ELECTRONIC ATTACK: A close-hold, so far unreleased Resource Management Decision signed by Pentagon Acquisition chief Ashton Carter in late January is triggering internal activity to support improvements in airborne electronic attack, warfare and network exploitation. “It directs the services toward investments in electronic warfare,” says an electronics industry official who has been briefed on the document. “It directed the Navy’s acquisition of 24 additional EA-18G Growlers [that will be assigned to four squadrons operating with the U.S.
LIFE ELSEWHERE: NASA’s Science Chief says that although he may not live to see it himself, he would be “shocked” if humanity fails to discover extraterrestrial life before the close of this century, either in our solar system under the Martian soil or the frozen crust of Jupiter’s moon Europa, or through telescopes observing the by-products of life in the atmospheres of distant extrasolar planets.
Orbital Sciences Corp. is purchasing the Gilbert, Ariz., satellite manufacturing unit owned by General Dynamics, considered by some to be one of the most modern and capable such facilities in the world. Formerly called Spectrum Astro and now called General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems, the facility once specialized in small satellites but has, under the management of General Dynamics, stepped up to develop a medium-class satellite platform.
PHOBOS FLYBY: European Space Agency scientists are analyzing radio-science data from the closest flyby ever of the Martian moon Phobos, in the hope the data can be used to estimate the density variation across the tiny object, which is believed to be nothing more than a pile of relatively loosely gathered planetary rubble. The European spacecraft began a series of 12 Phobos flybys last month, and will begin collecting high-resolution images of the surface on the next pass before wrapping up the sequence by the end of the month.
LESS RESISTANCE: Defense and aerospace services company the VT Group’s resistance to a takeover bid by Babcock International weakened last week when the two sides announced they had agreed upon “a basis for a mutual exchange of information.” VT had previously rejected Babcock’s overtures. The latest move opens the door for a formal offer from Babcock. At the same time VT has backed off making an offer for the support services company Mouchel.
GOES GOING: Boeing engineers are checking out the third and final Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) built by their company in the GOES-N configuration, after its launch March 4 on a United Launch Alliance Delta IV from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. Liftoff came at 6:57 p.m. EST, two days late because a quick-disconnect and a steering control valve on the rocket had to be replaced. The weather satellite will be designated GOES-P until checkout is complete, when it will be stored as GOES-15 as an on-orbit spare.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) March 15 - 18 — Satellite 2010, Gaylord National Convention Center, National Harbor, Maryland. For more information go to www.satellite2008.com March 16 - 18 — Aviation Industry Expo, “Ground Support, FBO/Aviation Services and Aircraft Maintenance, Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nev. For more information go to www.aviationindustryexpo.com/index.po
UNDER FIRE: The chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.), is protesting a $2.8 billion U.S. Army award to engineering and support contractor KBR (formerly Kellogg, Brown & Root) for logistics work to be done in Iraq. A letter from Towns to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates brings up KBR’s “deficient maintenance of electrical systems at U.S.
FUEL CELL: Boeing and Japanese engine manufacturer IHI will collaborate on research into regenerative fuel cell technology for auxiliary power on aircraft. Initial applications include power for galleys, pumps and lighting. Boeing says the companies will work towards a full-scale demonstration of a prototype fuel cell in an aircraft testbed. Regenerative fuel cells have the potential to increase aircraft efficiency and reduce carbon-dioxide emissions, the company says.
COLLIER WIN: The International Space Station, almost complete in orbit after a decade of assembly, is the recipient of the 2009 Robert J. Collier Trophy. The National Aeronautic Association announced the award “for the design, development and assembly of the world’s largest spacecraft, an orbiting laboratory that promises new discoveries for mankind and sets new standards for international cooperation in space.” Recipients are NASA, the U.S.
Lockheed Martin has finally nailed down a $171.8 million contract to build four small-target detection radars for the U.S. Navy’s new E-2D Advanced Hawkeye aerial surveillance aircraft.
China’s plans to launch its second lunar orbiter are still on track for October, according to Chinese press reports, but the unmanned docking target designed as the Asian nation’s next step toward its own space station has been delayed until next year. The Xinhua news agency cited Qi Faren, who led design of the Shenzhou human-rated capsules that have carried six Chinese astronauts to orbit, as saying the Tiangong-1 docking target won’t be launched until 2011.
LONDON — With the Pentagon restarting its search for a new presidential helicopter, Finmeccanica says it may have to seek a new industrial arrangement for the competition. Lockheed Martin, which served as the prime contractor on the winning US101 offer before the deal was canceled, may not take on that role again, Finmeccanica CEO Pier Francesco Guarguaglini suggests. That would mean Finmeccanica has to find a new arrangement to bid the AgustaWestland AW101, he says.
SAAB STAKE: BAE Systems has sold half of its remaining 20.5 percent stake in Saab to Sweden’s Investor Group, and it will divest of the remainder of its shares through a market placing. The former British Aerospace acquired a 35 percent stake in Saab in 1998, at a time when the company was looking toward consolidation in the European market. It had already formed a joint venture with Saab in 1995 focused on the export of the latter’s Gripen fighter. BAE strategy, however, shifted to the U.S. market, and in 2005 it reduced its shareholding to 20.5 percent.
NAVAL AIR STATION LEMOORE, Calif. — Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) crews are ramping up flight training and practicing air-refueling exercises here at Naval Air Station Lemoore, in readiness for ferrying the country’s first Boeing F/A-18Fs across the Pacific by the end of the month.
LONDON — Britain will pursue the acquisition of a “niche fleet” of medium helicopters, eventually, to replace the Royal Air Force’s Pumas toward the middle of next decade, officials have indicated. A nearer-term Puma replacement had been one element of the Defense Ministry’s Future Medium Helicopter program, which was finally abandoned as part of a yet-again revised helicopter acquisition strategy announced in December 2009.
BEIJING — China is studying the design of a Moon rocket in the class of the Saturn V, as the Obama administration proposes canceling the U.S. successor to the Apollo launcher, Ares V. The country also is developing another new rocket, the “medium thrust” Long March 7, the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology says. This new launcher joins the Long March 5 heavy rocket and the Long March 6, which was mentioned last year and is now defined as a “small-thrust” launcher. Long March 5, 6 and 7 will form a family of rockets, it says.
COLUMBUS, Miss. — U.S. Army aviation leadership has discovered 22 capability gaps it wants to address in light of discoveries it made during a recent analysis. According to Col. Brian Diaz, with TRADOC Capabilities Management, the Army is briefing senior leaders on the results of Aviation Study II and the associated analysis. “We’re still milling through it to make sure we got it right,” he said, adding that the full report would be unveiled in April.
CASH FLOW: Appearing before the Iraq Inquiry March 5, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown rejected any suggestion of cash constraints having been imposed on the U.K. Defense Ministry in buying equipment to support the British involvement in the operation. Brown, who was the finance minister at the time of the war, told the inquiry that if the military asked for funding for equipment for the operation, then the money was made available.
LONDON — The seven partner countries buying the Airbus Military A400M and industrial lead EADS have come to terms over how to handle several billion euros in cost overruns on the military transport aircraft. Governments will inject €2 billion ($2.7 billion) more into the program and provide €1.5 billion that would be recouped on future exports. To help EADS, pre-delivery payments also will be accelerated through 2014.
The U.S. Navy’s Next-generation Jammer (NGJ) is slated for operations in 2018, and depending on the winning design, it is expected to allow the ability to invade enemy networks from the air, according to industry sources with insight to the effort. NGJ is expected to have the software to generate a data stream and place within it wave forms and algorithms that can see what is going on inside that network and, at some point, take over control of the network if desired, or perhaps just rest there, relaying data to friendly forces.
NUCLEAR POSTURE: The world still awaits the Obama administration’s Nuclear Posture Review, once expected Feb. 1, but a few things already are known: it will entail cuts to the nuclear arsenal, and it could redefine how such weapons would be used. But the details of those policies are what matter, and the details apparently are what’s holding up the review, now expected by April. Numerous think tanks suggest a heated debate is still going on over whether there should be a new nuclear policy declaration. Options include everything from declaring the U.S.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency has set a May 18 launch date for its Venus Climate Orbiter, dubbed Akatsuki, on the 17th mission for the Mitsubishi H-IIA medium-lift booster from the Yoshinobu Launch Complex at Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan. After a six-month transit, the spacecraft, first known as Planet C, will explore the Venusian atmosphere from highly elliptical orbits of 300 x 80,000 kilometers (185 x 50,000 miles). The orbits will be inclined 172-deg. and take 30 hours to complete.
