While the U.S. Navy shipbuilding plan helps alleviate submarine and destroyer shortfalls, it still envisions a force below the level the service has said it needs, according to the Congressional Research Service (CRS). CRS suggests what many defense analysts have maintained for some time — the Navy’s review of the ship-fleet force it needs and can afford will likely be much lower than what the service has desired over the past several years.
Looking at the shape of the U.S. defense budget markup at the account level, Army ground vehicles and missiles are especially favored by House lawmakers. The ground vehicle account gets a 25% increase over the fiscal 2013 request, from both the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) mark and the spending bill from the House Appropriations Committee (HAC). The House approved the HASC policy-making bill on May 18.
SINGAPORE — Arianespace Chairman and CEO Jean-Yves Le Gall dismisses talk of consolidation among satellite makers. “In Europe there used to only be two main manufacturers of satellites,” Le Gall told Aviation Week June 19. “A few years ago people were wondering ‘When will they merge?’ The thinking was that it was better to have one rather than two, but then we ended up with three in Europe.”
If the U.S. and its allies launch a bombing attack on Iran’s nonconventional weapons capabilities, the targeted facilities would likely include missile and missile engine development operations run by the specialized Qods Force — an extralegal Iranian Revolutionary Guards organization that remains beyond the control of Tehran’s elected government, say both U.S. and Israeli officials.
HOUSTON - The success of the SpaceX/Dragon resupply mission to the International Space Station has not been lost on Ad Astra Rocket Co., which envisions a similar NASA initiative to foster commercial missions to deep space. (Photo: NASA)
PARIS — After several nail-biting weeks, the cross-shaped south solar array on the Intelsat 19 telecommunications satellite deployed on June 12. “We also deployed the communication payload antennas,” said Intelsat Chief Technology Officer Thierry Guilleman in an interview. “We are in good shape to enter into the in-orbit testing phase right now,” a process that will take 2-3 weeks, he says. The deployment occurred following four apogee maneuver firings on June 11.
NRO A GO: United Launch Alliance and the U.S. Air Force are preparing to launch the National Reconnaissance Office’s classified NROL-38 satellite at 8:28 a.m. EDT June 20 from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. Launch was set for June 18 but was pushed back to allow the replacement of an environmental control system duct, which required the Atlas V rocket to be rolled back from the pad. Forecasters showed a 70% chance of favorable weather conditions for launch.
The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) will face hurdles in revamping the current Dun & Bradstreet Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) as a unique identifier for government contracts, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO). In 2011, the federal government spent more than $1 trillion on contracts and grants, relying on DUNS to keep track of the contractors for those deals, GAO notes in a June 12 report.
ARLINGTON, Va. — Boeing is looking for both additional U.S. purchases of F/A/-18E/Fs and export campaigns to sustain that production line and the F-15 beyond their currently expected lives. The current F/A-18E/F multiyear program with the U.S. Navy runs until around 2015, but Dennis Muilenburg, CEO of Boeing Defense, Space & Security (BDS), sees the possibility of additional sales of the electronic-attack EA-18G version to the Pentagon to extend production. Whether there is enough demand for a fourth multiyear contract is unclear, he notes.
Upcoming U.S. commercial human spaceflights will be licensed by FAA for launch and reentry, but until private companies start sending their own crews and paying customers into orbit, NASA will decide if their vehicles are safe enough for astronauts. NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and acting FAA Administrator Michael Huerta announced an agreement between their agencies June 18, outlining roles and responsibilities as NASA advances its plans to buy transportation for U.S., Canadian, European and Japanese astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS).
NAVY ERAPSCO, Columbia City, Ind., is being awarded a $25,392,401 firm-fixed-price contract for the procurement of 4,628 AN/SSQ-125 sonobuoys. The work will be performed in DeLeon Springs, Fla. (53%), and Columbia City, Ind. (47%), and is expected to be completed in June 2014. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to the FAR 6.302-1. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity. (N00421-12-C-0049).
OSPREY OVERSEAS: Although Bell-Boeing and the U.S. Marine Corps are stepping up efforts to secure an export order for the V-22 tiltrotor, such a sale is still some time off, says Mark Kronenberg, vice president for international business development at Boeing Defense, Space & Security. “We are just starting to develop the market,” he tells reporters near Washington. Israel and Japan are seen as presenting “near-term” opportunities, he says, with satisfying Canada’s search-and-rescue requirement also a possibility.
The U.S. Navy needs to update the requirements for its proposed Organic Airborne and Surface Influence Sweep (Oasis) program and should better integrate helicopter testing operations with the system, a recent Pentagon Inspector General (IG) report says. “The Navy did not update capability requirements in the draft capability production document (CPD) after a contractor’s analysis showed Oasis would not work after sustaining a shock wave of 65 percent of the shock capability requirement,” the IG says in its June 13 report.
In Moscow, a third round of talks continues this week, but serious differences still divide Iran from six world powers over putting an end to Tehran’s nuclear program. Iran’s representatives have been told to stop uranium enrichment or face an end to negotiations, heavier sanctions and the likelihood of kinetic bombing of key military facilities.
LOS ANGELES — The U.S. Air Force’s second X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV-2) has landed after 469 days in space, more than double the time clocked by the OTV-1. As with the first OTV flight, the Air Force remains secretive about the mission, saying only that the Boeing-built X-37B conducted “on-orbit experiments.” In a short statement, it says the vehicle provides “return capability” that allows the Air Force to test new technologies without the same risk faced by other programs.
ARMY General Dynamics C4 Systems, Scottsdale, Ariz., was awarded a $385,550,000 firm-fixed-price and fixed-price-incentive-firm contract. The award will provide for the replacement of antiquated radars at four Army Test Centers with state of the art test-oriented equipment. The work will be performed in Scottsdale, with an estimated completion date of June 4, 2022. The bid was solicited through the Internet, with five bids received. The U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., is the contracting activity (W900KK-12-D-0003).
