PRAGUE — Plans are well along for NASA Administrator Charles Bolden to make a delayed trip to Beijing for what may be the opening round of talks leading to closer international cooperation in human spaceflight. NASA officials stressed that there has been no final invitation for Bolden to visit China at a specific time. However, officials in Beijing already are preparing for the visit, amid suggestions at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) here that it could come in October.
The next significant air-launched weapons battle is about to heat up with the U.S. Army’s forthcoming solicitation for a single Hellfire, Javelin and TOW missile replacement called the Joint Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM). JAGM could be worth billions of dollars, and will be integrated onto six platforms – including fixed and rotary wing – for the Army and Navy : the Boeing F/A-18E/F and Apache Block III, Bell AH-1Z and OH-58D, Sikorsky MH-60R/S and General Atomics MQ-1C Gray Eagle .
After three years of negotiations within two White House administrations and two full sessions of Congress, a key Senate committee has forwarded groundbreaking export licensing treaties with Australia and the U.K. for full Senate ratification. But new hurdles are emerging for the treaties, which would obviate licenses across pre-ordained, transocean communities of governments and companies.
HELO OUTLOOK: Forecast International says while the nearer-term future of the light military rotorcraft market looks good, cloudy conditions are on the horizon. In data announced Sept. 27, Forecast projects that 1,941 light military rotorcraft will be built by 2019, with annual output growing to 220 units in 2014. After that, the market is expected to descend to 181 units per year by 2019. “Current acquisition programs will run their course, and few new major procurements of light military helicopters are in the works,” Forecast says.
TEXAN TOTALED: U.S. Air Force accident investigators are examining the wreckage of a T-6A Texan II trainer that crashed near Spofford, Texas, on Sept. 24. The aircraft, whose crew ejected safely, was based at Laughlin AFB and assigned to the 47th Flying Training Wing when it crashed on a ranch between Bracketville and Spofford. Local reports suggest a possible engine failure is being investigated in the loss of the 1,100 hp. Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-68-powered trainer.
LONDON — The Pentagon has spelled out details of its planned sale of F-16s to Iraq and Bell 412EP helicopters to Pakistan in its required congressional notification. Adding a fighter capability to its fleet has been a strong wish of Iraqi air force officials since the service began its rebuilding phase. However, U.S. officials initially felt Iraq should focus on fielding more basic capabilities such as supporting ground troops before worrying about adding a high-end fighter.
LONDON — Norway is postponing the start of the bulk of its F-35 Joint Strike Fighter deliveries by two years to 2018, to reflect delays in the core U.S. development program. The move, announced on Sept. 27, follows a similar decision announced last week by the Netherlands. The Dutch defense ministry now says its schedule means first production deliveries will not commence until 2016 rather than 2014; the new government still has to confirm plans to buy the F-35.
EFV DECISION: Military consultant Loren Thompson of the industry-funded Lexington Institute sees this week as make-or-break for the U.S. Marine Corps Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle. The soon-to-retire Marine commandant, Gen. James Conway, and Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, a popular figure inside the Obama administration, will offer their separate recommendations on whether to continue developing the embattled General Dynamics program.
LOS ANGELES — Pratt & Whitney is stepping up its legal battle with Rolls-Royce over the fan design for the geared turbofan (GTF) by alleging the U.K. engine maker deliberately misled the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
AIR FORCE L-3 Communications TCS Inc., Warner Robins, Ga., was awarded a $61,018,760 immediate award contract to provide modifications to MC-130W aircraft to install a Precision Strike package. Eight kits and eight installations are being procured under this acquisition. At this time, $15,837,316 has been obligated for a total of $61,018,760 because $45,181,444 was previously obligated. WR-ALC/GRUKA, Robins Air Force Base, Ga., is the contracting activity (FA8509-09-C-0037; Action under PZ0001). ARMY
PROMISE: Republicans – who many political analysts expect will take control of the House after November elections – issued “A Pledge to America” on Sept. 23 which says they will “provide the resources, authority and support our deployed military requires, fully fund missile defense and enforce sanctions against Iran.” Domestic border security also was identified in the pledge’s 12 paragraphs of security-related provisions.
SAN FRANCISCO — Into clear, balmy skies, an Orbital Sciences Minotaur IV lifted the U.S. Air Force’s Space-Based Space Surveillance satellite into a 335-mi. high orbit inclined 98-deg. from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., on Sept. 25. Built by Boeing and Ball, SBSS weighs close to 2,200 lb. and features a gimbaled telescope on a beryllium mount that provides a high degree of agility for its 2.4 megapixel focal plane shutter to slew across the sky to image spacecraft and space debris without obstruction or vibration.
AIR FORCE Raytheon Technical Services Co., Indianapolis, Ind., was awarded a $42,000,000 contract which will provide 65 AN/AAQ 29A forward looking infrared production kits and 15 initial spares in support of the HH-60G helicopter. At this time, the entire amount has been obligated. WR-ALC/GRUKB, Robins Air Force Base, Ga., is the contracting activity (FA8530-08-D-0012-0005). ARMY
U.S. Air Force managers in charge of keeping the Global Positioning System at peak performance say the Government Accountability Office (GAO) overstated the risk to the on-orbit constellation of position, navigation and timing spacecraft in a recent report. Lessons learned from the troubled GPS IIF development program have been applied to the follow-on GPS IIIA spacecraft, which recently completed its critical design review two months ahead of schedule, according to Col. David Buckman, Air Force Space Commander lead for positioning, navigation, and timing.
Australia’s decision to pre-wire half of its F/A-18Fs for the electronic-attack mission is generating interest in the option among potential international buyers of the Super Hornet, Boeing says. The first of 12 aircraft equipped with wiring for conversion to the electronic-attack mission has rolled off the production line in St. Louis and will be delivered to Australia by year’s end, says Kory Mathews, F/A-18 programs vice president.
LOS ANGELES — Scaled Composites is poised to resume captive carry flight tests of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo (SS2) with the return to flight of the WhiteKnightTwo (WK2) launch aircraft. WK2 was damaged Aug. 19 in a landing gear failure.
ULTRALIGHT ACTION: Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) is pushing legislation in Congress that would beef up criminal punishment for using ultralight aircraft for drug smuggling across the southwest border. She said on the House floor there have been at least 135 cross-border ultralight incursions from Mexico from October 2009 through last April. In a May incident, U.S. Northern Command/North American Aerospace Defense Command even dispatched two F-16s to intercept another ultralight suspected of drug smuggling and force it back across the border. Rep.
MOSCOW — Ulyanovsk-based Aviastar-SP is performing major overhauls on three Russian air force Antonov An-124 heavy transports, with the work due to be complete by the end of 2011. The aircraft manufacturer expects another contract that covers seven transport overhauls and upgrades to be performed by 2015, according to Sergei Dementyev, Aviastar’s general director. Of the 22 An-124s listed in the Russian air force inventory, only four are in operation.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) SEPT. 28 - 29 — Society of Experimental Test Pilots — Society of Flight Test Engineers Fourth Annual European Flight Test Safety Workshop, Royal Aeronautical Society, London, U.K. For more information go to http://www.aerosociety.com/conference Sept. 28 - 30 — AVIATION WEEK MRO Europe 2010, ExCel, London, U.K. For more information go to http://www.aviationweek.com/events
LOS ANGELES — A concept demonstrator for a robotic explorer designed to hop—rather than rove—over a planetary surface is being prepared for a 20-meter (66-ft.) hovering flight at the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory in Cambridge, Mass.
PARIS — Thales Alenia Space (TAS) is seeking to tighten its ties with Russia’s space sector, in particular with long-time partner ISS Reshetnev, that would grant Russian firms greater access to the global market while giving the Franco-Italian satellite maker a firmer foothold in the Russian marketplace.
HOUSTON — Russia’s Mission Control rescheduled the undocking of the Soyuz TMA-18 from the International Space Station (ISS) for late Sept. 24, following onboard repairs to the latching mechanism that failed to release the capsule with Expedition 24 crewmembers Alexander Skvortsov, Mikhail Kornienko and Tracy Caldwell Dyson onboard late on Sept. 23. The Soyuz spacecraft and its three passengers were slated to touch down under parachute on the plains of Kazakhstan on Sept. 25 at 1:21 a.m. EDT, ending a 175-day mission.
