GREEN ROCKET: Flometrics has flown a rocket using bio-derived JP-8 jet fuel produced from renewable crop oils. The rocket was launched from the Mojave Desert, reaching an altitude of about 20,000 feet. San Diego-based Flometrics had previously flown the rocket on standard petroleum-based Jet-A and RP-1 fuels, and conducted a static test using commercial BD-100 biodiesel. The renewable JP-8 was produced by the Energy & Environmental Research Center at the University of North Dakota and tested by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, which co-sponsored the launch.
CHINA LAKE, Calif. — New methods of gathering and sharing intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) data and getting information directly to the soldier in the field are entering a final demonstration phase in California before going into service with coalition forces in Afghanistan and elsewhere.
Lockheed Martin said July 21 that the cancellations of the VH-71 presidential helicopter and the TMOS ground control portion of the Transformational Satellite (TSAT) program are reducing its backlogs, but the company expects no earnings impact from the reduction. Lockheed received a $2 billion TMOS (TSAT Mission Operations System) contract in 2006 to provide ground control systems for the now-scrapped TSAT military communications satellite constellation.
National Security Adviser James Jones is conducting a government-wide review of U.S. space policy at the request of President Barack Obama, as former Lockheed Martin CEO Norm Augustine heads into the final set of public hearings on the review he is conducting of human spaceflight options.
The U.S. Army will work with portable fuel cell producer UltraCell Corp. on the development and production of the company’s Reformed Methanol Fuel Cells (RMFCs). UltraCell will build 30 fuel cell systems based on its XX25 RMFC technology for the Army’s Research, Development and Engineering Command’s (RDECOM) Agile Integration Demo and Experimentation (AIDE).
BACN PLATFORM: The U.S. Air Force has signed a letter contract with Northrop Grumman to lease three Bombardier BD-700 Global Express business jets as platforms for the Battlefield Airborne Communications Node (BACN). This includes one demonstrator aircraft already deployed operationally since December. Northrop was awarded an 18-month, $276 million contract in June to install the communications payload on two additional jets as a short-term solution while it equips two RQ-4B Block 20 Global Hawk unmanned aircraft to be fielded in fiscal 2011.
NASA Missions NASA Missions Kennedy Space Center/Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. (KSC/CCAFS)Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. (VAFB), Reagan Test Site (RTS)Wallops Flight Facility/Goddard Space Flight Center (WFF) Date / 2009 Mission Vehicle Launch Site Aug.
President Barack Obama and Defense Secretary Robert Gates won a major legislative victory in the Senate July 21, when that chamber sided with their efforts to end the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor program as planned, instead of earmarking money for more fighters.
MISSION EMISSIONS: The U.S. Army, acting in compliance with President Bush’s January 2007 Executive Order 13423 which mandated that government agencies more closely track their carbon emissions, is rolling out a greenhouse gas reporting and management system to 12 installations around the United States. Initially proven at Fort Carson, Colo., the Web-based greenhouse gas tracking and reporting software, made by Enviance, Inc., allows for real-time greenhouse gas emission tracking and management.
The U.S. Navy’s Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) will face close scrutiny as it heads toward full-scale testing, according to the House Armed Services seapower and expeditionary forces subcommittee.
LONDON — The British Defense Ministry has signed off on a deal with BVT Surface Fleet — soon to be a wholly owned BAE Systems company — guaranteeing BVT a baseline of £230 million ($377 million) a year in shipbuilding and support business over the next 15 years. The deal is part of work stemming from the 2005 Defense Industrial Strategy, which included the aim of creating a sustainable maritime industrial capability in the U.K. BVT already has the Royal Navy’s two next-generation aircraft carriers and six Type 45 destroyers on its order books.
PARIS — The Swiss government is moving ahead with the upgrade of its F/A-18Cs to fit them with Raytheon’s Advanced Targeting Forward Looking Infrared (ATFLIR) pod. The Pentagon has awarded Raytheon a $41 million contract to purchase 14 of the pods for the Swiss government. Switzerland last year acquired one pod as part of a $51 million contract that the U.S. Navy placed with Raytheon to also buy Australia’s 18 targeting pods to be used on F/A-18Fs. Delivery of the Swiss systems is to be completed by early 2011.
PLESETSK LAUNCH: On July 21, Russian Space Forces dual-launched the Kosmos 2454 military satellite and the Sterkh satellite aboard a Kosmos-3M light booster from Plesetsk Cosmodrome. Kosmos 2454 is believed to be a Parus-type navigation and communication satellite, while Sterkh is part of the KOSPASS/SARSAT satellite-aided search and rescue system.
Industry sources are pointing to serious concerns with General Dynamics’ Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) as it undergoes builder’s trials in the Gulf of Mexico. What would be the second U.S. LCS, the Independence, is a 417-foot, all-aluminum trimaran. The ship started builder’s trials July 2, three days later than anticipated due to engineering problems, and the evaluations are still under way.
PARIS — The Israeli government and Rafael have completed another round of Iron Dome test shots. The Israel Defense Force says the latest test series indicates the program remains on track to be operational in early 2010, although some officials think it could slide into midyear. Developers have been working through some vibration and other issues identified in earlier trials. Iron Dome is Israel’s latest effort to quickly field a system to protect civilian populations and military installations from rocket and short-range missile attacks.
Astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) and space shuttle Endeavour on July 21 used two of the three robotic arms available to them to pull an experiment rack from the orbiter’s payload bay and berth it on Japan’s Kibo laboratory module. On July 23 the third robotic arm will plug the three experiments into their positions on Kibo’s new exposed facility, setting the big Japanese laboratory up to conduct science in open space.
The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has now awarded two of two contracts to Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control to design a Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) for use soon by the U.S. Navy. LRASM received nine proposals, including ideas from Raytheon, Boeing and Alliant Techsystems. The agency has not commented on the merits of the winning designs. The second of the two awards was announced July 17. The first came last month (Aerospace DAILY, July 2). Both are worth about $10 million for nine months.
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Industry has briefed the U.S. Army on technology and configuration options for a future Joint Multi Role (JMR) aircraft to conduct the attack, reconnaissance, utility and cargo missions now performed by a range of helicopter types.
NEW DELHI — Gripen maker Saab of Sweden is eyeing India as a design base supporting the global marketing of its aerospace, land and naval systems. The company also says it is examining establishing manufacturing capability here. Saab has formed a partnership with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) for establishing an Aeronautical Design and Development Center (ADDC) in Bengaluru (Bangalore).
NAVY Force Protection Industries Inc., Ladson, S.C., is being awarded a $58,639,048 firm-fixed-priced delivery order #0012 under a previously awarded firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (M67854-07-D-5031) for the purchase of support for installation of independent suspension kits. The work will be performed in Kuwait and is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, 2009. Contract funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico, Va., is the contracting activity.
JOINT VESSEL: Construction on the first Joint High Speed Vessel for the U.S. Army, Navy and Marine Corps should follow on the heels of its production readiness review scheduled for this fall, the Defense Department said last week. The review will study design maturity, the availability of materials and components, and shipbuilder Austal USA’s readiness to successfully start fabrication. The 10-ship, Navy-run program combines earlier, competing efforts under the Army’s Theater Support Vessel and the Navy and Marine High Speed Connector.
With a congressional vote on F-22 funding imminent, Defense Secretary Robert Gates reiterated his objection to buying more of the aircraft in a Pentagon briefing July 20. “What I’ve not heard is a substantive reason for adding more aircraft in terms of our strategic needs,” he told reporters. When questioned about the loss of jobs resulting from the F-22’s cancellation, Gates said the aerospace industry will see a “substantial increase” in jobs due to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter “if we don’t drain money away from it.”
