ST. LOUIS—“A number of potential Joint Strike Fighter customers” have asked for information about the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, according to Boeing Military Aircraft President Chris Chadwick. “We see customers trying to recapitalize their tactical fighter forces and balancing that with huge budget pressures, and trying to make the best decisions going forward,” Chadwick says.
BLACK HAWK BUY: Turkey has opted for the Sikorsky Black Hawk over the AgustaWestland AW149 in the Turkish Utility Helicopter Program competition. The initial buy, valued at around $3.5 billion, is for 109 rotorcraft (with options for 12 more), although the inventory is expected to grow significantly over time. Turkey will receive the T-70, a Turkish version of the Sikorsky utility helicopter.
LONDON—The Dutch parliament has approved a defense ministry request to proceed with the purchase of a second F-35 Joint Strike Fighter test aircraft. The U.S. had extended the deadline for the Netherlands to decide until the end of April. The aircraft is being bought as part of the U.S. low-rate initial production lot 4 and due for delivery in March 2013 (the first of the Dutch aircraft is due for delivery in August 2012).
HOUSTON—The upcoming departure and launch of Russian Soyuz crews assigned to the International Space Station are shifting to minimize the time the nearly complete orbiting science laboratory is staffed by three rather than six crewmembers.
FRANKFURT—German aerospace association BDLI is concerned that the country’s political role in the Libya conflict will damage the local defense industry. “I don’t believe this was a helpful move for the German companies, in particular with regard to European projects, be it Franco-German or Anglo-German cooperation,” BDLI Chairman and Airbus CEO Thomas Enders told journalists at the BDLI annual press conference in Berlin. “Germany is not alone in cutting back its defense budget,” thus more cooperation and separation of roles was needed, he says.
NEW DELHI—Eurocopter is eyeing the emerging Indian medical industry to offer its helicopter emergency services. The company is planning a pilot Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) project for a pan-India network with the help of a consortium of government institutions, private hospitals and other stakeholders. Talks are progressing, the company says.
The Pentagon’s electronic warfare (EW) capabilities are in for a revival to compensate for what a top Defense Department official describes as 20 years of neglect. The Obama administration, which is looking for cuts in defense spending, has chosen EW as one of the few areas expected to receive a spending boost, says Frank Kendall, principal deputy undersecretary of defense for acquisition and technology.
EXECUTIVE VIEWING: President Barack Obama and his family are set to be on hand for the last launch of the space shuttle Endeavour. Also scheduled to be there as she recovers from an assassination attempt is Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), whose husband Mark Kelly commands Endeavour’s mission to the International Space Station. A flight readiness review scheduled Endeavour’s liftoff for no earlier than 3:47 p.m. EDT April 29.
WALLOPS ISLAND, Va.—As competition heats up for the U.S. Navy’s Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR) program, the focus will be on developing the S-band digital beamforming technology on a shipboard platform in time for the DDG-51 Arleigh Burke-class destroyer Flight III upgrades planned for later this decade. Digital beamforming is an approach to phased-array antenna pattern control that provides performance advantages over conventional analog beamforming techniques, including improved operations in environmental clutter, according to Lockheed Martin.
At the end of a turbulent 2010 for the F-35 program, Lockheed Martin earned $7 million out of an available $35 million in award fees for milestones reached last year in the $379.4 billion single-engine stealthy fighter project.
NEW DELHI—India’s space agency successfully orbited the Resourcesat-2 advanced Earth-observation satellite and a couple of nanosatellites on April 20, following two consecutive launch failures last year.
LONDON—The Botswana Defense Force plans to modernize its training aircraft fleet with the Pilatus PC-7 Mk II, replacing an earlier model PC-7 already in service. The deal for five aircraft and associated ground equipment is valued at around 40 million Swiss francs ($45 million), the aircraft maker reports. Deliveries under the contract are to start in early 2013, first with the ground-based training system and logistics support, followed the same year by the aircraft.
NEW DELHI—India is expediting its plans to hire a weather reconnaissance aircraft over the next two years for tracking and collecting data on cyclones. A senior official at the ministry of Earth sciences tells Aviation Week that the country is looking at hiring one WC-130J weather reconnaissance aircraft like those used by the so-called Hurricane Hunters of the U.S. Air Force Reserve 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Sqdn.
The new National Terrorism Advisory System, replacing color-coded advisories in place for nearly a decade, is being implemented across the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano promises it will provide timely information about credible terrorist threats with specifics on location, transportation mode and infrastructure affected.
General Electric and a Honeywell/Pratt & Whitney team are preparing to test full-engine demonstrators as they get ready for the U.S. Army to launch development of a 3,000-shp-class turboshaft to replace the GE T700 powering its AH-64D attack and UH-60M utility helicopters.
Blue Origin, one of the winners in the second round of NASA’s Commercial Crew Development (CCDev-2) seed-money effort, is planning to develop a reusable launch vehicle to carry its biconic seven-seat capsule to low Earth orbit, following an interim step when the company will offer suborbital tourist and scientific flights in a three-seat version.
Lockheed Martin plans to select the supplier of an alternate helmet-mounted display (HMD) for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter by the end of this quarter. Development issues with the primary Vision Systems International (VSI) visor-projected helmet-mounted display have led to the decision to pursue an alternate HMD to provide a night-vision capability. The F-35 does not have a head-up display (HUD), and an HMD capable of day and night operation is a critical requirement (Aerospace DAILY, March 4).
The U.S. Navy has completed its initial operational assessment of Insitu’s Integrator small tactical unmanned aircraft system (Stuas), paving the way for a decision on early deployment of commercially available systems while development continues. The Boeing subsidiary is developing Stuas for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps under a contract awarded in July 2010 that includes an option to deploy contractor-operated commercial versions of the Integrator to provide an early operational capability (EOC).
The deployment of U.S. Navy Aegis ballistic missile defense (BMD) ships will provide more defensive layers but will make the assessment of BMD options much more complex, according to missile defense analysts.
SPECIAL DELIVERY: Space Systems/Loral has delivered the Telstar 14R/Estrela do Sul 2 satellite in anticipation of its late May launch aboard an International Launch Services Proton Breeze M rocket from the Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan. Telstar 14R/Estrela do Sul 2 is a Ku-band satellite that will deliver services to growing markets including Brazil, the Continental U.S., the North Atlantic Ocean Region, and the Andean and Southern Cone region of South America. The satellite has 46 Ku-band transponders and five antenna beams with on-orbit switching capability.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Raytheon has tested a new warhead for its Small Tactical Munition (STM), a 12-lb. guided weapon that is being developed with company funds to meet a U.S. Marine Corps requirement to arm the RQ-7 Shadow tactical unmanned aircraft. Developed by NammoTalley, the 5-lb. warhead is lighter and has improved blast-fragmentation capability compared with the previous design based on the warhead from the Shoulder-launched Multipurpose Assault Weapon.
PAKISTANI MISSILES: Pakistan continues to step up its missile capacities, announcing the first flight test of the Hatf-IX (or Nasr) surface-to-surface missile. The Pakistani military says the weapon is capable of delivering nuclear warheads. The 60-km (100-mi.) range missile “has been developed to add deterrence value to Pakistan’s Strategic Weapons Development program at shorter ranges,” the government says. “This quick-response system addresses the need to deter evolving threats,” it adds.
