HEAVY TOPIC: The Pentagon’s Missile Defense Advisory Committee will meet Sept. 16 to receive classified briefings by Missile Defense Agency senior staff, program managers, senior Defense Department leaders and representatives from industry and the armed services on developing and deploying space-based sensors and interceptors, according to a Sept. 11 notice in the Federal Register.
STALL SUCCESS: The Boeing/NASA X-48B remotely piloted blended-wing research aircraft was successfully stalled at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Calif., for the first time on Sept. 4, going 2 degrees beyond the maximum coefficient of lift and recovering without difficulty, Phantom Works project manager Mike Kisska says. Stall testing is a key milestone for the unconventional, tailless vehicle, which made its initial stall with fixed leading-edge slats, a forward center of gravity and 23-degree angle of attack.
A low-budget test earlier this year demonstrated long-range electric power transmission at frequencies and distances that could be used in an operational space solar power (SSP) system. Longtime SSP advocate John Mankins used less than $1 million put up by Discovery Communications Inc., plus a lot of volunteer labor by students from Texas A&M and Japan’s Kobe University, to collect solar energy at high elevation on the Hawaiian island of Maui and beam it as microwaves to a receiver 148 kilometers (92 miles) away on the island of Hawaii.
SERVICING MISSIONS: Large-scale space science missions are likely to benefit from the experience NASA has gained sending humans to service the Hubble Space Telescope, and that it expects to gain servicing the International Space Station (ISS) with its new Canadian robot. NASA foresees additional human servicing missions to large space observatories after 2025, provided the planned Orion spacecraft is sufficiently capable.
NEW DELHI — The Indian navy’s recent request for proposal (RFP) for 16 multi-role helicopters may be the step toward commonality in the fleet that it has been yearning for.
SIDELINED SENATORS: U.S. Sens. Kit Bond (R-Mo.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) are urging defense appropriators to back a proposal to split off and give a new intelligence subcommittee some spending oversight. They focused their comments on alleged stonewalling from intelligence officials over a “major overhead technology demonstration.” Bond at a Sept. 10 defense appropriations mark-up said it was time to put the intelligence community on a path to a “responsible” purchase of this system.
ILL OMENS: The scrapping of the U.S. Air Force’s latest attempt to replace its aging fleet of KC-135 aerial refueling tankers could presage the fate of other contentious procurements in the twilight of the Bush administration — including the Air Force’s next highest acquisition priority, the Combat, Search and Rescue replacement (CSAR-X) helicopter. Like the tanker, the CSAR-X has endured bitter protests and delays, and the Air Force is scrambling to make an award by the fall, despite a looming Pentagon inspector general report.
REPLACEMENT ORDER: Hughes Network Services (HNS) says it is on the verge of ordering a new spacecraft to replace Spaceway 3, a broadband satellite brought into service in April that already has 40,000 subscribers. HNS officials predict hot consumer demand in rural areas and the fringes of cities in the U.S., coupled with the gradual migration of the company’s 370,000 other subscribers to the new spacecraft, will exhaust its capacity within three years.
PARIS — The German government no longer believes the Airbus Military assumption that the A400M is six months late with another six-month delay possible. Instead, a senior defense ministry official says at least a nine-month delay is already assured.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicated new calendar listing.) Sept. 16 - 19 — ION GNSS 2008, “Meet the Worlds Leading Authorities on Global Navigation Satellite Systems,” Savannah Convention Center, Savannah, Ga. For more information go to www.ion.org
ONE VOICE: Directors of AeA (formerly the American Electronics Association) and the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) are in discussions to merge the trade associations’ memberships and programs. If carried through, the roll-up would be just the latest in a slew of lobbying organizations merging so industry can have a stronger voice in Washington (Aerospace DAILY, Dec. 17, 2007). “Together we would be ‘the’ national technology association, unrivaled in size and clout,” claimed ITAA Chairman Hank Steininger.
AUSTRALIAN BUILDUP: Australia must respond to rising Asian military spending by further developing key capabilities, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says. The country needs enhanced naval capabilities to protect sea lines of communication and support soldiers ashore, he says, while calling for an air force that can deter and defeat. Industry executives expect Australia to enlarge its submarine force.
The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has unveiled an “aggressive” program to demonstrate economical and environmentally friendly conversion of coal-to-liquid (CTL) fuels.
Russian controllers agreed to delay docking a Progress cargo carrier launched to the International Space Station (ISS) on Sept. 10 until Mission Control Center-Houston returns to full capability following Hurricane Ike. The docking, originally set for Sept. 12, will now take place on Sept. 17.
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CARD GAMES: Two Russian air force Tupolev Tu-160 Blackjack strategic bombers will return to their base Sept. 15 following a five-day deployment to Venezuela, according to Russia’s Novosti news agency. Russia is planning to hold a naval exercise with Venezuela later this year, including deploying the Kirov-class cruiser Peter the Great. The deployments are seen as part of the deteriorating relationship between the U.S. and Russia following the latter’s military incursion into Georgia.
TSAT APPROACHING: Industry expects the U.S Air Force to release the request for final proposal revisions for the Transformational Satellite (TSAT) program within a month, more than a year after Boeing and a Lockheed Martin/Northrop Grumman team submitted their original bids to build the protected-communications network. They are competing for the space segment development and production phase, which includes five satellites scheduled to begin launching in 2018.
AT SEA: Sea Launch Commander and Sea Launch Odyssey are en route to an equatorial position at 154 deg. W. Long, where they are scheduled to launch Intelsat’s Galaxy 19 spacecraft on Sept. 23. The floating control center and launch pad left the Sea Launch home port at Long Beach, Calif. Liftoff is scheduled for 5:28 a.m. EDT, the start of a two-hour launch window. Built by Space Systems/Loral, Galaxy 19 will provide C-, Ku- and Ka-band service to customers in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean from an orbital slot at 97 deg. W. Long.
BIGGER BETTER?: The cancellation of the U.S. Air Force’s replacement tanker Request For Proposals (RFP) would seem to benefit Boeing by giving them more time to cobble together a proposal for a larger aircraft. What’s not obvious is whether it will be worthwhile for Boeing to start investing in a new design without the updated U.S. Air Force requirements or the details of the new RFP.
PARIS — Diehl BGT Defense and German defense ministry flight engineers are undertaking flight trials of the Hope standoff penetrator bomb over the coming two weeks. The trials are taking place at the Swedish flight test center Vidsel in the north of the country; it is Europe’s largest overland test range. The trials followed last year’s drop tests at the Italian test range of Decimomannu on Sardinia. BGT is trying to interest the German air force in the weapon. So far, however, it is merely a demonstrator project.
PAKISTANI F-16s: A skeptical House Foreign Affairs subcommittee plans to examine Bush administration plans to allow foreign aid money for Pakistan to be used to upgrade that country’s F-16 fleet. Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-N.Y.), chairman of the Middle East and South Asia subcommittee holding the Sept. 16 hearing, has questioned why Pakistan needs to upgrade fighter jets to battle terrorists in the mountainous region between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) wants Congress to reprogram about $400 million allocated to build a virtual security border fence in the Southwest to fund the completion of a real fence along the Mexican border. Customs Commissioner Ralph Basham says the money is needed to finish the mandated physical fence by year’s end because the agency ran out of money due to increased costs of materials, from fuel to concrete.
LONDON — The initial Tranche 2 standard of the Eurofighter Typhoon has received type acceptance from the NATO Eurofighter and Tornado Management Agency (NETMA). Type acceptance clears the way for delivery of the Block 8 standard of the aircraft to the four partner nations: Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom. All four already have the Tranche 1 aircraft in operational service in the air defense role. The Royal Air Force previously has had a declared air-to-surface capability with some Tranche 1 aircraft.
DECADAL SURVEY: The National Research Council is launching “Astro2010,” its next decadal survey in astronomy and astrophysics that will prioritize the scientific community’s goals for 2010-2020. The committee carrying out the survey will also make recommendations for federal funding priorities and potential science spacecraft. The decadal surveys are taken seriously by U.S. lawmakers in assessing NASA’s responsiveness to the science community. The panel’s first meeting is scheduled for December.
