LOS ANGELES — AgustaWestland has begun the certification test phase for its AW609 commercial tiltrotor. The two AW609 prototypes, AC1 in the U.S. and AC2 in Italy, have flown almost 1,000 hr. between them, a third of which were flown in the last two years since AgustaWestland took full control of the program from Bell Helicopter, which was a partner until 2011. Test pilots completed flight envelope expansion trials in December 2013, and the company plans to increase the flying rate further in 2014.
The civil upheaval in the Ukraine has had no discernible effect on production of the core stage of Orbital Sciences Corp.’s Antares launch vehicle, according to a company spokesman, who said the company has enough Ukrainian hardware on hand to continue launching cargo to the International Space Station in its pressurized Cygnus capsule into early 2015.
Aurora Flight Sciences and Lockheed Martin are preparing for their demonstrations under the first phase of the Office of Naval Research’s (ONR) Autonomous Aerial Cargo/Utility System (Aacus) program. The goal of the five-year Aacus program is to demonstrate the capability for a soldier on the ground to use a handheld device to call up an unmanned helicopter for cargo resupply or casualty evacuation.
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ARMY EADS-NA, Herndon, Va., was awarded a $22,856,085 modification (P00766) to contract W58RGZ-06-C-0194 to acquire four UH-72A Lakota helicopters with engine inlet barrier filters and ARC-231 radios. Fiscal 2014 other procurement, Army funds in the amount of $22,856,085 were obligated at the time of the award. Estimated completion date is March 31, 2015. The work will be performed in Columbia, Miss. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., is the contracting activity. DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY
Relatively flat spending proposed for the Pentagon in fiscal 2015, followed by potentially significant – but highly uncertain – increases in 2016 and beyond have Wall Street analysts and the aerospace and defense industry hopeful that 2013-14 represents the nadir for U.S. defense spending.
NEW MARKETS: Western investors have been increasingly and eagerly eyeing a potential new wave of developing economies to bet on, and now at least one report asserts the defense sector in particular should pay attention. Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey are expected to increase their defense spending from $40.6 billion now to $61.1 billion by 2019, according to online report provider ReportsnReports.com.
Final reports on the 2012 Delta IV anomaly that generated low thrust in its RL-10B-2 upper-stage engine are expected in April, but the successful launch of a Delta IV with the GPS IIF-5 spacecraft Feb. 20 indicates fixes added to the launcher’s engine-processing procedures worked as planned.
While the U.S. Navy plans to start the work needed to overhaul and refuel the aircraft carrier George Washington as part of its mid-life overhaul, whether the service will complete that job or decommission the ship remains in doubt.
In determining the future of the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) — and the missions the ship is slated to perform — the Pentagon is looking back to the program’s roots, when the U.S. Navy sought a smaller but capable ship to take care of threats in coastal areas and help clear the way for national capital assets.
HOUSTON — NASA estimates it will spend between $8 billion and $11.2 billion on U.S. commercial resupply services in support of the six-person International Space Station between 2017 and 2024, according to a request for information (RFI) related to a forthcoming Commercial Resupply Services 2 (CRS-2) contract announcement. The agreement will call on providers to deliver 14,250-16,750 kg (31,400-36,900 lb.) of pressurized cargo and 1,500-4,000 kg of unpressurized cargo annually.
Despite budget pressures, the U.S. Army is on track to begin the acquisition process for an advanced rotorcraft to replace its Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk medium utility helicopters starting in the mid-2030s, says the official leading the effort. A materiel development decision (MDD)—formally launching the acquisition process—is scheduled for August 2015, says Dan Bailey, the Army’s newly appointed Joint Multi-Role/Future Vertical Lift (JMR/FVL) program director.
NEW DELHI — India is lining up international customers for its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) as the country looks to boost its share of the global launch market. Antrix Corp., the commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), has signed an agreement with Singapore Technologies Electronics Ltd. to launch its first commercial satellite, TeLEOS-1.
If sequestration remains in effect for 2016 and beyond, U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says he will have to shelve a host of aircraft, including KC-10 refuelers, 50 Army UH-72 Lakota helicopters and the Global Hawk Block 40, as well as buy 24 fewer F-35As for the Air Force and invoke a two-year delay for the Navy’s purchase of F-35Cs. Congress provided some relief for the Pentagon with the Bipartisan Budget Act two months ago for fiscal 2014 and 2015, but sequestration is still officially the “law of the land” for 2016 and beyond.
ORLANDO, Fla. — Cracks on an F-35B’s primary support structure found last year are more extensive than previously thought, triggering a halt in ground-based durability testing until the fourth quarter of this year. The initial cracks were found on section 496, a primary wing carrythrough bulkhead, last fall, prompting officials to stop the ground-based testing at hour 9,400 during the second life’s worth of use — or second 8,000 hr. of equivalent flight hours — to investigate the issue.
ORLANDO, Fla. — The U.S. Air Force’s re-engined Lockheed Martin C-5M has reached initial operating capability (IOC), with the first 16 aircraft delivered to Dover AFB, Delaware. Gen. Paul Selva, who leads Air Mobility Command, declared the modified strategic airlifter operational Feb. 21. Selva has been nominated to take over U.S. Transportation Command.
ORLANDO, Fla. — The U.S. Air Force is planning to launch two new and previously classified space situational awareness satellites into geosynchronous orbit this year, according to Gen. William Shelton, who leads Air Force Space Command. The spacecraft were developed covertly by the Air Force and Orbital Sciences under the Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program (GSAP), according to service officials.
As the Office of the Secretary of Defense weighs a premature retirement of the U-2, manufacturer Lockheed Martin’s argument to save the program is that “there is no other high-altitude platform that can do the mission.”
LONDON — The U.K. defense ministry is planning to float the first of its new Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers this summer. The 65,000-tonne HMS Queen Elizabeth is due to be christened by the Queen on July 4. The dock at Rosyth, Scotland, where the ship is being built, will then be flooded later that month, putting water under the carrier’s keel for the first time. The defense ministry states that sea trials will begin in 2017 and the first flight trials with the F-35B Lightning II aircraft are due to begin in 2018.
