GATES CRASHING: As he has done for a few springs now, Defense Secretary Robert Gates is continuing his practice of delivering stark speeches to military audiences. Fresh off a headline-grabbing address questioning shipbuilding plans in front of naval boosters and officers near Washington last week (Aerospace DAILY, May 4), the Pentagon chief was expected to offer another spending send-up May 8 at the Eisenhower Library in Abilene, Kan. Check the Aviation Week Intelligence Network and the Ares defense blog for coverage of the Eisenhower address.
SLOVAK SPACE: Officials from the European Space Agency (ESA) and Slovakia will flesh out cooperative space-research efforts in Earth observation, space science, microgravity experiments and perhaps other areas as well under a new agreement signed late last month. The accord will form the basis for closer cooperation in the future, growing out of a 2008 ESA/Slovak conference that led to the creation of an expert committee in the former Soviet-bloc nation.
PARIS — After months of preparations and negotiations, the French and Italian defense ministries have finally issued a contract to build Sicral 2, a new secure UHF/SHF communications satellite intended in particular to bolster the two countries’ tactical satcom capability. The new spacecraft also will serve to reinforce NATO satcom capacity, which Italy and France supply in cooperation with the U.K.
HIGHER LOBBY: Aerospace-friendly Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Kit Bond (R-Mo.) have launched the Senate Aerospace Caucus with the help of U.S. Air Force Secretary Michael Donley and Textron CEO and President Scott Donnelly, who is also chairman of the powerful Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) trade group. The caucus’s inaugural luncheon May 6 on Capitol Hill focused on planning around defense industrial base issues, acquisition reform and workforce needs. The House has a similar caucus, led in part by Rep.
PARIS — Two U.S.-based operators have split orders for orbiting a pair of big new communications satellites between the two leading commercial launch providers.
COUNTERING IEDs: The U.K. Defense Ministry’s Counter Terrorism Science and Technology Center is about to launch a competition into identifying technologies applicable to the next generation of improvised explosive device search-and-defeat technologies. The ministry is due to hold a briefing event this week.
BEAR DOWN: The chief of the National Guard Bureau — a four-star Air Force general — says the Air National Guard and its local communities around the U.S. must prepare for what is likely to be a painful transformation. The Air Guard still operates at bases they started using at the end of World War II, and many units are fighter units flying aircraft that are ending their operational lives. But now the country needs units that can operate UAVs and manage intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets, Gen. Craig McKinley told Washington defense reporters last week.
BENGALURU, India — India’s new Intermediate Jet Trainer (IJT) has successfully completed its hot weather trials at Jaisalmer. Called Sitara, the aircraft was designed and developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL). Two aircraft are back here in Bengaluru (formerly Bangalore) after the grueling 10-day trials, sources say. “It was the first time that the IJT undertook the hot weather trials with the AL-55I Russian engine,” a source says. The first hot weather trials were held in Nagpur in 2006 with the Snecma LARZAC engine.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) May 11 - 12 — The Shephard Group’s Electronic Warfare 2010 Conference, Estrel Convention Center, Berlin, Germany. For more information go to www.shephard.co.uk/events
COLORADO SPRINGS — The U.S. military and intelligence community launch manifest is ramping up to a fast pace to deploy several first-of-fleet models for communications, missile warning and navigation. The first Boeing GPS IIF, which will deploy a new safety-of-life civil signal, is slated for launch May 21, and the second is expected around Nov. 18.
LONDON — The three Aster missile partner nations have been carrying out wind tunnel work supporting a fix for problems that resulted in two test shot failures of the medium-range surface-to-air missile last year. The wind tunnel tests are part of the preparations to restage the test firings that revealed the problems in 2009. Two tests of the Royal Navy’s Sea Viper configuration of the MBDA Aster system resulted in failures in the terminal phase of the engagement.
A company that won a NASA prize for beaming power to a climber in a space-elevator competition is targeting unmanned aircraft as an initial application for its laser-based technology. LaserMotive says power beaming could extend the endurance of electrically powered UAVs. The company plans to fly a small internally funded demonstrator by year’s end. The Seattle-based company has had discussions with some UAV manufacturers, and could have working prototypes of the system available within 18 months, says Tom Nugent, president and co-founder.
MORE LIFT: The Finnish government is adding another EADS Casa C-295M to its fleet, augmenting two of the tactical transports already handed over in 2007-08. The additional aircraft, being purchased under a €112 million ($142 million) deal, is to be delivered in 2013, the Finish defense ministry says. The aircraft will be based at the Tikkakoski air base. The transport aircraft are to help Finland complete the phaseout of its Fokker F27 fleet. The last of the F27s is to be retired in 2015, the defense ministry said.
NAME RANK: Now that the House has passed legislation to name the U.S. Marine Corps along with the Navy in their shared department, eyes are turning toward the Senate, which could go along for a change. “This legislation ... is simply about doing the right thing, which is acknowledging the sacrifice and commitment of millions of Marines who have fought for this country for over two centuries,” said one Democratic proponent, N.Y. Rep. Michael McMahon.
BENGALURU, India — An Indian navy Searcher UAV crash-landed on May 5, going down short of its runway near the Southern Naval Command. The UAV was on a regular sortie and the damage is repairable, according to the navy. “The UAV crashed at peak traffic time near [a] roadside. A Board of Inquiry (BoI) will find out what has gone wrong after analyzing all the possible angles,” a source tells AVIATION WEEK.
Several major studies that could affect the launch industrial base are due in the next few months. The liquid- and solid-fueled booster industrial base is facing more uncertainty now than ever after a decision from the White House to cancel most of NASA’s Constellation program, including the Ares I and V rockets.
NEW DELHI — The joint naval exercise Spitting Cobra 2010 concluded in Guam April 22 after two weeks of training and simulations between the U.S. and Indian navies. The annual joint exercise—in its seventh year—was between U.S. sailors of explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) Mobile Unit (Eodmu) 5 and members of the Indian navy. The numerous training activities included demolition exercises, helicopter operations and hostage threat simulations.
NASA tested the pad abort system for the Orion crew exploration vehicle May 6, demonstrating that the solid-fuel system could pull the U.S. capsule off a failing launch vehicle, maintain its attitude and stabilize it with a thrust-vector control system, and then jettison the escape tower and parachute the capsule back to the ground in one piece. The one-minute, 35-second test at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., took the capsule higher — 3,886 feet — and farther down range — 6,919 feet — than anticipated.
GENOA, Italy — Finmeccanica CEO Pier Francesco Guarguaglini is laying out an ambitious five-year road map redirecting the company’s strategy toward far greater international sales and a renewed focus on aerospace and defense. The intent is to craft a truly international company, with the CEO suggesting that by 2016 Finmeccanica could generate 50% of its revenue from outside its three “domestic markets” — Italy, the U.K. and, increasingly, the U.S.
Mark your calendars for these AVIATION WEEK Events! NextGen Ahead 2010 NextGen Ahead 2010 Conference Renaissance Washington, DC Washington, DC May 19-21, 2010 MRO Europe 2010 ExCel • London, UK September 28-30, 2010 MRO Military Europe ExCel • London, UK September 29-30, 2010 Lean Six Sigma For MRO
LAS VEGAS — Bigelow Aerospace is kicking off a marketing campaign to attract national space agencies and corporations to its privately funded inflatable space station. Space entrepreneur Robert Bigelow, 65, who made his fortune in Las Vegas real estate development, already has invested $180 million in the company and says he will commit up to $500 million to realize his dream of building commercial space habitats. “This year is our coming out year, so to speak,” he says.
JSTARS WORK: Nordam will produce engine pylons and cowl doors for two U.S. Air Force E-8C Joint Stars aircraft under a contract with Seven Q Seven, Pratt & Whitney’s partner in the JT8D-219 re-engining program for the airborne battle management, command/control aircraft. The pylons and cowl doors will be built and assembled at Nordam’s Tulsa, Okla., repair facility. Nordam is responsible for two shipsets, but the contract could grow to an additional 17 shipsets. First delivery will be in early 2011.
