TREATY TRIAL: The Obama administration’s prized New Start nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia made it through the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Sept. 16, but the harder challenge lies ahead on the Senate floor, where lawmakers will have to own up to a highly visible ratification vote. Three Republicans joined 11 Democrats on the panel in endorsing the April treaty, while four Republicans voted against committee approval. Some Republicans wary of doing Russia any apparent favors are expected to oppose ratification.
PARIS — Barely days after ordering a new spacecraft for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency’s (NGA) EnhancedView initiative, DigitalGlobe says it will lower the altitude of its WorldView-2 spacecraft, launched in 2009, to enhance spacecraft performance.
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency is planning a shootdown attempt by the 747-400F-based Airborne Laser against a solid-fuel target by the end of this month, according to MDA spokesman Rick Lehner. Officials close to the program say that flight testing will shift back to solid-fueled targets for the time being. The likely target in the upcoming test is a Terrier Black Brant unguided sounding rocket, which was the first target engaged in February by ABL and mimics the early flight phases of a short-range ballistic missile (SRBM).
LONDON — Eurofighter Typhoon operations are being partly suspended as a result of information coming to light from the investigation into the Aug. 24 crash of a two-seat fighter. The crash occurred during a training mission from Moron air base in Spain that killed one of the pilots. Spanish officials have alerted other partner countries about some of their findings, prompting other operators to ground at least parts of their fleets.
BENGALURU, India — India’s Tejas Light Combat Aircraft is currently undergoing sea trials at NAS Hansa, at Dabolim in Goa. This is part of Tejas’s out-of-station flight-test plan, with pilots from the Bengaluru-based National Flight Test Center performing high angle-of-attack (AOA) maneuvers. A source tells AVIATION WEEK that Tejas will undergo parameter identification (PID) and sea-level flutter vibration tests, with an all-external stores (bombs, fuel tanks, missiles) configuration.
The value of worldwide arms transfer agreements in 2009 totaled $57.5 billion, the U.S. Congressional Research Service says in a recent report. This figure, which includes sales to both developed and developing nations, represents an 8.5% decrease from 2008 and the lowest annual total since 2005.
FORT WORTH – Former NASA Administrator Michael Griffin is proposing a fundamental rethinking of approaches to systems engineering, a process which is coming in for increased criticism in the wake of a long list of abandoned, delayed and underperforming aerospace programs.
Boeing is pushing back first flights of its two premier unmanned aerial system (UAS) demonstrators, the Phantom Ray combat aircraft and the high-flying Phantom Eye hydrogen-powered system.
LONDON — Chemring has launched an investigation into the cause of a Sept. 14 industrial incident at its Kilgore Flares facility that occurred less than a week after a fire at its Mecar facility. Three employees sustained “flash burns” and two more were treated for stress-related conditions , the company said in disclosing the incident at the Toone, Tenn.-based facility where MJU-7 expendables are assembled.
As Defense Secretary Robert Gates continues his call for efficiencies in Pentagon spending, Gen. Norton Schwartz, U.S. Air Force chief of staff, is asking industry to take the “long view” on profit and not focus merely on short-term gains. In his speech to the annual Air Force Association conference Sept. 14, Schwartz cited an ancient parable.
LONDON — The French navy now projects the NFH90 maritime helicopter will reach its operational capability in the fall of 2011. The expectation comes after having recently taken delivery of its second of the type. The helo will undergo trials at the Hyeres naval air station. The first operational base will be at Lanveoc. The service plans to take delivery of 27 NFH90s through 2021 to replace its Super Frelons and the Lynx helicopter.
AWAITING LAUNCH: The Boeing/Ball Space-Based Space Surveillance satellite and its Orbital Sciences Minotaur IV launcher have moved to space launch complex 8 at Vandenberg AFB, Calif., for final preparations prior to its Sept. 25 night launch. The satellite mating was completed last week. The launch was expected July 8, but a software sequencing issue arose on the Minotaur that forced a rewrite and verification tests of the code.
LONDON — British lawmakers are concerned that the government’s Strategic Defense and Security Review (SDSR) may jeopardize the industrial base and overemphasize short-term needs. In a report issued in advance of the document’s completion, Parliament’s defense select committee notes that the speed with which the review is being conducted “could end up with only short-term priorities, misaligned resources, a barely reformed acquisition process, and a structure short of manpower to deliver good performance and improperly configured for tasks.”
NEW DELHI — The Indian government is in a dilemma over whether to suspend the Armed Forces Special Powers Act in some areas in Kashmir. Under the act, all security forces are given unrestricted power to carry out their operations once an area is declared disturbed. Indian Air Force Chief Air Chief Marshal P.V. Naik said Sept. 14 that for soldiers to perform their duties efficiently, they deserve “all the legal protection” they can get.
NATIONAL AEROSPACE WEEK Sept. 12-18, 2010 From Takeoff To Liftoff and Beyond, The Aerospace and Defense Industry is powered by people. Aerospace And Defense: The Strength Of Lift America. www.NationalAerospaceWeek.org Aerospace Industries Association Click here to view the pdf
BENGALURU, India – The India Innovation Growth Program (IIGP) generated cumulative revenue of Rs 350 crore ($76 million) from 2007-2010, and is expected to generate close to Rs 500 crore ($108 million) in 2011. The IIGP is a joint effort by Lockheed Martin and India’s Department of Science and Technology that competitively funds innovative Indian technology projects. Lockheed Martin extended its commitment to IIGP through 2012 at the Chennai Tech Expo last week.
HOT TOPICS: U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Sept. 14 that he has scheduled the chamber’s version of the 2011 defense authorization bill to be considered this month — but it will include controversial Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and so-called Dream Act immigrant education provisions. The move is expected to ignite a heated debate over non-combat policies that nonetheless could endanger near-term passage of 2011 defense policymaking legislation.
LONDON — The World Trade Organization has issued its first ruling on the European Union’s case against the U.S. over alleged subsidies provided to Boeing.
LONDON — A U.K. parliamentary committee is raising concerns regarding the defense ministry’s £10.5 billion ($16.4 billion) Future Strategic Tanker public-finance initiative (PFI). In a new report, the Committee of Public Accounts raises further questions about a deal that has come under criticism before. “Using PFI to procure the £10.5 billion Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft (FSTA) project was inappropriate and, in the view of this committee, has not secured value for money,” Margaret Hodge, committee chairman, says.
HOUSTON — For a commercial space transportation system to ferry crew to and from the International Space Station, NASA’s astronaut corps prefers a rental-car model rather than a taxi model, says Chief Astronaut Peggy Whitson.
HOUSTON — NASA space operations chief Bill Gerstenmaier says that by January NASA will have made a final decision on whether shuttle Atlantis will fly an extra mission in June 2011. Late Sept. 14, the agency announced that veteran commander Chris Ferguson, pilot Doug Hurley and mission specialists Sandra Magnus and Rex Walheim will train as the crew for STS-335, the “launch-on-need” (i.e., rescue) mission for STS-134.
JOINT UAVS: Elbit and Safran will pool efforts to try to sell unmanned aerial vehicles in France and some international markets. The joint venture would have a product portfolio including existing systems, with Elbit potentially contributing the Hermes 450 and Hermes 900 and Sagem contributing its Patroller system. The focus is on tactical unmanned aircraft. The joint venture, which is to become operational early next year, would be based in Eragny and Montlucon, France. Both companies will contribute assets, the firms say in a joint announcement.
ON STATION: Boeing received a $1.24 billion contract extension from NASA on Sept. 14 for sustaining engineering of the International Space Station through Sept. 30, 2015. The extension brings the value of the contract initially awarded in 1995 and most recently modified in 2008 to a total of $16.2 billion.
BENGALURU, India — India’s intercontinental ballistic missile, the Agni-V, will be test-fired in 2011, the Defense Research and Development Organization’s chief says. V.K. Saraswat tells AVIATION WEEK that the missile will be launched “anytime next year,” and that “our missile programs have reached high levels of maturity in the last 15 years with the successful launches of Prithvi, Agni and BrahMos.”
