JSF BASING: USAF headquarters has announced preferred alternatives for operational and training F-35 Joint Strike Fighter bases. Preferred alternatives are Hill AFB, Utah, and Burlington Air Guard Station, Vt., for operations and Luke AFB, Ariz., for training. The current scope of this basing action entails 250-300 F-35s. “This is not a final basing decision,” said Kathleen Ferguson, deputy assistant secretary for installations, in a July 29 USAF announcement.
HOUSTON — A key piece of rendezvous navigation technology developed for NASA’s Orion Project is set for testing in March 2011, as the STS-134 crew departs the International Space Station aboard Endeavour on what is currently scheduled to be the final shuttle mission.
CAPE CANAVERAL — While Congress mulls conflicting blueprints for NASA’s human space program, 1,394 space shuttle workers in Florida, Texas and Alabama got notice this week of what their future looks like — no job. Following through on an initiative announced earlier this month, prime shuttle contractor United Space Alliance (USA) notified 902 employees in Florida, 478 workers in Texas and 14 in Alabama that Sept. 30 will be their last day of work.
NEW DELHI — India may strike a deal with Sweden to purchase 155mm towed howitzers for its army, AVIATION WEEK has learned. Controversy and delays have swirled around India’s effort to buy the guns. Trials were delayed a year as vendor ST Kinetics came under an ethics cloud. The company has been vying with BAE Land Systems to build the guns (Aerospace DAILY, June 29, 2009). “It is time to bite the bullet,” an Indian official says. “The army needs the guns and we cannot wait for another three to four years for the decision to be made.”
BENGALURU, India — BAE Systems and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) have agreed on a deal that will lead to the production of 57 more Hawk advanced jet trainers (AJTs) in India. The £500 million ($782 million) contract comes as British Prime Minister David Cameron is visiting India. The deal, announced July 28 at HAL’s Bangalore Complex facility, will see BAE Systems provide parts and services to HAL to build the Hawk trainers for the Indian air force and navy.
JSF BASING: The U.S. Air Force announced July 28 its proposal to base 59 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. The plan is contingent on an environmental impact assessment that should be released in the early fall. “This is not a final basing decision; it is the alternative we believe will fulfill our mission responsibilities while considering economic, environmental, and technical factors,” said Kathleen Ferguson, Air Force deputy assistant secretary for installations. Flight operations also will be conducted at Duke and Choctaw Fields.
TEL AVIV and JERUSALEM — Critics contend that the planned Israeli money for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, estimated at about $2.75 billion for the first 19 aircraft, could be better used upgrading conventional, non-stealthy aircraft with long-range, high-speed stealthy weapons and sensors with the range to support such attacks.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The U.S. Air Force’s long-term planning capability is being badly hampered by sustainment costs for older aircraft and, unless dramatic improvements are made, faces a potential “death spiral,” a top official warns. “Development and procurement is being squeezed, some say choked, by sustainment. That’s the challenge we have. We are not able to recapitalize,” says Ted Fecke, senior leader for propulsion at the Engineering Directorate of the Aeronautical Systems Center at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio.
SBD SALE: The Pentagon is in discussions with the Dutch defense ministry about the potential foreign military sale of small diameter bombs. The discussions, which now have reached the congressional notification stage, are for up to 603 GBU-39/Bs. The total package, including training and logistics, could cost $44 million. The weapons would be used on F-16s.
Technicians at Scaled Composites have feathered the tail structure of the Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo suborbital spaceplane as its assembly continues at the company’s facility in Mojave, Calif. Like its Ansari X-prize-winning prototype, the commercial launch vehicle will fly to space from its WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft with its wings fully parallel to the fuselage, and then feather the tail to about 65 deg. for re-entry.
A leaner environment in defense spending is starting to eat into Boeing’s military profits. Tighter defense budgets in the U.S. and Europe are forcing the company to reduce its Defense, Space & Security business unit’s 2010 operating margin forecast to 9.5% from 10%. While the clarity on future U.S. defense priorities has improved, “several of our government customers are facing continued pressures,” CEO James McNerney notes.
BENGALURU, India — Indian defense public sector undertaking (DPSU) Bharat Earth Movers Ltd. (BEML) is gearing up to establish an aerospace unit in Bengaluru. Defense Minister A.K. Antony told the Indian parliament on July 27 that the Karnataka government has already allotted 25 acres of land near Bangalore International Airport. The Aerospace Technical Park within the special economic zone (SEZ) being carved out near the airport in Devanahalli will house the new BEML facility.
GENOA, Italy — Finmeccanica is confirming guidelines on revenue and operating results for the current year, notwithstanding the continued tough economic environment and the expected defense budget squeeze. The company’s debt is stable and the Italian group has been able to maintain a double-digit investment in research & development (R&D).
ARMOR UP: Under fire for months for deploying troops to Afghanistan without adequate equipment, the German defense ministry is taking further steps to rectify the embarrassing shortfalls. The latest measure is the deployment of the first Eagle IV armored command vehicles to Camp Marmal at Mazar-e-Sharif. The move follows the deployment of Marder infantry fighting vehicles to Kunduz and Mazar-e-Sharif earlier in July. An initial batch of 60 Eagle IVs are to be moved to Afghanistan by the end of August.
The Obama administration plans to stick to its controversial plan to realign approximately 8,000 marines from Japan to Guam and relocate the Marine Corps Futenma Air Station in Okinawa, according to testimony before the House Armed Services Committee. The testimony comes as the White House struggles both with maintaining Japanese agreement for the deal and convincing Congress to fully fund the U.S. side.
JAM PACKED: According to the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance (MDAA), after the closed-door House defense appropriations subcommittee markup July 27, the annual spending bill will not go to the full House Appropriations Committee until after Congress’ August recess. Also, it is expected that the corresponding Senate defense subcommittee could mark up its bill Aug. 5 before the recess. Once senators mark the defense appropriations bill in subcommittee, Sen.
HOUSTON — Two cosmonauts equipped the International Space Station’s new Rassvet module with a KURS automated docking system and made other upgrades during an obstacle-filled spacewalk early July 27. Fyodor Yurchikhin and Mikhail Kornienko completed an excursion that stretched to nearly seven hours just before 7 a.m. EDT. The two men struggled with bulky cable fasteners and watched as at least one large unidentified tool and other smaller pieces of hardware floated away while they worked outside the station’s Russian segment.
The U.K. will publish a consultative Green Paper on the Defense Industrial Strategy before the end of this year. A full DIS will then follow. A July 20 article said a new DIS would be published this year.
CAPE CANAVERAL — Two satellites of NASA’s five-member Themis constellation, launched in February 2007 to study geomagnetic storms, are approaching lunar orbit for a new mission called Artemis. NASA has yet to authorize funding for Artemis (Acceleration Reconnection and Turbulence and Electrodynamics of the Moon’s Interaction with the Sun), but there was no time to wait. Left in their previous orbits, the satellites would have fallen into prolonged periods of deep shadow that likely would have resulted in their demise.
NEW DELHI — U.S. Ambassador to India Timothy Roemer and Indian Home Affairs Secretary G.K. Pillai signed the Counterterrorism Cooperation Initiative (CCI) Memorandum of Understanding on July 23, marking the latest cooperative effort between the U.S. and India on counter-terrorism and information sharing.
For the first quarter of its 2011 fiscal year, Precision Castparts reported sales in its Fastener Products division were $328.9 million, down from $345.3 million in the same period last year, as aerospace suppliers and manufacturers continued to run down their inventories.
