The Senate passed its budget resolution March 23 before leaving for its Easter and Passover recess, setting up the next phase in the ongoing battle over deficit reduction.
The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and a leading Republican on the panel are calling on President Obama to work with allies including Turkey to establish a “safe zone” in Syria. That includes the possibility of using Patriot missiles stationed in Turkey to shoot down aircraft or SCUD missiles in northern Syria, according to a March 21 letter from Sens. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.).
The Littoral Combat Ship (LCS-1) USS Freedom’s first overseas deployment to Southeast Asia has been marred by two more power outages, the U.S. Navy says. The most recent two this week — including one March 21 — brings the outage total to three, all during the ship’s transit from Pearl Harbor to Guam en route to Singapore, says U.S. Pacific Fleet spokesman Darryn James.
TEL AVIV — Securing maritime Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) has become a big business for Israeli companies, particularly since the discovery of significant oil and gas reserves offshore in the Eastern Mediterranean, and developing the resources discovered within Israel’s EEZ could mean substantial growth in domestic offshore offshore security activities for Israel’s defense companies.
Speaking before what was very much a hometown crowd, leaders from the U.S. military, shipbuilding industry and Congress took turns March 21 touting the importance of Navy shipbuilding—and defense contracting in general—during an Aircraft Carrier Industrial Base Coalition breakfast. With the current U.S. Pacific Pivot focusing on Asia, the message was that the time is now to shore up the carrier fleet and general shipbuilding base.
Participants in a recent workshop on how to cut U.S. Air Force sustainment costs essentially concluded that the problem is not a lack of ideas, but a lack of leadership. The three-day workshop was convened last December by the National Academies to discuss Air Force weapon system sustainment costs and how science-and-technology (S&T) spending can help cut life-cycle costs.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) Mar. 25 - 28 — 22nd AIAA Aerodynamic Decelerator Systems Technology Conference, Hilton Daytona, Daytona Beach, Fla. For more information go to www.aiaa.org/ADS2013/ mar. 26 — Arizona Laboratories for Security and Defense Research (AZLabs) Defense Forum, The Arizona Laboratories for Security and Defense Research Center, Mesa, Ariz. For more information go to www.ndia.org/meetings/3721/Pages/default.aspx
SBIRS SEQUEL: The second Lockheed Martin Space-Based Infrared System (Sbirs) spacecraft is executing a series of six liquid apogee engine burns to raise it to geosynchronous orbit, following its March 20 launch on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket for the U.S. Air Force. The payload aboard the A2100-based satellite is scheduled to be activated about 30 days after launch. Sbirs carries both scanning and staring infrared sensors for detecting missile launches.
CANBERRA and BEIJING — Operation of a relocated space-surveillance radar in Western Australia may be only the first step in expanded cooperation between the U.S. and Australia in space situational awareness. Separately, Australia also is looking at setting up an independent capability in the field, says a defense department spokeswoman in Canberra.
THE PENTAGON — While no program is guaranteed protection during these days of fiscal austerity, the U.S. Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) acquisition plans are as safe as any other from substantial cuts, says Vice Adm. Richard Hunt, director of Navy staff and the head of the special LCS Council of service admirals.
Thales Alenia Space, the prime contractor for 24 second-generation Globalstar communications satellites, says it could conclude a deal with the mobile satellite services provider before summer for six additional next-generation spacecraft to be financed with backing from the French export credit agency Coface.
The UAE’s Yahsat Ka-band satellite system has been certified as compatible with the U.S. Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) Ka-band network, and the Boeing Commercial Satellite Services division will sell military and civil Ka-band for the Abu Dhabi-based fleet operator Al Yah Satellite Communications. Under the agreement, users of the Boeing-built WGS network will be able to seamlessly switch between the 10-satellite WGS network being deployed for the U.S. military and allied nations and Yahsat, says Al Yah Satellite Deputy CEO Masood M. Sharif Mahmood.
The NASA-led International Space Station mission management team has approved a March 25 departure and splashdown for the SpaceX Dragon Commercial Resupply-2 capsule in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Baja, Calif. The unpiloted Dragon is scheduled to descend with just less than 3,000 lb. of research gear, including preserved medical specimens collected from the station’s astronauts, samples from biology and biotechnology experiments and equipment in need of refurbishment.
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden defended his agency against allegations it allowed Chinese espionage in testimony before House lawmakers March 20, saying there has been no attempt at NASA to get around the requirements of laws restricting bilateral research arrangements with China.
Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) has completed flight qualification of the Merlin 1D engine, clearing a final hurdle in the planned operational debut of the more powerful engine on the upgraded Falcon 9 v1.1 rocket in June.
Now that Congress has passed a spending bill to keep the government running in fiscal 2013, budget fights over programs such as Northrop Grumman’s Global Hawk are about to be renewed. On March 21, the House approved a bill to keep funding the government for the rest of fiscal 2013. It provides a new level of spending for the departments of defense and homeland security as well as NASA; the rest of the federal government will continue to run on fiscal 2012 levels.
Beechcraft is showing little sign of backing down from its fight for the Light Air Support (LAS) contract, filing suit in the Court of Federal Claims to object to the U.S. Air Force’s decision to move ahead with work on the program during a Government Accountability Office (GAO) review of the LAS contract award.
All U.S. Air Force flight testing at Edwards AFB, Calif., other than the continuing evaluation of the F-35, will stop by September as a result of cost cuts associated with sequestration, warns Gen. Janet Wolfenbarger, commander of Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC).
