PARIS — Australia will fly a military payload on a new Intelsat spacecraft in a move that could help spark demand for hosted payloads while providing a showcase for a new Boeing telecom satellite bus.
The U.S. Navy is considering extending the Seattle-based flight test phase of the P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft by several months to make more use of Boeing’s flight test expertise before delivering the aircraft to its Patuxent River flight test center in Maryland.
CARTER CONFIRMED: Former Harvard professor and Clinton administration official Ashton Carter is the Pentagon’s new acquisition chief. The Senate confirmed Carter’s nomination by voice vote April 23 after Alabama Sens. Richard Shelby and Jeff Sessions, both Republicans, withdrew their “hold” on Carter’s nomination after meeting with Defense Secretary Robert Gates. Shelby and Sessions were concerned about the next competition for the Air Force replacement refueling tanker.
The likelihood that the military will ever field non-lethal weapons may have grown even slimmer with the revelation that the Pentagon does not have a cohesive plan for their use.
Recent program decisions by Defense Secretary Robert Gates that indicate a pullback on helicopter acquisitions would mean a reversal of Pentagon spending on those aircraft and components. Gates targeted two expensive and priority helicopter programs for cancellation — the U.S. Air Force combat, search and rescue helicopter replacement program — CSAR-X — and the presidential helicopter acquisition. The elimination of those two programs will certainly take a bite out of helicopter funding needs and overall rotary wing budgeting.
NASA will wait until this fall to award study contracts for its planned Saturn V-class moon rocket and Altair lunar lander, amid uncertainty over what is in store for the agency’s human-exploration programs as the Obama administration figures out its space policy.
Thuraya is partnering with Advanced Communications Solutions Ltd, a unit of an undisclosed international shipping group, to distribute the UAE-based mobile satellite communications company’s voice and data services to the Greek maritime fleet. In January 2008, Thuraya launched a new spacecraft that allows it to cover large expanses of ocean from Europe to southeast Asia. The agreement includes ThurayaIP, a broadband service offering video streaming up to 384 kbps and data transmission up to 444 kbps.
POWER MARGIN: With hover-pit testing showing the powered-lift propulsion system in the first F-35B Joint Strike Fighter is beating its thrust requirement by a small margin, Lockheed Martin says it is on track to begin short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) flight-testing, aiming for the crucial first vertical landing “in the summer.” Vertical thrust measured on the pit is 41,100 poundsverus the 40,550 pounds guaranteed by engine maker Pratt & Whitney.
DRACO QUALIFICATION: Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) has completed qualification of its Draco spacecraft thruster and propulsion tank at the company’s test site in McGregor, Texas. SpaceX says tests included 42 firings with more than 4,600 pulses of varying lengths and were performed in a vacuum test chamber to simulate the space environment. “The series resulted in a total firing time of over 50 minutes on a single thruster,” it adds.
INTEGRATING ICBMs: The head of nuclear systems and weapons for the U.S. Air Force says the new Global Strike Command will integrate the nation’s intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) force first before acquiring control of the bomber force. Maj. Gen. C. Donald Alston told a Capitol Hill gathering April 24 that the missile force will join the newest command — created to better manage the U.S. nuclear arsenal after several embarrassing slips — “close to the end of the year,” with the B-52 and B-2 bombers following at an unspecified date.
CUTTER STIMULUS: In the first indication of stimulus money going toward national defense-related projects, the U.S. Coast Guard announced it will receive $10 million to upgrade its cutter fleet. The funding is part of $240 million designated for critical improvements to the Coast Guard, which falls under a $3 billion umbrella for the Department of Homeland Security and the General Services Administration provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).
ON RESERVE: As the State Department and other agencies begin to develop their roles under President Barack Obama’s recently unveiled Afghanistan-Pakistan (AfPak) plan, the Reserve Officers Association (ROA) cautioned against assigning Reservists to volunteer nonmilitary jobs in Afghanistan. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton recently discussed the possibility of using Reserve officers for nonmilitary jobs supporting efforts in the region, which the ROA said is already happening.
WING TANK MAINTENANCE: Tank Devils will start doing structural wing tank maintenance services for two Spanish Air Force P-3s through a contract signed between EASA CASA and Taurus Aerospace’s Tank Devils on April 21 at Aviaton Week’s MRO Americas conference in Dallas. Work on both aircraft will be performed in Seville, with the first starting in June and the second starting late this summer, said Jose Luis Tova, head of MRO and material support procurement for EADS CASA, which is responsible for maintenance on the Spanish Air Force’s seven P-3s.
MRAP CHANGES: BAE Systems Tactical Vehicle Systems LLP of Sealy, Texas, has been awarded a $19,036,693 contract modification to purchase Capability Insertion Engineering change proposals for 1,800 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, the Defense Department said April 24. The work will be performed at the Kuwait Refurbishment Facility, with final deliveries expected to be completed by July 30, 2010. The Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico, Va., is the contracting activity.
Raytheon officials say the first flight of their Small Diameter Bomb II (SDB II) control test vehicle (CTV) was successful, and the next flight is slated for this summer.
HYBRID SPY: With persistent surveillance one of the key shortfalls emerging from current operations in theater, the U.S. Army is looking for a prototype unmanned hybrid airship, the Long Endurance Multi-payload Vehicle (LEMV), that could be tested in Afghanistan within 18 months. The LEMV is to be able to stay aloft for three weeks at a time, station-keeping at 20,000 feet while carrying a 2,500 pound multi-intelligence payload and operated from a standard Army ground station.
HAZARD-LESS: The United States has now destroyed more than 59 percent of its chemical weapons, including more than 96 percent of the country’s entire nerve agent stockpile. “We understand our obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention, and we are fully committed to the complete destruction of our stockpiles as rapidly and as safely as possible,” declared Robert Mikulak, U.S. Representative to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. U.S. reductions are carried out in Pueblo, Colo., and Umatilla, Ore.
The space shuttle Atlantis will drop to a lower orbit as soon as it releases the Hubble Space Telescope to reduce the risk from orbital debris on the upcoming mission to service the orbiting observatory.
HAVOC DELIVERIES: An initial batch of six Mil Mi-28N Havoc attack helicopters has been delivered, according to the Russian news agency RIA Novosti. The attack helicopters were provided to operational units of the North Caucasus Military District, according to Novosti.
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DROPPING BY: The U.S. Army flew one of its CH-47 helicopters to Chicago-based Northstar Aerospace in a first-of-its-kind visit. According to Northstar, the Army visited the Chinook subcontractor to “underscore the important role the company plays in supporting Army aviation.” Northstar is Boeing’s sole-source contractor of CH-47 transmission components. The aircraft was piloted by Col. Newman Shufflebarger, the Army’s project manager for cargo helicopters, and CW5 Gary Newsom.
Korean Air is close to taking over Korea Aerospace Industries, consolidating the country’s aircraft-building sector into a single company. The airline, which has its own aerospace division, has long expressed an interest in buying its rival, and almost stitched up a deal to do so in 2003. Since major shareholders of Korea Aerospace are now willing to sell, a takeover looks likely — but not inevitable. Management, labor and political opposition could yet get in the way.
The drive to reform the Pentagon’s weapons acquisition system is picking up steam with additional legislation expected to be introduced this week. Leaders of the House Armed Services Committee said April 24 that they plan to introduce their own bipartisan reform bill. A similar bill has cleared the Senate Armed Services Committee and is expected to go to the Senate floor in May.
NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) need to improve management and oversight of the next generation of geostationary satellites to ensure data continuity through 2028, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
