UNMANNED A-To-Z: This week the British Defense Ministry will release at least the top line results of its Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Capability Investigation, which has been running for the past year. The review was initially anticipated to conclude in the third or fourth quarter of 2008. Led by Army Lt. Col. Dick Park, the study looks at the ministry’s UAS requirements over the coming two decades.
PLASTIC FANTASTIC: Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works expects to conduct the first flight of the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory’s Advanced Composite Cargo Aircraft (ACCA) X-plane demonstrator by June. The flight was delayed from last September by a glitch during production of the carbon fiber-composite fuselage. The ACCA is a heavily modified Dornier 328JET regional airliner with a composite cargo fuselage and vertical tail, fabricated using low-cost “out-of-autoclave” bonding techniques.
EXPECT SURPRISE: The Pentagon’s EP-X competition to replace the U.S. Navy’s long-serving EP-3E signals and communications intelligence airplane is sure to produce surprises. Boeing, for example, is flying into the contest with a variant of the 737-based P-8A patrol aircraft.
A federal grand jury in the District of Columbia has indicted Courtney A. Stadd, who served as NASA chief of staff and White House liaison under former Administrator Sean O’Keefe, on charges he violated federal conflict-of-interest law in directing some $9.6 million in agency funds to a consulting client.
BAND WAGON: A House Armed Services Committee special panel will be studying ways to reform the Pentagon’s acquisition system over the next six months. The panel, formed March 6 by Chairman Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) and Rep. John McHugh (R-N.Y.) the committee’s ranking member, will look at the root causes of system failures, administrative and cultural pressures that lead to negative outcomes and the reform recommendations of previous studies. Headed by Reps.
Raytheon has completed a batch of ground tests for its developmental Third-Generation Infrared System (Three-GIRS) sensor, and company officials say a full, space-qualified version could be delivered to the government in 24 months to support missile warning requirements. The non-imaging infrared sensor is one of two developed under the U.S. Air Force’s Three-GIRS program (formerly called the Alternate Infrared Satellite System, or AIRSS). SAIC
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. Mar. 10 - 11 — Precision Strike Annual Review, Emerald Coast Conference Center, Fort Walton Beach, Fla. For more information call 703-247-2590 or go to www.precisionstrike.org Mar. 10 - 15 — Australian International Airshow and Aerospace & Defense Exposition, Geelong, Australia. For more information go to www.airshow.net.au
Lockheed Martin has beaten an incumbent L-3 Communications team for a major deal to support U.S. special forces worldwide that is potentially worth $5 billion. Lockheed’s upset win of the new Special Operations Forces Support Activity Contractor Logistics Support (SOFSA CLS) award startled some Wall Street analysts. “We had expected [L-3] to win the recompetition, and had previously worked some revenue from the program into our estimates for 2010,” Morgan Keegan & Co. analysts told their investor clients.
NASA engineers adapted eddy-current testing techniques to find tiny cracks in suspect space shuttle engine valves that scanning electronic microscopes missed, using the data to clear the space shuttle Discovery for launch on March 11.
SOYUZ SUCCESSOR: Russia plans to start testing a new manned space vehicle in 2015, after kicking off its development in 2010. Alexi Krasnov, head of human spaceflight at the Russian Federal Space Agency Roskosmos, says a competition for development of the vehicle will be completed this year, with initial operational capability by 2018. The Russian government has agreed to fund the effort, Krasnov told reporters in Moscow March 5, according to the Interfax-AVN news agency.
MARINE ONE SCRAMBLE: As the political wrangling over the future of the Marine One replacement helicopter continues, Navy officials are crafting a plan to keep today’s VH-3D presidential fleet running. A decision on the replacement effort’s fate could come in the fiscal 2010 budget request, which is expected in April (Aerospace DAILY, Feb. 25). But the Navy is using $20 million set aside in the FY ‘09 budget to explore ways to sustain today’s aging fleet.
DOUBLE TROUBLE: A program to develop one missile that could replace both the air-to-air AIM-120 AMRAAM and anti-radar AGM-88 HARM is getting under way, with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) seeking ideas for the Joint Dual-Role Air Dominance Missile (JDRADM) technology demonstration program. The Air Force is looking for increased range and advances in guidance, fuzing and warheads. AFRL plans to award two 10-month, $1.35 million contracts in July/August to develop missile concepts and demonstrate technology feasibility.
LOSS, GAIN: Northrop Grumman is planning to cut up to 750 jobs as part of a previously announced consolidation of its Space Technology and Integrated Systems units. But the consolidated operation, renamed Aerospace Systems, has 850 job openings for engineering and technical positions.
FALCO EVOLVES: Selex Galileo is aiming for first flight of a beefed-up version of its Falco unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) — known as the Falco Evo — by the end of the second quarter of 2010. Attempting to gain maximum improvement in performance for a comparatively modest outlay, the company is using the Falco fuselage wedded to a larger wing and extended tail booms. Four prototype ship-sets kits for the Falco Evo upgrade are now being manufactured. The design is intended to increase the maximum payload from 70 kilograms (150 pounds) to 120 kilograms (260 pounds).
PAD READY: NASA has completed work on a 92-acre launch complex at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., for the abort flight tests of its Orion crew exploration vehicle. The first test series at the new LC-32 East Launch Complex was expected by late summer, but is awaiting the availability of the vehicle, which may push it to later in the year. The initial pad abort test will involve lifting an unmanned Orion crew module to an altitude of about one mile. Besides a second pad abort test, three ascent abort tests are planned over several years.
In a vote late March 5, engineers at Boeing Integrated Defense Systems in Wichita, Kan., voted to reject the company’s three-year contract offer. The engineers also rejected their union leadership’s call for the authority to strike. By a 180-84 vote, the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA) agreed with their negotiating team’s recommendation that Boeing’s offer of a 3 percent annual pay increase be rejected.
The costly two-year launch delay for Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) does offer a few fringe benefits for the mission’s science objectives, according to NASA. Development problems caused the ambitious rover mission to miss the 2009 Mars launch opportunity and refocus on 2011. The launch slip will cost an estimated $400 million, which brings the program’s total estimated lifecycle cost to $2.2 billion - $2.3 billion (Aerospace DAILY, Dec. 5, 2008).
BETTING GAME: The British rumor mill will likely step up a gear this week following the Defense Board meeting on March 4 to discuss proposals for Planning Round 09, which will determine the ministry’s near-term procurement spending. Potential winners could include Boeing and Lockheed Martin, which may see the British Defense Ministry move to buy or lease additional C-17 and C-130J airlifters (Aerospace DAILY, March 6). The list of losers could be significant, if some of the touted savings measures are put into effect.
HYPERSONICS CENTERS: NASA and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory have designated three university and industry partners as national hypersonic science centers. The University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Texas A&M University in College Station and Teledyne Scientific & Imaging LLC of Thousand Oaks, Calif., were chosen from more than 60 respondents to a broad agency announcement. The new centers will advance research in airbreathing propulsion, materials and structures, and boundary layer control for aircraft that can travel at Mach 5 or faster.
LONDON – Britain is considering leasing up to five additional Lockheed Martin C-130J Hercules to help plug the capability gap left by continuing problems with the European Airbus Military A400M. The United Kingdom is interested in taking more C-130Js by 2012, which likely means it will need to conclude an agreement this year if the in-service date target is to be met. The Royal Air Force (RAF) earlier ordered 25 C-130Js, with deliveries beginning in 1999. All but a handful of the RAF’s aging C-130Ks are due to be retired by 2012.
There is no national security reason for the U.S. Defense Department to act to ensure a long-term domestic supply of specialty metals, a congressionally mandated Pentagon advisory group has found. According to a recent notice in the Federal Register, the Strategic Materials Protection Board, a review panel within DOD, has sided with an earlier report that said reliable access to necessary metals does not always necessitate a domestic source. Still, notwithstanding this conclusion, DOD said it will comply with all statutory domestic source requirements.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009 Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center Grapevine/Dallas, Texas DEPLOYING EXCELLENCE: Achieving Continual Process Improvement and Profitable Growth through Operational Effectiveness
Acting NASA Administrator Chris Scolese expects recent efforts by the agency to improve cost control over its programs to begin bearing fruit within the next two years, he told House lawmakers during his first Capitol Hill appearance as agency chief March 5.
BEIJING – China’s first orbital space station will be the national space program’s test bed for automatic docking, one of four technological hurdles that must be cleared before launching a big station a decade from now. The small, short-lived space station, already identified as Tiangong 1, will be launched as soon as next year. Its mass has grown from the eight metric tons previously stated and is now given as 8.5 tons.
