Aerospace & Defence News.

Sep 10, 2007

Competition for Air Force tanker contract heating up. The Air Force will be awarding a $40 billion contract for 179 refueling tankers as early as December. The contract could be the first installment of a deal for 500 planes worth up to $100 billion. Sep 7, 2007

Reform of defense export licensing procedures may be within reach. Defense contractors have long chafed at the lengthy licensing process required to secure the right to export military hardware and technology. Changes in geopolitical realities may spur a greater openness for export, as the U.S. sees an advantage to arming allies in the global war on terror. "The administration has welcomed suggestions for change," said Jeremiah Gertler, vice president for defense and international affairs at the Aerospace Industries Association. "There is openness to reform," he told a gathering of U.S. and foreign defense and industry officials. Sep 7, 2007

Next launch of Atlas 5 delayed. The last launch of an Atlas 5 rocket, on June 15, was marred by a fuel leak that caused the rocket to deliver its payload to the wrong orbit. Equipment repairs will delay the next launch by about a week. Sep 4, 2007

US nuclear-powered submarine propeller designs have been closely guarded secrets since the days of the Cold War. The propeller design is an integral part of a submarine's ability to remain undetected during operations, ensuring that it can patrol the seas in stealth without giving its position away to surface ships. The recent find on an online mapping service has triggered a debate over whether online mapping services offered by the likes of Google and Microsoft should be allowed to snap and publish images of sensitive US military installations. Reporting the discovery, the Navy Times newspaper quoted military analyst Nathan Hughes as saying that exposing the propeller was a major blunder that had compromised "sensitive naval technology". The paper quotes a Pentagon public affairs officer as saying that the Defence Department does not have a policy - or the legal authority - to demand the removal or blurring of commerical aerial or satellite photography. Sep 4, 2007

US nuclear-powered submarine propeller designs revealed. A man looking for a new home on an online mapping service has stumbled across an aerial image of a US nuclear-powered submarine in dry dock showing a part of the vessel that wasn't meant to be seen. The image - which appears on Microsoft's Virtual Earth mapping service - is of the seven-bladed propeller used on an Ohio class ballistic missile submarine. The vessel was being worked on at a dry dock at the Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor in Washington State, in the north-west of the United States. The base is part of Bangor's Strategic Weapons Facility Pacific which houses the largest nuclear weapons arsenal. Sep 4, 2007

BAE, Saudi Arabia expected to sign deal for 72 fighter jets. BAE is poised to close a deal with Saudi Arabia that will have the defense contractor supplying the Middle Eastern nation with 72 Eurofighter Typhoon jets for about $40 billion. Negotiations were complicated by an investigation by the British Serious Fraud Office, with the Saudis threatening to pull out if the investigation continued. The British government shut down the investigation. Sep 7, 2007

Boeing lands Navy contracts worth $135 million. Boeing and its McDonnell Douglas subsidiary have won two Navy contracts worth more than $135 million. One contract, for eight EA-18G low-rate initial production I airborne electronic attack kits, is worth more than $122.3 million. The other contract, worth almost $13 million, is for the procurement of factory test equipment in support of the EA-18G aircraft. Sep 7, 2007

Lockheed Martin produces WIRE prototype. Researchers at Lockheed Martin have provided the military with a prototype of its new Wearable Intelligent Reporting Environment, which uses speech recognition software to produce written reports from soldiers' battlefield observations. Researchers say the technology will provide more information to commanders while sparing soldiers the chore of filling out paperwork. Sep 4, 2007

Air Force awards Raytheon $10.3 million contract. Raytheon has landed a $10.3 million contract to upgrade more than 500 Paveway bomb-guidance kits for the Air Force, according to the Defense Department. Raytheon will add modules that decode encrypted satellite guidance coordinates to 279 GBU-28 Paveway III laser-guided bomb units and modify 279 air-foil components to fit BLU-113 penetrating warheads. Sep 4, 2007

ThalesRaytheonSystems has received a $25.6 million contract to provide the U.S. Air Force with capability upgrades to the Battle Control System-Fixed (BCS-F) for Air Combat Command, NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense) and Air Forces Northern. Sep 7, 2007

Plans for Earth's first tourist spaceport unveiled. Plans for the world's first tourist spaceport, designed by Foster + Partners, have been unveiled. The facility will be built in Upham, N.M., and be home to Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic. Virgin expects to begin regular suborbital flights that will last two and a half hours as early as 2009. The carrier is currently accepting deposits on $200,000 "space tickets." Sep 7, 2007

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