ALL MINE: Four Mine Countermeasures (MCM) modules will eventually comprise the MCM package aboard the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS). The Remote Minehunting Module and Unmanned Influence Sweep Module were tested in August, while the Coastal Mine Reconnaissance and Organic Airborne MCM modules are slated for future testing. The next phase of End-to-End (E2E) testing, the first phase of which was run in August, is tentatively scheduled for summer 2010.
BRAZIL BID: Saab submitted an improved offer to Brazil as bidding for the 36-aircraft F-X2 fighter closed on Oct. 2, offering to join development of Embraer’s KC-390 tanker/transport, evaluation of the aircraft by the Swedish Air Force, and a proposal to replace Sweden’s Saab SK60 jet trainers with Embraer Super Tucanos. Saab says it has offered “complete technology transfer” through involvement in Gripen NG development, local production of up to 80 percent of the airframe, plus final assembly and a full engine-maintenance capability in Brazil.
On track to certify its aircraft fleet to use synthetic Fisher-Tropsch (F-T) fuel by 2011, the U.S. Air Force has launched a similar certification effort for hydrotreated renewable jet (HRJ) biofuels and is now becoming interested in fuels from cellulosic feedstocks. “We have a certification schedule for a 50:50 blend of HRJ [and conventional petroleum-based JP-8],” says Bill Harrison, deputy director of the Air Force’s new Energy Office. “We’ve learned a lot through the F-T effort and are hoping for a rather rapid and smooth certification.”
RECOVERY PLAN: The MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging) science team is trying to recover as much observation data as possible after a safe mode transition that marred the NASA spacecraft’s otherwise successful third and final Mercury flyby last week. During the eclipsed portion of the Sept. 29 maneuver, when Mercury blocked sunlight from reaching the spacecraft’s solar panels and it had to switch to battery power, the carrier signal from the spacecraft was lost earlier than expected.
In the wake of questions raised by congressional investigators about audit work done by a regional office of the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA), the Pentagon Inspector General (IG) has identified several issues with the agency’s work. The IG reviewed DCAA audit documentation and interviewed auditors for 13 cases at the three DCAA Western Regional Field Audit Offices identified in a recent U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report (Aerospace DAILY, Sept. 24).
UP AND AWAY: Baldwin Technology has received its biggest contract yet, worth almost $1.5 million, to advance its Mono Tiltrotor (MTR) concept for an unmanned cargo aircraft. The multiyear Office of Naval Research (ONR) contract covers flight dynamics and control research, including small-scale flight models to refine the design of a scaled demonstrator. Working with Baldwin will be the Army Research Laboratory, National Institute of Aerospace and University of California at Berkeley. ONR already has funded studies on the MTR as a ship-based cargo UAV.
NEW DELHI — Following a spurt of crashes, India may soon purchase turboprops to replace its HPT-32 basic trainer, Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Pradeep Vasant Naik told Aerospace DAILY. Recent accidents include a crash in July that killed two instructors. The fleet of around 120 Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) HPT-32s, based at the Air Force Academy (AFA) in Hyderabad, will remain grounded until a committee appointed to look into the cause of the crash submits its report. Meanwhile, pilots will be trained on Kiran Mk11s.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) Sept. 7 - 10 — Asian Aerospace International Expo and Congress, Asia World Expo, Hong Kong. For more information go to www.asianaerospace.com Sept. 8 - 11 — DSEI 2009 (Defense Systems & Equipment International), Global Security in Defense, ExCel London, U.K. For more information go to www.auvsi.org/events/
PARIS — The French government aims to maintain overall defense spending in 2010 at 39.18 billion euros ($56.8 billion) — barely below this year’s budget, despite the economic crisis. Under a draft spending bill presented Sept. 30, procurement would dip slightly to 17 billion euros, from 18 billion euros in 2009. But Defense Minister Herve Morin notes that this year’s budget reflects a temporary spending peak and the proposed sum is fully in line with the multiyear spending plan approved by parliament at the end of July.
The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) has awarded Lockheed Martin a Phase III contract covering a new series of flight-tests of the Advanced Composite Cargo Aircraft (ACCA), a heavily modified Dornier328JET. AFRL says envelope expansion under Phase III is “planned for a 20-month effort.”
ELEVENTH HOUR: On the eve of a House-Senate budget conference that will decide the fate of the F136 alternate engine for the Joint Strike Fighter, the General Electric/Rolls-Royce (GE/RR) Fighter Engine Team has submitted a formal fixed-price proposal for the initial batch of 21 engines to power Lot 5 low-rate initial production F-35s delivered in 2012-13.
The U.S. Air Force awarded more than $80 million in aviation maintenance, repair and overhaul contracts on Sept. 30, with more than $40 million designated to two C-17 contracts. McDonnell Douglas (i.e. Boeing in Long Beach) won a $26.2 million contract modification to produce more spare parts through the C-17 Globemaster III sustainment partnership. The U.S. Department of Defense said the full contract amount is obligated. Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is responsible for the contracting activity.
BEIJING — Russian Helicopters soon will report early results from studies into a heavy helicopter that would be built with Avicopter and take the Chinese manufacturer into a new class of rotary-wing aircraft. The Advanced Heavy Lifter is being pitched as a civilian aircraft, but Avicopter will not rule out military uses (Aerospace DAILY, Sept. 24).
LONDON — The long-running spat between Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and BAE Systems is continuing, with the SFO announcing Oct. 1 that it intends to pursue prosecution over alleged corruption by the giant defense contractor. There have been widespread suggestions in the U.K. national press that the SFO had suggested that BAE Systems plea bargain and accept a fine, and that there was an end-of-September deadline for the company to accept as much.
PARIS — Engineers have finished installing TP400 turboprop engines on the first prototype of Europe’s A400M airlifter and completed engine flight-test trials aboard a C-130 flying test bed, moving the troubled program a step closer to a planned year-end first flight. Marshall Aerospace reported Oct. 1 that the TP400 had ended its test flight campaign aboard a C-130 flying test bed. The campaign, which began in July, totaled 54 flight hours over 18 flights and 110 hours of total engine run time.
The final draft of the Augustine panel’s report on the future of U.S. human spaceflight won’t be ready until mid-October, and it could take two or three more weeks after that before the Obama administration’s way forward is set. Consultants and staff for the review panel headed by former Lockheed Martin CEO Norman Augustine are still crunching the numbers and polishing prose, but the final results won’t change from what was discussed in public over the summer.
Congressional auditors are once again shining a spotlight on NASA’s beleaguered Constellation program to return astronauts to the moon by 2020, questioning whether the program has fully proven its readiness to go forward.
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) is introducing an amendment to the fiscal 2010 senate defense spending bill that would block the use of funds for the U.S. Air Force’s KC-X competition unless the service agrees to disclose pricing data about Boeing’s proposal in 2008 to rival Northrop Grumman.
STRATEGIC SUPPLY: Northrop Grumman and the U.S. Air Force Global Logistics Center will form a strategic supplier relationship management team per an agreement announced Sept. 30. The teaming arrangement is intended to improve program performance through joint initiatives designed to reduce costs and supply chain cycle times; identify ways to improve readiness and supply chain availability; use value chain mapping to streamline business processes; and address diminishing manufacturing sources, material shortages and obsolescence issues.
PARIS — Giove A, the first Galileo test satellite, has been repositioned to a parking orbit after completing its planned mission. Built by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. and launched in December 2005, Giove A performed far beyond its two-year design life, securing international frequency filings, collecting data to characterize Galileo’s medium Earth orbit and demonstrating atomic clocks and other key system technologies.
The chances of Iridium Holdings remaining competitive in an increasingly challenging mobile satellite service (MSS) market should get a big boost following its successful sale to an affiliate of investment banking firm Greenhill & Co. and the close of an offering to take the company public.
MISSILE MARKET: Global production of surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) is still expected to reach about $28 billion over the next 10 years, even though they have seldom been used in active combat in recent years, according to consultancy Forecast International. “MBDA, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon will dominate this market,” says Larry Dickerson, senior missile analyst at Forecast. The three companies will earn a combined $11.4 billion in SAM sales through 2018 and will build more than 23,000 of the 80,000-plus total missiles forecast for production by then.
A leading Australian defense official reiterated his nation’s interest in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) after touring prime contractor Lockheed Martin’s production line in Fort Worth, Texas, Sept. 29.
