SCHOOLED: The Chinese military appears to be systematically targeting weaknesses in the U.S. way of waging war, especially U.S. power projection in the western Pacific and dependence on space systems, according to independent analysts at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA) in Washington. A more confrontational or hostile China will be just one of many complicated threats challenging the United States this century.
In a report due to be released this week, Anthony Cordesman and Erin Fitzgerald of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) take full aim at what they see as the Quadrennial Defense Review’s (QDR) historical failings, while outlining what Pentagon planners need to do to avoid the fate of previous reports that “have done nothing to change whatever trajectory the Pentagon’s leadership has pre-decided.”
FATAL CRASH: The Chief Minister of India’s southeastern state of Andhra Pradesh, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reedy, was killed on Sept. 2 in a Bell 430 helicopter that crashed into a hill 200 kilometers (120 miles) from Hyderabad while en route to Chittoor. All five occupants of the 10-year-old twin-turbine helicopter, operated by Andhra Pradesh Aviation, were killed. A Bell 430 owned by Ran Air Services crashed into a hill near Hyderabad in August 2008, killing all four on board (Aerospace DAILY, Sept. 3).
PAN LAUNCH: United Launch Alliance is proceeding with plans to launch the classified U.S. military “PAN” satellite on Sept. 8 from Cape Canaveral, Fla., during a launch window of 5:35-7:45 p.m. EDT. A Launch Readiness Review for the Atlas V mission was held Sept. 4, and the readiness poll resulted in a “Go for Launch” order. There is currently a 40 percent chance of acceptable weather, with the primary concerns being cumulus clouds, anvil clouds and lightning. If the launch scrubs, a second attempt could be made on Sept. 9 in the same launch window.
Officials are planning a series of operational concept trials beginning next month to pave the way for the introduction of the C-27J into the fleet next year. At issue is how best to conduct the intratheater airlift/direct support mission, which means delivering urgently needed cargo directly to ground commanders at their locations. Army officials use their C-23 Sherpas to transfer goods directly, and this mission will transfer to the C-27J beginning in November 2010, when the first of the so-called Spartan airlifters is expected to arrive for duty in Iraq.
FALCON FLIGHTS: SpaceX has been selected to launch 18 satellites for Orbcomm’s second-generation mobile telecom satellite system, which will provide enhanced position locating and voice/data offerings as well as automatic identification services. The spacecraft, under construction at Sierra Nevada Corp., will be launched starting in late 2010 and extending through 2014. They will be orbited by the Falcon 1e, an upgraded version of the Falcon 1 equipped with an extended strorage tank, larger and lighter fairing, reinforced structure and improved avionics systems.
Both the CEO and CFO of Honeywell Aerospace have left the company, but Wall Street isn’t fazed by the executives’ departures. Rob Gillette left Honeywell Aerospace to lead First Solar, an Arizona-based manufacturer of solar and photovoltaic modules, Honeywell said in a statement Sept. 3. CFO Bob Hau is leaving to be CFO of Lennox International, a Texas-based heating and cooling equipment manufacturer, Lennox announced the same day.
The Defense Logistics Agency–Ogden has awarded Goodrich Corp. a contract worth up to $400 million to provide new carbon brakes and boltless wheels for C-130 transport aircraft. The initial contract runs through 2011, and Goodrich expects first production deliveries for aircraft retrofit in the fourth quarter of 2011, says Valerie Francis, advertising and customer communications manager.
In observance of the U.S. Labor Day holiday, Aerospace Daily & Defense Report will not publish an issue on Monday, Sept. 7. The next issue will be dated Sept. 8.
Ashton Carter, the new U.S. undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, is promising to boost the Pentagon’s acquisition management oversight to get earlier diagnoses of problem programs. Carter told Aviation Week in a Sept. 2 interview that recent legislation shoring up acquisition reform and the “birthing of programs” will help “get them started in such a way that they don’t cause problems later.”
The premature loss of India’s Chandrayaan-1 lunar orbiter on Aug. 29 was a blow not only to the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), but also to lunar scientists who had just started using its U.S.-provided synthetic aperture radar in conjunction with a similar unit on NASA’s new Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) for bistatic observations aimed at finding water ice at the moon’s poles.
Astronauts Danny Olivas and Christer Fuglesang were set to finish replacing a spent ammonia-coolant tank on the International Space Station (ISS) late Sept. 3 EDT in the second of three extravehicular activities (EVAs) of the STS-128 mission on the shuttle Discovery. As they worked to get ready for the spacewalk, Discovery Commander Rick Sturckow and pilot Kevin Ford were standing down from a possible maneuver to get the docked orbiter and ISS out of the way of a threatening piece of space debris.
MOSCOW — Russia is preparing to deliver a batch of MiG-29M Fulcrum multirole fighters to Syria, but another part of the deal — the delivery of MiG-31E Foxhound long-range fighter interceptors — remains uncertain, according to Russian press reports. In an interview with the Kommersant daily newspaper, United Aircraft Corporation chief Alexey Fedorov said he hopes the MiG-31 portion of the deal will go through, which would improve the financial position of the Nizhny Novgorod Sokol aircraft manufacturing plant.
TOKYO — Tokyo’s new governing Democratic Party of Japan is not expected to distance itself from the U.S. or to strip defense budgets — in fact, Japanese defense officials are looking at 2010 as the year that the U.S. may change its laws about exporting the F-22 Raptor. Meanwhile, any policy changes in Japan would likely be minor and reflect the directions set by previous governments.
Disgruntled officials from the military and industry accuse military leadership of offering up intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) programs for cuts so that they can preserve high-profile platforms.
Northrop Grumman is developing a common autonomous airborne sense-and-avoid system for both the U.S. Air Force RQ-4B Global Hawk high-altitude long-endurance unmanned aircraft and its U.S. Navy RQ-4N Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) derivative. Originally the services were pursuing separate solutions for operating the aircraft in national airspace, but the Navy has announced its intention to award Northrop Grumman a sole-source contract to develop a common system that also will be scalable to medium-altitude unmanned aircraft.
SEE THRU: The U.S. Army plans to upgrade two Forester radars, built under a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency program to detect and track individuals and vehicles moving under foliage, so they can be deployed on Boeing A160T unmanned helicopters to two unnamed Latin American countries. The upgrades would reduce weight and improve detection and geolocation performance, mode flexibility and system usability. Syracuse Research built the radars, but the Army is seeking competitive bids for the upgrades.
Despite being more than 30 years old, Sikorksy’s Black Hawk helicopter is enjoying renewed popularity among the U.S. Army and Navy as well as growing interest from foreign customers.
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports that since 2003, Congress has appropriated at least $106 billion for Pentagon contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that private contractors currently make up about 57 percent of the Pentagon’s total force in Afghanistan, and 48 percent in Iraq.
Japan’s unmanned H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) has passed a NASA flight readiness review and is in final preparations for liftoff from Tanegashima Space Center on its first mission to the International Space Station (ISS) on Sept. 11 local time. On Aug. 30, the encapsulated vehicle was transported to the Vehicle Assembly Building at Tanegashima, where it is being mated to the second stage of its H-IIB rocket and having the final elements of its pressurized cargo installed.
ONGOING DISPUTE: Government referees upheld part of a bid protest by Northrop Grumman against the selection of General Dynamics in a long-disputed U.S. Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) deal called Uni-Comm for enterprise operations, maintenance and management of data, voice, land mobile radio and video conferencing facilities.
NEW DELHI — In one of the biggest search-and-rescue (SAR) operations undertaken in the country, Indian air force helicopters, an Su-30, a remote-sensing Beech aircraft and the Indian Space Research Organization’s Risat satellite were deployed Sept. 1 to search for a helicopter carrying Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, chief minister of the South Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. India is said to have asked the U.S. Defense Department to help with real-time satellite images as well.
General Electric (GE) and Rolls-Royce have opened talks with U.S. defense officials on a fixed-price contract offer for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) alternative F136 engine that they hope will be a bellwether for the government’s acquisition reform goals by forcing a similar reaction from incumbent F135 engine supplier Pratt & Whitney (P&W).
