INDIAN INTERCEPTOR: The Indian Coast Guard Interceptor Boat C-148 was commissioned by Vice Adm. Anil Chopra, director general of the Coast Guard at Veraval, in the west Indian state of Gujarat on Oct. 1. With this induction, the coast guard fleet now boasts 44 ships, 19 interceptor boats, six hovercraft, 24 fixed-wing Dorniers and 21 helicopters. The C-148 — a 28-meter (92-ft.) interceptor with 90 tons displacement — is the sixth in the series of eleven boats, designed and built indigenously by ABG Shipyard, to be deployed for enhancing close coast surveillance.
They may not have the sizzle of Southwest buying AirTran, but aerospace and defense (A&D) deals are heating up after a sharp downturn. Two days after Southwest Airlines unveiled its proposed $1.4 billion acquisition of AirTran Airways, TransDigm Group Inc., a midsize supplier of aircraft components, announced a deal of almost similar size to buy McKechnie Aerospace Holdings.
PARIS — Safran and state-owned chemicals and propulsion manufacturer SNPE have come to a tentative agreement that would allow SNPE’s solid rocket business to be merged with that of Safran’s Snecma unit.
PRAGUE — NASA, the European Space Agency and the Russian space agency Roscosmos have agreed to changes in the International Space Station (ISS) manifest that will see the second Automated Transfer Vehicle launched on Feb. 15 and confirm the final planned shuttle flight, STS-134, on the orbiter Endeavour for Feb. 27. As part of the changes, approved at the International Astronautical Conference in Prague Oct. 1, Roscsomos agreed to look into additional Soyuz launch and landing options to reinforce the robustness of the manifest.
Two versions of an ultra-quiet, vertical-takeoff-and-landing unmanned surveillance aircraft built and tested in Israel will be rolled out for the public this month. The Panther family UAVs, a product of Israel Aerospace Industries’ Malat division, can be built with a varying number of engines and wingspans.
LONDON — Britain’s large Unite union is warning the U.K. could lose more than 16% of its defense workforce as a result of planned spending cuts due to emerge as part of the government’s far-reaching spending review scheduled to be revealed on Oct. 20. The union cites an Oxford Economics study that suggests “cuts of 26% would lead to potentially over 55,000 job cuts in the U.K.”
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) recommends an aggressive and sustained campaign to recruit and support the training of America’s minorities as part of a sustained strategy to strengthen the nation’s science and engineering talent pool. The effort’s two highest priorities are the retention of African Americans, American Indians and Hispanics through high school and college as well as improved training in the two fields for teachers assigned to K through 12 classrooms, according to the NAS panel’s Sept. 30 report.
ROBOTIC GUARDS: The recently renamed Nevada National Security Site has brought the first of three autonomous Mobile Detection Assessment Response System (Mdars) robots online to provide random security patrols at remote portions of historic testing grounds. The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said the robot will save about $6 million versus traditional equipment such as cameras, towers, lights, trenching and motion detection units to support protection of remote, sensitive areas.
HOUSTON — NASA has awarded Hamilton Sundstrand Space Systems International a 10-year contract for spacesuit and extravehicular activity support aboard the shuttle and International Space Station worth up to $728.9 million. The Extravehicular Space Operations Contract, which takes effect Oct. 1, includes a $315.5-million base amount for work performed through Sept. 30, 2015.
COMMERCIAL BOOST: FAA has made the first awards in a new grant program to fund projects that develop and expand commercial space transportation infrastructure. New Mexico Spaceport Authority is receiving $43,000 for an Automated Weather Observing System; Alaska Aerospace Corp. is receiving $227,195 for a Rocket Motor Storage Facility; East Kern Airport District in Mojave, Calif., is getting $125,000 for an emergency response vehicle; and Jacksonville Airport Authority in Florida will receive $104,805 to develop a Spaceport Master Plan for Cecil Field.
The first Space-Based Infrared System (Sbirs) geosynchronous (GEO) satellite is completing final integrated system testing in preparation for an April 2011 launch, U.S. Air Force officials say.
BEIJING — China will validate a range of technologies with its recently launched second lunar probe, including the landing of a camera on the surface of the Moon and control of a spacecraft by X-band communications.
PORT BLAIR, India — The Indian Air Force (IAF) base in Car Nicobar soon will have a full-fledged flight detachment, and a medium power radar (MPR) will be commissioned by 2012. “The MPR will further add teeth to the base,” Wing Cdr. M.S. Sridhar, officiating station commander, tells AVIATION WEEK. “We have a Rohini radar now with limited ground control interception. We will also have an air defense weapons squadron.”
The U.S. Marine Corps plans to deploy its first Harvest Hawk armament kit for use on the KC-130J by the end of the month, according to Capt. Brian Block, a Corps spokesman. The Marines plan to procure nine of the palletized kits, each containing an AN/AAQ-30 targeting sight system mounted on the aft portion of the left external fuel tank. The kits also include Hellf ire missiles and the Special Operations Precision Guided Munition (Sopgm). Sopgms are Raytheon’s small Griffin and Northrop Grumman’s Viper Strike. Eventually, a 30-mm. cannon will be added.
Despite the impending arrival next year of its Gripen fighters, Thailand is considering upgrading its existing fleet of F-16A/Bs. The Pentagon says talks are underway for a three-phase project to put 18 fighters through a mid-life upgrade (MLU) program. Each phase would include six aircraft. The $700 million deal would cover a range of subsystem improvements to the Block 15 aircraft, including the APG-68(V)9 radar, ALQ-213 electronic-warfare management system, ALE-47 countermeasures dispenser and PX-113 interrogator/transponder.
Flight tests of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter have been suspended following the discovery of issues with fuel-system software on all variants and with a door hinge on the short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing (Stovl) version. The Defense Department says flights are suspended temporarily pending modification of software that controls the engine’s three fuel boost pumps. Incorrect signal sequencing that could trigger a shut-down of all three pumps was discovered in the laboratory.
CLOSING DOWN: F-22 production has a little over a year to go. Parts for the 195th and final aircraft will begin arriving at the Marietta, Ga., assembly line in November, after which Lockheed Martin will begin mothballing the tooling as the last aircraft moves down the line toward its delivery in early 2012. Tooling will be stored in Conex containers, some environmentally controlled, at a location to be decided.
JOINT CIVICS: In congressional testimony Sept. 28, the No. 2 Pentagon official defended Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ recommendation to close U.S. Joint Forces Command, as well as several other recently announced reforms. “This was not a business case analysis, as some have described it,” Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn III said. “This was a military decision.” But Virginia Sen. James Webb (D), who with much of the Virginia delegation is fighting the closure, disagreed at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.
EFV EXTENSION: Sens. James Webb and Mark Warner are calling on Defense Secretary Robert Gates to allow the U.s. Marine Corps to complete testing of its embattled Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle before deciding on its future. “The results of this autumn’s testing should allow us to make a more informed assessment of the program’s ability to satisfy affordability and performance requirements,” the Virginia Democrats said in Sept. 27 letter to Gates. The program is expected to face an imminent make-or-break decision by Pentagon leadership (Aerospace DAILY, Sept. 28).
DAVID’S SLING: The U.S. and Israel are formalizing a commitment to continue work on the David’s Sling project, designed to field defenses against short-range missiles, rockets and cruise missiles. Senior officials from both countries signed an agreement for development of the system last week.
DATA DISCONNECT: Budget pressures may lead the U.S. Air Force to defer upgrading F-22s with the stealthy multifunction advanced data link (MADL) under development for the F-35. While Lockheed Martin has not been told to stop work on MADL under the Increment 3.2 upgrade planned for 2015, it is “leaning towards delaying implementation,” says George Schultz, F-22 program general manager. The directional MADL was chosen as the data link to tie together the USAF’s F-22, F-35 and B-2 anti-access force.
