of those, about 1,900 were in Florida, 850 in Texas and 45 in Alabama. Across the company, 626 employees nominated themselves for layoffs. Of those, 180 were in Texas, 435 in Florida and 11 in Alabama. The primary layoff dates are July 22, Aug.
TUCSON, Ariz. — Raytheon is working to develop a cargo aircraft ejection capability for its Miniature Air-Launched Decoy (MALD) system. The company has already tested air-launch of representative MALD surrogates from a C-130 at Yuma Proving Ground , Ariz., according to sources close to the program. The company is self-funding an effort to develop a magazine frame from which to rapidly eject up to eight MALDs from the ramp of a C-130 or C-17 cargo aircraft.
SINGAPORE — Thailand’s Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives has taken delivery of the first of two CASA C212-400 transport aircraft on order. The second C212-400 will come toward year’s end, says Airbus Military, adding that prior to these two aircraft the ministry already had a fleet of 11 C212s. It says the ministry plans to use the new aircraft for cloud seeding. Thailand has experienced flooding in the south of the country this year and droughts in the north.
This year is proving to be another in which major U.S. defense firms are reducing their presence at major international air shows. Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman are all cutting back their presence at the forthcoming Paris Air Show June 20-26.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) terminated efforts on May 12 to recover the five-year-old Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS). The spacecraft experienced an anomaly on April 22 that placed it into a low-power mode, shutting down all imaging instruments. The power loss remains under investigation. The results will be reported to the Space Activities Commission of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, according to a JAXA statement.
LONDON — A decision between the NH Industries NH90 and Lockheed Martin MH-60R for Australia’s future multi-role helicopter is imminent, with the source selection team having completed its evaluation. An Australian military official notes the decision on who will win the so-called Air 9000 Phase 8 Future Naval Aviation Combat System program to replace the Seahawk and canceled Seasprite is ready to go to the cabinet for approval and subsequent announcement.
