Almaty, Kazakhstan – The need to monitor and protect Kazakhstan’s territorial borders and resources explains why the country is investing in satellite technology. Kazcosmos, the National Space Agency of Kazakhstan, has contracted with Astrium/Surrey Satellite to produce two Earth-observation satellites, the first of which is due to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in 2013, says Kazcosmos chairman Talgat Musabayev. He says the spacecraft will have 6.5-meter resolution, making it a medium-resolution satellite.
MOSCOW – With much attention on Russia’s efforts to revive its combat aircraft fortunes, the country is also more quietly making inroads to reviving its military transport aircraft activities. Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) is completing assembly of the first prototypes of the new Ilyushin Il-76MD-90A military transport, also known as Il-476 or Item 476. The first-flight prototype and the aircraft to be used for static testing are being assembled at Ilyanovsk-based Aviastar-SP facility, a UAC subsidiary.
After months of studying reasons for the growing cost of the United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles (EELV), Air Force officials are focusing on how to reduce – or at least better account for – overhead rates and indirect costs on the program, according to senior service officials.
MERIDIAN LINK: Russian military controllers are setting up the fourth Meridian communications satellite following its launch May 4 on a Soyuz 2 rocket from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome. A communications link was established following the launch, and initial checkout turned up no anomalies, according to Russian press reports. The Meridian series is intended as a replacement for the aging Molniya constellation.
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Esterline Corp. is in talks to acquire the Souriau Group, a Versailles, France-based manufacturer of connectors for use in harsh environments, for $715 million in cash. Souriau currently is primarily owned by Sagard Private Equity Partners.
The U.S. lawmaker who sponsored the successful effort this year to retract funding for the F136 alternate engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is considering again whether to push congressionally to make sure the General Electric-Rolls-Royce engine remains dead.
LONDON – Embraer has opted for Rockwell Collins as the provider of the avionics suite for the KC-390 tanker/transport aircraft. The Brazilian aircraft maker has been gradually rolling out suppliers for the KC-390 as it moves toward first flight in 2014 and first delivery in 2015. Rockwell will provide the Pro Line Fusion system.
MOSCOW – Sukhoi has begun flight trials of the first production Su-35S, the latest version of the Su-27 fighter. The flight took place on May 3 at the Komsomolsk-on-Amur assembly site in Russia’s Far East. Sukhoi reports that the first flight took 1.5 hr., and after completion of the factory trials the aircraft will be handed over to the Russian air force. In 2009 the military placed an initial order for 48 fighters, with deliveries to be completed by 2015.
Singapore – Australia has awarded BAE Systems Australia a new contract to provide basic flight training to the Australian Defense Force (ADF). BAE Systems Australia already has a contract for this work, but the Australian Defense Department says it has extended the contract for six more years, effective beginning in January 2012. The new contract is an interim solution until the ADF’s new pilot training scheme, Project Air 5428, is implemented sometime in the period 2015-17, it adds.
Washington – Japanese officials were told that the U.S. needed to keep a Marine Corps air station in Okinawa because of China’s growing military presence in the region, as well as the need to respond faster to natural disasters than is possible from Guam, according to newly leaked information. The normally unpublished assessment about China is part of a special package of articles published by Tokyo’s Asahi Shimbun news organization that analyzed documents obtained via WikiLeaks.
Congressional fights are ahead over how the House Armed Services Committee panel that deals with strategic forces has chosen to fund U.S. missile defense and space efforts in fiscal 2012. The subcommittee added $100 million for the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system run by Boeing in a move that would protect the program from failures in the testing process, according to subcommittee chairman Rep. Michael Turner (R-Ohio.)
LIFE EXTENSION: The U.S. is providing “significant” technical support and life-cycle upgrades to systems sold to Japan and South Korea under old foreign military sales (FMS), says Andrew Shapiro, the U.S. State Department’s bureau chief for political-military affairs. In a May 3 speech in Washington, Shapiro cited upgrades to radar systems for F-15s in Japan and a modernization program for F-16s in Korea. “We are also always looking to strengthen these relationships.
Washington – According to budget documents submitted to Congress in February, an experimental vehicle-mounted active protection system is possibly being readied for deployment to Afghanistan.
