VIP COMMS: Rockwell Collins will upgrade and standardize back-end communications across the U.S. VIP special air mission fleet, installing secure voice, data and video systems in up to 40 aircraft under a $209 million Air Force contract. The system will include communications operator workstations, passenger voice-over-IP phones, video conferencing, and classified and unclassified local-area networks.
NASA has awarded a contract to build a testbed for optically guided rendezvous and docking in Mars orbit — a key technique that will be required for a Mars sample return mission. A sample return mission at Mars will have to gather a sample from the surface, then launch the sample into Mars orbit, where it will dock autonomously with the spacecraft that will bring it back to Earth. The Mars Orbiting Sample Retrieval Rendezvous and Docking Testbed (MOSR/RDOS) will be developed by Aurora Flight Sciences and MIT Space Systems Laboratory.
LONDON — German propulsion specialist Bayern-Chemie has carried out two “missile” test firings using a gel-propellant motor. The shots were carried out using the German military’s test range at Meppen at the end of 2009. Work on the gel-based system has been underway for several years, with funding from the German Defense Ministry. Feasibility work began in 2002, with a motor demonstration program carried out during 2007-08, clearing the way for the test flights.
GENOA, Italy — Support vessels may not be at the top of an admiral’s wish list, but the workhorses are becoming more important as many navies try to build blue-water fleets, and those with the capability seek to better manage extended missions far from home waters. France and the U.K., for example, are planning new replenishment vessels, Italy wants two refueling ships, Turkey wants one, and Greece and Spain have just added support ships to their fleets.
LONDON — The ongoing U.K. and European air traffic problem has disrupted the last stage of the latest so-called “relief in place” of British forces in Afghanistan. The British Joint Force Headquarters is carrying out “contingency planning” and “looking at alternative routes” with regard to the air bridge between the U.K. and Afghanistan, a defense ministry official says. Volcanic ash has effectively suspended commercial aircraft traffic in the U.K., and much of Europe, since April 15.
NEW DELHI — India has launched the first frontline warship for its navy, the Kamorta-class Antisubmarine Warfare (ASW) Corvette, at the government-owned Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE) in Kolkata, East India. The ship’s weapon systems and sensor suites are fully indigenous, according to a spokesman. The “X” form of the hull and superstructure gives it a low radar cross section, and the ship also claims a low level of underwater noise.
LONDON — Britain’s small and medium-sized aerospace and defense manufacturers are coping well so far with the impact of the economic downturn, but the community faces a further challenge over the coming 18 months.
BAE Systems is ordering long-lead items for the $145.1 million contract it recently received to reset 551 Bradley Fighting Vehicles — work that also should improve combat capability and incorporate later-block improvements in the vehicle, according to Roy Perkins, company director of U.S. Combat Systems Business Development for the heavy brigade combat team.
SABRE DELIVERY: The Brazilian air force on April 17 will formally take delivery of the first three AH-2 Sabre attack helicopters. The AH-2 is the designation the Brazilian air force has applied to the Mi-35. Brazil is buying twelve of the Russian-made rotorcraft. The helos will belong the 2nd squadron, 8th aviation group based at the Porto Velho air base. The approximately $300 million deal was signed in late 2008. The Mi-35 prevailed against the AgustaWestland AW129.
Former competitors Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. and Lockheed Martin announced April 19 that they will team up to compete for the renewed VXX presidential helicopter program, which was shelved in June 2009 after it became mired in cost and schedule overruns. Sikorsky, a United Technologies company, lost the original bid in 2005, when Lockheed was partnered with AgustaWestland. This time around, Sikorsky will offer its H-92 (a hardened version of its S-92) medium-lift helicopter again, with Lockheed performing all the mission systems integration.
ARMY Bosco Construction Inc., Centennial, Colo., was awarded on April 12, 2010, a $13,413,797 firm-fixed-price contract for the Scout/Reconnaissance Qualification Process Range PN 72172, Urban Assault Course PN 72173 and Convoy Live Fire Range PN 72177 located at Fort Carson, Colo. The work is to be performed in Fort Carson, with an estimated completion date of Oct. 31, 2011. Bids were solicited on the World Wide Web with 11 bids received. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha, Neb., is the contracting activity (W9128F-10-C-0016).
China is dominating the world’s supply of important finished rare earth materials and that could spell trouble for the U.S. military, which uses those materials to make vital equipment, according to a recent report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). “Current capabilities to process rare earth metals into finished materials are limited mostly to Chinese sources,” congressional auditors said in their April 14 report, “Rare Earth Materials in the Defense Supply Chain.”
NEW DELHI — Industry hopefuls last week submitted bids to build 75 basic trainer aircraft for the Indian air force, at a cost of roughly $6 million each. Contenders include the Embraer 312 Tocano, PZL 130 Orlik, Grob 120, Hawker Beechcraft, Pilatus PC-7A, Korea’s KT-1 and EADS Socata TB30 — with the last three having the same basic platform and engine. Once a decision is made, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) will float a bid for the design of 104 aircraft.
HOUSTON — Discovery’s astronauts will attempt a landing in either Florida or California April 20, after fog and rain at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center twice prevented the shuttle crew from touching down April 19. The forecast in Florida again included a chance for rain. The weather outlook for the shuttle’s backup landing site, Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., appeared favorable.
PERSISTENT DETECTION: The U.S. Army has awarded Lockheed Martin a $142 million contract for 17 fully integrated persistent threat detection systems (PTDS), a tethered aerostat surveillance system. The contract covers the PTDS as well as support equipment and initial spares and will provide a dedicated day and night netted sensor capability to help U.S. forces detect, locate, characterize, identify, track and target enemy forces. The work will be completed by April 14, 2011.
TEXAN LONESTAR: Texas A&M University students are starting to finalize mission systems for AggieSat4, the next space vehicle planned under the Lonestar (Low-Earth-Orbiting Navigation Experiment for Spacecraft Testing Autonomous Rendezvous) smallsat program. Led by NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Lonestar is an eight-year project involving the design, construction and flight of small satellites by Texas A&M students, together with the University of Texas in Austin.
COLORADO SPRINGS — Northrop Grumman has won a place on NASA’s “catalog” of standard spacecraft for the hardware that formed the background for the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (Lcross) that was deliberately sent into one of the Moon’s deep polar craters in a search for water last October. Based on the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) Secondary Payload Adapter (ESPA), the “Eagle-S” is one of three new space platforms Northrop is offering that build on past spacecraft, each optimized for specific launch vehicles and missions.
