The U.S. Marine Corps Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV) is undergoing a critical testing phase that it must pass, program officials acknowledge, if the service expects to continue building what it considers the linchpin of its expeditionary future. “The focus now is on RGT — our reliability and growth testing,” says Manny Pacheco, program spokesman. “We’re doing developmental tests to make sure all the engineering changes work the way they’re supposed to.”
The U.S. Army’s Research, Development and Engineering Command wants to hear from industry on what it can bring to the fight against improvised explosive devices, specifically the hard-to-detect non-metallic IEDs so prevalent in Afghanistan.
COSMO-SKYMED 4: Launch of the COSMO-SkyMed 4 mission aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., was pushed back one day to Nov. 5 at 10:20 p.m. EDT, after spacecraft builder Thales Alenia Space concluded that launch could not take place Nov. 4 due to “technical reasons” that would prevent the new Earth observation satellite from being properly inserted into the current three-satellite COSMO-SkyMed constellation. The slip is unrelated to a low second-stage battery voltage reading that caused liftoff to slip from an earlier Nov. 2 target.
Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Army are discussing the operational deployment of an airborne penetrating radar, now in flight testing, in the first half of next year. The UHF-band Tactical Reconnaissance and Counter-Concealment-Enabled Radar (Tracer) is being flight tested on a NASA-operated Predator B unmanned aircraft. The synthetic aperture radar (SAR) provides foliage, camouflage and ground penetration.
AUCKLAND — A new white paper issued by the New Zealand government outlines a need for short-to-medium range maritime patrol aircraft and boosts the number of light utility helicopters being added to the fleet.
NASA’s Epoxi spacecraft flew by comet Hartley 2 from a distance of 435 mi. at 9:59 a.m. EDT Nov. 4, capturing strikingly clear images of its nucleus and making Epoxi the only spacecraft ever to image two different comets. Epoxi is the repurposed Deep Impact, which deployed an impactor to strike comet Tempel 1 in 2005. Hartley 2 is only the fifth comet nucleus ever to be photographed by a spacecraft. Hartley 2’s nucleus is about 2 km. (1.2 mi.) long and 0.4 km. (0.25 mi.) across at its narrow “neck,” according to NASA.
HOUSTON — Efforts to launch the shuttle Discovery from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center were rescheduled for Nov. 5 following an early weather scrub on Nov. 4 due to widespread rain showers and low cloud ceilings associated with the passage of a cold front. The early decision by the Mission Management Team, ahead of Discovery’s fueling, preserved the possibility of daily launch attempts at the Florida shuttle base through the weekend.
When Congress enacted the Fiscal 2010 Supplemental Appropriations Act in late July, military operations associated with Iraq and Afghanistan topped the $1.1 trillion mark, according to the Congressional Research Service (CRS).
The U.S. Navy said Nov. 4 that it wants to split the buy for 20 new Littoral Combat Ships through 2015, 10 from Lockheed Martin and 10 from the Austal/General Dynamics team, both of which have built one ship each and are now at work on their second hulls.
Former Indian President A.P.J. Kalam has lent his name to a new cooperative effort by experts in the U.S. and India to advance space solar power (SSP) as a way to improve life on Earth.
Powered exoskeletons that enable ground crews to load and unload transports, or arm combat aircraft with missiles and bombs, unaided by bulky ground equipment, could be one of the first of a new breed of systems that augment human performance. Raytheon is demonstrating a second-generation exoskeleton, the XOS 2, that enables the wearer to lift up to 200 lb. with ease, while providing the agility to climb stairs, walk at speeds up to 3.5 mph. and even kick a soccer ball.
CALIFORNIA CHRISTENING: The U.S. Navy will christen its newest attack submarine, California, on Nov. 6 at Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding in Newport News, Va. The eighth submarine of the Virginia class, California (SSN 781) is tailored for anti-submarine warfare, anti-ship warfare, strike warfare, special operations, ISR, irregular warfare and mine warfare missions, according to the Navy. It will be the seventh ship to bear the name California.
As the Republican takeover of the House of Representatives brings new leadership to the committees that oversee the Defense Department, it remains unclear how military funding will fare as Congress grapples with a national debt that is fast approaching $14 trillion.
The Nov. 2 midterm U.S. congressional elections gave NASA a new House appropriations “cardinal” and a tight-fisted Republican majority in the House that might scuttle plans for an extra space shuttle flight next summer. NASA needs $600 million to keep the shuttle program running long enough to send one more shuttle-load of supplies aloft to keep the International Space Station stocked until commercial cargo carriers come online. The Democrat-controlled House authorized the mission, but NASA still does not have a Fiscal 2011 funding appropriation.
Hughes Network Systems (HNS) hopes a successful high-speed trial in Australia will help pave the way for the company to supply satellites and ground equipment for Australia’s National Broadband Network and other projects aimed at bridging the digital divide.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates has learned that development of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter will be further delayed, on top of the 13-month slip that was disclosed in March. Gates also was advised in a Nov. 2 briefing that operations and support costs for the F-35 will be re-budgeted at 1.5 times the aircraft it replaces, more than twice the original goal and 50% more than more recent projections, according to reports.
LONDON — The British government has formally kicked off the process of developing a Defense Industrial and Technology policy in the wake of the cost-cutting Strategic Defense and Security Review. Peter Luff, minister for defense equipment, support, and technology, has told industry to start providing input for a planning document, a so-called green paper, that is to be completed by year-end and help in crafting the formal policy next year.
BEIJING — Chinese spacecraft builder CAST aims to develop a larger satellite bus matched to the throw weight of the Long March 5 rocket under development by sister company CALT. The bus will have a mass of 6.5-7 tons, be able to carry a payload of 1.2-1.5 tons and supply 15-20 kw. of electrical power, CAST President Yang Baohua says. The design life will be 15 years and the designation DFH-5.
GENOA, Italy — Missile-maker MBDA has signed a three-year agreement with the Italian Aerospace Research Center (CIRA) that will boost the European missile maker’s R&D capability while ensuring the long-term future of the Italian research organization. The agreement, which is renewable, will cover a broad range of activities, including composite airframes for subsonic/supersonic applications; guidance, navigation and control systems for next-generation launchers and hypersonic vehicles; and antiballistic missile defense.
