Lockheed Martin workers at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans expect to finish the last of 134 space shuttle external tanks by the end of June before shutting down the production line for the huge aluminum-lithium structures. They have already resettled the tank — designated ET-138 — back in the horizontal position after hoisting it upright to splice the liquid oxygen/intertank section to the 96.7-foot liquid oxygen tank that rides at the bottom of the tank portion of the shuttle stack.
Founded by the designer of the long-endurance Aerosonde and ScanEagle UAVs, Aerovel has introduced the Flexrotor — a UAV with 40 hours-plus endurance that takes off and lands vertically. Aerovel was started by Tad McGeer, who says he was “pushed out” of Aerosonde maker Insitu in late 2005 and formed Aerovel in 2006 to develop the Flexrotor, which is designed to tackle one of the disadvantages of the ScanEagle — the size of its launch and recovery equipment.
LONDON — Inspections of the U.K.’s Merlin and Apache helicopter engines are being stepped up following an incident that resulted in damage to two powerplants while they were being run on the ground. Deployed on combat operations in Afghanistan, the AgustaWestland Merlin anti-submarine warfare and support helicopter and the WAH-64 attack helicopter use the Rolls-Royce Turbomecca RTM322 turboshaft engine.
PARIS — France has agreed to enter into exclusive negotiations for the sale of four Mistral helicopter carriers to Russia. The move, announced March 1 by French President Nicolas Sarkozy during a state visit by Russian President Dmitri Medvedev, confirmed statements made on Feb. 8 by Jacques de Lajugie, director of international development at French armaments agency DGA. They did not divulge details of the sale, its value or the length of time expected to conclude talks. Each ship is estimated to cost around 500 million euros ($675 million).
Newly published findings from the synthetic aperture radar (SAR) on India’s Chandrayaan-1 lunar orbiter suggest there are at least 600 million metric tons of water ice preserved in the permanent darkness at the bottom of an array of small craters at the moon’s North Pole. Data from the U.S.-supplied Mini-SAR instrument on the Indian orbiter, published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, add to the growing body of evidence that the long-theorized ice exists at both lunar poles.
LONDON — Two Royal Air Force (RAF) Typhoons on quick reaction alert were scrambled March 2 to intercept an American Airlines Boeing 767-300 en route to London Heathrow Airport after a passenger attempted to gain access to the cockpit. “Typhoon aircraft from RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire were called to assist an American Airlines flight from Dallas/Fort Worth to London Heathrow following reports of an incident onboard involving a disruptive passenger,” a British Defense Ministry official said.
LAUNCH AWARD: Arianespace has been selected to launch OverHorizon-1, a 3.2 metric ton Ku-band spacecraft intended to provide two-way broadband communications for vehicles on the move. Owned by OverHorizon, a startup based in Sweden and Cyprus, OHO-1 is to be orbited in mid-2012 atop an Ariane 5 booster. The spacecraft, equipped with a regenerative broadband communications payload, will be supplied by Thales Alenia Space using a Star 2.3 bus from Orbital Sciences Corp. It was the fourth order of 2010 for Arianespace.
GETAFE, Spain — EADS is awaiting final word from the European Aviation Safety Agency that its first A330 tanker has received civil type certification, as the manufacturer moves ahead with military certification of the tanker/transport elements of the aircraft.
The U.S. Army delivered on its promise to release the request for proposals (RFP) for a new Ground Combat Vehicle (GCV) before the end of February, unveiling the first phase on Feb. 25. Now, more details are emerging over the prominent successor to part of the erstwhile Future Combat Systems.
NEW DELHI — India’s Defense Research Development Organization (DRDO) has chosen Israel’s Orbit Technology Group as a vendor for the Audio Management Solution over IP (AMSIP) program. AMSIP is a VoIP interface designed for use with all Orbit’s digital audio management products. The system enables the use of TDM and IP-based end devices by airborne and shipborne crews.
The Pakistani air force will be able to attack targets at night with precision weapons beginning this summer with the introduction of modern, Block 52 F-16C/Ds. Moreover, it is looking at a short-term upgrade to its older, in-service Block 15 F-16A/Bs to support combat operations in the tribal areas along the border with Afghanistan.
U.S. Air Force Secretary Michael Donley says a major cost overrun in the tri-service, nine-nation F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is probable, and under the Nunn-McCurdy statute it would trigger an extensive, mandatory review of alternatives. But the outcome of this review appears to already be determined. “Really there are no good alternatives to F-35 at this point,” Donley told reporters during a March 2 Defense Writers Group breakfast in Washington. “This is a program to which we are deeply committed.”
PARIS — Initial calibrated images from Europe’s Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) probe suggest the mission, intended to advance scientists’ understanding of the global water cycle, will meet specifications with margin to spare.
The Pentagon underestimated titanium-related costs for major aircraft programs, adding hundreds of millions of dollars to the bottom line for those expenses, according to a recently released Defense Department Inspector General (IG) report.
U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Michael Vane, deputy chief of the Army Capabilities Integration Center (ARCIC), says that there is more work to be done in developing the concepts behind the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV), hailed as the successor to the iconic Humvee for the U.S. Army and Marine Corps.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — U.S. Army decision makers openly expressed their lack of enthusiasm for the Joint Tactical Radio Systems Ground Mobile Radio (JTRS GMR) at the winter symposium of the Association of the U.S. Army (AUSA) here last week, while Boeing and Rockwell Collins enthusiastically announced program advancements.
Component issues have pushed the launch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite P (GOES P) weather satellite back to Thursday, March 4, during a window lasting from 6:17-7:17 p.m. EST. Originally scheduled for March 2, the launch was pushed back a day after mission managers decided on Feb. 26 that a steering control valve on one of the Delta IV’s solid rocket motors was faulty and had to be replaced. That fix has already taken place and is being verified.
ARMY Oshkosh Corp., Oshkosh, Wis., was awarded a $640,122,400 firm-fixed-price contract for the procurement of 1460 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected All-Terrain Vehicles and 1460 basic issue items. The work is to be performed in Oshkosh, with an estimated completion date of May 2012. Five bids were solicited with five bids received. TACOM, AMSCC-TAC-ADCA, Warren, Mich., is the contracting activity (W56HZV-09-D-0111).
GENOA, Italy — The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has accelerated its naval buildup by ordering two stealth missile corvettes from Italy’s Fincantieri shipyard, and taking an option on two more. In a program dubbed Falaj 2, delivery of the first vessel will be in 2012, only 30 months after the contract signing — a tight schedule considering the magnitude of the electronics and weapon systems integration involved.
Embraer’s efforts to develop the KC-390 tanker transport will get increased focus this year, with the manufacturer looking to secure key suppliers and, potentially, program partners before detailed definition of the new aircraft starts next year.
AIR FORCE Northrop Grumman Defense Mission Systems Inc., San Diego, Calif., was awarded a $77,915,492 contract which will provide the maintenance and support of the Battlefield Airborne Communications Node system in support of overseas contingency operations through fiscal year 2010. At this time, $71,181,700 has been obligated. 653 ELSG/PK, Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass., is the contracting activity (FA8726-09-C-0010).
TEL AVIV — The Israel Defense Force’s medical corps is looking at procuring an innovative unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that will evacuate critical casualties directly from the battlefield to the hospital. Such a capability would get more wounded to the hospital within the “golden hour” — the critical time in which a medical evacuation has the best chance of saving a wounded soldier’s life.
CENTER OF ATTENTION: The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) last week dedicated the National Security Computing Center at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, N.M. The new center is designed to be an Energy Dept. user facility for government-wide top-secret level applications that require high performance computing, such as for cyber operations, vulnerability assessments, network discovery (informatics), and space situational awareness and threats.
