STARTING UP: Lockheed Martin plans to ferry the first F-35A back to its Fort Worth, Texas, site on Oct. 24, following the completion of engine air-start tests at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., over the past three weeks. The tests, which included 12 successful airstarts, clear the way for the next Joint Strike Fighter flight-test milestones – supersonic flight and weapons bay door opening in-flight. These will be attempted with vehicle AA-1, which was used for the airstart tests, around December and January 2009, according to Lockheed Martin.
Michael Strianese has been named chairman of the board of L-3 Communications, adding to the duties of president and CEO that he assumed two years ago after the death of co-founder Frank Lanza. Strianese’s promotion, which has not been formally announced, was made on Oct. 7 and disclosed in an 8-K filing last week with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Technicians at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory are being forced to replace a complex series of tubes in the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) descent stage because of unqualified welds, but a program official insists the work will not jeopardize the September/October 2009 launch target.
The U.S. Air Force confirmed Oct. 22 that it is indeed delaying the contract award for the service’s $15 billion combat, search and rescue helicopter acquisition program. Aerospace DAILY reported Oct. 21 that sources said the contract – which the Air Force had said would be awarded this fall – would be shifted to May or June (Aerospace DAILY, Oct. 22).
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Gen. Robert Kehler, who oversees the U.S. Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) here, tells Aviation Week that he supports delaying the contract award for the Transformational Satellite (TSAT) program. He further says he does not view the expected cancellation of the existing competition between Boeing and Lockheed Martin as a program termination. A downselect between the two design approaches was set for December, but the Pentagon’s acquisition chief is mulling a termination to that competition (Aerospace DAILY, Oct. 21).
SPRINGFIELD, Va. – Despite a decline in the U.S. Defense Department’s budget in the coming years, it will eventually level off at a much higher rate than just a decade ago, according to a topline forecast from the Government Electronics and Information Technology Association (GEIA).
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Boeing says it will appeal a jury award against the company in a suit brought by ICO Global Communications that could cost it hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. The suit charged the aerospace giant was guilty of fraud and breach of contract in demanding a $400 million additional payment to complete a batch of satellites it was building for a 12 medium Earth orbit constellation that ICO had planned to deploy in the 1990s, before it filed for bankruptcy.
SATISH DHAWAN SPACE CENTER, India – India’s first mission to the moon is under way, after a clockwork launch of its uprated Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C11) from this Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) facility in the Bay of Bengal. Liftoff of the four-stage rocket came at 6:22 a.m. Oct. 22 local time (8:52 p.m. Oct. 21 EDT), after a 52-hour countdown. Launch occurred from the new Second Launch Pad on the facility at Sriharikota Island, about 80 kilometers north of Chennai.
Estonia is moving ahead with building up its unmanned naval vehicle capability, and has acquired two unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs). U.S. manufacturer Hydroid has received a contract to supply two of its Remus 100 UUVs to the Estonian armed forces. The system, fitted with a variety of sensors, including a sonar, is designed in part to be used in mine-countermeasures missions, although other applications include surveying and scientific sampling.
YSTERPLAAT AIR FORCE BASE, South Africa — Defense manufacturer Denel and the South African government are trying to hammer out the details of a deal to secure the future of the air force’s Rooivalk attack helicopter.
END GAME: The U.S. Air Force’s provisional Cyber Command will remain in place, likely for a few months, working to develop a road map and set of requirements to stand up the recently announced 24th Air Force, according to a spokesperson. Meanwhile, the Air Force will be narrowing down the list of possible bases for the 24th, and then an Environmental Impact Study will have to be done to determine the best headquarters (Aerospace DAILY, Oct. 20).
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SPECIAL NORMALCY: The Pentagon said Oct. 20 that Italy and the United States have signed a new Reciprocal Defense Procurement Memorandum of Understanding that allows Italy to continue as one of the so-called qualifying countries under DOD acquisition regulations. Offers of Italian products would continue to be exempt from Buy American and Balance of Payments Program policy, and U.S. products presumably will be exempt from equivalent buy-Italian provisions.
SPRINGFIELD, Va. – Energy as a source of geopolitical power – and stress – is changing global security and has major implications for U.S. defense needs, according to an analysis by David Potts of Lockheed Martin for the Government Electronics and Information Technology Association (GEIA).
Engineers working on the early design of NASA’s planned Ares V heavy lift launch vehicle have about 600 aerodynamic data points on the big rocket’s performance during ascent after a series of wind tunnel tests run with a 15-in. outer mold line model. Based on the latest configuration of NASA’s planned next-generation moon rocket, the tests simulate the aerodynamic loads the vehicle will experience from shortly after liftoff until it drops its twin solid-fuel boosters at a speed of about Mach 4.3.
MILESTONE PASSED: Northrop Grumman announced it has completed successful qualification testing of single board computer (SBC) engineering models. The Maxwell Technologies-built SBCs will handle the hundreds of millions of instructions per second (MIPS) involved in spacecraft control and data processing on the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS). The qualification level tests simulated the dynamic and thermal environments encountered during launch and operation in space.
SPACECRAFT AWARD: Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) says it has won a contract for a high-powered spacecraft for “one of the world’s premier satellite operators.” A spokeswoman says the satellite will be based on its 1300-series design and is for a longtime customer who is not ready to announce yet. SS/L announced the win in advance because it will materially affect its earnings, in compliance with Securities and Exchange Commission rules prior to the announcement of its third-quarter results.
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LONDON – The first of the Royal Saudi Air Force’s (RSAF) Tranche 2 Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft was flown Oct. 20 from BAE Systems’ Warton facility in the north of England. Saudi Arabia has 72 Typhoons on order, with formal delivery of the type to the RSAF expected to begin in June or July 2009. October also saw the start of deliveries of Tranche 2 aircraft to the U.K. Royal Air Force (RAF). The RAF will receive 91 Tranche 2 aircraft. The first two were delivered to RAF Coningsby Oct. 21.
PARIS – The European Space Agency (ESA) has decided to slip its ExoMars mission from 2013 to 2016 to allow more time to put together financing for the lander/rover project. A decision to rescope the mission to carry a much bigger array of scientific instruments has boosted the price tag to more than 1.2 billion euros ($1.6 billion), from 650 million euros originally, and ESA member states, in particular Italy and Germany, have made it clear they are not willing to put any more money into the initiative.
MDAC AGENDA: The U.S. Defense Department’s Missile Defense Advisory Committee will meet late this month and early November over developing and deploying space-based sensors and interceptors for U.S. homeland defense, as well as deployed forces and allies, from ballistic missile attack. The committee will also discuss countering adversary space systems and anti-satellite weapon systems. Topics tentatively scheduled for classified discussion Oct.
The contract award for the U.S. Air Force’s beleaguered $15 billion combat, search and rescue (CSAR-X) helicopter replacement program is likely to be slipped until May or June of next year, according to sources familiar with the acquisition. The Air Force has been steadfastly standing by its stated plan to award the contract this fall – with a Defense Acquisition Board (DAB) review scheduled for December – but additional review of the contract is taking longer than expected, sources say (Aerospace DAILY, Oct. 15).
