Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

By Mark Carreau
NASA is evaluating a new spacesuit issue as it prepares to embark on a series of seven spacewalks this year that are intended to prepare docking ports aboard the six-person orbiting science laboratory for the arrival of the first U.S. commercial crew vehicles by late 2017.

Plans to keep the U.S. Navy Trident D5 sea-launched ballistic missile supportable and effective beyond the 2060s include an updated navigation system and a more flexible warhead interface.

By Molly McMillin
A Japanese firm, Setouchi Holdings, has agreed to buy Quest Aircraft Co., which builds Kodiak light aircraft.

Development of the W80-4 Life Extension Program warhead, a modernized version of the current ALCM design, has been accelerated in the 2016 budget, alongside that of the LRSO itself, to reverse a two-year slippage that was included in the fiscal 2014 budget.

By Mark Carreau
The U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame has set May 30 for the induction of former NASA astronauts John Grunsfeld, Steven Lindsey, Kent Rominger and Rhea Seddon.

The U.S. Air Force is lagging in its ability to find and identify “high-end” targets, an erosion that has taken place during the past 15 years of combat operations in permissive airspace, says Lt. Gen. Robert Otto, deputy chief of staff for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR).

By Bradley Perrett
Eurojet is working with both prospective bidders for South Korea’s KF-X program, as the industry prepares responses to a second call for offers due this month.

By Jay Menon
When deliveries are completed, the Russian firm will have delivered 222 kits to the state-owned airframer, which builds the Su-30MKI under license at its Nashik factory.

The Human Injury and Treatment (HIT) model provides a comprehensive capability to forecast casualties potentially encountered during combat operations aboard ships.

Sewip is designed to upgrade the existing AN/SLQ-32(V) Electronic Warfare System (EWS) through a modular, open-system approach.

Anchored by new developments in sonar imaging, undersea mapping and other technology, the U.S. Navy once again led the U.S. government pack for patents in a 2014 ranking.

GENERAL DYNAMICS has $49.7m U.S. Army contract to upgrade M1A1 tanks to M1A2 Systems Enhancement Package (SEP) V2 configuration, which adds color displays, day/night thermal sights, Thermal Management System (TMS), and tank-infantry phone. MBDA test fired the MMP missile Feb. 12 at the French Procurement Agency DGA Techniques Terrestres site in Bourges central France, against a steel target at intermediate range, in “fire and forget” mode using missile seeker’s color TV channel.

United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) plan to field a new rocket engine with Blue Origin called the BE-4 is only step one of a larger strategic plan to take the company from a sole-source benefactor mentality to competing in a burgeoning commercial market.
Defense and Space

NovaWurks has already booked a Sun-synchronous mission on a Spaceflight Inc. Sherpa rideshare platform for the third quarter of this year to demonstrate its Hyper-Integrated Satlet (HISat) concept for the Phoenix program.

By Mark Carreau
The automated docking unfolded at 11:57 a.m. EST, as the unpiloted Russian freighter and the six-person ISS orbited 257 mi. above the Atlantic Ocean, northeast of Puerto Rico.

By Graham Warwick
More than six years in the making, the FAA’s proposed rules for small unmanned aircraft cannot be finalized fast enough for those on either side of the argument over UAS in civil airspace.

By Jay Menon
Named “Cheel,” the UAV is to be jointly developed and produced by Dynamatic Technologies and AeroVironment in India.

By Mark Carreau
Most of them are younger than 35 years of age, more than a third of the 100 candidates currently live in the U.S. and all but 21 hold at least a bachelor’s degree.

By Tony Osborne
Revenues at engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce have fallen for the first time in a decade after a bumpy 2014, and the company is expecting more pain in 2015.

Primarily operating out of Misawa Air Base, Japan, the expeditionary EA-18G Growler squadron was able to relocate at a moment’s notice, participating in exercises and providing detachments around the Pacific.

Amy Svitak
PARIS – Europe's fifth and final Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) Feb. 14, marking the end of a seven-year era in European spaceflight.

In observance of the Presidents Day holiday in the U.S., Aerospace Daily & Defense Report will not be publishing on Monday, Feb. 16. The next issue will be dated Wednesday, Feb. 18.

General Dynamics announced Feb. 13 that Larry R. Flynn, president of Gulfstream Aerospace Corp., will succeed Joseph T. Lombardo as executive vice president of the company’s Aerospace group when Lombardo retires in June. Mark L. Burns, president of product support for Gulfstream, will succeed Flynn. Meanwhile, M. Amy Gilliland, vice president for human resources, will succeed Walter M. Oliver as General Dynamics’ senior vice president for human resources and administration when Oliver retires next month.