Boeing officials are preparing the Airborne Laser (ABL) prototype aircraft for its next series of tests, which will feature a ballistic missile target shootdown at twice the range of the last trial, according to Michael Rinn, Boeing’s ABL vice president. There are now windows on the test range in April and May, he says.
Europe’s MBDA aims to make significant headway this year in its plan to secure a beachhead in the U.S. missile business. The European missile maker has been seeking for some time to establish a U.S. presence as part of a strategy of boosting its export activities. It recently hired a new team of American defense specialists, headed by Jerry Agee, to revive the stalled effort.
Alliant Techsystems (ATK) has completed two ground tests of a full-scale attitude control motor (ACM) for the launch abort system planned for NASA’s Orion crew exploration vehicle. The second test, conducted March 17 at ATK’s facility in Elkton, Md., evaluated environment extremes and ignition system robustness and confirmed motor performance, according to ATK. The first test took place Dec. 15.
FORWARD MOVEMENT: The Canadian government is coming closer to finalizing its strategy to replace its DHC-5 Buffalo search-and-rescue aircraft. The Buffalos will reach the end of their service lives in 2015. This month, the National Research Council submitted a government-requested independent rmeview into the fixed-wing search-and-rescue statement of requirements.
EADS North America officials have requested an extra 90 days to potentially assemble a prime bid for the U.S. Air Force’s KC-X aerial refueling tanker replacement contract, valued at up to $35 billion for 179 aircraft. Pentagon officials are “seriously considering” the request, according to Geoff Morrell, Pentagon spokesman. “A reasonable extension, were it granted, would certainly be in keeping with past practice,” he said.
OFFER REJECTED: The bondholders of Mexican telecom satellite operator Satmex have rejected an offer from EchoStar to buy the company. EchoStar on Feb. 26 offered to acquire Satmex for $374 million in cash, subject to the purchase of all oustanding senior secured notes. However, a group of noteholders refused to back the deal. Subequent efforts to negotiate a settlement proved fruitless. Satmex is in precarious financial health and has been unable to finance a new satellite.
The U.S. Coast Guard is in the midst of negotiating a firm, fixed-price contract for its fourth National Security Cutter (NSC) as the last vestiges of Integrated Coast Guard Systems (ICGS), the former industry team lead systems integrator on the Deepwater program, fade away.
ICEBRIDGE: NASA is kicking off the second year of its Operation IceBridge, the largest airborne survey of Earth’s polar ice, with a study in Greenland this week. The survey is conducted from NASA’s DC-8 flying science laboratory. It was scheduled to depart from NASA’s Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility in Palmdale, Calif., on March 21 for Thule, Greenland. Scientists will conduct 10-12 missions over the Arctic during a five-week period, focused on Arctic sea ice, which reaches its maximum extent in March and early April.
The European Space Agency (ESA) has picked Thales Alenia Space and Germany’s OHB to begin exclusive negotiations for supply of the space segment of Europe’s Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) geostationary weather satellite system.
JSF SCORECARD: Congressional auditors are recommending that U.S. lawmakers consider requiring the Defense Department to establish a “management tool” to help them better measure the Joint Strike Fighter’s (JSF) maturation, especially in cost estimating, testing and manufacturing. The March 19 recommendation came in the latest of a flurry of JSF reports and inquiries on Capitol Hill as the program gets restructured (Aerospace DAILY, March 17). Called a “system maturity matrix” by the U.S.
HERON HICCUP: The German air force has damaged a Heron-1 unmanned aircraft operating in Afghanistan at the end of the UAV’s first operational mission from Mazar-e-Sharif. The reconnaissance aircraft had landed and was returned to its parking stand when it collided with another parked aircraft. Both aircraft were damaged, and one person was slightly injured. German military officials are investigating the accident, which occurred March 17.
HYPER ACTIVE: A slew of advanced vehicle test flights are lining up. The first attempt to fly the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory/Defense Advanced Projects Agency (Darpa) Boeing X-51A Waverider scramjet demonstrator is imminent, with the vehicle expected to reach Mach 6 after release from its B-52 mothership over the Pacific. The Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office has scheduled launch of the Boeing X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle unmanned reusable spaceplane demonstrator for April 19, by an Atlas V from Cape Canaveral, Fla.
LONDON — Technical issues with two types of Royal Air Force (RAF) intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft lowered availability at the beginning of this year. Of the five Sentinel R1 airborne stand-off radar aircraft the air force now operates, only one was available for operations in January on average. Similarly an issue with the E-3D Sentry fleet that emerged at the end of 2009 meant only two of the five aircraft in the in-service fleet were available.
FIRST OF KIND: Thales Alenia Space says one of two Yamal 400 telecom satellites it will supply for Russian operator Gazprom will be built in cooperation with Russia’s ISS Reshetnev. ISS will provide its Express 4000 bus for Yamal 402 in what wll be the first application for the new large satcom platform, designed on the basis of Thales Alenia’s Spacebus 4000. The two companies already collaborate widely; Thales Alenia has supplied payloads for numerous ISS satellites, including a small spaceraft under construction for Israel’s Spacecom.
GREEN HORNET: The U.S. Navy plans to fly its Green Hornet, a Boeing F/A-18 burning a 50:50 blend of conventional jet fuel and algae-derived biofuel, on April 22 – which just happens to be Earth Day. The Navy has previously ground-tested camelina-derived jet fuel in the F/A-18’s General Electric F404 engine and the Defense Energy Support Center recently delivered a batch of algae-based HRJ-5 fuel to Naval Air Systems Command for testing in advance of the flight at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., deputy operations director Mark Iden says.
HOSTED PAYLOAD: Telesat Canada says it envisions procuring an X-band telecom hosted payload on the next spacecraft it plans to procure, to take advantage of hot X-band demand from military and government customers. Telesat is so confident in the strength of demand that it may install the payload without waiting for an anchor tenant, CEO Dan Goldberg says.
EXPANDED SERVICES: Potential providers of commercial crew transportation to the International Space Station believe they can begin test flights three years after getting a green light from the government. Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) has long touted that timetable for its unflown Falcon 9/Dragon stack, arguing that it is designing the vehicles from the outset to meet NASA human-spaceflight standards.
LIBERTY BASES: The U.S. Air Force expects to announce its alternatives/preferred locations for basing its MC-12Ws this summer, officials announced March 19. “The Air Force is using a deliberate, repeatable and transparent process to address the basing of these aircraft,” said Kathleen Ferguson, Air Force deputy assistant secretary for installations. Criteria include mission requirements, training requirements, airspace, facilities and infrastructure, support capacity, environmental impacts and cost.
The Defense Department is hoping a strategic alliance with U.S. airlines will accelerate the availability of alternative fuels, helping the armed services meet aggressive goals for energy security and environmental footprint. Under the alliance, signed March 19 in Washington, the Defense Energy Support Center (DESC) and Air Transport Association are forming three joint teams to tackle key challenges to developing a domestic supply base for alternative fuels.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) Mar. 23 - 28 — FIDAE 2010, International Air & Space Fair, Arturo Merino Benitez Airport, Santiago Chile. For more information contact 56-2 8739755 or go to www.fidae.cl March 17 — AVIATION WEEK Laureate Awards Washington, D.C. For more information go to http://www.aviationweek.com/conferences
