NASA’s Chief Technologist’s Office released solicitations for four technology demonstrations on March 1, as its fiscal 2012 budget request heads for its Capitol Hill debut on March 2. The U.S. space agency wants mission proposals in four areas — high-bandwidth, deep-space communication; orbital debris control; advanced in-space propulsion; and autonomous rendezvous, docking and formation flying.
Specialists are unloading the nuclear fuel rods from Iran’s Bushehr reactor after problems appeared during the facility’s startup. So far, the problems do not appear to be the result of the Stuxnet cyberworm that infected some of the reactor staff’s personal computers, Russian and Iranian officials say.
David Van Buren, the U.S. Air Force’s top acquisition executive, says that the contract with Boeing to develop the KC-46A aerial refueler has been signed, marking a major step in the Air Force’s decade-long pursuit of a KC-135 replacement.
If the U.S. Congress fails to boost fiscal 2011 funding accounts above fiscal 2010 levels, the U.S. Navy will be unable to start building its next Virginia-class submarine, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus told the House Armed Services Committee March 1. Such a scenario, he says, “will break the existing multiyear contract” now in place between Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics Electric Boat to build the subs.
GET IN FORMATION: The Pentagon’s current plan for acquisition of two similar tactical wheeled vehicles — the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle and the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) — creates “a risk of unplanned overlap in capabilities that could increase acquisition costs significantly,” warn congressional auditors in a March 1 report. The “DOD does not have a unified tactical wheeled vehicle strategy that considers timing, capabilities, affordability and sustainability,” the Government Accountability Office notes, despite a 2009 promise to do so.
MELBOURNE, Australia — The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) plans to operate unmanned combat air vehicles (UCAVs) in the future in addition to manned fighter aircraft. “I think we will eventually get into the UCAV area, but it is down the track,” says Chief of Air Force Air Marshal Mark Binskin, adding that the technology needs to develop further before the RAAF adds such aircraft.
BENGALURU, India — The government of India’s Karnataka State on Feb. 26 formally handed over the land that the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) is using for its new aeronautical test range.
HOUSTON — A NASA-backed plan for a unique International Space Station (ISS) family portrait featuring the space shuttle Discovery as well as docked spacecraft from the other major station partners was vetoed on March 1 by the Russians, who decided the photo opportunity would interfere with long-established test objectives for their new Soyuz TMA-01M.
HOUSTON — Space shuttle Discovery’s astronauts attached the final habitable piece of the International Space Station (ISS) on March 1: a 21-ft.-long equipment stowage enclosure that was hoisted from the shuttle’s cargo bay with a robot arm and berthed to the orbiting science laboratory’s Unity module.
BENGALURU, India — The Indian air force (IAF) lost 40 aircraft in various mishaps during the last three years, Defense Minister A.K. Antony told the Indian Parliament last week. Sixteen pilots, 24 service personnel and five civilians lost their lives in the accidents that span from Feb. 1, 2008, to Feb. 17, 2011.
The Pentagon is generating plans for establishing a no-fly zone over Libya, which could include the first combat assignment for Lockheed Martin’s F-22 Raptor stealth fighter. The F-22 and some cyberoperations would be employed in shutting down Libya’s air defense system, which is comprised “almost exclusively” of Russian-built SA-6 surface-to-air-missile (SAM) systems similar to those that opposed NATO forces in Serbia and that shot down the single F-117 fighter lost in combat, says a former U.S. Air Force chief of staff.
Australia is considering acquisition of a fifth Boeing C-17 Globemaster airlifter instead of the two Lockheed Martin C-130J Hercules that it has been planning to buy. In language that suggests Australia has almost decided on another C-17, Defense Minister Stephen Smith cites Canberra’s great satisfaction with the performance of the four C-17s that it bought last decade. They “have delivered excellent service and have provided [the defense department’s] first true global-airlift capability,” Smith says.
NEW DELHI — India has allocated $44.4 billion to defense for the fiscal year beginning April 1, up by 8.4% from the current fiscal year. Of this, defense services will receive $35.74 billion, which includes capital procurement of $15 billion, an increase of 13.75% over this year. India’s defense spending will represent about 2.72% of the country’s GDP — up from last year’s 2.41% — as figured in the budget announced Feb. 28. However, the budget falls short of reaching at least the 3% of the GDP that many were expecting.
TANKER TALK: Both refueling tanker rivals are mum after receiving their debriefings on last week’s U.S. Air Force’s KC-X decision. EADS North America, the losing team, “is evaluating the information presented to us,” says spokesman Guy Hicks; the company’s debriefing lasted about 90 min. Boeing declined to provide details on why it won the $3.5 billion KC-46A development contract last week. “It was clear the Air Force and Defense Department worked hard to ensure fairness throughout a lengthy and rigorous proposal process,” says company spokesman Bill Barksdale.
BEIJING — China’s primary space programs are going smoothly, says national space contractor China Aerospace Science & Technology Corp. (CASC), listing the Tiangong 1 docking target, Shenzhou 8 satellite, Chang’e 3 lunar mission and Long March 5 launcher. Last year’s Chang’e 2 mission to the Moon provided a firm foundation for the next phase of the country’s lunar exploration program, CASC says in a report carried by the official Xinhua news agency. It gave no details about progress with the other programs.
AIR FORCE The Boeing Co. of Seattle was awarded a fixed price incentive firm contract valued at more than $3.5 billion for the KC-X Engineering and Manufacturing Development, which will deliver 18 aircraft by 2017. Aeronautical Systems Center (ASC/WKK), Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8625-11-C600).
The U.S. Navy brass loves to perpetuate the cliché that the first question any U.S. president asks during a time of overseas crisis is: Where are the carriers? But what the service is less likely to trumpet is that this has been the very same question among federal budget cutters through the years, especially since the end of the Cold War.
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HOUSTON — Internal NASA thinking on the timing of the agency’s hoped-for STS-135 space shuttle mission using the Atlantis orbiter has taken a U-turn, with most now favoring the manifested June 28 launch date.
