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EXEC H TLINE
Boeing’s Arizona Modification
Line Yields First QF-16 Full-Scale
Aerial Target
A team from Boeing and the U.S. Air Force completed the first QF-16 Full-Scale Aerial Target to undergo conversion from a modifica- tion line in Arizona. The aircraft was flown last month to Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, where it will be used autonomously in future weapons training operations.
The 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regen- eration Group (AMARG) located at Davis-Mon- than AFB in Tucson teamed with Boeing under a public-private partnership to create a second modification line to supplement ongoing QF-16 work at Boeing’s Cecil Field site in Jackson- ville, Florida.
Conversion of the F-16 A/C aircraft to the unmanned QF-16 configuration requires modifica- tion of the airframe and installation of major components. The QF-16 performs both autonomous maneuvers through autopilot and controlled maneuvers through ground stations.
Aerojet Fulfills NASA Engine
Contract
El Segundo, CA. based Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings Inc. has completed all of its pro- pulsion systems for the first crewed flight of NASA’s Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft and for the Artemis II mission to the moon.
Four RS-25 engines will provide 2 million pounds of thrust to power the core stage of the Space Launch System, the most powerful rocket in the world. The company completed upgrades to the RS-25 engines for Artemis II in November 2019 and following testing at Aero- jet Rocketdyne’s facility at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, all four engines are ready to be integrated with the Artemis II core stage.
The El Segundo aerospace company also made the RL10 engines for use on the second stage of the Space Launch System in West Palm Beach, Fla.; as well as the jettison motor for the Orion spacecraft, which generates 40,000 pounds of thrust for the launch abort system; the Orion main engine on the service module that will maneuver the spacecraft; and eight auxiliary engines on the service module and 12 reaction control thrusters on the crew module.
In May, the company won a $1.8 billion con- tract from NASA to produce an additional 18 RS-25 rocket engines for future deep space missions. That work will occur at the company’s Chatsworth, CA. campus.
Sierra Nevada Gets $700M SO-
COM Contract to Build RF Coun-
termeasure Tech
Sierra Nevada Corp. out of Sparks, Nevada has secured a potential $700M contract from Special Operations Command to manufacture radio frequency countermeasure systems for protecting aircrews from radar and missile threats.
SNC will develop an RFCM technology for in- tegration onto Air Force Special Operations Command’s MC-130J Commando II and AC-130J Ghostrider aircraft platforms, the Department of Defense said.
The company will also engineer the system, supply spare parts and perform logistics sup- port. SOCOM is obligating $87.9M at the time of award.
Aerojet’s Drake Joins National
Space Council
Aerojet Rocketdyne chief executive and president Eileen Drake is the newest member of the National Space Council’s Users’ Advisory Group, which serves as the voice of industry and nonfederal stakeholders on matters related to U.S. space policy.
Nominated by Vice President Mike Pence, the 28-member group includes Mandy Vaughn, presi- dent of El Segundo-based VOX Space; Gwynne Shotwell, president and chief operating officer at Hawthorne-based Space Exploration Technolo- gies Corp.; and Tim Ellis, chief executive of Long Beach-headquartered Relativity Space. Drake is among the five-member cohort that just joined the group while Vaughn, Shotwell and Ellis have been part of it since Novem- ber 2018.
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