TYPHOON TANKING: EADS has begun air-to-air refueling clearance work on the Eurofighter Typhoon from the Airbus A310 multirole tanker transport. The aim is to have the aircraft certification on the A310 MRTT by the end of the year. Nine flights are planned to gain the approval. Two Eurofighter aircraft, instrumented production aircraft IPA 3 and IPA 7, have been used so far for the flight trials. These are being carried out from the EADS Military Air Systems site in Manching in southern Germany.
NASA Ames Research Center will put its small spacecraft technical expertise in collaboration with Odyssey Moon Ventures to develop lunar landing technology. Odyssey Moon was the first sign-up for the $30 million Google Lunar X-Prize competition to land a robotic rover on the moon by Dec. 31, 2012. The Ames collaboration may be used toward that effort but is being extended for Odyssey Moon’s more general interest in commercializing lunar exploration.
The new Pentagon peer review required for military acquisitions of more than $1 billion seems tailored to prevent the kind of questions and concerns that have plagued the Air Force’s two biggest recent procurement headaches: the service’s $15 billion combat, search and rescue (CSAR-X) helicopter buy and its $35 billion tanker replacement award. Competitors in both procurements questioned how the Air Force formed and changed requirements during the process. Both programs are also currently in limbo, with initially awarded contracts halted.
BAD LANGUAGE: Opaque government language of “streamlining” is causing concern in Britain’s Defense Intelligence Staff (DIS). The DIS provides all-source intelligence analysis for the Defense Ministry and government, ranging from political to technical assessments. British national press reports last week suggest that around 120 jobs will be cut, with a further 70 or so positions to be relocated from Central London. Part of the DIS is currently in the Old War Office Building in Whitehall.
France’s naval land-attack cruise missile development, the MBDA SCALP Naval, is due to begin test firings next year, following a series of program milestones in 2008. Aerodynamic configuration trials have been recently completed using French research agency Onera’s wind-tunnel facility in Modane. Component tests have also been carried out during the course of 2008, including on the main parts of the vertical-launch container – for surface-launch applications – and on elements of the submarine-launch capsule. Warhead trials have also been carried out.
NO PROTECTIONISM: Pentagon acquisition czar John Young says the Pentagon’s decision this fall to terminate the $1.5 billon development contract with Northrop Grumman/EADS North America for an A330-200-based refueling tanker was not aimed at protecting Boeing, the only U.S. widebody maker. In actuality, the decision was based on the discovery of acquisition missteps on the part of the Air Force during the source selection. “There is nothing in this decision that involves protectionism,” Young says, adding that Europe could be more open to U.S. contractors.
NASA’s decision to defer servicing the Hubble Space Telescope until May 2009 will have a domino effect on efforts to replace the space shuttle with the shuttle-derived Ares I/Orion, possibly delaying a key test when time is money for the follow-on project.
SECOND LIFE: The first two of six ex-U.S. Navy Sikorsky UH-3H Sea Kings going to the Argentine navy are flying after being shipped from the United States and reassembled. The helicopters are replacing three Sea Kings lost in April last year when Argentina’s icebreaker Almirante Irizar caught fire in the South Atlantic. They will participate in the summer Antarctic campaigns, resupplying Argentine bases. The first two helos had just retired from U.S. Navy service and were refurbished by U.S.-based Clayton International.
ALLY BUILDING: It seems like there’s a newfound enthusiasm among Western countries to build new militaries. With the United States and partners involved already in rebuilding the Iraqi military and the Afghanistan National Army, Kosovo is the latest country to be preparing for an influx of assistance and equipment. German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung has just completed talks with Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu and offered assistance in building the Kosovo Security Force (KSF).
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – Boeing is assessing whether there is a possibility to extend production of its Delta II launcher beyond the current batch of 17. So far 10 of them have been sold to the U.S. Air Force, and an 11th has a commercial costumer. According to Ken Heinly, Boeing vice president of launch products and services, there also is a good chance the fourth Italian Cosmo SkyMed will ride on a Vandenberg-launched Delta II.
France has earmarked 101.25 billion euros for equipment programs in its newly unveiled future year defense plan covering proposed budgets for 2009-2014. The total outlay during that period is expected to be 184 billion euros, which represents a significant increase over the plan it replaces. One of the goals of the equipment and spending plan is to guarantee the long-term design and engineering capacity in the French defense industry, according to Defense Minister Herve Morin.
The next U.S. president could move forward with a new competition to buy the Air Force’s much-needed aerial tanker replacements with an idea quietly crafted this fall at the Pentagon as a potential compromise. But, for now, the idea has been dashed amid the political firestorm over the $35 billion program. Pentagon acquisition chief John Young says his team discussed the notion of a new strategy to judge the existing KC-X proposals put forth by rivals Northrop Grumman/EADS North America and Boeing.
An engineering team at NASA’s Langley Research Center is studying ways to accelerate development of the vehicles that will replace the space shuttle as the U.S. route to space in case the next president and Congress want to close the upcoming gap in human spaceflight capability.
PARIS – Oto Melara has unveiled a full-scale mockup of its 76mm Super Rapid gun, fitted with the Strales guidance system for the DART-guided round, at Euronaval here. The Finmeccanica company also announced Oct. 29 that it has closed the first export deal for the system, which was sponsored by the Italian navy as the main missile-defense system for Italy’s FREMM frigates.
The three industry team winners for U.S. Army-led Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) technology development contracts already are touting their prospective vehicles, each jockeying for lead position in what promises to be a 27-month slog to the penultimate demonstration selection.
Boeing has selected BAE Systems to supply a next-generation digital electronic warfare suite (DEWS) for future international versions of the F-15. The system is being proposed to Japan and Saudi Arabia, and will be offered for retrofit to U.S. and exported F-15s.
ANGRY CZAR: Pentagon acquisition chief John Young is less than pleased with the Air Force’s problems providing a coherent fiscal 2010 budget proposal to the Office of the Secretary of Defense. “There are too many games being played,” he says, citing the Air Force’s proposal that its sister services – the Army and Navy – should help pick up hefty bills for building USAF satellites. Air Force officers argue that the missile warning, communications and navigation services are provided to all of the services and the cost should be equally shared.
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – The U.S. Army’s Special Operations Command (USASOC) is developing new protection systems and equipment for its helicopter fleet and refining fielded programs based on soldier feedback from Iraq.
Data from the NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) is providing additional evidence that water remained on the planet’s surface longer and 1 billion years more recently than earlier envisioned. Researchers examining data from the orbiter’s Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars have found evidence of hydrated silica, commonly known as opal. The hydrated, or water-containing, mineral deposits are telltale signs of where and when water was present on ancient Mars.
TRAINER SUPPORT: L-3 Vertex Aerospace and Boeing Integrated Defense Systems are already working on a potentially $569 million U.S. Navy deal for logistics services and maintenance materials for T-45A and T-45C trainer aircraft based in Meridian, Miss., Kingville, Texas, and Pensacola, Fla. If all four option years are exercised, work could run through September 2013, they said Oct. 27. The support covers 71 T-45A and 108 T-45C.
U.S. Army demand for aircraft parts contributed to a surprising rise in the nation’s durable goods orders in September, the Commerce Department reported Oct. 29. Nationwide demand for durable goods rose 0.8 percent during the month to $208 billion after declining 5.5 percent in August. Orders for defense aircraft and parts totaled $5.7 billion during the month, up 10.1 percent from August. All of those orders were from the Army and were for parts, according to Adriana Stoica, a Commerce aircraft analyst.
Although Soltam’s automatic and autonomous Cardom mortar has been in service for some time, it received new attention at last month’s Israel Defense Industry display near Tel Aviv. Having now been integrated into the new Israel Defense Force (IDF) all-digital division deployed on the Golan Heights, Cardom units have become the mainstay for rapid tactical artillery on-call support missions, which can become crucial elements in any future conflict with Syria.
JLTV CONTRACTS AWARDED: After a tense few days of speculation and leaks of the winners in the media, the U.S. Army announced the three teams that have won contracts for the Technology Development Phase of the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) contract. Lockheed Martin won $35.9 million, General Tactical Vehicles won $45.1 million and BAE Systems Land and Armament won $40.5 million to perform the work by Jan. 31, 2011 on the JLTV Family of Vehicles.
Raytheon plans to launch a small unmanned air vehicle from a submerged U.S. Navy submarine early next year to demonstrate its concept for extending the boat’s sensor range in littoral operations. Last month the company demonstrated its UAV launch concept under Phase 1 of the Submarine Over the Horizon Organic Capabilities (SOTHOC) program funded by the Office of Naval Research and the Submarine Force.
