The U.S. Air Force is continuing its work to field a Reaper-borne Gorgon Stare wide-area surveillance system. Two increments of the system are planned; both call for the use of two pods, one on each MQ-9 wing. Three aircraft have been modified to carry the pods and three shipsets have been delivered by Sierra Nevada (which oversees both increments). The final shipset for Increment 1 is expected in mid-2011.
Six months after contract award, elements of Northrop Grumman’s long-endurance multi-intelligence vehicle (LEMV) hybrid airship are coming together. The persistent-surveillance LEMV is designed to have an endurance when operating unmanned for 21 days at 20,000 ft. carrying a 2,500-lb. payload of sensors and communications equipment. The critical design review was completed at the end of November, final assembly is to begin in February and first flight is planned for the end of July 2011.
BLUE RIDGE BUY: Rockwell Collins has acquired Blue Ridge Simulation, a Leesburg, Va.-based supplier of high-performance sensor simulators to the U.S. Defense Department, as well as commercial and international customers. Terms were not disclosed. Rockwell Collins said the purchase of the 15-year-old company will enable it to expand its embedded simulation and training offerings.
AFRICAN DEFENSE: Annual growth in the African defense market is expected to slow to an average of just more than 3% through 2014, falling short of the 4% forecast before the global economic recession, according to Forecast International’s annual African market overview. Procurement trends in South Africa are shifting toward ground force modernization, although the South African Defense Force is still struggling with how to meet its air transport needs after terminating an order for eight EADS A400M airlifters.
BENGALURU, India—The Indian army on Dec. 21 received four nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) reconnaissance vehicles manufactured at Ordnance Factory Medak, with the NBC instruments integrated by Bharat Electronics Ltd. (BEL) in Pune. The Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) designed and developed the vehicles, while the Ordnance Factory and BEL executed mass-scale production under technology-transfer agreements.
NASA issued $500,000 data delivery orders on Dec. 20 to three companies selected earlier to participate in a commercial risk-reduction initiative for the development of robotic lander technologies suitable for missions to the Moon, near-Earth objects and other Solar System destinations.
BEIJING—Japan will buy 12 fighters during the next five years, along with trickle production of other types of aircraft and warships, according to a defense plan that significantly expands the scope for cooperation. The navy will operate more ballistic-missile defense destroyers while the army fields fewer tanks.
ST Aerospace’s U.S. subsidiary, Vision Technologies Systems (VTS), has secured a contract from North American Airlines to convert a Boeing 757-200 passenger aircraft to a combi aircraft. North American, which is the largest provider of contracted air transportation services to the U.S. military, has decided to get VTS to convert one 757-200 passenger aircraft to a combi containing 10 cargo pallets and 45 passenger seats, a ST Aerospace spokeswoman says.
NEW DELHI — India and Russia have registered a joint venture called Medium Transport Aircraft Ltd. that will develop and manufacture products with India’s Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL), according to United Aircraft Corp. President Alexei Fyodorov. “It will be in the market in six to seven years,” Fyodorov tells Aviation Week. “We are also considering working on unmanned aerial vehicles with India. But it is still in the early stages.”
BENGALURU, India — The Indian navy has released a request for information (RFI) about acquiring two kits of free-swimming deep submergence rescue vessels (DSRVs). It also plans to buy associated equipment for operations and diving support vessels (DSVs). The DSRVs are vital during rescue of submerged or disabled submarines, while DSVs serve as mother ships for diving missions. Naval sources say the RFI specifically seeks details from companies with expertise in designing and constructing DSRVs. The deadline for responses is Jan. 15, 2011.
Eurocopter subsidiary Helibras has delivered the first three of 50 EC725 Cougar medium helicopters to the Brazilian armed forces. These initial helicopters were built in France in a standard configuration and will undergo final outfitting in Brazil. EC725s will be delivered to the Brazilian army, navy and air force. Assembly at Helibras’s new production facility in Itajuba is to begin in 2012, and the level of Brazilian-supplied content should reach a minimum of 50% by the time the final aircraft is delivered in 2016.
AIR FORCE Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co., Sunnyvale, Calif., was awarded a $1,310,303,131 contract modification which will provide for the production of the fourth Advanced Extremely High Frequency Satellite Vehicle 4 (SV4). In addition to delivery of the space vehicle, this effort includes SV4 unique systems engineering; system level factory test; system database management functions; systems level support equipment; and program management. At this time, $1,236,420,100 has been obligated. ARMY
NOMINAL BOOST: The Obama administration and Senate Democrats are cautiously optimistic that they have the 67 votes in the Senate necessary to ratify the New Start nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia. But if Start fails, aerospace and defense consultants suggest it could provide a short-term boost to companies that provide missile defense and intelligence capabilities.
Raytheon says it is buying Applied Signal Technology Inc. for $490 million in an all-cash tender deal. The terms of the purchase, expected to close in the first quarter of 2011 pending regulatory review, include Raytheon acquiring all outstanding Applied Signal Technology stock for $38 per share. Applied Signal will be integrated into Raytheon’s Space and Airborne Systems division.
NEW DELHI — Devas Multimedia will introduce spot-beam transmission for the first time in India once the GSat-6 and GSat-6A satellites are launched by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). A spot beam is a satellite signal with concentrated power that is sent by a high-gain antenna and focused on a limited geographic area.
BENGALURU, India — India has postponed the scheduled Dec. 20 flight of its Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-F06) carrying the GSAT-5P satellite. Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) sources tell Aviation Week that the decision was made after a helium gas leak was detected from one of the valves in the vehicle’s upper cryogenic stage. “We observed the leak in the Russian cryogenic engine during the pre-countdown check,” says an ISRO official at the launch site in Sriharikota. “We had no option but to call it off as the leak was very huge.”
ARMY AIR: The U.S. Army will continue seeking public comment through Jan. 7, 2011, on its draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for proposed growth, realignment and stationing of new and existing aviation assets. The plan — available on the Army’s website — entails consolidation and reorganization of existing aviation units, as well as potentially one or more Combat Aviation Brigades.
BENGALURU, India — India’s Tejas Light Combat Aircraft successfully completed a drop tank trial over the Aeronautical Test Range at Challakere in Chitradurga, near Bengaluru, on Dec. 17. P.S. Subramanyam, chief of the Aeronautical Development Agency, tells Aviation Week that a 1,200-liter drop tank was jettisoned from a Tejas limited series production (LSP-3) aircraft piloted by Group Capt. Suneet Krishna. “We flew a Tejas PV-2 as an escort to capture external video images of the drop tank trajectory after release,” Subramanyam says.
BEIJING — A Chinese state document has referred to the government having “put forward” a plan in 2009 to build aircraft carriers, adding to widespread expectations that such a program is in hand or imminent. The “Sunday Morning Post,” a Hong Kong newspaper that obtained the document, presents it as the first official confirmation of a carrier program, but the wording seems less than categorical.
BENGALURU, India — The Indian Coast Guard has added a new offshore patrol vessel (OPV) to its fleet. ICG Ship (ICGS) Vijit is a 90-meter (295-ft.) ship designed and built indigenously by Goa Shipyard Limited, fitted with advanced navigation and communication equipment, sensors and machinery. The vessel was commissioned on Dec. 11.
