CSAR SHOWDOWN: Boeing has provided two responses to the U.S. Air Force’s request for information (RFI) on the HH-60 Personnel Recovery Recapitalization program, which aims to replace aging Pave Hawk helicopters used by the service for combat search and rescue (CSAR). One response, sent by Boeing alone, proposes a variant of the H-47 Chinook, which won an earlier, ill-fated CSAR replacement effort that was ultimately terminated after a series of bid protests. The second RFI response, sent in partnership with Bell Helicopter, proposes the Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey tiltrotor.
The Japanese government is under pressure from the country’s largest business association to ease its restrictions on arms exports so the country can join international projects. The association, Nippon Keidanren, argues that the country is becoming technologically isolated as the rising complexity and cost of defense equipment increasingly forces other countries to collaborate on its development.
U.K. UAVs: The funding hiatus has finally come to an end for London’s research program into flying unmanned air vehicles in non-military airspace. Phase 2 of the Autonomous Systems Technology Related Airborne Evaluation & Assessment (Astraea) program is getting underway some 18 months later than originally planned. The delay was due to an inability to secure sufficient funding support. Industry partners in the program include BAE Systems, Cobham, EADS, Qinetiq, Rolls-Royce and Thales.
The U.S. Navy has taken its first deliveries of the new Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile (Aargm) production units, according to manufacturer Alliant Techsystems (ATK). The first delivery consisted of two missiles, according to an ATK spokesman. The Navy awarded ATK a low-rate initial production contract for 27 of the AGM-88E missiles in January. Aargm is an upgrade kit for the High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missile (Harm), which is used to destroy enemy air defense sites.
REPROGRAM REQUEST: Defense industry consultant Jim McAleese says the $4 billion Pentagon reprogramming request recently submitted to Congress is “particularly program-intensive” due to lawmakers’ inability to complete 2010 supplemental spending, as well as their looming summer recess. Major winners in the request include $191 million for an additional Thaad radar and $100 million more to Army aircraft procurement for RQ-7 Shadow modifications and procuring 1,500 One-System-Remote-Video-Terminals.
GENOA, Italy — The U.S. and Italian militaries are developing plans to bolster their C-27J tactical transport capabilities, driven in part by combat operations in Afghanistan. The Italian air force is developing a special mission configuration for the C-27J that would allow the aircraft to carry a high-power jammer to disrupt the wireless detonation of improvised explosive devices (IEDs). The payload is under development by Restoge (Reparto Supporto Operativo di Guerra Elettronica), the electronic warfare (EW) operational support unit.
CAPE CANVERAL, Fla. — The external fuel tank earmarked for the STS-134 flight of shuttle Endeavour, currently the final mission of the space shuttle program, arrived at the Kennedy Space Center on July 13, but commemorations may be premature.
A new technology study by the U.S. Air Force highlights autonomous technology as one of the most “intelligent bets” for the service to gain an advantage over adversaries or operate more efficiently in the next 20 years. The Technology Horizons study was completed early this year and briefed to Air Force leadership in May. The first study of its kind in 15 years, it is a sweeping view of potentially disruptive or game-changing technologies. The study was requested in March 2009 by Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz.
LONDON — Selex Galileo plans to fly its U.K. active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar on the Eurofighter Typhoon in 2013, but the long-term future of the project will hinge on a near-term assessment by the defense ministry on how to proceed down the AESA road map. The U.K. plans to launch an assessment of the Selex Galileo AESA technology demonstrator program — underway now for several months — as well as an option from the Euroradar consortium, and foreign candidates, including from the U.S.
Former foes Lockheed Martin and Sikorsky Aircraft are teaming up to offer a modified UH-60M Black Hawk helicopter they say will better meet the pared-down expectations for the U.S. Air Force combat, search and rescue (CSAR) replacement program.
The U.S. Air Force is exploring new ways to use existing imaging sensors on the U-2 aircraft to help fight terrorists and insurgents in Afghanistan. Service officials recalibrated a U-2 Optical Bar Camera, an optical sensor used for years for treaty-monitoring requirements, to collect wide-area views of the tattered landscape in Haiti after the January earthquake. Typically flown at 70,000 ft. or higher, the sensor had to be reworked for collection at 50,000-55,000 ft. to improve the image resolution.
PARIS — Avanti Communications says the launch of its first satellite, Hylas-1, is likely to be pushed back because of a delay in the startup of Arianespace’s Soyuz launch pad in Kourou, French Guiana, from which the spacecraft was to be orbited. The new pad was expected to be ready for a Hylas-1 liftoff in late September, but European Space Agency officials now anticipate the inaugural flight will not take place until the fourth quarter.
CHANGING GUARD: British Army Gen. David Richards will succeed Air Chief Marshal Jock Stirrup as U.K. chief of the defense staff. Gen. Richards will take over from Air Chief Marshal Stirrup in October. The changeover will likely follow the publication of the government’s Strategic Defense and Security Review. Gen. Richards is currently the army’s chief of the general staff.
Inventors with good ideas on low-cost satellites, electric power storage and autonomous navigation over rugged terrain will have a chance to win a total of $5 million in federal prize money designed to advance technology with applications in space exploration and other applications. NASA’s Centennial Challenges program will offer the prizes as part of the U.S. space agency’s effort to ferret out new ideas that it can use in human and robotic spaceflight, and to bring new participants into the U.S. space industry.
The first U.S. Air Force Space-Based Space Surveillance satellite is expected to be ready for launch within a couple of weeks, says Gary Payton, the service’s deputy under secretary for space. The satellite was slated for launch July 8, but it slipped after a software problem was detected in the Minotaur IV vehicle. Payton says the software fix is being developed and will be put through testing. SBSS has priority for launch out of Vandenberg AFB, Calif., he says (Aerospace DAILY, July 9).
BEALE AFB, Calif. — The only U.S. Air Force wing operating the venerable U-2 and new Global Hawk UAV is exploring some measures to reduce the cost of collecting intelligence.
NASA’s Inspector General (IG) has concluded that agency leaders acted appropriately in deciding to reassign former Constellation Program Manager Jeff Hanley after he sent e-mails questioning the Obama administration’s proposed redirection of NASA’s human spaceflight plans.
U.S. Air Force officials are exploring new ways to marry signals and imagery intelligence collection to find enemies on the ground in Afghanistan. One such project collocates collection of these two types of intelligence on slow-flying tactical Hawker Beechcraft King Air 90s.
PAYTON RETIRES: Gary Payton, deputy undersecretary of the U.S. Air Force for space programs, is retiring effective July 31. His replacement has not yet been named and an Air Force spokeswoman says it is uncertain whether a new deputy undersecretary will be on board prior to his departure. Payton has served in this position since 2005, and during this time he was instrumental in moving the Space-Based Infrared System (Sbirs) missile warning satellite program forward despite major development setbacks. The first Sbirs satellite is expected to launch next year.
The U.S. Air Force has failed to properly manage inventory contracts for work on F-15 and C-130 aircraft and in some cases violated contracting legal requirements, according to the Pentagon Inspector General (IG). “The Air Force did not adequately address Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) consumable item inventory,” the IG says.
