LOCKED ON: Raytheon and the U.S. Navy recently completed a critical design review for the Dual Band Radar for the next class of aircraft carrier, which begins with the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78). The radar was originally designed for the now-abbreviated DDG 1000 destroyer program — itself mostly a technology demonstrator effort for the Ford class and other ships — and executives and officials assert that only minor changes are needed to accommodate specific platform differences between DDG 1000 and CVN 78.
A month after BAE Systems filed a second supplemental protest over a $3 billion U.S. Army truck contract it lost, the company has released heavily redacted protest documents intended to support its stance.
AAI plans to have an autonomous cargo rotorcraft ready to test in a year after signing an exclusive agreement licensing Carter Aviation Technologies’ slowed-rotor/compound (SR/C) design for unmanned applications. Textron company AAI, which builds the Aerosonde and Shadow fixed-wing UAVs, sees emerging U.S. Army and Marine Corps requirements for unmanned cargo rotorcraft as the first potential market for an SR/C UAV, but has optimized design for other applications on the drawing board, says Steve Reid, vice president for unmanned aircraft systems.
TOKYO — Japan’s ailing Hayabusa spacecraft is still heading home from its asteroid sample return mission thanks to a new mix-and-match approach with its erratic ion propulsion system. There are four ion engines on the Hayabusa named A, B, C and D. Each consists mainly of two parts — a neutralizer and an ion thruster. The recent failure of the D thruster following a thrust maneuver Nov. 4 left the spacecraft with only the C thruster still operating (Aerospace DAILY, Nov. 12).
Astronauts Mike Foreman and Bobby Satcher moved so quickly through their assigned tasks on the first spacewalk of the STS-129 mission at the International Space Station (ISS) Nov. 19 that they were able to finish a major get-ahead job as well. The two mission specialists from the space shuttle Atlantis completed their planned work almost two hours early, and overcame some recalcitrant hardware to finish setting up a payload platform on the main station truss as well.
Europe’s ExoMars lander/rover combination moved a step closer to development this week when the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Program Board for Human Spaceflight, Microgravity and Exploration passed current planning for the missions along to the ESA council meeting in December.
The U.S. Army has begun flight testing Northrop Grumman’s ZPY-1 STARLite radar, but integration of the sensor on the MQ-1C Sky Warrior unmanned aircraft has been pushed into 2010. The first two of 30 production radars on order have been delivered to the Army, and flight tests began last week at Yuma Proving Ground, Ariz., using Northrop’s Islander aircraft as a manned surrogate for the Warrior UAV.
The first flight of the Sukhoi T-50 prototype to meet the Russian air force’s PAK FA fighter requirement is slipping into 2010. The intent had been to undertake a first flight before the year’s end, but Russian industry sources now suggest it will occur in 2010. The delay, however, does not reflect any significant issue, they maintain, adding that the program is currently progressing well.
Sixteen lawmakers — both Democrats and Republicans — are calling on the Defense Dept. to develop a mechanism to penalize a Northrop Grumman/EADS proposal to replace KC-135 refuelers for the U.S. Air Force.
In the hopes of rejuvenating a stagnant industry, a new Vertical Lift Consortium aims to provide equal opportunity for large and small contractors to develop new technologies and eventually, new platforms. “It’s a situation that none of us are proud of,” said Tony Melita, deputy director of the Pentagon’s Land Warfare and Munition office, referring to the state of rotorcraft acquisition and procurement. “The warfighter is suffering. We’ve got to do something different. And here’s a new approach.”
One of the most vexing issues for NATO trainers trying to stand up the Afghan National Army (ANA) is logistics, and setting up a system that allows the ANA to supply its soldiers with food, clothing, ammunition, and shelter without NATO assistance. Maj. Gen. Richard Formica, commander of the Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan (CSTC-A), the organization charged with training the Afghan army and police, is working the problem, and says that when it comes to Afghan forces, “typically at most levels they don’t plan well, they’re more spontaneous.”
The Australian Defense Ministry awarded Australian Aerospace and U.S. subcontractor Lockheed Martin $292 million to initiate a life support program for the country’s 12 C-130J airlifters. The maintenance work will take place at Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Base Richmond, according to a statement released by Greg Combet, Australia’s chief of defense personnel, materiel and science.
NEW DELHI — India’s Rustom medium-altitude/long-endurance UAV demonstrator crashed on its first flight Nov. 16 due to operator error. Rustom took off at the Taneja Aerospace Air Field near Hosur. The taxiing and takeoff went exactly as planned, according to a spokesman for India’s Defense Research Development Organization. However, the operator misjudged the aircraft’s altitude and shut off its engine. The UAV crashed into a grove of coconut trees.
AUSTRALIAN BRAC: The Australian defense minister, Sen. John Faulkner, has commissioned a “comprehensive” departmental review on base consolidation, including a strategic assessment of basing requirements and a detailed financial analysis of long-term costs and efficiency gains of different base portfolios over a 25-30 year period. The move comes after the defense ministry rejected a government-commissioned audit’s recommendation last year toward a “super-base” model because it did not “fully” consider economic and social ramifications, among other concerns.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A new joint venture in Sharjah and plans to expand from there into neighboring regions should increase access to technical support and spare parts for operators of Russian-made helicopters in the Middle East. Oboronprom-owned Russian Helicopters, JSC and Airfreight Aviation Ltd. say the new joint facility, called International RotorCraft Services (IRC), will begin accepting work orders on Dec. 1.
Astronauts on the space shuttle Atlantis got right to work after docking with the International Space Station Nov. 18, using the orbiter’s Canadian-built robotic arm to hand a pallet carrying large spare parts to the station’s arm.
PHOENIX — U.S. aerospace & defense (A&D) programs have never been more lucrative, productive and important than they are now — and they have never been more of a dismal failure, either. According to a yearlong industry review of the issue, and culminating in a conference hosted by Aviation Week here this month, industry leaders believe they have made real progress in implementing best practices. But getting people and programs to follow them thoroughly and consistently remains the greatest shortfall.
Worried lawmakers on Capitol Hill increasingly are focusing on near-term Pentagon budgets, especially with an expected cut to or perceived sacrificing of procurement, research and development accounts.
CUSTOM PREDATOR: U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) expects to unveil a maritime-oriented Predator B unmanned aircraft in December, Tom Cassidy, president of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems’ (GA-ASI) aircraft systems group, told Aviation Week’s A&D Programs conference in Phoenix this month. CBP’s Air and Marine group operates five Predator Bs; four from the UAS Operations Center in nearby Sierra Vista and another from a similar center in Grand Forks, N.D.
A post-launch inspection of fragile thermal protection system panels on the space shuttle Atlantis turned up no obvious damage Nov. 17, although it will be late Nov. 18 before the final results are in.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is buying two Saab 340-based Erieye airborne early warning systems and 25 PC-21 basic trainers, but is still holding out on buying the Aermacchi M-346 advanced jet trainer.
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