KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — Preparations for the launch of space shuttle Endeavour on the STS-134 mission, the next-to-last flight in the shuttle program, remain on schedule for a launch attempt at 3:47 p.m. EDT April 29. Workers here completed the load of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen for the ship’s Power Reactant Storage and Distribution (PRSD) system and began installing the first of 10 mid-deck science experiments on April 28.
BEIJING — Enlargement of the Japanese F-X fighter program is under consideration as the repair of all 18 Mitsubishi Heavy Industries F-2B trainers damaged in the March 11 tsunami looks increasingly unlikely.
BELGIAN LIFT: The Belgian ministry of defense on April 28 placed its transport aircraft under the European Air Transport Command (EATC) in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. Since it was set up in 2010, the EATC has conducted nearly 3,500 missions, including 65 aerial refuelings and the medical evacuation of 400 patients. The EATC will eventually number 200 personnel, including 22 Belgians. In the future, it could include other operators of the A400M.
LOS ANGELES — Scaled Composites marked a dramatic increase in the test rate of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo (SS2) by completing two glide tests over five days, including a 16-min. 7-sec. glide on April 27 that represents the longest flight to date.
DO OVER: Financial analysts covering ManTech International, which provides information technology services to federal agencies for national security programs, say a major countermine services contract — which accounted for 21% of the company’s fiscal 2010 revenue — will be recompeted by the military. Analysts at Lazard Capital Markets say ManTech management expects a contract decision in November. “In our opinion, further multiple expansion hinges primarily on the successful recompete of countermine,” the analysts say.
HARD TIMES: Signaling that the U.S. defense budget is likely to come under more pressure from the White House as much as anywhere else, Leon Panetta, President Barack Obama’s choice to succeed Robert Gates as defense secretary, says his first job will be keeping the country safe. But fiscal discipline will not be far behind. “This is also a time for hard choices,” Panetta said at a White House press conference April 28 announcing his Pentagon nomination. Gates was widely praised at the event, including by Panetta, for his stewardship.
HOUSTON — Russia’s 42 Progress cargo craft lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on April 27, initiating a two-day flight to the International Space Station (ISS) to deliver nearly three tons of propellant, water, oxygen, research gear and other equipment.
NEW DELHI — The U.S., Russian and Swedish aviation companies that have been cut from the race for India’s estimated $11 billion fighter jet program say they are still keeping their options open and will request a debriefing on the decision. French defense company Dassault Aviation’s Rafale and the Eurofighter Typhoon were the only teams shortlisted for the Indian air force’s (IAF) technical selection for the 126-fighter Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (Mmrca) program, a defense ministry official says.
NEW DELHI — Indian scientists are on the path to develop an airborne missile-intercept system that employs high-powered lasers to destroy missiles during their boost phase. The Laser Science & Technology Center (Lastec) at India’s secretive Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) has been building up technologies that can intercept missiles early in their flight.
For the Hawker Beechcraft/Lockheed Martin AT-6 light attack aircraft team, the mantra is to produce the right weapon effects. “If you are talking about counterinsurgency target sets, you want to be able to pick the right weapon and precisely place it where and when it needs to be there,” says Dan Hinson, AT-6 demonstration and test manager and chief test pilot for the team. “That requires persistence and network-centric command and control.”
LOOSEN UP: One question emerging now that India has eliminated U.S. contenders for its Medium Multirole Combat Aircraft program is whether the U.S. will further relax defense technology export restrictions to keep domestic production lines open (Aerospace DAILY, April 28). “In the 1950s and 1970s when the U.S. restrained or reduced its defense spending, policy shifted to exporting advanced weapons to strategic partners,” note analysts at Capital Alpha Partners.
In a distinct departure from the past, before the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) meets to mark up the 2012 defense authorization bill the committee will release copies of the bill and accompanying report language to the public.
LONDON — The Indian government has named the final candidates in its Medium Multirole Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) program. The MMRCA competition keeps the Eurofighter Typhoon and Dassault Rafale in the mix. Saab confirms the Gripen has been eliminated. Industry officials indicate the other three contestants — the Boeing F/A-18E/F, Lockheed Martin F-16 and MiG-35 — also have been eliminated, although India will not formally announce the lineup until April 28.
swap meet: South Korea and Spain will exchange spare parts to cut the cost of keeping old fighters flying. The Spanish air force will supply parts for F-4 Phantoms to the South Korean air force, which will reciprocate by sending parts that Spain can use on F-5B Freedom Fighters. Spain’s Phantom parts are presumably surplus, since it retired the type in 2002. It operated F-4Cs, whereas South Korea has F-4Es. South Korea flies F-5E/Fs, while Spain has F-5Bs.
Aviation Week NextGen Ahead 2011 Air Transportation Modernization Conference Priorities on Technology, Procedures and Benefits May 10-12, 2011 Washington, D.C. Washington Marriott at Metro Center -- Understand the FAA’s priorities, commitments and current status -- Gather information from the Hill including updates on White House and Congressional policy, funding and timeline
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates will leave office June 30 and Leon Panetta, currently director of the CIA, will take over leading the Pentagon starting July 1, a senior administration official says. The moves assume Senate confirmation in time for the change of commands. If so, Panetta will become defense secretary as lawmakers are still likely to be hammering out the fiscal 2012 budget.
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — NASA managers on April 27 cleared Endeavour for a launch attempt at 3:47 p.m. EDT April 29 on STS-134, the last mission for the orbiter designated OV-105, with one flight to follow before the shuttle program ends. “Endeavour’s in great shape. We had an easy call to say that we’re ready to go. We’re looking forward to Friday’s launch,” says Mike Moses, launch integration manager. The weather outlook for the flight is good, with just a 20% chance that crosswinds would violate launch constraints.
Boeing is looking to add capacity to its defense business through organic growth as well as via merger and acquisition activity. “We are convinced that this is an incredibly important area,” Chairman, President/CEO James McNerney told analysts April 27. “The bias is to keep developing that field aggressively.” The potential shopping list for Boeing Defense, Space and Security (BDS) is broadly based, but not in its traditional strength areas of fighters or tankers, in which it made gains over the past year despite declining defense budgets.
Shipbuilders that want to obtain or retain U.S. Navy work should look to the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) program for inspiration, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus says. “You have to build with open architecture,” Mabus told a group of defense writers in Washington on April 27. “You have to build modular ships like the LCS, so you don’t have to change the hull when technology changes.”
One of the biggest lessons the U.S. Navy learned during the recent Libyan conflict and global disaster relief efforts is the ability to use its amphibious ships for roles and missions generally identified with aircraft carriers. “We don’t have 11 carriers; we have 22 because the big-deck amphibs can do the same things, in a different way,” Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus told a group of defense writers in Washington April 27.
From the hazards posed by deep-space radiation to the subtleties of spacesuit and closed-loop life-support system design, the U.S. faces significant technical and financial challenges if humans are to break out of low Earth orbit, according to witnesses testifying before a National Research Council (NRC) panel.
BEIJING — The Boeing Vigilare command-and-control system is ready for operation in Australia after passing its last formal test. As part of the trials, conducted at RAAF Williamtown in Newcastle, New South Wales, the system was used in an exercise in which pilots and air defense operators were trained as instructors and controllers in advanced fighter tactics.
