SPACE AWARENESS: French space agency CNES is moving to reinforce ties with the French air force’s air defense and operation command, CDAOA, to facilitate space situational awareness (SSA) operations. CNES is responsible for operating and ensuring the safety of France’s 17 orbital satellites, while the CDAOA handles day-to-day SSA operations using the country’s Graves ground radar. French SSA capabilities are expected to be integrated into a multinational system to protect Galileo and other European space assets.
FIRST LCS: The U.S. Navy’s first Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), the Lockheed Martin-designed USS Freedom, will deploy from Mayport, Fla., Feb. 16. The maiden deployment is to Southern and Pacific Command areas and will cover counter-illicit trafficking operations and theater security cooperation activities. Freedom will deploy two years earlier than anticipated, hopefully providing the Navy with a much-needed profile of this first-of-class boat — from logistics to underway sustainment. The ship is headed to its homeport in San Diego, Calif.
LOS ANGELES — AeroVironment’s unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) campus northwest of Los Angeles is proof that innovation and entrepreneurship are still thriving in some corners of the aerospace and defense industry. The 700-employee company has fielded a line of small, remotely piloted aircraft — one weighs just 1 lb. — that easily fit into a soldier’s backpack. Switchblade, a new kamikaze UAS, is designed to dive into “soft targets,” such as a truck carrying enemy combatants, and blow up.
FEELING TARGETED: From President Barack Obama on down, officials throughout Washington stress that the administration’s new Aegis-based missile defense system is — still — not directed to Russia. “We will obviously continue to talk to Russia about whatever concerns it has,” a State Dept. official says. “But we have been very clear that our missile plans for Europe are in no way directed at Russia.” The U.S. comments came after Romanian officials agreed to host some elements of the U.S. system and following assertions by Russian Gen.
POWAY, Calif. — Technological advances could enable unmanned aerial systems (UAS) to deliver radically improved situational awareness within five years, according to the top executive at unmanned aircraft developer General Atomics. “We’re probably no more than one-fifth along the way to developing really remarkable situational awareness,” said Neal Blue, chairman and CEO of the privately owned UAS pioneer. “We’re about one-fifth of the way of what we can actually achieve within the next five years.”
Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) is beginning integration of the first Falcon 9 at Cape Canaveral, Fla., and says it won’t be hurried to complete work despite continuing delays of the first launch. “Our primary objective is a successful first launch and we are taking whatever time necessary to work through the data to our satisfaction before moving forward,” says SpaceX director of Florida launch operations Brian Mosdell, who adds that the expected launch will take place “one to three months after completing full vehicle integration.”
Spacewalkers Nick Patrick and Bob Behnken were preparing for the first extravehicular activity (EVA) of the STS-130 mission to the International Space Station Feb. 11, as their crewmates inside got ready to help them berth the new Tranquility node to the station.
DONAUWOERTH, Germany — Eurocopter has kicked off a 300-hour test program to validate the performance of the CH-53GA military transport helicopter, the latest upgrade to the CH-53s operated by the German army. The move comes as Germany also appears ready to start a program to field a new maritime helicopter, having supported development of the NFH90, but never buying it.
PARIS — France’s national space program is expected to benefit from an infusion of 750 million euros ($1.05 billion) from a planned French government bond issue due to be finalized this spring. About 500 million euros of this will go to underwrite new initiatives foreseen by French national space agency CNES, and the remainder goes to MegaSat, a very-high-speed broadband access satellite system that will be co-funded by industry and privately operated.
DIM VIEW: Revenues at Boeing’s defense business will be “flat to down” this year, CEO James McNerney said Feb. 11 in New York. The company is actively exploring international sales and adjacent markets — such as cyber security — to offset falling U.S. sales.
LONDON — Despite a slowdown in business and regional aircraft engine activity, Rolls-Royce was able to boost its order backlog and profit in 2009. However, the engine maker expects performance in 2010 to be merely flat and decline on the commercial aircraft engine side.
WASHINGTON and TEL AVIV — This year will see nuclear weapons higher on the political agenda than they have been in years, as President Barack Obama’s ambition to move toward a nuclear-free future collides with the desire of other nations to join the nuclear club or keep their memberships current.
SECURING GALILEO: French national space agency CNES says the European Union has selected Paris and London to host the Galileo Security Monitoring Center (GSMC) that will be in charge of controlling access to Galileo’s encrypted Public Regulated Signal, which will become available, along with the open and search and rescue signals, in mid-2014. Paris will serve as the main facility and London, the backup. The contracts for the GSMC, for which Prague had also been in contention, have not yet been awarded, CNES says. France and the U.K.
NEW YORK — Mere weeks into 2010, the leaders of aerospace companies from Boeing to Rockwell Collins, United Technologies to L-3 Communications, are already looking ahead to brighter prospects in 2011, writing off this year as a “trough.”
In observance of the U.S. Presidents Day holiday, Aerospace Daily & Defense Report will not publish an issue on Monday, Feb. 15. The next issue will be dated Feb. 16.
NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., at the very beginning of its hour-long launch window at 10:23 a.m. EST Feb. 11, kicking off a planned five-year mission to study the sun in unprecedented detail. The two-stage United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V 401 rocket carrying SDO featured a single common core booster powered by an RD-180 engine. The rocket lifted off from Space Launch Complex 41, traveling at a launch azimuth of 93.6 degrees, slightly south of east.
LONDON — The Soteria consortium has been selected to provide U.K. search and rescue helicopter (SAR-H) services, bringing to an end a four-year competition. The contract’s value is estimated at around 6 billion pounds ($9.4 billion) over 25 years. The consortium — CHC, Thales, and the Royal Bank of Scotland — put forward the Sikorsky S92 as the basis of its proposal. The SAR-H program will replace the services currently provided by Royal Air Force and Royal Navy helicopter units.
DON LAIRCM: The Pentagon has authorized full-rate production of Northrop Grumman’s Large Aircraft Infrared Countermeasures (LAIRCM) for the U.S. Navy’s CH-53E helicopter fleet. Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) can now continue to procure the system, which includes the Viper Laser and the newest generation jam head and missile warning sensor technology. The DoN (Department of the Navy) LAIRCM went into operational use on CH-53E helos in January 2009, and has accrued more than 4,500 flight hours so far.
Astronauts on the space shuttle Endeavour and International Space Station (ISS) won’t have to do a focused inspection of the orbiter’s heat shield, but engineers at Johnson Space Center in Houston still have a couple of areas of concern they want to analyze before clearing the vehicle for re-entry. With the shuttle docked to the ISS after a “beautiful and flawless” linkup on the evening of Feb. 9, the crews spent Feb. 10 fixing a problem in astronaut Bob Behnken’s spacesuit and getting the balky water recycling unit ready to test some new hardware.
POWAY, Calif. — The top executive at General Atomics says the company will have no problem keeping up with rising Pentagon demand for its MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial system and strongly disputed past characterizations that the operation was overextended.
President Barack Obama’s $708 billion Fiscal 2011 Defense Dept. budget request has good news for the world’s largest military contractor, Lockheed Martin Corp. But the reaction on Wall Street to the defense budget and Lockheed Martin’s earnings was tepid at best.
Ground winds at Launch Pad 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., prevented the launch of NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) during its one-hour launch window on Feb. 10, forcing the mission to delay yet another day.
