The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) has begun collective bargaining talks with Lockheed Martin. The contract covers nearly 6,000 employees at eight locations. Negotiations will continue through Feb. 27, with IAM members expected to vote on March 2 on the new contract, according to the union. The current three-year contract expires March 2.
A blue-ribbon panel on U.S. space industrial policy and export controls in Washington is asking top defense and intelligence officials to help remove commercial communications satellite systems from the State Department’s Munitions List.
REMOTE SENSING: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and Northrop Grumman Corp. plan to collaborate on the development of advanced remote sensing systems for space and Earth science measurements. The two organizations will sign a Space Act Agreement governing the collaboration on Feb. 21 during a ceremony at the Maryland State Capitol in Annapolis.
Space shuttle Mission Control in Houston will use three re-entry opportunities Feb. 20 to ensure space shuttle Atlantis can land at either Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida or Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. As Atlantis returns from the International Space Station (ISS), technicians at KSC’s Launch Complex 39A are preparing shuttle Endeavour for its next mission upcoming as early as March 11. The orbiter’s payload bay has just been loaded with Canada’s robotic dexterous manipulator and a Japanese cargo module for launch to the ISS.
Japan could buy Boeing F-15E Eagles and build them domestically while awaiting the arrival of the Lockheed Martin F-35, as an alternative to purchasing the F-22 Raptor, a senior Pentagon official suggests.
NEW DELHI – The Indian air force and government-owned Pawan Hans Helicopter Ltd. have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that finally grants Indian Air Force (IAF) pilots their longstanding wish to participate in civil flight operations while still in active service.
Tests are under way at NASA’s Ames Research Center to evaluate the sensors that will enable the upcoming Kepler mission to hunt for planets orbiting other stars. Scheduled to launch in February 2009, Kepler will measure tiny variations in the brightness of stars to find planets that pass in front of them during their orbits. Although many Jupiter-like gas giants already have been detected, Kepler scientists hope to find smaller terrestrial planets where water, and perhaps life, could exist.
The Humvee tops the U.S. Army’s unfunded priorities list at $1.6 billion, even though the service is requesting $990 million for 5,249 of the trucks in fiscal 2009. The Army’s plan is to replace its Humvee fleet with the Joint Lightweight Tactical Vehicle (JLTV), but the JLTV program is still in development and has suffered budget cuts of its own.
The U.S. Air Force’s top two officials are declaring the service’s support for the Bush administration’s limit on buying Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptors, after a high-level Air Force general asserted that the service would orchestrate Raptor acquisition beyond current plans. Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne and Gen. T. Michael Moseley, chief of staff, said late Feb. 15 that the Air Force “wholeheartedly supports” President Bush’s budget request for the F-22 program, which caps production at 183.
Orbital Sciences Corp. will build a new liquid-fueled medium lift launch vehicle as part of its winning proposal in NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) recompetition, adding $150 million of its own money to $170 million in federal seed money NASA will bring to the effort.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008 Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium Washington, DC AVIATION WEEK’S Laureate Awards were conceived 51 years ago to recognize the extraordinary achievements of individuals and teams in aerospace, aviation and defense. Today, this formal dinner and Awards ceremony is the industry’s premier event — attracting scores of industry pioneers and thought leaders from around the world.
HELO PLANT: AgustaWestland held a grand opening ceremony Feb. 19 for a 50,000 square-foot extension to its existing production facility in Philadelphia, allowing it to increase parts production and assemble the popular AW139 helicopter. When the new assembly line opens, the plant will employ 500 people, up from 200 in 2005, when the company began assembling the AW119 Koala there. The facility produces $100 million worth of components and parts for use at AugstaWestland plants in Italy and the U.K.
The top unfunded fiscal year 2009 Navy priorities show how stretched the service remains to fulfill its maritime and aviation needs. Leading the list – in priority, not cost – is the $548 million the service says it needs for maritime patrol improvements to solve critical operational and safety-of-flight issues. Funding is required for P-3 kit installations and research and development (R&D) for Multi-Mission Aircraft (MMA) acceleration minus funds already being transferred.
Lt. Gen. Don Hoffman, the three-star in charge of U.S. Air Force budgeting, said Feb. 15 that although he will not speculate on the likelihood of a protest in the upcoming KC-X tanker award, the Air Force is prepared for any contingency with a $240 million Tanker Transfer Fund.
The U.S. Navy is going ahead with individual $1.4 billion awards to rivals Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics for their respective DDG-1000 destroyers even while the chief of naval operations and others seem to be warning industry and Congress of the need to rein in shipbuilding design expectations.
EXPECTED DECLINE: The U.S. defense electronics market will be worth at least $102.6 billion until 2017 but will show a steady decline on an annual basis over the next 10 years, according to Forecast International consultants. The market will come off a high of $15.05 billion anually this year to $6.683 billion a year by 2017, which represents a 10-year drop of around $8.366 billion, or 56 percent, from its high mark. “The long-predicted post-9/11 market correction is now in effect,” says Richard Sterk, Forecast International senior analyst.
The powerpack for the recycled Apollo-era engine NASA hopes to send back to the moon got it first hot-fire test Feb. 15, a full-duration run that was an apparent success. Engineers at Stennis Space Center fired the J-2X powerpack, installed in historic test stand A1, for 36 seconds. Pending detailed analysis of data from the test, a 450-second test is scheduled for Feb. 22.
NO PROBLEM: Eutelsat says it anticipates no impact from a gyro failure that threatens to curtail the life of the Express AM22 satellite, located at 53 deg. E. Long. The Paris-based operator has a long-term lease on 12 transponders on AM22, which was built by NPO PM for the Russian Satellite Communications Co. RSCC says it plans to upload a software patch to correct the problem, but so far the spacecraft, launched in late 2003, is performing nominally.
GLORY TROUBLE: NASA’s Glory climate study mission has exceeded cost-growth limits and will require Congressional authorization to continue, Administrator Mike Griffin says. The spacecraft’s total budget has reached $325 million, Griffin told lawmakers last week. The program ran $31.8 million over budget during fiscal 2007, due to problems with the Raytheon-built Aerosol Polarimetry Sensor, according to NASA budget documents. “Instrument contractor poor performance will cause increased cost and possible impact to launch readiness date,” the documents say.
PARIS – Barely weeks after ordering an all-Ka band broadband satellite, Eutelsat says it is poised to buy a big Ku-/Ka band spacecraft for a new TV neighborhood established to serve emerging markets in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. In presenting first half results here last week, CEO Giuliano Berretta said Eutelsat’s board of directors had approved the purchase of W3B, a new unit to be launched in mid-2010 to the operator’s new 7 deg. E. Long. neighborhood, already occupied by W3A.
UUV AND UGV: British analysts say both unmanned undersea vehicles (UUVs) and unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) will experience significant growth through 2020, driven by both military and commercial interests. The global UUV market will see total revenue of $8.83 billion by then, while the UGV market will reach $1.35 billion in the same period, according to Visiongain. The main market opportunities for UUVs will be in advanced sensor packages and payloads, as well as associated support and training packages.
The U.S. Army is installing Harris-supplied Falcon III radios in Shadow 200 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) as part of a relay system to significantly extend the distance communication signals can travel. The new multiband radios provide aerial communication links for soldiers on the ground operating in obstructed line-of-sight environments, Harris RF Communications Division of Rochester, N.Y., said Feb. 14.
