The Latest Word On Trends And Developments In Aerospace And Defense
Ukrainian Tanker? A state-owned Ukrainian aviation company has entered the competition to build a replacement fleet of aerial refueling tankers for the U.S. Air Force, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In the document, U.S. Aerospace Inc. says it has signed an agreement with Ukrainian manufacturer Antonov, manufacturer of the world’s largest cargo aircraft. “On July 1, 2010, we advised the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Air Force that, in joint cooperation with Antonov, we intend to bid in response to the Request for Proposal from the U.S. Air Force for the KC-X Tanker Modernization Program,” the SEC report states. U.S. Aerospace told the Pentagon on July 1 that the team would offer a “significantly lower price” than either Boeing or EADS, the other two bidders. A July 9 deadline for bids is likely to be difficult for the company to meet, according to industry experts. U.S. Aerospace says it expects to bid three different models of Antonov aircraft, the AN-124-KC, AN-122-KC and AN-112-KC, which would be built by Antonov in Ukraine, with final assembly in the United States. “We believe that we will be able to offer a superior aircraft at a significantly lower price than other potential bidders,” the company says in a statement. Pentagon spokeswoman Cmdr. Wendy Snyder confirmed the U.S. Aerospace-Antonov team’s communication with the department. “The department has received a request for information from U.S. Aerospace concerning the Air Force KC-X tanker replacement program solicitation,” Snyder says in a July 2 e-mail. “We also believe that any company that is interested and qualified to participate in this important program should do so.”
NPOESS Sensor. An advanced infrared sensor designed to improve weather forecasting around the world has been delivered for integration and testing on the precursor satellite to the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS). The Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS), a key sensor for the NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP), was delivered June 18 by Northrop Grumman’s subcontractor ITT to a Ball Aerospace facility in Boulder, Colo., the companies say. Current U.S. operational infrared sounders provide about 20 infrared channels of information and characterize atmospheric temperature profiles to an accuracy of 2 to 3 degrees Kelvin. CrIS will provide more than 1,000 spectral channels of information in the infrared, at an improved horizontal spatial resolution, and will be able to measure temperature profiles with accuracy approaching one degree Kelvin. The instrument has been developed to provide military and civil operational users with high caliber data for the next decade and beyond. CrIS was built by ITT under contract to Northrop Grumman for the NPOESS program, with the first unit onboard the NPP spacecraft, scheduled to launch next year.
Right on Course. Northrop Grumman has also delivered the first set of instructional materials needed to train F-35 pilots and aircraft maintainers. Known as courseware, the electronic materials include all of the presentation materials that classroom instructors will use to teach pilots how to fly the F-35, and maintainers how to repair and support the aircraft. The courseware also includes students’ self-study materials and pilot briefing materials used to support F-35 simulator and flight training events. Northrop Grumman, a principal subcontractor on the Lockheed Martin-led F-35 industry team, delivered the first block of courseware for maintainers in March, followed by the first block of courseware for pilots in April. Both deliveries went to Lockheed Martin’s Simulation, Training and Support organization at Eglin AFB, Fla. Northrop Grumman is responsible for developing the courseware for pilots and maintainers for all three F-35 variants, plus any specialized courseware requested by F-35 partner countries. The current deliveries of courseware support the Block 0.5 software installed in the two F-35s produced during the first phase of low-rate initial production (LRIP1). Subsequent deliveries of courseware will support the more advanced software currently being installed in LRIP2 and LRIP3 jets.
High-Altitude Tanking. DARPA last week announced the award of a $33 million contract to Northrop Grumman to demonstrate aerial refueling of a NASA Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) by a sister ship. The program will be designated KQ-X. Northrop Grumman will retrofit two of the high altitude long endurance (HALE) UAVs, one aircraft pumping fuel into the other in flight through a hose-and-drogue refueling system. The aerial refueling engagement will be completely autonomous. Engineering work will be accomplished at the Northrop Grumman Unmanned Systems Development Center in Rancho Bernardo, Calif. Pilots from NASA, NOAA, and Northrop Grumman will fly the Global Hawks from the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards AFB, Calif.
The Right Investment. If the Navy charges up the hill the way it has in the past it can generate some pretty expensive solutions, CNO Adm. Gary Roughead tells attendees at the Mast Americas conference, in response to a question about how much the Navy should be willing to invest to bring lesser technologically advanced partner nations up to par. “In Maritime Domain Awareness, we are not talking super high-end of investment. The potential is there for us…to look at new ways of coming at solutions. The way technology is migrating today it should be a whole lot cheaper,” Roughead says.
No Problem With SUPSHIPs. The Navy has full confidence in the Supervisors of Shipbuilding (SUPSHIPs), a NAVSEA spokeswoman says following the release of the JAGMAN report on LPD-17 last week. “SUPSHIP Gulf Coast (SSGC) identified a number of deficient welds on piping systems produced by Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding (NGSB) on LPD-17 after her delivery, and on other classes of ships in the Gulf Coast.” While all shipbuilding defects identified are required to be corrected, the Navy has also formally requested Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding (NGSB) address and correct their process problems associated with each specific defect, the spokeswoman adds. “The Navy continues to closely monitor the progress being made by NGSB. NGSB is correcting their affected welding processes and SSGC has increased surveillances of welding and other critical processes.”
…Getting Tougher. “The SUPSHIPs have further strengthened government oversight by way of increased shipbuilder process compliance evaluations and audits of the shipbuilders’ Quality Management System as added assurance that the final shipbuilding product is compliant to contract requirements,” the NAVSEA spokeswoman says.
Fly Like A ScanEagle. Insitu Inc. is teaming with BOSH Global Services to train Air Force Academy cadets on the disciplines critical to planning and executing missions using UAS, specifically, Insitu’s ScanEagle, from within the Air Forces’ Air Operations Center (AOC), the company reports. The training is designed to familiarize academy cadets with UAS and to give them first-hand knowledge of how these systems can be integrated into Air Force Operations to support warfighters worldwide, Insitu adds.
…Hands-On. The basic UAS course lasts eight days. Training is offered by BOSH and involves in-class and actual flight operations instruction. Each student operates ScanEagle during six 40-minute training periods of actual flight. This year, three courses are offered: basic, advanced and instructor preparation. The instructor prep course was conducted in April when 24 upper-level cadets received instruction to help train lower-level cadets. In June, about 90 cadets participated in the basic course. The advanced session will be offered in the fall, Insitu says.
Mine. The Navy and Northrop Grumman begin the next phase of the flight test program leading to the “final exam” Operational Evaluation and potential approval next year for full-rate production of the Airborne Laser Mine Detection System (ALMDS). The Navy is conducting the Developmental Flight Test-IIE (DT-IIE) program from its Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division site in Florida. The first flight occurred on June 8, Northrop Grumman says. The Navy will fly ALMDS approximately 40 times during the DT-IIE evaluation. A technical evaluation will follow and will lead to the full-scale OPEVAL late next year, the company adds.. Northrop Grumman has delivered five ALMDS pods to the Navy, all on or ahead of schedule, under LRIP phase-1 and -2 contracts. An LRIP phase-3 contract is expected later this year, the company adds.
Proper Hygiene. Efforts to ensure surface ships are properly maintained are continuing through a pilot initiative onboard two Norfolk-based ships, NAVSEA says. The NAVSEA-led initiative reassigns ships’ force maintenance actions to shore-based technical teams. The review of open maintenance actions aboard USS Whidbey Island (LSD-41) and USS Leyte Gulf (CG-55) is designed to identify which of these repairs can be completed at the depot level. The NAVSEA team, in coordination with the type commander, will review all open maintenance items on these ships, officially called Type Availability 4 (TA4) items, to determine which will be handled by shore teams. Once the review is complete, NAVSEA will begin assigning the maintenance to the regional maintenance centers, naval shipyards or private shipyards.
..Finding Funding. As part of this process, U.S. Fleet Forces Command identified more than $18 million in funding to allow NAVSEA to complete the work, as well as review other ships’ maintenance workloads during future availabilities. The TA4 reassignment is part of a series of coordinated fleet and NAVSEA initiatives focused on surface ship readiness. These efforts are designed to increase support to our sailors and improve maintenance practices across ship classes, while also modernizing them to keep pace with mission requirements.
Milestone. The NATO SeaSparrow Missile Project Office (NSPO) announces a 12-month Evolved SeaSparrow Missile (ESSM) production record of 366 missiles eclipsing the previous year’s production record by more than 160 missiles, NAVSEA says. Guidance-section yields have increased to more than 70 percent during the production run and All-up-Round test yields improved from under 40 percent to more than 80 percent. In addition to its accelerated rate of production, NSPO has saved approximately $650 million through its cooperative approach to procuring and maintaining ESSM inventories, NAVSEA adds. The NSPO’s unique and proven business model is especially attractive to partner nations during challenging economic periods when countries are seeking to reduce defense spending while still supporting their defense industrial base.
High Energy. The Terminal High Altitude Area Defense System (THAAD) interceptor now conducting flight tests in Hawaii no longer needs to use the energy management maneuvers it used when testing at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., Tom McGrath, Lockheed Martin vice president for the THAAD program, says. To ensure THAAD intercept a target over the White Sands range, and the resulting debris lands on the range, the interceptor performs a spin maneuver after leaving the launcher. This left a corkscrew smoke trail behind, after the missile zips into the sky. That maneuver was unique to White Sands, a much smaller range than the one in Hawaii, McGrath says. However, the maneuver “is still in the software, but it’s not part of how we operate or would operate in a tactical operation.”
Lakotas In The Gulf. Army National Guard support to oil spill missions in Operation Deepwater Horizon include 16 UH-72A Lakota Light Utility helicopters. The Lakotas are assigned to Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida Army National Guard units providing observation, command and control and general aviation support to local, state and federal agencies responding to the Gulf Coast oil spill disaster.”The Lakota fleet continues to be a highly valuable aviation asset in helping our Army National Guard units meet urgent requirements, like those found in the Gulf Coast oil spill disaster,” says Army Col. L. Neil Thurgood, Army Utility Helicopter project manager. During Operation Deepwater Horizon, the Lakotas have flown nearly 200 flight hours–monitoring buoys at oil containment areas and looking for breaks in oil booms.