TOKYO—Japan’s Hayabusa sample-return probe collected and returned material from the asteroid Itokawa in its troubled seven-year mission, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) reports. Analysis of some 1,500 particles of material found in the sample-return canister reveals that “most of them were judged to be of extraterrestrial origin, and definitely from Asteroid Itokawa,” JAXA says in announcing the findings.
LONDON—BAE Systems is heading a proposal team to provide part of the U.K.’s Military Flying Training System (MFTS) program. BAE Systems has teamed with Swiss aircraft maker Pilatus, along with Gama Aviation and the Babcock International Group, to bid for a basic training portion of the MFTS. The aircraft on offer would be the PC-21.
With Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) construction costs under greater control, the Navy is again thinking about splitting the fleet purchase between the contractor teams. “The Navy wants to split its buy of Littoral Combat Ships between a steel monohull developed by Lockheed Martin and the Marinette shipyard, and an aluminum trimaran developed by the Austal shipbuilding company of Australia,” said Lexington Institute defense analyst Loren Thompson.
NO START: Republican Sens. John Kyl (Ariz.) and Jim Inhofe (Okla.) announced Nov. 16 that they do not favor ratification of the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (Start) during the lame-duck session of Congress. “When Majority Leader Harry Reid asked me if I thought the treaty could be considered in the lame-duck session, I replied I did not think so given the combination of other work Congress must do and the complex and unresolved issues related to Start and modernization,” said Kyl, who has been seen as the key Republican voice in passing the treaty.
Lightsquared’s bid to become the first U.S. hybrid mobile satellite service to enter operation has passed a key milestone with launch of its first satellite.
TOKYO—Resolution of structural faults has cleared the way for the beginning of series production of the Kawasaki Heavy Industries XC-2 airlifter next fiscal year after a delay of more than two years caused mainly by a need to reinforce the fuselage structure.
Bengaluru—India’s Kemrock Industries and Exports Ltd. (KIEL), which makes reinforced polymer composites, signed a partnership with Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) on Nov. 16 for a joint venture. The new firm will develop, manufacture and market aerospace-grade carbon fiber pre-pegs, along with its associated pre-pegs for defense and aerospace programs in India.
Zhuhai, China—Chinese rocket manufacturer CALT will boost production of its Long March 3 launcher following an order for 20 units from sibling company China Great Wall Industry Corp. A separate order for eight DFH-4 satellite buses will support the current production rate for that spacecraft by manufacturer CAST, also a corporate sibling of China Great Wall. All three companies belong to national space contractor CASC, so the two deals, together worth 15 billion yuan ($2.26 billion) and announced at Airshow China, are internal group transactions.
TOKYO—Japan is expected to soon issue a long-awaited request for proposals for its F-X fighter competition, despite a media report that the country has settled on the Lockheed Martin F-35 as a future combat aircraft. In a rare piece of recent good news for the Joint Strike Fighter program, the Mainichi newspaper reported on Nov. 8 that the ministry planned to request “procurement costs” for the F-35 in its Fiscal 2012 budget request, covering the period from April 1, 2012.
A collection of seven nano-to-micro-sized satellites is set for liftoff Nov. 19 on a mission dedicated, in part, to determining what is practical in faster/cheaper research. Under study are such novelties as having one satellite be the launch platform for another, deploying sails to induce drag for timed re-entries to free low-Earth orbit (LEO) of space debris and the practicalities of using upper stages to achieve dual-orbits.
HOUSTON—NASA has selected DB Consulting Group Inc., of Silver Spring, Md., for a potential $251.5-million, five-year contract to provide a variety of information technology, multimedia, information management and external relations support services to Johnson Space Center in Houston. The $150.5-million, three-year base period begins Jan. 18, 2011, and includes provisions for a pair of one-year extensions.
NAVY Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding—Newport News, Newport News, Va., is being awarded a $48,881,988 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to contract (N62793-07-C-0001) for continuation of Fiscal 2011 advance planning and continuous maintenance efforts to prepare and make ready for the defueling and inactivation of the USS Enterprise (CVN 65) and its reactor plants. This effort will provide for all advanced planning, ship checks, design, documentation, engineering, procurement, fabrication, repair and preliminary shipyard or support facility work.
Tata Advanced Systems and Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. have unveiled the first Sikorsky S-92 helicopter cabin made in the south Indian city of Hyderabad. The cabin will be shipped to Sikorsky’s U.S. plant. A joint venture agreement between Tata and Sikorsky was formed last year to manufacture the S-92 cabins. Tata also announced that it is making Hyderabad its hub for all aerospace activities.
BENGALURU—The Indian Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) has developed an Integrated Life Support System (ILSS) for fighter aircraft pilots, potentially adding India to a group of nations owning such technology. DRDO’s Bengaluru-based Defense Bioengineering and Electromedical Laboratory (Debel), which developed the ILSS, delivered the documents to Tejas program chief P.S. Subramanyam recently for fit and further trials.
HOUSTON—Cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Skripochka attached an external work platform and retrieved and installed science experiments outside the International Space Station during a 6-hr. spacewalk on Nov. 15. Though off to a late start, the two men worked quickly enough outside the station’s Russian segment to finish their activities just after 4 p.m. EDT, only slightly behind schedule.
Bengaluru—The Indian and British governments appear to be exploring a stronger partnership in aerospace activities. Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) sources tell Aviation Week that British Universities and Science Minister David Willets visited the Satellite Center in Bengaluru on Nov. 15. However, no time frame has been given for when the Indian-British space ties would take shape.
PARIS—A long-expected reshuffling of French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s cabinet could reinforce efforts to modernize the military and boost attempts to deploy a territorial missile defense system and build closer ties to Great Britain. Virtually all the cabinet members except Prime Minister Francois Fillon were moved to new positions or dismissed.
TEL AVIV—Hezbollah’s efforts to field an effective, multi-faceted military force are evolving with upgrades emerging in its air defense and aerial attack capabilities.
AIR FORCE United Technologies Corp., East Hartford, Conn., was awarded a $100,738,400 contract modification which is an increase in the undefinitized contract for the acquisition of eight additional priority initial spare F119 engines, for a total of 33 engines. At this time, the entire amount has been obligated. ASC/WWUK, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FAFA8611-08-C-2896; P00044) .
