PARIS — Norwegian defense and aerospace firm Kongsberg says it saw strong order intake in the first half of the year and has managed growth in operating revenue of 29 percent. The results were largely driven by defense and aerospace, with the company’s nondefense maritime business struggling as a result of the economic downturn. That sector depressed margins, CEO Walter Qwan says.
An inflatable heat shield with possible applications on future missions to Mars and other celestial bodies with atmospheres survived its first flight-test before sinking in the Atlantic Ocean. The Inflatable Re-entry Vehicle Experiment (IRVE) launched on a Black Brant 9 sounding rocket from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on the Virginia coast at 8:52 a.m. EDT Aug. 17, rising to an altitude of 131 miles.
ARMY IDSC Holdings LLC, Kenosha, Wis., was awarded on Aug. 12, 2009 a $31,240,771 firm-fixed-price contract for artillery maintenance shop tool sets. The work is to be performed in Kenosha, Wis., with an estimated completion date of Aug. 31, 2014. Ten bids were solicited with two bids received. TACOM-Rock Island, AMSTA-LC-CTC, Rock Island, Ill., is the contracting activity (DAAE20-03-D-0087). NAVY
JDAM WORK: The Pentagon announced Aug. 17 that the U.S. Air Force has awarded Boeing of St. Louis, Mo., a $98 million cost plus fixed fee contract to provide integration and production of the laser Joint Direct Attack Munition system on various Foreign Military Sales aircraft. Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., manages the contract.
Top Russian government officials, likely including Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, and senior aerospace industry executives are due to hold a meeting on the first day of the MAKS 2009 show, Aug. 18, to discuss the state of the sector. Industry executives say a key item on their agenda will be additional funding to support aerospace manufacturers, particularly on the civil side of the business. The Russian government also is expected to place its largest fighter aircraft order in two decades during the show.
Lockheed Martin Space Systems (LMSS) says it will begin across-the-board layoffs totaling 800 workers, or 4.5 percent of the business unit’s total employment, by year’s end, mostly at its Denver, Colo., and Sunnyvale, Calif., facilities. The company is seeking voluntary attrition through the end of the month. Based on results of that effort it will begin issuing pink slips. The business unit’s total employment is 18,000, including 3,700 in Denver and 7,600 at Sunnyvale.
LOOK AT LIFT: The Italian government is reviewing its airlift plans and may increase the operational tempo for its C-130J fleet to reduce use of commercial transports. However, the government will continue to rely on commercial providers, in particular owing to increased commitments to Afghanistan. In that respect, the government has signed a contract with Alitalia to provide cargo services for next year.
DRIVE, FLY: The event is not scheduled until next November, but Northrop Grumman is already talking about flying its Unmanned Combat Aircraft System (UCAS) across the U.S. The problem with that claim is that the U.S. Navy says otherwise. Capt. Marty Deppe says the UCAS will be trucked from Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., to Patuxent River, Md. Scott Winship, UCAS program manager at Northrop, says, “I still plan on arguing with him.” FAA restrictions would make a cross-country flight difficult, but not impossible, Winship says.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) Sept. 5 - 7 — The Cleveland National Air Show, Burke Lakefront Airport, Cleveland, Ohio. For more information go to www.clevelandairshow.com Sept. 7 - 10 — Asian Aerospace International Expo and Congress, Asia World Expo, Hong Kong. For more information go to www.asianaerospace.com
AIR IRAQ: Hawker Beechcraft will provide seven T-6A Texan II trainers, ground-based training systems, spares and two years of contractor logistics for the Iraqi air force under a $170.4 million contract from the U.S. Air Force. Iraq also will benefit from an $11 million contract through 2010 to Arinc Engineering Services from the U.S. Army for contractor support for up to 17 Mi-17 cargo helicopters. An option for support of another 10 Mi-17s are included.
The space shuttle program sees no difficulties if the Obama administration decides to extend flights into early 2011, as the Augustine human spaceflight panel plans to recommend. The panel, which held its final public meeting Aug. 12 and is due to deliver its final recommendations to NASA and the White House by the end of the month, thinks NASA should at minimum extend the shuttle into March 2011 to ensure sufficient margin for its remaining scheduled flights to finish assembly of the International Space Station (Aerospace DAILY, Aug. 13).
LOOKING GOOD: The U.S. Air Force’s last Delta II mission is still on track for launch Aug. 17 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., following a launch readiness review Aug. 14. There was a 70 percent change of acceptable weather predicted during the launch window, which runs from 6:35-6:49 a.m. EDT. The mission carries the last of eight Lockheed Martin-built Global Positioning System IIR-M spacecraft. In the event of a scrub a second launch attempt will be held Aug. 18, during a window at 6:31-6:45 a.m. EDT.
The Obama administration has announced a review of the whole U.S. export control system, including both the dual-use and defense trade processes, in a move immediately embraced by industry.
POINT AND FOCUS: Boeing’s Airborne Laser (ABL) soon will fire its high-energy laser during flight tests, first into an onboard calorimeter, then through its beam control/fire control system. The ABL team then will test the entire weapon system against in-flight missiles, culminating with ABL’s first high-energy laser intercept test against a ballistic missile later this year. On Aug. 10, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency completed its first in-flight test against an instrumented target missile.
Boeing and NASA have taken the wraps off the X-48C, a modified variant of the blended wing body sub-scale demonstrator aimed at proving ultra-low noise targets for future transports including airliners as well as military tanker-transports.
NASA will ship the first Orion crew module for launch abort tests at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, on Aug. 19, but confirms that the Pad Abort 1 (PA-1) flight test has slipped into early 2010.
TIME FLIES: Flight trials of the British Watchkeeper unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) system have concluded in Israel, clearing the way for tests in the U.K. in the fourth quarter of this year. The Watchkeeper UAV, based on the Elbit Hermes 450, will likely begin trials using the Parc Aberporth range in Wales in October or November. Thales is leading the development of the Watchkeeper. The system is planned to enter service with the British toward the end of 2010.
Lockheed Martin has begun hose-and-drogue refueling tests with the second short-takeoff vertical-landing (STOVL) F-35B, aircraft BF-2. The tanker for these tests is a C-130J. The significance of the flights is that they will clear the way to ferry the first F-35B, aircraft BF-1, to the U.S. Navy test center at Patuxent River, Md., for powered-lift STOVL testing. BF-1 is due back in the air soon having completed hover-pit tests following modifications.
ELBIT EARNINGS: Israel-based Elbit reported $728.3 million in second-quarter revenue, representing 11.5 percent year-on-year growth. Net income grew 91.7 percent compared to the 2008 second quarter, reaching $59.7 million. Sales of unmanned aerial vehicles in Israel and other activities helped offset reductions in sales of land systems in the U.S. Elbit also saw a slowdown in quick-reaction orders from the Pentagon that had boosted margins.
GROUNDED AGAIN: In what marks the second comeuppance in almost as many weeks for Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), the House’s top defense appropriator says he will agree to reverse an earmark that would have forced the U.S. Air Force to buy and sustain more VIP-transport jets than had been requested by the Pentagon and White House. “If the Department of Defense does not want these aircraft, they will be eliminated from the bill,” Murtha said after the issue grabbed headlines earlier this month and embarrassed lawmakers across the country (Aerospace DAILY, Aug. 10).
STANDING TALL: Assembly of NASA’s Ares I-X test rocket was completed Aug. 13. The 327-foot tall launch vehicle now stands in the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., marking the first time in more than 25 years that a new space vehicle has stood in the cavernous facility. The rocket, with a simulated crew module stacked atop it, stands on a mobile launch platform in preparation for launch Oct. 31.
ARES BURN: NASA and Alliant Techsystems (ATK) have slightly slipped the first full-scale, full-duration test of the new first-stage solid rocket motor for the Ares I rocket, which is now set for 3 p.m. EDT Aug. 27 at ATK’s facility in Promontory, Utah. Previously set for Aug. 25, the new test date allows gives NASA and ATK more breathing room to support both the test and the upcoming STS-128 space shuttle mission, which is eyeing launch on Aug. 24.
INDIAN FIGHTER: Flight trials are now underway with Boeing for the aerospace industry’s largest fighter jet procurement battle — India’s competition for 126 Medium Multi-role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA). Boeing is offering the F/A-18. The trials are to be wrapped up by next March and are being held in Leh for altitude testing, Jaisalmer for hot operations and Bengaluru (Bangalore) for humidity. Five other contenders are participating in trials lasting three weeks each.
