HOUSTON — The crew of the International Space Station dispatched Russia’s 40 Progress on Jan. 23, clearing the Pirs docking port for the arrival of a replacement space freighter carrying more than 6,000 lb. of propellant and other supplies by month’s end. Progress 40 departed the orbiting science lab at 7:40 p.m. EST, ending a near three-month stay (docking at Pirs took place on Oct. 30, 2010), according to the Russian Federal Space Agency. The spacecraft made a fiery descent into the Earth’s atmosphere, with some pieces plunging into the Pacific Ocean.
The U.S. Navy has successfully completed a tracking exercise using the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) system during Atlantic Trident 2011, which runs through Jan. 25.
NEW DELHI — The Indian air force soon will begin technical evaluations of resubmitted bids for six midair refueling transport aircraft from contenders Airbus Military and Ilyushin. The revised bids were submitted Jan. 12. After the original request for proposals (RFP), released toward the end of 2007, Airbus Military’s A330-based Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) was disqualified as being too expensive. Ilyushin’s bid also was disqualified when it did not deliver clarifications on its IL-78 proposal to the ministry of defense on time.
The MV-22 Osprey has been testing and performing relatively well, according to the most recent report from the Pentagon’s Director of Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E), but the review also notes concerns about mission-capable rates and the need to do operational workarounds in certain scenarios.
The U.S. Navy is still having problems developing and deploying ship self-defense systems across its fleet types, according to a recent report from the Pentagon’s Director of Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E). The service is trying to combine various defense systems across the fleet—such as its Ship Self-Defense System (SSDS), Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM), Evolved SeaSparrow Missile (ESSM) and Cooperative Engagement Capability (CEC)—to protect its amphibious ships, carriers and other vessels.
This year will be marked by mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the aerospace and defense industries, as companies look back on a year in which they paid down debt and stockpiled cash, a new report from consultancy Deloitte states. After hitting a low in 2009, M&A rose by 192% in 2010 and are expected to grow even further this year. A&D companies have paid down debt over the last five years, and Deloitte estimates that cash balances among the A&D companies it tracks weigh in around $70 billion.
NAVY CAE USA, Inc., Tampa, Fla., is being awarded a $43,543,031 firm-fixed-price contract to design, fabricate, install and test one MH-60R Tactical Operational Flight Trainer and one MH-60R/S Tactical Operational Flight Trainer. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1. The Naval Air Warfare Center, Training Systems Division, Orlando, Fla., is the contracting activity. (N61340-11-C-0006) ARMY
Evaluators at the 53rd Wing of Air Combat Command at Eglin AFB, Fla., recommended that the U.S. Air Force’s Gorgon Stare wide-area surveillance system not be fielded after a series of tests last year, according to a memo leaked Jan. 24. For some time the U.S. Air Force has been talking up Gorgon Stare, its brand-new airborne collection system that comprise nine cameras in a pod that can be attached to the belly of a Reaper UAV. Word has been that the system was about to be deployed to Afghanistan.
TOKYO — Japan’s second unmanned H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV-2), launched from the Tanegashima Space Center on Jan. 22., is due to dock with the International Space Station on Jan. 28 at 4:00 a.m., Japan time, to deliver supplies and instruments.
VIRTUAL SPACE: Lockheed Martin is opening a new virtual reality lab, known as the Collaborative Human Immersive Laboratory (CHIL), which the company says will aid in space system development. To be located in Littleton, Colo., the CHIL will allow engineers and technicians to test products and processes virtually before physically creating them. Programs expected to use the CHIL include GPS III and NASA’s Orion spacecraft.
Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense Tests Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense Tests Test Date Target Type Range Aegis Ship Hit Miss January 2002 TTV – Unitary (SCUD) 300-500km Lake Erie X
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — With the space shuttle program shutting down this year, NASA on Jan. 24 issued official notification that Kennedy Space Center (KSC) launch pads, payload processing facilities, runways and other amenities will be available for use by commercial companies and non-federal entities.
SEAHAWK SUPPORT: The U.S. Navy has awarded the Maritime Helicopter Support Co. a $1.4 billion firm fixed-price contract to continue providing performance-based logistics support for more than 490H-60 Seahawk helicopters. Maritime Helicopter Support—a joint venture of Lockheed Martin Sikorsky Aircraft—will manage the supply chain and provide as-needed repair of more than 1,250 aircraft components and subsystems for the Navy’s H-60 Tip-to-Tail performance-based logistics program.
U.S. nuclear weapon workers reached a milestone in disarmament capabilities recently with the dismantlement of the first secondary warhead from a retired B83, one of the biggest bomb systems ever built. Moreover, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) announced Jan. 20 that its Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn., will be taking apart some of the same units that were built there during the Cold War.
LASER MILESTONE: Claiming a breakthrough in development of the free electron laser (FEL), the U.S. Office of Naval Research (ONR) says Los Alamos National Laboratory has demonstrated an injector capable of generating the electrons needed to produce a megawatt-class beam weapon. The FEL works by passing a beam of electrons at near-light speed through increasingly strong magnetic fields to produce a laser beam. Crucially for naval applications, the FEL can be tuned to different wavelengths for different missions and threats.
Paris — New French Defense Minister Alain Juppe says implementing a new defense cooperation treaty with the U.K., without negatively impacting other alliances, will be one of his top objectives. In his first major address since taking over from Herve Morin two months ago, Juppe told a military gathering here Jan. 18 that he will give top priority this year to putting the treaty, signed on Nov. 2, into application.
SECONDARY PAYLOADS: Operators with small spacecraft will have a one-stop place to shop for launch services under a teaming arrangement by two specialists organizing piggyback rides on U.S. and other launch vehicles.
AFGHAN HUMMINGBIRDS: The U.S. Army plans to deploy three Boeing YMQ-18A (A160T Hummingbird) long-endurance unmanned helicopters to Afghanistan as a quick-reaction capability (QRC). A U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency A160T will have the BAE Systems Argus-IS gigapixel wide-area surveillance sensor and a signals-intelligence package and be deployed this year. Two aircraft provided by U.S. Special Operations Command will follow in Fiscal 2012.
CANADIAN CONSTELLATION: A Canadian startup known as Microsat intends to build and deploy a microsatellite-based system to provide Internet backhaul to operators and service providers around the globe. Apparently intended to compete with O3b, a 20-satellite network due to enter operation in 2013, the system would consist of 78 satellites that could be launched aboard six rockets. Financing of the project, known as CommStellation, was not divulged.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) JAN. 25 — Aviation Week Advantage: Forecast 2011 Webinar Series: Commercial Programs Update — Major Aircraft Through Regional Jets, Time: 12:00 Noon - 1:00 p.m. EST. For more information call Keith Gregory at 1-212-904-4166 or go to www.aviationweek.com/forecast2011
