An electrically powered nose-gear under development to save fuel during taxiing of commercial airliners is being proposed for military airlifters to improve operations and autonomy on unimproved and austere airstrips. WheelTug is developing the system for airlines, initially targeting availability on the widely used Boeing 737NG by early 2012, but says it has responded to requests for information from two airlifter manufacturers and is in discussions on the C-130.
BENGALURU, India — The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is preparing to launch StudSat, a minisatellite built by 40 engineering students from seven colleges in Hyderabad and Bengaluru (formerly Bangalore). Classified as a picosatellite, StudSat has arrived at the Sriharikota launch center for integration with the four-stage Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C15). The PSLV-C15 flight, initially planned for May 9, has been rescheduled due to technical issues with the rocket’s second stage. A new launch date is pending (Aerospace DAILY, April 30).
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI) announced May 3 that it will propose a new aircraft called Sea Avenger in response to U.S. Naval Air Systems Command’s (Navair’s) recent request for information for an unmanned carrier-launched airborne surveillance and strike (Uclass) aircraft.
FORT WASHINGTON, Md. — Northrop Grumman is partnering with Bell Helicopter to build a new, medium-range version of the Fire Scout, called Fire X, based on Bell’s 407 helicopter platform for an expected U.S. Navy competition next year.
AIR FORCE Aegis Technologies Group Inc., Huntsville, Ala., was awarded a $20,481,517 contract which will provide the Air Force Modeling and Simulation Training Toolkit, which is a noncommercial, government-owned simulation system used to train the Joint Force Command, Joint Force Air Component Commander, and their battle staff in multiple federation environments. At this time, $1,483,700 has been obligated. 753 ESG, Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass., is the contracting activity (FA8731-10-C-0003). DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY
FORT WASHINGTON, Md. — Lockheed Martin is progressing from prototype to engineering design model (EDM) on its offering for the U.S. Navy’s Consolidated Afloat Networks and Enterprise Services (Canes) program. The Navy awarded two Canes contracts in March for system development and demonstration. Northrop Grumman was awarded $14.7 million and Lockheed received $15 million to develop the common computing environment portion of Canes.
By the end of June, Lockheed Martin officials say that all 20 of the flight- and ground-test F-35s will be off of the company’s production line, and they hope these aircraft will jump-start a flight test program that has been languishing. The first two low-rate initial production aircraft, which are bound for Eglin AFB, Fla., will also roll off the line in June to begin populating the first training wing there, says Dan Crowley, executive vice president for F-35.
FORT WASHINGTON, Md. — Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said May 3 the U.S. has to ask itself whether it can afford the U.S. Navy’s current plan for billion-dollar destroyers, submarines and carriers.
Expedition 23 Commander Oleg Kotov took manual control of the approaching Progress 37 cargo carrier and docked it safely to the International Space Station May 1 after the Russian-built Kurs autonomous docking system failed.
FORT WASHINGTON, Md. — Adm. Gary Roughead, U.S. chief of naval operations, took industry to task at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space symposium here on May 3, noting that whenever a contract is awarded, a protest usually follows, which is “extraordinarily disruptive.” He pointed the finger at industry, accusing companies of falling “into a mode of whenever there’s a contract awarded there’s an immediate protest on its heels.” Roughead said the protests are “an inhibitor to building the fleet we need.”
AUSTRALIAN JSF: Australian defense officials said $8.5 million was approved by the government there to help smaller local companies overcome early investment challenges and get into the Joint Strike Fighter industrial base. Officials in Melbourne at the fourth Australian JSF Advanced Technology and Innovation Conference said at least 28 Australian companies have already won work valued at about $200 million on the nine-nation program.
In this century, the South China Sea will become what the Persian Gulf became after World War II, and Chinese and U.S. interests could increasingly collide there, according to Robert Kaplan, senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security. “This region will become the center of the world,” he told a Council on Foreign Relations teleconference April 30. China, which is experiencing a nationalistic, Monroe Doctrine-style expansion, is looking to build up its military capability to protect its economic coming-of-age.
CAPE CANAVERal, Fla. — The first flight of Space Exploration Technologies’ (SpaceX) Falcon 9 rocket will fall behind the targeted May 14 launch of space shuttle Atlantis on the STS-132 mission. The California-based firm, which holds NASA contracts for Falcon 9 development, demonstration and cargo delivery missions to the International Space Station, had been targeting a “no earlier than” May 8 launch date on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station range schedules.
Lockheed Martin is changing the leadership on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, promoting one of the program’s two general managers and bringing in the head of the F-22 program to replace him. Dan Crowley, executive vice president (EVP) and F-35 general manager (GM) since May 2005, will take on the newly created position of chief operating officer of Lockheed Martin Aeronautics.
FORT WASHINGTON, Md. — The U.S. Navy’s Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and EA-18G Growler fleets could last 50% longer than planned, current studies are showing.
HOUSTON — Space station Program Manager Mike Suffredini would prefer a summer 2011 flight if NASA moves forward with an extra shuttle mission using orbiter Atlantis. The timing would permit the shuttle to supply the orbiting laboratory with additional scientific hardware and components for the water recovery system that is recycling condensate from the breathing air and urine into drinking water for the six-person crews, Suffredini said May 3.
HOT FIGURE: The U.S. counts 5,113 nuclear warheads in its stockpile, according to a Pentagon official who disclosed the total formally for the first time May 3. State Department officials said the U.S. has dismantled more than 13,000 nuclear warheads since 1988, and has reduced the number of operationally deployed nuclear weapons from about 10,000 in 1991 to 1,968 as of the end of 2009. The U.S. also has dismantled more than 3,000 non-strategic nuclear weapons. The revelations come as the U.S.
NEW DELHI — Indian engineering and manufacturing company Quality Engineering & Software Technologies (Quest Global) is looking to raise $50 million as part of its ambitious plans to grow at 40% annually for the next five years. As the company looks at strengthening its supply base, it will consolidate its position in Europe through mergers and acquisitions in the fields of aerospace and defense, power generation and engines, CEO Ajit Prabhu says.
FORTHCOMING FACO: Negotiations between the Italian defense ministry and an Alenia/Lockheed Martin joint venture to establish a final assembly and checkout facility (FACO) for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter are expected to wrap up by the end of May, says Tom Burbage, Lockheed Martin’s executive vice president of F-35 program integration. They were expected to be finished early this year. “It is a complicated situation,” he says. “They are late in closing the agreement.” The goal is to deliver the first Italian-assembled F-35 in 2014.
