Video: Atlas V rocket launches with new engine

A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket carrying a payload for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) lifted off from Space Launch Complex-3 on Friday at 10:19 p.m. EST. Designated NROL-35, the mission is in support of national defense.

"This mission was launched on the most powerful Atlas ever launched from California with more than two million pounds of liftoff thrust,” said Jim Sponnick, ULA vice president, Atlas and Delta Programs.

The satellite was launched aboard an Atlas V Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle 541 configuration vehicle, which includes a five-meter diameter payload fairing along with four Aerojet Rocketdyne solid rocket motors attached to the Atlas booster. The Atlas booster for this mission was powered by the RD AMROSS RD-180 engine and the Centaur upper stage was powered by the inaugural flight of the Aerojet Rocketdyne RL10C-1 engine.

"We have been working closely with Aerojet Rocketdyne and our Air Force customers for several years to develop and extensively test this next-generation engine to enable the most reliable and cost-effective upper stage propulsion for our Atlas and Delta programs," said Sponnick.

ULA's next launch will carry the Mobile User Objective System-3 satellite for the United States Navy scheduled for Jan. 20 from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.

ULA has successfully delivered more than 85 satellites to orbit.

Video: Plane crashes near Montgomery County Airpark

A small jet aircraft crashed into a neighborhood within a mile of Montgomery County Airpark in Gaithersburg, Md., on Monday.

The aircraft is a 2009 Embraer 500 Phenom 100 jet (tail number N100EQ) registered to Sage Aviation LLC in Chapel Hill, N.C., according to Federal Aviation Administration records.

Three people aboard the plane and a mother and her two children in a nearby house were killed in the accident.

The National Transportation Safety Board has recovered the flight recorders from the plane. 

Military helicopter market worth $33 billion in 2023

Repeated budget cuts and frozen orders have blurred promises of market recovery in the global military market, especially across Western regions. The adoption of remotely piloted aircraft systems seems to make manned helicopters further irrelevant. Nevertheless, unrivalled vertical take-off and landing capabilities as well as strong mission efficiency rates will sustain interest in military rotorcraft.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, Global Military Helicopters Market Assessment, finds that the market earned revenues of $25.43 billion in 2013 and estimates this to reach $33.37 billion in 2023. New platform procurements will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 2.8 percent globally.

"Territorial disputes in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Southeast Asia and the Middle East are underlining the importance of upgraded attack and naval capabilities, thereby boosting military helicopter sales," said Frost & Sullivan Aerospace & Defense Industry Analyst Alix Leboulanger. "While budget cuts and stretched fleets will impact the platform segment in the short and medium terms, the need to bridge crucial capability gaps will revive market growth in the long term."

As armed forces renew legacy helicopters, the new generation of platforms will face certain challenges:

• Meeting budget requirements will eventually imply less procurement.
• Conducting assignments ranging from asymmetric warfare to naval operations with significantly low financial support will affect performance.
• The fast-changing geopolitical environment will hold back export opportunities.

To conduct more missions at a lesser cost, armed forces are embracing multi-role platforms. However, the demand for multi-role platforms capable of fulfilling each mission as efficiently as mission-specific helicopters increases costs.

Manufacturers must highlight benefits such as the rationalization of existing logistics and maintenance repair operations supply-chains, reduction in training costs, and interoperability to move forward the uptake of expensive multi-role platforms. Consequently, the use of smarter mission systems and open systems architecture for joint missions with other aircraft types, in particular remotely piloted aircraft systems, will increase.

"The rise of optionally piloted helicopters is a future trend that needs to be closely monitored as it will actually empower multi-role helicopters and their mission spectrum," observed Leboulanger. "It also has the potential to bridge the gap in manned and unmanned aircraft integration, complementing – not replacing – helicopter surveillance, reconnaissance, and utility roles in the global military helicopter space."

Significant increase in worldwide incidences of terrorism

According to the second edition of the Global Terrorism Index (GTI), there were almost 10,000 terrorist attacks recorded in 2013 representing a 44 percent increase from 2012, resulting in nearly 18,000 deaths representing a 61 percent increase from the previous year.

Terrorism in 2013 was dominated by four organizations; ISIL, Boko Haram, al Qa'ida and the Taliban, collectively responsible for 66 percent of all fatalities.

Over 80 percent of the deaths from terrorist incidents in 2013 were recorded in just five countries: Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria and Syria. Iraq continues to be the country most impacted by terrorism with 2,492 attacks killing 6,362 people, which represents a 164 percent increase from 2012. ISIL was responsible for most of the deaths in the country.

The two most successful strategies for ending terrorist groups since the late 1960s have been either policing or the initiation of a political process; 80 percent of organisations that ceased operations ended this way. Only 10 percent of terrorist organisations ended due to having achieved their goals while seven percent were eliminated by full military engagement.

Many more people die in homicides than in terrorist attacks, with an individual being 40 times more likely to be a victim of homicide than be killed by terrorism, according to the GTI.

Video: F-35C conducts night flights aboard aircraft carrier USS Nimitz

The F-35C Lightning II carrier variant Joint Strike Fighters performed night flight deck operations aboard the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz off the coast of San Diego this week. These milestones are part of initial at-sea Developmental Testing I for the F-35C, which commenced Nov. 3 and is expected to last two weeks. The F-35C is the carrier variant of the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter designed for the U.S. Navy as a first-day-of-war, survivable strike fighter complement to the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.

Coast Guard suspends search for missing plane in Lake Pontchartrain

The U.S. Coast Guard has suspended the search for a missing aircraft in Lake Pontchartrain, Thursday.

Coast Guard officials received a call from the New Orleans International Airport air traffic control tower at approximately 8:30 p.m Wednesday reporting a missing Cessna 172 with two people aboard.

“The Coast Guard has searched the 161 square-mile area 13 times over the past 20 hours,” said Lt. Cmdr. Mark Molavi. “We would like to extend our sympathies to the families during this difficult time.”

The search is suspended, pending further developments, the Coast Guard said in a press statement.

Student instructor flight goes missing in New Orleans

The U.S. Coast Guard is responding to a report of a missing aircraft in Lake Ponchartrain, Wednesday.

The Coast Guard received a call from the New Orleans International Airport air traffic control tower at approximately 8:30 p.m., reporting a missing Cessna 172 with two people aboard.

The aircraft was last seen on radar one mile northeast of the Lakefront Airport. The flight was reported to be a student instructor flight.

The Coast Guard responded by issuing an Urgent Marine Information Broadcast and deploying a 45-foot Response Boat - Medium crew from Coast Guard Station New Orleans and a MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station New Orleans.

The Coast Guard is working together with Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries, the Houston Air Traffic Control Center and Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office to search for the two missing persons.