Air Force selects SandboxAQ, an Alphabet spinoff, to help quantum-proof its networks

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  May 8, 2019 | International, Aerospace

  Airbus eyes opportunities in future U.S. military LEO constellations

  by Sandra Erwin Airbus is ramping up satellite production in Florida and hopes to attract Pentagon buyers. WASHINGTON — The first project of the newly created Space Development Agency will be to design a large constellation of commercially produced satellites in low Earth orbit to serve as a communications layer and take over military space missions ranging from missile tracking to navigation. Airbus is preparing to start cranking out 32 satellites every three weeks for the broadband venture OneWeb. It built an assembly line on Florida's Space Coast to manufacture up to 648 satellites for OneWeb but also hopes to ramp production to fill orders for the Defense Department, intelligence community and other U.S. government buyers, Nicolas Chamussy, the outgoing head of Airbus Space Systems told SpaceNews on Monday at the Satellite 2019 conference. The company received a $2.9 million contract last fall from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to produce satellite buses for DARPA's Blackjack program, an experiment intended to show the military utility of LEO constellations and mesh networks. DARPA will marry up commercial satellite buses with military sensors and payloads. Former DARPA official Fred Kennedy conceived the Blackjack project and is now head of the Space Development Agency. He said the SDA will tap into the commercial industry's mass satellite production capabilities in order to build a military constellation in LEO. Airbus' main satellite manufacturing plant is in Toulouse, France. It now has U.S.-based design teams staffed with U.S. citizens as well as the Florida production facility, Chamussy said. “It's an opportunity for the U.S. government” to take advantage of these capabilities, he said. The U.S. plant only builds commercial satellites but it could be expanded to produce classified spacecraft, he said. The contract with DARPA has been valuable to Airbus to learn about U.S. defense programs and as a stepping stone to possibly other projects, Chamussy said. “With DARPA, we are learning how to work together, we are trying to understand if our platform is a valuable asset for the U.S. government.” The company is focused now on making satellites and installing OneWeb payloads, but “we can install whatever you want,” he said. For the military, the same satellites could carry positioning, navigation and timing (PNT), electronic warfare, Earth observation or weather payloads. “This is the beauty of have a design team and dedicated facility in U.S.,” said Chamussy. Airbus is hoping to be chosen as the satellite supplier to Canadian satellite operator Telesat, which also received a DARPA Blackjack contract to study the use of commercial buses in LEO-based military systems. Airbus is competing against a Maxar Technologies-Thales Alenia Space team for a contract worth an estimated $3 billion to build Telesat's megaconstellation. Chamussy told reporters at a news conference on Monday that the company expects to submit a proposal in the coming months. “We are still waiting for the request for proposals,” he said. Chamussy insisted that the Telesat concept is very different than OneWeb because the Canadian operator is asking for a full “end to end” system that includes not just the satellites but also ground systems and managed services. Airbus announced last month that Chamussy will be stepping down as executive vice president of Airbus Space Systems under Airbus Defence and Space. He will be replaced by Airbus Defence and Space executive Jean-Marc Nasr. Chamussy declined to comment on whether he will stay at Airbus or in what capacity. https://spacenews.com/airbus-eyes-opportunities-in-future-u-s-military-leo-constellations/

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  September 11, 2018 | International, Aerospace

  Boeing gets $2.9B for more KC-46 tankers

  By: Valerie Insinna WASHINGTON — Boeing on Monday bagged a $2.9 billion contact for the fourth lot of KC-46 tankers, raising the total to 52 aircraft on order. The award, announced Sept. 10, covers the production of 18 KC-46s and other associated gear like spare engines and parts, support equipment and wing air refueling pod kits. “We're excited to partner with the Air Force on an aircraft that will provide its fleet unmatched capabilities and versatility,” said Mike Gibbons, Boeing KC-46A tanker vice president and program manager. “This is another big milestone for the team and we look forward to delivering this next-generation, multi-role tanker for years to come.” Monday's announcement follows a contract in December for the first foreign KC-46 order: a single tanker for Japan. The first two U.S. Air Force buys were finalized in August 2016 for a total of 19 aircraft, and a third order for another 15 KC-46s was added in January 2017. The service plans on buying 179 KC-46s over the course of the program. Technical problems have kept Boeing from delivering the first KC-46, and the company has already missed an initial August 2017 deadline to deliver 18 fully-certified tankers to the service. However, it appears the company is getting ever closer to that milestone. Earlier this year, Boeing and the Air Force came to an agreement on the schedule for the first KC-46 delivery, currently slated for October. Last week, Boeing disclosed that the KC-46 had received a supplemental type certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration — a series of tests that validate the aircraft's refueling and avionics systems meet FAA requirements and a prerequisite for aircraft delivery. Gibbons called the event “one of the last major hurdles in advance of first delivery to the U.S. Air Force” in a Sept. 4 statement. However, the KC-46 still needs to achieve a military type certificate from the Air Force, which validates its military-specific systems. Boeing concluded its testing in July and the certificate is expected to be granted “in the coming months,' the company said in a statement. https://www.defensenews.com/air/2018/09/11/boeing-gets-29b-for-more-kc-46-tankers

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  September 17, 2018 | International, Aerospace

  Skilled worker, parts shortages still hurting Hornet and Growler maintenance, government watchdog finds

  By: David B. Larter A shortage of skilled workers and repair parts is causing backlogs in maintenance depots for Hornets and Growlers, creating headwinds in the Navy's efforts to put more aircraft in the air, the Government Accountability Office found. The Navy, which is chipping away at a readiness crisis among its fighters and electronic attack aircraft, is being hampered by a lack of skilled workers and capacity, specifically at depots on the West Coast at Whidbey Island, Washington, and Lemoore, California. Furthermore some parts needed to repair the Hornets and Growlers were manufactured by suppliers who have gotten out of the business, significantly slowing the process and forcing the Navy to cannibalize parts on aircraft to offset the delays, the September report found. One challenge pointed out by the GAO is the distance between where aircraft are based and maintained and where parts are repaired for the E/A-18G Growlers. The Growlers, largely based at Whidbey Island, many of the components that need fixing must be repaired at the depots in Lemoore. “However, according to officials, Lemoore's depots have limited capacity to repair these aircraft, creating a maintenance backlog,” the report found. The issue of manufacturers getting out of the business was at least in part caused by the Navy's shorting of repair parts accounts during Obama-era budget cuts. A recent study found that between 2011 and 2015, as many as 17,000 suppliers left the defense industry. The Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Bill Moran discussed the supplier issues with Defense News in April, saying stable funding should get suppliers to come back into the pool. Full article: https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2018/09/15/skilled-worker-parts-shortages-still-hurting-hornet-and-growler-maintenance-government-watchdog-finds