BENGALURU, India — India’s Defense Bioengineering and Electromedical Laboratory (Debel) has developed an “oxygen life-support system for helicopter pilots operating at high altitudes.”
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The first spacecraft in the U.S. Air Force’s Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellite network reached geosynchronous transfer orbit on Aug. 14, capping a nine-year effort to develop a successor to the existing Milstar II communications spacecraft.
BENGALURU, India — The Indian defense ministry intends to shift the Army Service Corps Center North out of Gaya in Bihar and merge it with the ASC Center South at Bengaluru in Karnataka. The ASC will be relocated within a year, Indian army chief Gen. V.K. Singh said on Aug. 12.
Israel Aerospace Industries was able to boost its half-year profits, despite currency headwind and increased program-related research and development (R&D) expenses. IAI reported a half-year net profit of $55 million, up 49% on the half-year result in 2009, on $1.6 billion in first-half sales. Yair Shamir, the company’s chairman, notes that in addition to strong military sales, the civilian market “is beginning to recover from the global crisis.” IAI also had to offset a 7% currency revaluation of the shekel.
ARMY AM General LLC, South Bend, Ind., was awarded on July 30 a firm-fixed-price contract with the estimated face value of $618,974,038. The purpose of the contract is to purchase 2,526 M1152A1B2 High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles with area troop enclosures for the Afghanistan police force and Afghanistan National Guard. The work is to be performed in South Bend, with an estimated completion date of Dec. 31, 2013. One bid was solicited with one bid received. TACOM, Warren, CCTA-ATA-A, Warren, Mich., is the contracting activity (W56HZV-10-C-0405).
HOUSTON — Expedition 24 flight engineers Doug Wheelock and Tracy Caldwell Dyson finished repairs to the crippled cooling system aboard the International Space Station on Aug. 16, completing their third spacewalk devoted to the task in 10 days. During a seven-hr. excursion, they installed a new pump module assembly and re-mated five electrical cables and four cooling lines without any signs of the leaking ammonia that interrupted the first outing.
LONDON – The government of Israel has overcome its concerns about technology access on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to a sufficient level to press ahead with the purchase of 20 of the fighters at $96 million per copy. One of Israel’s concerns has been about its ability to maintain its flexibility in the electronic warfare realm. But the government has determined it can still maintain its ability to quickly upgrade the F-35 to meet future threat needs without being dependent on the U.S.
The Defense Department center responsible for helping contractors meet cost and schedule deadlines has oversight problems of its own, according to the Pentagon Inspector General (IG). The IG reviewed oversight issues at the Earned Value Management Center (EVMC), run by the Defense Contract Management Agency, because of allegations over the validity of the center’s earlier reviews.
NEW DELHI — India’s Defense Acquisition Committee — formed to speed defense acquisition — is in the process of clearing a major pending request for proposals (RFPs) for upgrading L-70 guns, AVIATION WEEK has learned. Avoiding multiple levels of clearance and red tape, the procurement process is supposed to be completed in a short time with the contract signed between 112 to 154 days after the RFP.
HAIFA and TEL AVIV — Israel’s military has always generated unique and very specialized needs, from tanks to electronic warfare to combat aircraft. Now that effort will be focused on its unmanned aircraft fleet. The opinion appears embedded in Tel Aviv that the advantages of cost, range, endurance and less danger to aircrews will push heavy and sustained spending on autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle designs.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) AUG. 16 - 19 — National Defense Industrial Association’s 13th Annual Space and Missile Defense Conference and Exhibition, Huntsville, Ala. For more information call (256) 382-5823 or go to www.smdconf.org
DRAGGED DOWN: A $104 million impairment charge for Galaxy 15, which went out of control in April, helped drive Intelsat into a $180 million net loss for the second quarter. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization dropped $183 million to $339 million and revenues declined to $635 million, from $642 million a year earlier. Intelsat anticipates Galaxy 15 will lose Earth lock before the end of the year, shutting down all onboard electrical systems, but it remains unclear if the spacecraft can be restarted.
LASER LOBBY: With the Pentagon starting to craft its Fiscal 2012 budget request, the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance (MDAA) is lobbying again for Boeing’s Airborne Laser (ABL) program. After being scaled down by Pentagon leadership to a demonstration effort due to development, cost and operational issues, ABL should have its budget boosted nonetheless so taxpayers and military leaders can see “what this technology can do,” the group says. MDAA also advocates pursuing an operational system again, including an “emergency” deployable capability.
The National Academies is urging NASA to develop and launch a $1.6 billion wide-field infrared survey telescope in 2020. The observatory, dubbed WFIRST, would spend at least five years searching for extrasolar planets and exploring the effect of dark energy on the evolution of the universe.
START SUPPORT: Look for more Republican senators to signal their support for the New Start treaty with Russia, according to Richard Verma, assistant secretary of state for the bureau of legislative affairs. Meanwhile, the Obama administration is busy providing answers to more than 800 Senate questions on the treaty, signed in April, in the hopes that the chamber will quickly consider and ratify the nuclear arms reduction deal around Sept. 15 after returning from summer recess. The administration also is reiterating its commitment to the nuclear infrastructure behind U.S.
DOMESTIC FRONT: In a rare spate of August lawmaking, Congress is rushing two more UAV systems into the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency’s fleet. Under the roughly $600 million bill passed last week, Congress appropriates $32 million for UAVs through September 2012. CBP counts six General Atomics Predator Bs now, including one that was re-engineered specifically for maritime sensing in a joint program with the Coast Guard.
BLACK HAWK BUY: The Pentagon is in talks with Colombia over the sale of a further nine UH-60L Black Hawks under a proposed deal worth up to $162 million. The deliveries would be split between various agencies, with four going to the army, four to the national police and one to the air force. Meanwhile, the Pentagon has awarded Sikorsky a $35 million contract for three UH-60Ms for the Mexican navy.
FORT HUACHUCA, Ariz. — U.K. forward operating bases in Afghanistan will be bolstered by the deployment of aerostat-mounted persistent ground surveillance systems (PGSS), following the successful clearance of integration issues with the British Army’s Cortez base surveillance control system.
JOINT OBSERVATIONS: The National Academies astronomy/astrophysics decadal survey panel recommends that NASA seek collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA) in developing a wide-field infrared survey telescope (WFIRST) to be launched in 2020 — the survey’s top large-scale mission priority. This could lighten NASA’s share of the estimated $1.6 billion needed to develop the telescope. ESA is considering a satellite called Euclid that would perform many of the same functions as WFIRST.
