HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. – The U.S. Air Force is deploying its first CV-22 Osprey aircraft to Africa next month, according to Air Force Special Operations Command officials. The aircraft will participate in Flintlock 09, an exercise in the trans-Saharan region of the continent intended to help African nations patrol their own territory, according to a command statement. With poor road systems and vast distances to travel on the continent, the Bell-Boeing CV-22 is seen as well suited to provide the speed and reach needed for such missions.
BAE Systems plans to introduce the latest iteration of its highly successful RG Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle series, dubbed the RG31 Mk6E, later this month.
U.S. hedge fund Harbinger is preparing to begin filings with U.S. government agencies that would permit it to make a bid for mobile satellite service leader Inmarsat. Harbinger owns 48.4 percent of SkyTerra, the parent firm of hybrid geostationary MSS operator Mobile Satellite Ventures (MSV), and 28.8 percent of Inmarsat, as well as a stake in TerreStar, another hybrid operator.
Gen. Norton Schwartz, the new chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force, says he wants to repair the “unfortunate deterioration” of the relationship between the service and its contractors while also re-establishing trust in the service’s beleaguered acquisition system.
Northrop Grumman plans to begin rooftop testing next week of the Scalable Agile Beam Radar (SABR) under company-funded development for retrofit into the Lockheed Martin F-16, while the rival Raytheon Advanced Combat Radar (RACR) is in laboratory testing. Both companies hope to flight-test their active electronically scanned array (AESA) radars in the F-16 in 2009.
ELECTRONIC PAYLOAD: Northrop Grumman has completed integrating all electronic units of the payload module for the third Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) military communications satellite. The company is under contract to provide three communications payloads to AEHF prime Lockheed Martin. The payload module consists of the complete set of radio frequency, processing, routing and control hardware and software that perform the satellite’s protected communications function, and was integrated with Lockheed Martin’s A2100 satellite structure.
Acting Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley says the service is in talks with Northrop Grumman to proceed with termintaing its contract to build KC-45 tankers for the Pentagon. The termination follows last week’s decision by Defense Secretary Robert Gates to punt a recompete of the controversial KC-135 replacement deal to the next administration (Aerospace DAILY, Sept. 11).
LONDON – The British Army and Royal Air Force continue to face a number of problems that could affect their fighting capabilities in Iran and Afghanistan. An operational concern that affects both services resulted from political pressure from London to validate the investment in new C-130J airlifters. The RAF was obligated to deploy the new J-models with their automated airdrop systems to Afghanistan instead of the long-serving C-130Ks that had been used for high-accuracy air drops to support special operations forces (SOF) for many years.
NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston came through Hurricane Ike in fairly good order, but power, water and other issues are likely to keep it closed to normal operations until next week, with the effect on upcoming shuttle missions remaining to be seen. Commercial electrical power was restored to the campus-like field center on Sept. 14, but managers were cautious about shifting away from the diesel generators used during the storm to avoid damage to critical computer systems from power surges, an agency spokesman said Sept. 15.
NASA will spend $485 million to send an orbiter to Mars in 2013 that will investigate the atmosphere for clues to the evolution of the planet’s climate. Dubbed Maven, for Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, the spacecraft will be built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Littleton, Colo., which also built the Mars Odyssey and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter probes, as well as the Phoenix Mars lander.
A system giving pilots approaching their target a view of any friendly forces in the area has been demonstrated by BAE Systems during U.S. Joint Forces Command’s Exercise Bold Eagle Plus at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. The combat identification (CID) server allows pilots to select a point on the ground and, in less than 10 seconds, receive information on any friendly forces within a kilometer radius, according to Eric Hansen, BAE business development manager.
A provision in the House-passed 2009 National Defense Authorization Act restricting contract awards for the U.S. Army’s Future Combat Systems (FCS) has garnered push back from the Senate Airland subcommittee, which is appealing to the Senate Armed Services Committee to make changes.
The first of two reports on the U.S. Air Force’s mismanagement of its nuclear mission – as well as greater departmental issues over strategic weapons – was issued by the Defense Department on Sept. 12, recommending the realignment of all nuclear responsibilities under a new, unified command.
GREEN AVIATION FORUM • September 23, 2008 • Madrid, Spain Don’t miss the second annual AVIATION WEEK Management Forum dedicated to green initiatives in the airline industry, including: emissions treading; carbon offsets; and air traffic management improvement. Learn more at www.aviationweek.com/forums or call +1.212.904.3195.
LONDON – Disruptive technologies such as directed energy weapons and the use of electro-magnetic pulse are being identified as “emerging issues” for space security in a key U.K. industry report.
NEW DELHI – India has held flight trials of its first indigenously developed beyond-visual range air-to-air missile, called Astra. The weapons was test fired at the Balasore Integrated Test Range in the East Indian state of Orissa for the second time in two days on Sept. 14. The tests are part of the second phase of missile development flight trials, according to the Defense Research Development Organization (DRDO). The missiles were fired from a ground launcher.
FUEL PROBE: The U.S. Air Force has awarded Sikorsky Aerospace Services a $2 million contract to supply 13 aerial refueling assemblies for H-60 helicopters. The fuel probe assembly is an aftermarket option for the H-60, provided by the aftermarket division of Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp.
SAUDI RADAR: Boeing has been awarded a contract for the initial phase of upgrading the radar on Saudi Arabia’s fleet of five E-3A Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft. The foreign military sale, not to exceed $42 million, is a first phase contract which includes a study to determine which parts are obsolete, and then the location of replacement parts for testing and modification. The next phase involves production and installation of Northrop Grumman-built Radar System Improvement Program (RSIP) kits, software integration and testing and crew training.
NEW DELHI – India intends to use the 20 Harpoon Block II missiles it plans to purchase from the U.S. to modernize its air force’s anti-surface warfare mission capabilities, as well as improve its naval operational flexibility. The U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) notified Congress of the sale of the missiles and associated equipment and services on Sept. 9. It was one in a multibillion dollar batch of 15 proposed Foreign Military Sales, mostly to customers in the Middle East (Aerospace DAILY, Sept. 11).
