NASA and the European Space Agency have identified several areas of “significant mutual interest” to pursue as the U.S. agency and its international partners cobble together plans for developing lunar-exploration hardware. Potential areas of cooperation include Ariane V-based lunar cargo-landing systems, lunar orbital and surface infrastructure, and systems for communications and navigation on the moon. The two agencies also agreed on the importance of having two different crew vehicles able to reach the moon.
TAKEOVER BID: Inmarsat says it has received a signal from U.S. hedge fund Harbinger that it may attempt to take over the U.K.-based mobile satellite service (MSS) operator. Inmarsat cautioned that the move is “very preliminary” and “may or may not lead to an offer” for the company, the largest MSS player. However, analysts have speculated for months that Harbinger will attempt to leverage its 28.8 percent share in Inmarsat with holdings in two U.S.
GUIDANCE ANTICIPATED: The U.K. Defense Ministry is expected to sign-off on a number of key projects following the approval of the “Complex Weapons” option within the U.K. Defense Ministry’s latest planning round. Programs likely to get the nod at the Farnborough Air Show this week include the Loitering Munition assessment phase, both the light and heavy elements of the Future Anti-ship Guided Weapon, a Storm Shadow cruise missile enhancement package, and the first element of the Selective Precision Effects at Range project.
CSAR REVISITED: In the true military tradition of hurry up and wait, the U.S. Air Force seems to be revving up its acquisition and selection machinery in the $15 billion combat, search and rescue replacement helicopter (CSAR-X) competition. The service, sources say, is looking at a second interim evaluation board review with competitors in mid-August, and maybe even a final proposal request soon after. But all of this is raising some eyebrows.
SOYUZ SHIPMENT: The first shipment of Russian equipment for the new Soyuz launch complex under construction at Arianespace’s Kourou, French Guiana, spaceport is on its way from St. Petersburg aboard the container ship Flinterland. The 160 containers from the Samara Space Center, KBOM and NPO Lavotchkin are expected to arrive in Cayenne, French Guiana, in two weeks. Russian specialists are due to arrive later this month to begin installing the hardware. Two more shipments will follow. The launch pad is to become operational by mid-2009.
INSECT LIFE: BAE Systems is anticipated to this week unveil its Mantis long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) concept using the platform of the Farnborough Air Show. The UAV design is intended to meet intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance requirements, and could be a competitor to the General Atomics Predator B for future U.K. Defense Ministry procurements (Aerospace DAILY, July 8).
With a Pentagon procurement slump expected in coming years, the U.S. Air Force is turning to its allies with a strategy to build up capacity, including materiel, training and support, around the world. One area seeing a lot of attention through this strategy is airlift. Among continued efforts with Europe is a push for NATO to procure a C-17 from USAF, on top of the two already on contract from Boeing. The partner nations will also stand up a homebase for the small strategic airlift fleet at Papa, Hungary, and led initially by a USAF colonel.
Russian experts will get a look at a pyrotechnic bolt they hope will aid their investigation of separation anomalies on the past two Soyuz reentries after a touch-and-go extravehicular activity (EVA) at the International Space Station (ISS) July 10.
FAST RESPONSE: The U.S. Coast Guard will not make a decision on the selection of its Fast Response Cutter (FRC) until September or early October of 2008 according to a memorandum sent to service members by Commandant Adm. Gary Blore. “While the Coast Guard is interested in obtaining a patrol boat as soon as possible, it is even more important that we acquire the FRC that represents the best value, one intended to serve the public for over 20 years,” Blore says.
THINK POSITIVE: British Defense Secretary Des Browne says it might be more productive to praise the NATO members doing yeoman’s work in Afghanistan rather than criticize the ones that haven’t been pulling their weight. Bush administration officials – as well as many members of Congress – have criticized several NATO members for not contributing enough money and manpower in Afghanistan.
LITTLE BIRD: Boeing thinks the Nunn-McCurdy cost-growth breach on the U.S. Army’s Bell ARH-70A Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (Aerospace DAILY, July 10) could provide another chance for its A/MH-6X Little Bird. The company dusted off its losing ARH contender a couple of years ago, when Bell first got into trouble, and flew two helicopters built for the original competition, but has been using them to develop its optionally piloted Unmanned Little Bird (ULB).
The combat effectiveness of Danish F-16 fighter pilots is set to receive a boost from a new low-cost, digital 3D-Audio and active-noise-reduction (ANR) technology designed to reduce their workload significantly. The technology provides 360-degree, three-dimensional audio threat warnings to the pilot and may eventually end up in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and other fixed- and rotary-wing platforms.
Singapore’s defense establishment has been dedicated to in-house development of “cutting edge technologies that will never be for sale” since the 1970s, says Singapore Minister of Defense Teo Chee Hean.
The U.S. Senate needs to approve a defense trade cooperation treaty between the U.S. and Britain to achieve common goals of interoperability and coalition effectiveness, Britain’s defense minister says. Des Browne, the British secretary of state for defense, says the U.S.-U.K. defense trade cooperation treaty, already approved by Parliament, would help companies on both sides of the Atlantic design and create new capabilities and improve interoperability.
CENTRAL COMMAND: U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus was confirmed by the U.S. Senate July 10 to lead U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM). Petraeus was nominated for the position after Adm. William Fallon’s March resignation following press coverage that portrayed a schism between Fallon and the White House (Aerospace DAILY, March 13). Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno will be taking Petraeus’ place in Iraq. Odierno received his fourth star and was confirmed as Chief of the Multi-National Forces in Iraq July 10 as well.
SILENT TREATMENT: U.S. and allied officials continue to get the proverbial cold shoulder from China over explaining its January 2007 ballistic missile antisatellite shootdown. “We have yet to receive satisfactory answers to a number of lingering questions,” said Patricia McNerney, U.S. principal deputy assistant secretary for international security and nonproliferation. The U.S. continues to express concerns over a general lack of transparency by Chinese leaders.
EURO MISSILE DEFENSE: An Aster 30 missile successfully intercepted a target simulating a theater ballistic missile in the first operational test of the Franco-Italian SAMP/T ground-based medium-range missile defense system. The test was conducted at the missile test range in Biscarosse, in southwestern France. Expected to begin series delivery toward the end of the year, the SAMP/T will be the first European system capable of defeating theater ballistic missiles of the Scud class.
MESA, Ariz. – A prototype of Boeing’s AH-64D Apache Block III attack helicopter will cooperate with the company’s A160T Hummingbird unmanned rotorcraft during the U.S. Army’s C4ISR On-The-Move (OTM) demonstration under way at Fort Dix in New Jersey.
Investment by Norwegian-based Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace in a new advanced materials and composite aerostructures plant is beginning to pay off, now that the company has signed a long-term framework agreement with Lockheed Martin for the production of parts in composite and titanium for the new F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF).
The U.S. Army is committed to navigating the Nunn-McCurdy breach of its Bell ARH-70 Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH) as quickly as possible, Army Secretary Pete Geren said July 10.
GIOVE B: EADS Astrium says the second Galileo test satellite, Giove B, has successfully completed in-orbit testing. The spacecraft is intended to validate key technologies of the European satellite navigation system, notably a passive hydrogen maser clock, and to provide test signals that replicate the actual frequencies and formats that will be used in the operational system. Astrium notes that Giove B also closely replicates the design adopted for the first four operational satellites that are to be launched in 2010 to demonstrate and validate Galileo performance.
A National Research Council (NRC) panel is recommending NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) consider orbiting a microwave radiometer to cover an anticipated climate data gap before the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) comes online.
The delivery of Martian water ice to the Phoenix lander’s organic chemistry instrument remains the highest priority for the mission during the coming week, although efforts have been slowed by the ice’s toughness. Phoenix has had trouble trying to scrape enough ice off the extremely hard ice layer near the spacecraft to ensure a significant quantity can be delivered to the Thermal and Evolved Gas Analyzer (TEGA) instrument. The robotic arm was used in early July to remove soil from a 9 x 13 inch section where the ice samples will be obtained.
U.S. lawmakers, in their first chance to respond to the Pentagon plan to recompete the U.S. Air Force’s new aerial refueling tanker, cited the service’s alleged shortcomings as the pinnacle of a failed defense acquisition system. “How does a high-priority acquisition program, with intense oversight and scrutiny at the highest levels of the Department of Defense, fall so short of the mark,” said Rep. Jim Saxton (N.J.), the ranking Republican on the House Armed Services (HASC) Committee’s airland subcommittee.
