LONDON — The Australian government is throwing money behind its effort to make the country’s defense industry globally more competitive as part of a new defense industry policy rolled out June 25. The policy is aimed at addressing changes in the country’s defense industrial base, in which U.S. and European companies largely dominate the domestic market through their holdings, thereby relegating truly indigenous entities to small- or medium-sized status.
Bipartisan support is growing in both houses of Congress for a faster start on the heavy-lift launch vehicle President Barack Obama said he wants regardless of what happens to his plan to scrap the Constellation Program. A bipartisan group of 62 House members is urging Obama to initiate “the immediate development and production of a heavy-lift launch vehicle that, in conjunction with the Orion crew exploration vehicle, may be used for either lunar or deep-space exploration to an asteroid and beyond.”
MULTI-SENSOR: Lockheed Martin is readying its Gulfstream III-based Airborne Multi-intelligence Laboratory (AML) for display at the Royal International Air Tattoo and Farnborough International Airshow in the U.K. next month, possibly followed by a tour of Europe and the Middle East. Equipped with airborne processors, operator workstations and data links, the AML can collect and correlate data from video, radar, communications and electronic intelligence sensors.
AUSTRALIAN MRO: The Australian government has announced key reforms to its naval ship repair sector, and industry will be invited to tender for long-term contracts for repair and maintenance of the navy’s major fleet units. Greg Combet, defense minister for materiel and science, says this initiative will provide industry and the navy with greater certainty and stability in the repair and maintenance of the fleet. The following companies were named to compete for the accompanying ship groups.
ST. LOUIS — Despite the availability of several advanced jet trainers already in the market, Boeing believes there is still a chance the looming T-38 replacement program will lead to a new-design aircraft. Although the Pentagon is still in the process of determining the exact requirements for the so-called T-X program, Chris Chadwick, president of Boeing Military Aircraft, says, “I believe it will be a new-build type of platform.” Boeing is already in talks with possible industrial partners about how it might pursue the T-X competition.
BIG TARGET: U.S. House Democrats across that party’s spectrum are increasingly talking about how the Pentagon must sacrifice some of its budget, along with the rest of the federal government, to rein in the U.S. deficit. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) is slated to speak June 28 at a centrist Washington think tank, and several Capitol Hill newspapers have reported key lawmakers in that chamber suggesting that the defense budget is not sacrosanct.
FOLLOWING NPOESS: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is moving forward with plans for its Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) — the civil weather satellite constellation that the agency will build in lieu of the troubled National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (Npoess). JPSS spacecraft will be clones of the Npoess Preparatory Project (NPP) satellite built by Ball Aerospace; NASA will initiate the JPSS procurement as a sole-source contract to Ball.
U.S. military units are failing to package, ship and account for equipment being brought back from Iraq as part of the force drawdown there, a recent Pentagon Inspector General (IG) report says. As part of “Operation Clean Sweep” — set in motion by the Defense Department fragmentary order (FRAGO) of Oct. 26, 2009, U.S. military units are supposed to be properly identifying, packing, shipping and keeping track of equipment in Iraq being transported back to the United States or to other regions.
WHAT’S THE PLAN?: House Science lawmakers want supporting documents justifying decisions to terminate NASA’s Constellation Program and rely on commercial vehicles for astronaut transport to the International Space Station. NASA managers were working with the White House Office of Management and Budget to meet the June 25 deadline for their delivery to the House Science Committee.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) june 28 - July 1 — American Institute Aeronautics and Astronautics 40th Fluid Dynamics Conference and Exhibit; 27th AIAA Aerodynamic Measurement and Ground Testing Conference; 28th AIAA Applied Aerodynamics Conference; 41st Plasmadynamics and Lasers Conference, Hyatt Regency McCormick Place, Chicago. For more information go to www.aiaa.org
LASER ON: The U.S. Navy’s Airborne Laser Mine Detection System (ALMDS) will enter final developmental testing in early Fiscal 2011, according to Naval Sea Systems Command. Operational evaluation is expected by summer 2011, and initial operational capability should come in the first quarter of Fiscal 2012. Program officials completed the first updated systems flight test June 8 at Naval Surface Warfare Center, Panama City, Fla.
SAFETY DRIVE: An improved lift-fan driveshaft for the short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing F-35B Joint Strike Fighter has passed its critical design review and will be ready for Lot 4 production deliveries in 2012, but whether it will be needed has not been determined, Lockheed Martin says. The redesigned shaft accommodates more relative motion and thermal growth and will be delivered for flight testing late this year, but the current shaft will be monitored in flight tests to see if the additional stretch/compression capability will be required.
ST. LOUIS — Boeing hopes to shift the Phantom Eye long-endurance unmanned aircraft demonstrator to the NASA Dryden test facility in California in August or September, although a potential strike at its St. Louis facility could slow the effort. The goal is to begin taxi tests of the 150 ft.-wingspan, 52 ft.-long air vehicle in January, with first flight due later that month. The initial flight will be 4-8 hours, says Andrew Mallow, director of advanced operations and prototyping at Boeing Phantom Works.
EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — New antenna designs, freed from the confines of radomes, will grow dramatically in size, range and resolution while dropping in weight and providing advanced surveillance capabilities for even small, lightweight unmanned aircraft that have been limited until now to carrying small, low-resolution electro-optical and infrared sensors.
Israel’s newest reconnaissance satellite is seen as boosting the country’s intelligence capabilities against Iran. With the observation satellite Ofeq-9 placed in low Earth orbit June 22, Israel now has six operational remote sensing satellites in space: the Ofeq-5 and 7 military observation satellites; ImageSat’s commercial/military EROS-A and EROS-B1, and Israel Aerospace Industries’ (AIA) TechSAR day/night all-weather synthetic aperture radar satellite, now designated Ofeq-8.
Having bowed out of the Swiss fighter competition for the partial F-5 Tiger replacement program, Boeing is now looking to see if the program changes in such a way that it can get back in the running. There have been indications the Swiss fighter competition — now involving the Saab Gripen, Dassault Rafale and Eurofighter Typhoon — is changing its focus away from a mere F-5 replacement to a more high-end requirement to replace F/A-18s. When Boeing pulled the F/A-18E/F out, it did so saying the simple F-5 program did not warrant a Super Hornet offering.
A U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) bribery investigation of Allied Defense has driven Chemring to scale back its acquisition plans for the business. On Jan. 19, Chemring announced the planned $59 million acquisition of all of Allied Defense. But owing to legal turmoil, it now says it will buy only the two principal operating businesses — the Mecar operation in Nivelles, Belgium, and the Marshall, Texas-based unit. The price of the transaction remains the same.
ST. LOUIS — The Pentagon has signed off on low-rate initial production of the C-130 Avionics Modernization Program (AMP), kicking off the installation of the first 20 kits.
U.S. Naval Air Systems Command introduced about 30 people from 12 nations to the V-22 Osprey at a recent embassy day, Marine Corps Col. Greg Masiello, V-22 program manager, tells AVIATION WEEK. Visiting nations hosted at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md., were provided with program briefs, a fleet operating perspective by a V-22 pilot and a flight demonstration. It was “a resounding success,” Masiello says. “We’ve had a surge in queries now and I expect more interest and discussions.”
PARIS — Arianespace has delayed the launch of Korea’s COMS-1 and Arabsat 5A because of an unspecified launcher subsystem anomaly. The launch, which had been set for June 23, is expected to be rescheduled for overnight on June 24-25. Getting the mission, Arianespace’s second of the year, off on time is critical to get the launch provider’s seven-launch 2010 manifest back on track.
