PARIS — Hispasat has selected Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) to build a big new C-/Ku-band satellite to serve broadcasting and telecom customers in the Americas and Europe. Together with Amazonas-2, launched in September 2009, Amazonas-3 will give Hispamar, a joint venture of Spanish satcom operator Hispasat and Brazilian telecom operator Oi (formerly Telemar), one of the biggest and most advanced broadcasting/telecom capabilities in the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking world. It is set to be orbited in 2012.
Lockheed Martin is offering voluntary separation packages to executives in an effort to reduce costs for the company and improve direct communication with its top customer, the Pentagon. The goal is to “reduce overhead and improve affordability by reducing the number of leaders at the director and vice president levels,” according to a company statement.
NEW DELHI — India’s Defense Research Development Organization (DRDO) has developed a UAV weighing less than 1.5 kg. (3.3 lb.) dubbed “Netra,” according to a local press report. The UAV is the result of a collaboration between ideaForge, a company formed by alumni from the Indian Institute of Technology at Powai and DRDO’s Pune-based lab, the Research and Development Establishment. The UAV is designed for anti-terrorist and counterinsurgency operations and is expected to be inducted into the army by December.
PARIS — The European Space Agency’s (ESA) industrial policy committee (IPC) has approved the Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) program, paving the way for the space segment of the €3.3 billion ($4 billion) system to be put on contract.
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BENGALURU, India — India rolled out its homegrown Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) naval variant, NP-1, in Bengaluru on July 6. Terming the rollout a “historic event” for India’s aerospace and defense sector, Defense Minister A.K. Antony reminded the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), which designed the aircraft, and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd., which is manufacturing it, to stick to timelines.
BENGALURU, India — A National Center of Aerospace and Innovation Research (NCAIR) is being set up at the Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai. The NCAIR will be sponsored jointly by the Indian Department of Science and Technology (DST) and Boeing. The first meeting is being held on July 15 in Mumbai. DST is expected to invest $4.3 million. The aim is to get 5-6 patents in three years.
AIR FORCE L-3 Communications Vertex Aerospace, Madison, Miss., was awarded an estimated $19,471,309 contract modification which will provide for an extension of the contract period of performance for contractor logistics support of the C-12 aircraft for Pacific Air Force, Air Force Material Command, Defense Intelligence Agency and Defense Security Cooperation Agency. At this time, $300,000 has been obligated. 727 ASCG/PKC, Tinker Air Force Base, Okla., is the contracting activity (F34601-00-C-0111; P00607). NAVY
The U.S. Marine Corps sees its Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV) as being uniquely qualified to withstand the promised extra scrutiny by Defense Secretary Robert Gates and his team of financial snoopers, although a recent report from congressional auditors clashes with the Marines’ conclusions.
SHUTTLE LAYOFFS: United Space Alliance (USA), the joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Boeing that manages space shuttle operations, will lay off 15% of its current shuttle workforce by Oct. 1 as the program winds down. The last two shuttle flights are scheduled for November 2010 and late February of next year. USA employs about 8,100 workers at its Florida, Texas and Alabama sites. About 800-1,000 employees will be laid off in Florida, 300-400 in Texas and about 10 in Alabama.
CANARY CRY: The Electronic Warfare and Information Operations Association, also known as the Old Crows, says it opposes Obama administration efforts to sell 500 MHz. of spectrum for commercial wireless, and cautions against expeditious passage by Congress of the Radio Spectrum Inventory bill and other auction efforts. Crows President Christopher Glaze writes the Federal Communications Commission that his group has tried hard to make “improvements” to the legislation and is encouraged by the House’s version.
‘HE’S WRONG’: Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) causes a few heads to snap when he asserts that there never has been a Pentagon competition for the Joint Strike Fighter’s powerplant. “I’m sure of it,” Levin told reporters last week. Moreover, if Defense Secretary Robert Gates says otherwise, then “he’s wrong.” Levin’s staff e-mailed reporters a “chronology” explaining that the F-22’s F119 engine was once presumed to go in the F-35, but when officials decided that would not work, they directed Pratt & Whitney to build the F119-derivative F135.
SATCOM MOVES: Lockheed Martin is prepared to ship the first Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) satellite to the U.S. Navy in the second quarter of 2011, says Mark Pasquale, a company vice president. Space Vehicle No. 1 will now enter acoustic testing followed by thermal vacuum trials. After challenges involving passive intermodulation (PIM) on the satellite, Pasquale says the company recently successfully completed PIM testing, addressing this “major risk item.” The diplexers on the satellite performed as needed, he said, clearing a major hurdle.
SECRET SPACE: The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) is developing design concepts and requirements for a multi-mission “Geoint radar satellite system,” according to a redacted version of the NRO’s Fiscal 2010 budget obtained by Steven Aftergood, who publishes Secrecy News, for the Project on Government Security at the Federation of American Scientists. The document also notes the NRO is expecting launch delays due to the pace of Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) operations, which are managed by United Launch Alliance. “In part due to affordability, the ...
A California-based company called U.S. Aerospace has filed papers with the Securities and Exchange Commission to lead a bid of Ukrainian state-owned Antonov aircraft for the U.S. Air Force KC-135 replacement program, estimated to be worth up to $35 billion. If so, the move would pit the unique coupling against Boeing, with its 767 pitch, and EADS, which is proposing the A330, for the KC-X program.
The U.S. Marine Corps has relied too heavily on mine-resistant ambush-protected (MRAP) vehicle program contractors to police their own performance, a recent Inspector General (IG) report says. “Marine Corps Systems Command contracting officials did not provide adequate government oversight of FSRs [field service representatives] and new equipment training instructors as required by government regulations,” the IG says in its recent report.
HOUSTON—A Russian Progress cargo capsule filled with 4,900 lb. of supplies failed to dock with the International Space Station as scheduled on July 2, following an unexplained failure of the KURS automated rendezvous and docking system. Russia’s Mission Control called off further attempts to dock the spacecraft that day. Controllers in Moscow were assessing the cause of the telemetry drop, which originated at the Zvezda service module berthing port on the station, and devising a new rendezvous profile. Another attempt is unlikely before Sunday.
PRIME ISR: On July 2, Northrop Grumman said it will compete as the prime contractor for the U.S. Army’s Enhanced Medium-Altitude Reconnaissance and Surveillance System (Emarss). According to the December 2009 federal solicitation, Emarss will be a manned, airborne multi-intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance system, based on a commercial derivative — which Northrop identified as a Hawker Beechcraft 350ER. The delivery of the first four Emarss would be within 18 months of contract award.
SUMMER LAG: An Airbus executive tells AVIATION WEEK that a European agreement between industry and partner nations on a revised contract for the A400M transporter is expected by the end of the year. Executives have previously forecast the deal’s finalization within the last few months, and then by the end of this summer. Europe’s sovereign debt crisis has not helped the already embattled program, the executive acknowledges, but member nations will not abandon the A400M for other airlifters.
INDIAN OUTREACH: Michele Flournoy, U.S. undersecretary of defense for policy, says the Pentagon knows India is making a strategic, as well as economic, choice when it pursues defense acquisitions, so it will continue to press for U.S. sales like Boeing C-17s and Boeing or Lockheed fighters. “Obviously, the commercial benefits of defense sales to the U.S.
