To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) Dec. 7 - 8 — NATO – The Road Ahead, Marriott Prague, Prague, Czech Republic. For more information go to www.smi-online.co.uk Dec. 7 - 8 — Technology Training Corp.’s Space Security & Defense Conference, Caesars Palace Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas. For more information go to www.ttcus.com
Sea Launch Company has won final bankruptcy court approval for debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing to keep it going while it reorganizes under Chapter 11, with help from a couple of entrepreneurial space businesses that are working with the company on exit financing, as well.
SPLITTING THE BILL: The Pentagon and F-35 contractor Lockheed Martin are in negotiations over how to proceed with “cost sharing,” or jointly paying for the projected overrun in the Joint Strike Fighter development program. But it will not be as easy as a charge or flat fee. Several options are on the table to pay for the overage in developing the single-engine stealthy aircraft, according to Lt. Gen. Mark Shackelford, the military deputy to the Air Force acquisition executive. They include restructuring the current development contract.
Following two Sea Viper test shot failures – the most recent last month – the U.K. Defense Ministry has yet to determine the impact on fielding the full capability of the naval air defense system. The Sea Viper, the Royal Navy’s name for MBDA’s Principal Anti-Air Missile System, will be the primary air defense weapon for the Type 45 destroyer when it enters service.
The U.S. Navy released pricing for the third and fourth Littoral Combat Ships Dec. 3, citing a “change in acquisition strategy” for fiscal 2010. Details of the awards from earlier this year had been known mainly by just the Navy and the competing industry teams. The awards came as the Navy has overhauled its LCS program, canceling orders for some expected ships in the process as Washington struggled to get a better handle on costs and program issues.
Three NASA astronauts who are scheduled to be aboard the International Space Station in the second half of next year have gotten “preliminary training” on the Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) Dragon cargo vehicle. Arrival of the first Dragon at the ISS is planned during the onboard tenure of astronauts Tracy Caldwell Dyson, Shannon Walker and Douglas Wheelock.
The Russian and U.S. presidents still expect to sign a follow-on agreement to the expiring Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (Start) – but not without a pause in their arms control.
MORE BLOOD: U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn says the budget horizon for the Pentagon is flat. At last week’s Credit Suisse/Aviation Week Aerospace & Defense Finance conference, Lynn said he “doesn’t expect any dramatic reductions” in the budget, but neither is growth likely. And there is likely more defense program bloodletting ahead.
How the military wants to fight in Afghanistan in the near term and elsewhere in the long term are becoming two widely divergent points in geography, technology and operational techniques.
ICBM MISSION: The U.S. Air Force Global Strike Command assumed the service’s Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) mission Dec. 1. The transfer is part of a phased approach to unify all Air Force nuclear-capable assets under one command. The new command gains three missile wings, one each at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo.; Malmstrom AFB, Mont.; and Minot AFB, N.D., with the assumption of the entire 20th Air Force mission, including that organization’s responsibility for all of the United States’ 450 ICBMs.
The ranking Republican on the House committee that authorizes spending for NASA says the time has come to bail out the U.S. space program like a failing bank. Rep. Ralph Hall (R-Texas) told the House Science space and aeronautics subcommittee that the fiscal strain of Hurricane Katrina and other natural disasters, the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and “eight, nine years of war” have starved NASA of the funds it needs to do its job.
The U.S. Army is moving forward on its ground combat vehicle (GCV) program with an aggressive timeline and highly defined requirements for survivability, mobility and versatility.
UAE CHINOOKS: The United Arab Emirates has requested a U.S. Foreign Military Sale of 16 CH-47F Chinook helicopters, worth about $2 billion. The package includes the aircraft and communication equipment, plus 38 T55-GA-714A turbine engines, 20 AN/APX-118 transponders, 20 AN/ARC-220 Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio Systems with electronic countermeasures, 40 AN/ARC-231 receiver/transmitters, 18 simulators and related support equipment and documentation. The UAE will use the aircraft to transport troops and equipment in the region, according to the U.S.
The long wait for the critical shootdown exercise by the U.S. Missile Defense Agency’s (MDA) 747-400F-based Airborne Laser is getting longer again. MDA officials had planned to test the ABL’s ability to shoot down two boosting ballistic missiles by the end of the year. But they now look to conduct the flight trial in January or February, according to MDA spokesman Rick Lehner.
After 30 days of data reduction, Ares I-X engineers continue to find fairly close correlation between their computer models and the flight performance of the test vehicle, which was the tallest rocket ever launched. Flight-control algorithms developed for the operational vehicle “worked extremely well,” said NASA’s Marshall Smith, systems engineering and integration (SE&I) manager for Ares I-X, and the flight data in general validated the computer models being used to design Ares I.
BATTLE COMMAND: The U.S. Army received the latest Joint Capabilities Release (JCR) of Northrop Grumman’s Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below (FBCB2) software to begin government testing. FBCB2 provides U.S. and coalition troops in Iraq and Afghanistan situational awareness and command-and-control. Northrop Grumman completed system segment acceptance testing and delivered JCR to the Army Communications-Electronics Command in Ft. Monmouth, N.J. on Sept. 25. The current version of Blue Force Tracker (BFT) takes minutes to refresh friendly force position locations.
NEW DELHI – European aerospace giant EADS on Dec. 4 will formally open EADS Innovation Works India, part of the EADS research and development network, in Bengaluru. The center, in the city formerly known as Bangalore, is the third such Asian branch for EADS after sites in Russia and Singapore. The new center will look at developing software and also develop technology for homeland security. It will be a good fit for India and EADS, Chief Technology Officer Jean Botti told Aviation Week.
India’s navy has decided to order 29 additional MiG-29K aircraft, Adm. Nirmal Verma says. The Phase Two purchase will come under an options clause of a previous order of 16 of the aircraft that will delivered soon. That would bring the total number of MiG-29Ks ordered to 45. Aerospace Daily spoke to Verma recently during his first news conference after becoming Chief of Naval Staff.
BAHRAIN HAWK: Sikorsky Aircraft celebrated the formal delivery of the first of nine UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters to the Defense Forces of Bahrain. The delivery also marks the beginning of the first squadron of UH-60Ms to be operated by an international military organization. The Royal Bahrain Air Force will fly the aircraft for military operations that include protection of sovereign borders as well as protection and defense of U.S. and coalition strategic facilities.
An article Dec. 2 about DirecTV 12 should have indicated that while the spacecraft was shipped Nov. 25, Boeing – not DirecTV – delayed the announcement. Also, Boeing is expected to record seven launches, as well. But launcher issues have sidelined the Space Based Surveillance System and GPS-IIF – not Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite P – until next year.
LONDON – The U.K. Defense Ministry and industry are trying to identify the cause of the failure of what was planned to be the last qualification test firing of the Royal Navy’s Sea Viper air defense missile system. The Sea Viper – the Royal Navy’s name for the MBDA Principal Anti-Air Missile System – is the primary anti-air armament of the navy’s Type 45 destroyer.
SEVILLE, Spain – Airbus Military said Dec. 2 that it would resume a series of A400M taxi trials after introducing systems refinements in the run-up to the planned first flight in the second half of next week.
