Kennedy Space Center, Fla. - With the completion of the STS-132 mission aboard shuttle Atlantis, the shutdown of the space shuttle program spreads from manufacturing facilities to the vehicle processing hub here. There are no more flights planned for Atlantis, although the ship will be prepared as a launch-on-need vehicle for the STS-134 mission – the program’s planned finale – currently targeted for launch in November.
Oshkosh Corp. received four delivery orders valued at more than $234.8 million from the TACOM Life Cycle Management Command (LCMC) to supply more than 4,300 Mine Resistant Ambush All Terrain Vehicle (M-ATV) protection kits. Oshkosh will deliver more than 3,800 rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) protection kits, as well as more than 500 explosively formed penetrator (EFP) add-on armor kits and in-field service and parts. Work under the orders is expected to be completed in April 2011.
The Russian Air Force has received the first, full training device for its Sukhoi Su-34 fighter-bomber aircraft. The simulator is in use with the air force’s 4th Combat Employment and Training Center at Lipetsk.
The U.S. Navy added one more piece to its operational puzzle today with the unveiling of its Naval Operations Concept 2010 (NOC 10), a defining document meant to support the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR), 30-year shipbuilding plan and the three-year-old maritime strategy.
In a new submission to Congress, Airbus is trying to defend itself and its pending offering in the U.S. Air Force KC-X tanker competition against charges it has benefitted unfairly from illegal subsidies, and the European company argues that Chicago-based Boeing, too, has been on the receiving end of such funding.
NASA’s new technology and commercially themed exploration strategy promises to dispatch new waves of robotic spacecraft on rapidly paced missions to pave the way for human exploration, rather than carry out scientific agendas. Agency officials outlined the strategy at a two-day NASA Exploration Enterprise Workshop in Galveston, Texas. The workshop wrapped up March 26 after fleshing out President Barack Obama’s strategy for canceling the back-to-the-Moon Constellation program in favor of a longer-term road map for human exploration of Mars.
The manager of NASA’s embattled Constellation program, Jeff Hanley, was reassigned on May 26. Hanley, who had held the manager’s position since 2005, was named the Johnson Space Center’s associate director for strategic capabilities. Lawrence “Dale” Thomas, Constellation’s deputy manager, will fill the manager’s position on an acting basis, effective immediately.
Last year’s acquisition of Airbus manufacturing facilities in Filton, U.K., have not damped GKN Aerospace’s acquisition appetite, with the company still looking for opportunities. One of the business areas the company is looking at is a deal that could strengthen its activities in engine-related components, signals Marcus Bryson, who runs the GKN Aerospace operations. However, he adds, deals in other sectors are not being ruled out.
GRIPEN AVIONICS: The Swedish defense establishment has awarded Saab a 450 million Swedish kronor ($56.3 million) contract to develop an enhanced avionics suite for the Gripen fighter. The funding will span two years and is aimed at jump-starting work on the avionics package that would not enter service on Gripen for another decade. The package would provide for the installation of new displays, as well as a new processing backbone to handle more data and process it more quickly.
Problems on a large systems integration program have driven Danish aerospace and defense company Terma to a full-year loss. The writedown that has led to a 25 million ($4 million) Danish kronor pretax loss is linked to contractual changes with the Danish government for the control room of the country’s emergency preparedness center. Government and industry “have commenced negotiations on reductions of the content and scope of work,” with a resolution expected soon, the company says in announcing its results.
First flight of the Boeing X-51A Waverider hypersonic demonstrator is being hailed as a success, although the scramjet-powered vehicle did not achieve the planned flight duration.
Bengaluru, India – Initial trials for the air-launch version of the BrahMos supersonic missile will be carried out in the first half of 2011, and flight trials will take place in India in 2012, the missile maker says. The development of the air-launch version is expected to be completed in 2012, and its maker hopes to begin production and induction the same year. This version is for the Indian Air Force (IAF) and will be fitted with special launchers onto Su-30 MKI aircraft.
The space shuttle Atlantis’ landing-gear wheels stopped rolling for what is probably the last time early May 26 after the workhorse orbiter returned from a productive 12-day mission to the International Space Station. With commander Ken Ham at the controls, Atlantis touched down on Kennedy Space Center’s shuttle landing strip runway 33 at 8:48 p.m. EDT, following a three-minute, five-second deorbit burn at 7:41 a.m. EDT that slowed the spacecraft by 228 mph – enough to drop it back into the atmosphere for the fiery glide down to Earth.
INDIAN ICBM: India’s Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) Chief VK Saraswat said that the 5,000-km.-range Agni-5 intercontinental ballistic missile will be ready by 2011. “Work is progressing satisfactorily in the development of Agni-5,” he said. The missile will play into perceived defenses from neighboring China and Pakistan within its strike range. The Agni-1 (700 km.), Agni-2 (2,000 km.) and Agni-3 (3,500 km.) were all successfully tested by India’s Strategic Forces Command.
Bengaluru, India – Indian Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) Chief Dr. VK Saraswat said May 26 that “self-reliance in critical defense technologies cannot be achieved by DRDO alone unless the three services (Army, Navy and Air Force) overcome the temptation to induct [the] latest weaponry from abroad.”
BACK TO FLIGHT: The first mission-system test F-35, aircraft BF-4, returned to flight on May 25 having been on the ground since its first flight in early April. The hiatus was due in part to a display anomaly on the first flight that required a software fix. BF-4 is the first F-35 equipped with L-3 Communications’ liquid-crystal panoramic cockpit display. The fourth short takeoff and vertical landing F-35B, BF-4 is due to be ferried to the U.S. Navy’s NAS Patuxent River, Md., test center by the end of May to join the first three aircraft.
NASA is embracing a more inclusive, technology-driven approach to the development of a heavy lift rocket for the deep-space exploration agenda outlined by President Barack Obama, including a more affordable rocket engine also suited to national security, science and potential commercial needs, one of the architects of the initiative told the opening session of the agency’s Exploration Enterprise Workshop in Galveston, Texas, on May 25.
The Army needs to revamp some of its contracting procedures for vessel maintenance in Southwest Asia, a recent Pentagon Inspector report says. “MICC-EU (Mission and Installation Contracting Command-Fort Eustis) contracts did not have adequate contract competition, price reasonableness determinations, and funding,” said the IG report, “Army Vessels Maintenance Contracts in Southwest Asia,” released May 21. The IG reviewed 15 contracts worth about $51.8 million for Army vessels repair maintenance in Kuwait.
LONDON – The German government expects further delays in fielding its Tiger reconnaissance and attack helicopter, owing to production and delivery problems from manufacturer Eurocopter. Because of quality shortfalls, the German defense ministry says it has not taken delivery of any Tiger helicopters from Eurocopter since December. Of the 67 Tigers that should have been delivered to date, only 11 have been handed over and none of those are in a production configuration, a Germany defense ministry official laments.
