LONDON — The U.K.’s military and commercial aerospace industry is expected to hit bottom in order intake this year, after showing a 10.4% decline in 2009. “Either the second or third quarter of 2010 is the trough,” Ian Godden, chairman of ADS, the Aerospace, Defense and Security trade organization, said July 13. However, he is optimistic the industry could start showing growth, followed by a boom, particularly in commercial aerospace, as long as a double-dip recession does not affect the global economy.
OVERBOARD: Northrop Grumman, one of the U.S. military’s two major shipbuilders, said July 13 it is reconsidering its entire shipbuilding business, including consolidating its embattled Gulf Coast units and eyeing sell-offs. “Recognizing our company’s long-term strategic priorities, we foresee little synergy between Shipbuilding and our other businesses,” CEO Wes Bush said.
Having yielded last year to Russian pressure and abandoned plans for a third ground-based launch site for high-performance interceptor missiles in Eastern Europe, the Pentagon is now planning a new high-performance interceptor, also for deployment in Europe.
LONDON — The U.K. ministry of defense has launched a competition to upgrade Royal Air Force Sea King search and rescue helicopters to provide the identification friend-or-foe (IFF) system with a Mode S capability. The move is required to comply with emerging Civil Aviation Authority safety standards that will take effect March 31, 2012. A total of 25 helos are to undergo the modification.
BEIJING — The Alenia Aermacchi M-346 has won Singapore’s advanced jet trainer competition, a South Korean news report suggests. Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) has failed in its bid to supply the T-50 to Singapore, reports the Yonhap news agency. Since M-346 was the only other competitor, the report implies that Alenia Aermacchi will get the contract to supply a 25-year training capability. Between 11 and 14 aircraft were expected to be needed to meet the requirement.
The U.K. has rolled out its Taranis unmanned combat air vehicle technology testbed, a major development foray into stealthy unmanned aircraft for the country.
NEW DELHI — Rivals Honeywell and Rolls-Royce are trading public barbs as they await the delayed request for proposals to re-engine India’s fleet of 120 twin-engine Jaguar fighters, which have slowly become overweight and underpowered as a result of avionics and weapon systems upgrades.
INSIDE BELTWAY: Northrop Grumman will buy an existing building at 2980 Fairview Park Drive, Falls Church, Va., for its new headquarters, the company said July 12. The choice, over neighboring Arlington, Va., near the Pentagon, still places the company’s headquarters inside the Washington Beltway interstate area and caps a months-long search for the company, currently based in Los Angeles. Northrop expects to begin operations in its new facility by summer 2011, with employees coming from L.A. and Arlington.
Boeing started the flight test program for the F-15SE Silent Eagle on July 9. The long-serving F-15E1 prototype took off with a modified port conformal fuel tank (CFT) structure that incorporates a single weapons bay door and an AIM-120 launcher mounted on a trapeze. The test plan calls for an unguided AIM-120 launch.
EchoStar XV, a 12,000-lb. Ku-band platform designed to enhance high-definition television delivery for DISH Network LLC, is en route to its geostationary slot at 61.5 deg. W. Long. following launch July 10 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on an International Launch Services (ILS) Proton Breeze M. Space Systems/Loral, which built the spacecraft for EchoStar Satellite Services LLC on a 20-kw. version of its 1300 satellite bus, said the solar arrays deployed as planned, setting up the first maneuvers out of geostationary transfer orbit (GTO).
Boeing’s hydrogen-powered, high-altitude Phantom Eye unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) demonstrator will be shipped to NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards AFB, Calif., in preparation for a series of ground tests this summer. The company unveiled the aircraft to employees during a ceremony July 12 in St. Louis.
The European Space Agency’s Rosetta comet probe sped close to the asteroid Lutetia on July 10, successfully snapping more than 400 images that should help scientists unravel the composition and origin of the 60-mi. long rock. The closeup imagery of Lutetia reveals the asteroid to be heavily cratered, providing strong evidence the largest asteroid ever visited by a spacecraft has been around since the earliest days of the Solar System (or about 4.5 billion years).
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) conducted a comparison of Fiscal 2010 and FY ’11 Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) funding, revealing a $4.7 billion decrease in requests overall.
September 29-30, 2010 ExCeL • London, UK Learn to maintain military assets longer; sustain aircraft beyond forecast; recover from budget cuts, delays and program cancellations, and develop new strategies required to deliver and support equipment. Learn more at www.aviationweek.com/events
PARIS — Zodiac has flatly rejected a preliminary merger offer from Safran, forcing the French-based aero-engine and aircraft equipment maker to look elsewhere for external growth.
AIR FORCE Integral Systems Inc., Columbia, Md., was awarded a contract modification of $13,417,469 which will extend the contract for the command and control system-consolidated program from Sept. 30, 2011 to Sept. 30, 2012, to accommodate launch delays on the Advanced Extremely High Frequency Space Vehicles 1, 2 and 3. At this time, no money has been obligated. Space & Missiles System Center, Military Satellite Communications Systems Wing, Los Angeles Air Force Base, Calif., is the contracting activity (F04701-01-C-0012; P00170).
NEW DELHI — India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV– C15) launched the Cartosat–2B advanced remote sensing satellite from India’s Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota on July 12. The flight marks the 16th consecutive successful flight of the PSLV.
General Dynamics Land Systems has received a $30 million award from the U.S. Army Tank-Automotive Command’s Lifecycle Management Command to begin production of a double V-shaped hull for the workhorse Stryker infantry combat vehicle.
Directed-energy weapons and advanced sensors in next-generation combat aircraft will demand power and cooling beyond the capabilities of today’s technology and could prompt a fundamental change in the design of aircraft systems. Keen to avoid the thermal-management “nightmares” that confronted developers of the stealthy fifth-generation F-22 and F-35, the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is launching the Energy-Optimized Aircraft program to demonstrate a new approach to generating, storing, consuming and dissipating energy on aircraft.
PRIVATE EYE: Boeing plans to unveil its Phantom Eye liquid hydrogen-powered unmanned aerial vehicle July 12 to company officials only. The company is developing the demonstrator with a hope of eventually building a vehicle capable of 10 days of high-altitude endurance with a 1,000-lb. payload, and in an effort to reinvigorate the company’s sluggish attempt to get an unmanned systems business off the ground. Officials will also try with Phantom Eye to beat the endurance record set by the Boeing Condor by flying 96-100 hr.
