SWEDISH RADIO: Rockwell Collins, in support of a major demonstration being conducted by the Swedish Defence Material Administration (FMV), recently conducted a mobile, ad hoc networking demonstration of the Tactical Data Radio System (TDRS) Software Defined Radio (SDR). The demo is part of a program to provide SDRs to support the Swedish Armed Forces initiative to develop a Network Based Defense structure. The SDR system consists of modular, open architecture hardware and software components, and hosts a customized, high-data rate, networked waveform.
PARIS – France and Australia are poised to deploy the Tiger helicopter to Afghanistan in what would be the aircraft’s first operational use in theater. Eurocopter CEO Lutz Bertling said Jan. 20 that the French army will send an undisclosed number of Tigers to the Afghan front this spring-summer. The army has been pressing armaments agency DGA to conclude qualification of the French HAP and German UHT anti-armor variants of the Tiger to permit a deployment to central or eastern Afghanistan.
Russia’s Reshetnev Information Satellite Systems company (previously known as NPO PM) has won a turnkey contract to develop and deliver on orbit the TELKOM 3 telecommunication satellite for the Indonesian operator PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk. Launch to geostationary orbit is scheduled by mid-2011. The 1,600-kilogram satellite, with 32 C-band transponders and 10 Ku-band transponders, will be based on a Reshetnev’s medium-class “Express-1000N” platform. The TELKOM 3 payload will deliver 5.6 kW, and the spacecraft will have a targeted lifetime of 15 years.
The U.S. Army is engaged in a holistic evaluation of its modernization and procurement plans, including Future Combat Systems (FCS), its vice chief of staff asserts.
The Pentagon is not expecting to conduct a formal fiscal 2010 budget rollout, which would normally take place Feb. 2, according to a defense official. Government agencies and departments are required by law to transmit their budget plans to Congress on the first Monday in February. However, that rule was waived by the Bush administration’s White House Office of Management and Budget last April to allow time for the new administration to craft its own budget. The waiver applies to all federal agencies and departments.
MOSCOW – Sukhoi has completed deliveries of Su-30MK2 multirole dual-seat fighters to Indonesia, with the third aircraft carried aboard an Antonov-An-124 transport to the Sultan Hasanuddin air force base in Makassar, south of Sulawesi island, on Jan. 18. The fighters were manufactured at Sukhoi’s Komsomolsk-on-Amur KnAAPO plant.
In a Jan. 15 DAILY article on the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), the quote attributed to Ronald O’Rourke of the Congressional Research Service was a paraphrasing of the U.S. Navy’s position on LCS oversight, and not his own opinion.
ARMY Raytheon Co., Bedford, Mass., was awarded on Jan. 9, 2009, a $75,509,000 firm fixed price contract for Patriot missile system radar upgrade kits. Work will be performed in Andover, Mass., and El Paso, Texas, and is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, 2013. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. One bid was solicited on Aug. 26, 2008. Aviation and Missile Command Contracting Center, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., is the contracting activity (W31P4Q-09-G-0001). AIR FORCE
EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. — Northrop Grumman believes NASA’s upcoming exploitation of the Global Hawk autonomous unmanned air vehicle for science missions will pave the way for regular unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) operations in controlled airspace and possibly lead to dedicated commercial applications.
Losing bidder PlanetSpace has filed a protest of NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) awards to SpaceX and Orbital Sciences Corp. Under contracts awarded earlier this month totaling $3.5 billion, SpaceX of Hawthorne, Calif., and Orbital of Dulles, Va., will launch unpiloted vehicles to deliver pressurized and unpressurized cargo to the International Space Station (Aerospace DAILY, Jan. 5). Chicago-based PlanetSpace, which includes Lockheed Martin, ATK and Boeing, proposed the space shuttle-derived Athena III for station resupply.
The U.S. Navy’s formal decision to base a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier at Naval Station Mayport in Jacksonville, Fla. has generated heated debate in Congress.
Lockheed Martin is hoping to get out ahead of the curve with its manned-optional small tactical craft (STC), sized for the new Littoral Combat Ship’s (LCS) mission packages.
Several senior Republican posts on the House Armed Services Committee’s subcommittees have been rearranged with new faces — and priorities — to match an enlarged Democratic majority and reduced Republican presence for the 111th Congress.
LONDON — The British Defense Ministry is examining whether to delay the point at which it commits financially to production of some weapon systems to allow time for more risk reduction. While senior ministry officials contend that progress is being made on improving time and cost performance on procurement programs, delays and cost overruns continue to occur.
The U.S. National Reconnaissance Office made its first use of the big United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy launch vehicle to launch an advanced electronic eavesdropping satellite toward geosynchronous orbit Jan. 17.
In the midst of arguments over the recent U.S. Navy selection of Naval Air Station Mayport as the home of the next nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, Northrop Grumman announced Jan. 15 is has received a $374 million contract for construction preparation for the carrier CVN 79.
EADS is carrying out trials to clear Australia’s A330-based KC-30B tanker to receive fuel, as well as dispense it. On Jan. 19 the company used its A310-based refueling boom flying testbed in conjunction with the first KC-30B during flight trials. The two aircraft made a series of contacts during trials off the southwest coast of Spain, according to EADS. The two aircraft are based at Getafe near Madrid, where EADS’ tanker conversion business is located.
HELO UAV: Eurocopter says it has flown a version of its EC155 in fully autonomous configuration, apparently under an unspecified government contract. The company declined to divulge further details of the demonstration, which is thought to be related to future French vertical lift unmanned aerial vehicle concepts. The French recently picked Boeing’s Unmanned Little Bird over the EADS Calibri for a naval unmanned aerial vehicle deck landing systems demonstration.
NEW DELHI — The Indian army test fired its 290-kilometer-range BrahMos missile Jan. 20 at Pokhran in Rajasthan’s desert. Defense Minister A.K. Antony denied that the test was directed at Pakistan, with whom tensions have been high since the Mumbai terror attacks last November. “The test was pre-planned and not directed against any country,” he said.
Eurocopter CEO Lutz Bertling says his company plans to bid its EC145 for the U.S. Army’s re-started Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH) program. New requirements for the ARH are currently in preparation following cancellation of a contract with Bell Helicopter Textron last year in a process that is expected to continue until spring (Aerospace DAILY, Jan. 12). Boeing, Bell and AgustaWestland also are expected to compete.
