NO GO: Bad weather forced Cape Canaveral range officials to call off an attempted launch of the U.S. Air Force’s second X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle on March 4. Easterly winds gusted up to 28 kt. and a line of rain clouds continued to run over the launch pad right through the mission’s second window of the day, which opened at 5.27 p.m. EST. The next launch attempt was due for March 5. The Boeing-built orbital demonstrator is due to be boosted on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from the Space Launch Complex-41 launch pad.
ENGINE TROUBLE: Pratt & Whitney is examining an F135 engine that was removed from the test stand at the Arnold Engineering Development Center in Tennessee after a “potential assembly issue” was discovered during a post-run inspection. The conventional-takeoff-and-landing/carrier-variant configuration ground-test engine, FX633, was being run to extend the life of “flight-test-unique hardware” to support the extended development program for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The engine operated normally during the test run, Pratt says.
GLONASS GO: Russia launched a new navigation satellite, the Glonass-K, on a Soyuz 2.1b launcher on Feb. 26. It was the first Glonass launch from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia. Glonass‑K is a new-generation satellite for Russia’s global navigation space system. It was developed by Reshetnev Co. using an unpressurized, three-axis-stabilized Express-1000K platform. The spacecraft weighs 935 kg (2,060 lb.) versus 1,450 kg for the Glonass-M series currently in orbit.
LONDON — The U.K. National Audit Office (NAO) is giving the government a mixed review in its execution of the Eurofighter Typhoon project, noting that steps have been taken to improve management but more needs to be done. The main area of criticism is that the strike fighter will not be able to fully carry out air-to-ground roles until 2018. That issue is particularly important because the Tornado GR4 fleet is being reduced.
COUNTER WASTE: The U.S. military’s sprawling complex built up over the last decade to address improvised explosive devices (IEDs) could be centralized if Washington follows the advice of non-partisan congressional auditors. In a March 1 report, the U.S.
ROME — Pier Francesco Guarguaglini, Finmeccanica’s chairman and CEO, warned that 2010 was to be a difficult year for the Italian aerospace and defense giant and indeed that was the case, even if year-end results beat early financial guidelines. Finmeccanica’s revenues grew 2.9% to €18.7 billion ($26 billion) compared to 2009, with a stable adjusted earnings before interest, taxes and amortization (EBITA) of €1.59 billion. Net profits plummeted 22.4% to €557 million due to restructuring costs.
PASSING GRADE: After a high-profile Washington debate last year on the future of U.S. nuclear forces and missile defenses, Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio), chairman of the House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee, said March 2 that the Obama administration is making “solid progress” in implementing its European Phased Adaptive Approach and appears to keeping its promise to fund upgrades to the U.S. nuclear weapons infrastructure.
ISR AUDITED: The U.S. Defense Department’s myriad collection of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) systems could see significant reductions in duplicative efforts if leaders and lawmakers follow the recommendations of a sweeping new congressional audit.
EGLIN AFB, Fla. — Lockheed Martin, prime contractor for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, has begun looking for an alternative helmet system for the stealthy aircraft, as problems with the current Vision Systems International helmet continue to plague the program.
Avalon, Australia — Lockheed Martin is working on some new product features to fulfill specific requirements for some F-35 overseas customers. Australia has asked that the Royal Australian Air Force’s (RAAF) F-35s be capable of using both the “probe and drogue” and “boom and receptacle” aerial refueling systems, says Tom Burbage, Lockheed executive vice president in charge of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program.
NEW DELHI — Another update to India’s new Defense Procurement Procedures (DPP 2011) is expected in the first week of April. Major changes will involve the technology-transfer clause. The policy will include technologies listed by the Defense Research and Development Organization that will be accepted as offsets. Currently, technology transfer from foreign vendors doing business with India is mandatory and cannot be charged for in India’s biggest defense procurement — the Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) program to buy 126 fighters.
HOUSTON — NASA’s Mission Management Team approved a second one-day extension of shuttle Discovery’s trouble-free final mission on March 3, while astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) upgraded and repaired U.S. and Russian carbon dioxide removal systems and supervised an altitude-raising maneuver that sets up the departures and arrivals of future Soyuz and shuttle crews.
BREAKING THE ICE: Part of the U.S. Coast Guard’s fiscal 2012 budget request includes a plan to reactivate heavy icebreaker CGC Polar Star for a 2013 deployment and to transition the crew to the ship from the icebreaker CGC Polar Sea, which has been plagued by engine failures for nearly the past two years and is being proposed for decommissioning in the coming fiscal year. Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Robert Papp acknowledged to Congress the transition time would leave a gap in the service’s ice-breaking operations.
While all eyes and most future aircraft carrier hopes rested on December’s first successful Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (Emals) launch of an F/A-18E Super Hornet, the real test is about to begin — making sure the Emals equipment can be produced in time to ensure the CVN-78 can be delivered on schedule. “The real risk here has always been in the production phase,” says Scott Forney, vice president of electromagnetic systems for Emals contractor General Atomics.
AVALON, Australia — Australia anticipates that it will achieve initial operational capability (IOC) for the Lockheed Martin F-35 in late 2018, about 18 months after the U.S. Air Force achieves its IOC for the stealthy fighter. Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Air Vice Marshal Kym Osley, who is leading the introduction of F-35s into the RAAF, says the service had originally planned for a four-year gap between the U.S. Air Force IOC and the RAAF IOC, but delays in the F-35 program have whittled that margin down.
With the cancellation of its amphibious Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV), the U.S. Marine Corps has released several requests for information (RFIs) looking for industry proposals to meet its future amphibious needs.
URGENT CONSOLIDATION: Congressional auditors recommend the Pentagon consolidate all of the military’s urgent needs processes into one part of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, while keeping the development of weapons and systems at the armed services’ respective program offices. In a March 1 report on federal waste and duplication, the U.S.
BEIJING — China will launch the unmanned target for its first space docking in the second half of this year, having slipped a schedule that previously called for the module to be sent to orbit no later than 2010.
Use of the Economy Act to justify the U.S. Air Force’s sole-source purchase of helicopters for nuclear ICBM support and executive lift is only one of a number of options under consideration, says David Van Buren, the service’s senior acquisition official.
The U.S. Air Force’s debriefing for losing KC-X bidder EADS North America spanned two days to allow the service to follow up on some items with the contractor, according to a program official. The company’s debriefing on its loss wrapped up with a session March 1, the official says. It began with a 90-min. session Feb. 28.
HOUSTON — Discovery astronauts Steve Bowen and Al Drew safely vented a failed thermal control system pump and whipped through a list of maintenance tasks outside the International Space Station on March 2, foreshadowing a successful final mission for NASA’s fleet leader.
