The U.S. Defense Department is improving in its major weapons acquisitions, according to nonpartisan congressional auditors, but it has a ways to go to institutionalize recent reforms — and the Pentagon may still have to cut the number or size of its programs now just to meet expected budget pressures in the future.
PIECE BY PIECE: The fifth segment of an Ares I first stage was moved into the test stand at Alliant Techsystems’ (ATK) facility in Promontory, Utah, last week, in preparation for the second ground test firing of the rocket Sept. 2. Data from the test will be analyzed using last September’s ground test, as well as the results of the Ares I-X launch in October 2009, according to ATK. The Obama administration has proposed scrapping the Ares I in favor of nurturing commercial systems for transporting humans to low Earth orbit (Aerospace DAILY, May 20).
PARIS — Arianespace has been selected to launch Britain’s new Skynet 5D satellite, an Astrium-built unit set to be orbited in the first half of 2013. Together with a contract for Intelsat 17 awarded earlier this week, the Paris-based launch provider says it now has seven telecom orders so far this year, including two unannounced, and five dedicated Soyuz missions. The Intelsat 17 order was transferred from Sea Launch, which is still in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and could not meet Intelsat’s late 2010 target launch date (Aerospace DAILY, May 18).
Rolls-Royce’s Next Generation Nuclear Propulsion Plant (NGNPP) will deliver what the company calls “a step change in safety, capability and availability” for submarine propulsion. But its significance may go well beyond this application. The genesis of the NGNPP was in 2007 when the U.K. announced plans to replace Vanguard submarines. This means spending £11 billion-£14 billion ($16.8 billion-$21.4 billion) on four new subs, to be operational in the 2020s.
The latest in a series of requests for information (RFIs) from NASA under its proposed Fiscal 2011 budget lists six “flagship” space testbeds costing $400 million to $1 billion each that would push technologies needed for exploration beyond low Earth orbit.
The Pentagon needs to do a better job developing and managing acquisition contracts for expanding Afghanistan war needs than it did during the high-tempo days of the Iraqi conflict, according to a recent report by the Defense Department Inspector General (IG). “The effectiveness of contractor support of expanded U.S. operations in Afghanistan and other contingency operations could be compromised by the failure to extract and apply lessons learned from Iraq,” the May 14 report says.
HOUSTON — Astronauts aboard the International Space Station opened the new Russian “Rassvet” module on May 20, installing filters, fans and air ducts in the compartment delivered and attached to the orbiting laboratory earlier this week by the crew of the shuttle Atlantis.
Only a month into the Australian government’s competition for new maritime helicopters and still a year away from a contract award, an interesting twist has been introduced into the battle between the Sikorsky/Lockheed Martin MH-60R and the Eurocopter NH-90. According to reports in the Australian press, the Australian government hid for 28 days the fact that it had to ground its first Eurocopter NH-90s after an aircraft suffered a catastrophic engine failure and had to limp back to base on a single engine.
LONDON — The Netherlands is looking to upgrade the software on at least 75 of its F-16s to cure some existing shortfalls and boost safety. The software upgrade to the M6.5 standard also is being made with an eye to keeping the fighter viable until the end of the decade, when the F-16 is expected to be phased out in favor of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
MOSCOW — The first of two new presidential Tupolev Tu-214PU aircraft for the Russian government logged its first flight on May 19. The Tu-214, built by the Kazan Aircraft Manufacturing Association (Gorbunov KAPO), is to serve as an airborne command center and presidential transport in cases where the existing heavy four-engine widebody Ilyushin Il-96-300PU cannot land.
HOUSTON — Atlantis astronauts Steve Bowen and Mike Good replaced bulky batteries on the International Space Station’s oldest solar module during a spacewalk on May 19, after unsnagging a power and data cable that prevented the shuttle crew from making a thorough post-launch damage inspection of the ship’s heat shielding. The seven-hour outing was the second of three spacewalks scheduled for the Atlantis crew this week.
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NASA is on the verge of releasing a request for information (RFI) from industry on commercial crew vehicles to carry its astronauts to the International Space Station, and wants to work with commercial providers on an “incremental” transition away from government-operated human spaceflight to low Earth orbit.
Despite the U.S. military’s increased focus on counterinsurgency in Iraq and Afghanistan, the greatest geopolitical challenges of this century may lie “slightly to the east” in the Asia-Pacific, requiring renewed commitment to that region, Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) says. The U.S. should make clear that a strong, “responsible” China is welcome in the region, he said. “Our first challenge is how can our military maintain its primacy over adversaries intent not on matching our strengths but rendering them irrelevant.”
In Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ recent speech at the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, there was a phrase that certainly should get the attention of program officials in the Pentagon: “No one should ever neglect the psychological, cultural, political, and human dimensions of war.” In his May 7 remarks, Gates stressed the need to “develop the analysis, doctrine, strategy and tactics needed for success in 21st century conflicts.”
BENGALURU, India — The Indian army’s decision to order 124 additional Arjun main battle tanks and the successful launch of the nuclear-capable Agni-II ballistic missile by Strategic Forces Command (SFC) is seen as a shot in the arm for the country’s Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO). Indian Defense Minister A.K. Antony, a staunch campaigner for indigenous military programs, said that the army’s decision to induct more Arjuns was its own, and signals that the tank is finally “coming of age.”
LAUNCH DELAY: Launch of the first Boeing GPS IIF satellite has slipped a day to May 21. The launch window of the Delta IV rocket is 11:25 p.m.-11:43 p.m. EDT, according to officials at the United Launch Alliance. They say that mission managers discovered a faulty piece of ground support equipment that is used to control one of the swing arms on the Fixed Umbilical Tower; they are replacing the equipment. GPS IIF will be the first of 12 satellites for the U.S. Air Force to carry a new safety-of-life signal in L5.
LOS ANGELES — Scaled Composites has successfully pressurized and powered up Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo (SS2) from the WhiteKnightTwo (WK2) carrier aircraft in flight for the first time. The milestone was achieved on the second captive-carry test flight, which took the vehicle to its planned launch altitude at around 51,000 ft. On its first flight under the wings of WK2 on March 22, the spaceship was carried to an altitude of 45,000 ft., but the vehicle was not pressurized or activated.
Israel wants to acquire two corvettes that would permit missions beyond the Mediterranean and extend its fleet air defense capabilities. The navy was planning to purchase a variant of Lockheed Martin’s Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), but after an evaluation decided the vessel was too costly.
Opportunity, the Mars Exploration Rover that spent two years exploring a small crater named Victoria, is beginning a multiyear journey to a much larger feature visible on the horizon. Known as Endeavour, the crater is 13 mi. in diameter, which is 25 times larger than Victoria. Rover drivers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., are not taking any chances getting across the eight miles that Opportunity must traverse to reach Endeavour’s west rim.
