While aircraft-related costs have consistently ranked at the top of U.S. Navy expenses during the past decade, other programs have been jockeying for money, reflecting the often-cyclical nature of spending for the service as it ramped up or down for such major projects as aircraft carrier construction.
An article Jan. 24 on a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy launch should have said it was the most first-stage thrust for any U.S. expendable launch vehicle since the Saturn V.
CHINESE AIR POWER: A new Rand Corp. study declares that a “future Chinese air force campaign would, under most likely scenarios, seriously test the United States and its allies in a conflict.” According to a Rand statement, the authors find that Chinese military analysts are focusing on developing specific, practical concepts for its air forces, like attacking an enemy air force on the ground before it can take off.
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — NASA managers have cleared Discovery for launch Feb. 24 on STS-133, the 39th and final flight for the agency’s oldest surviving orbiter. “Everything is on track, going beautifully with the countdown and we are more than ready for tomorrow’s launch,” says Mission Management Team Chairman Mike Moses. “We’ve been ready from a mission standpoint for quite a while, and now our hardware is ready to go.”
ORLANDO and EGLIN AFB, Fla. — With the final U.S. Air Force buy of Boeing Small Diameter Bombs (SDBs) planned in fiscal 2012, the company is now proposing a laser-guided variant similar to the 500-lb. Laser Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM).
The bomber segment of the Long Range Strike (LRS) family of systems has yet to be defined, much less designed, but clues are accumulating about what the U.S. Air Force is asking for. The aircraft needs less than a day’s endurance, it has to be stealthy and it must be able to carry weapons both internally and externally. It also will likely have a large AESA (active, electronically scanned array) radar for surveillance and some sort of associated capability for defensive electronic attack of enemy aircraft and air- or ground-launched missiles.
NASA’s Glory climate-monitoring spacecraft remained on its launch pad at Vandenberg AFB, Calif., after a last-minute glitch forced a 24-hr. slip in its liftoff. An unexpected reading from the vehicle interface control console overseeing the Orbital Sciences Corp. Taurus XL 3110 launcher forced the postponement shortly before the scheduled 5:09 a.m. EST Feb. 23 launch.
CAPE CANAVERAL — The three-day countdown for launch of space shuttle Discovery on its 39th and final mission is under way, with T-0 targeted for 4:50 p.m. EST on Feb. 24. The countdown began at 3 p.m. on Feb. 21 for the mission, designated STS-133, which has been on hold since Nov. 5 to resolve problems that led to cracking in the shuttle’s external fuel tank. The shuttle will carry a logistics module, an external spare parts stowage platform and supplies to the International Space Station (ISS).
HOUSTON — Russia’s Progress 39 has departed the International Space Station (ISS), clearing the aft docking port of the Russian segment for the arrival of the European Space Agency’s Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), Johannes Kepler. The ATV is expected to make an automated docking on Feb. 24 at 10:45 a.m. EST, about 6 hr. ahead of the scheduled launch of shuttle Discovery on the long-delayed STS-133 assembly mission to the ISS from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
HOUSTON — NASA space station and shuttle program officials are assessing the risks associated with a one-time opportunity to shoot high-definition video as well as still photography of the International Space Station, while spacecraft from each of the major partner space agencies has a crew transport or a cargo vessel docked to the nearly assembled orbital outpost. The opportunity falls near the end of shuttle Discovery’s 11-day STS-133 station assembly mission, which is scheduled to lift off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Feb. 24 at 4:50 p.m. EST.
LONDON — The U.K., with the retirement of the Nimrod R1 on March 31, is approaching an airborne signals intelligence gap that will last more than two years. The replacement RC-135 Rivet Joints the U.K. is acquiring are not due for delivery until late 2013. T hree are being bought; the first KC-135 being modified into an RC-135 is now undergoing refurbishment. The U.K. is still using Nimrod R1s in Afghanistan and has recently switched their operational focus to support operations in Helmand Province from Kandahar.
Bharat Electronics Ltd. (BEL) Chairman A.K. Datt says the company is confident of securing orders worth $15 billion in the growing vacuum electronics market. “This is a very critical technology, used in small numbers,” Datt said Feb. 21. “Once we meet the demands of our internal customers, we are sure of exporting high-power microwave vacuum electronic devices [VEDs].”
LONDON — U.K. Defense Secretary Liam Fox has vowed to establish quarterly reviews of major acquisition efforts in a bid to stem perpetual cost overruns. The Major Projects Board, to be headed by the state secretary, initially will scrutinize the top 20 projects and then expand that effort to the top 50. “Where projects are falling behind schedule or budget, we must take immediate remedial measures,” Fox says.
PARIS — Boeing Space & Intelligence Systems has created a new unit to market commercial satellite services to the U.S. government and other satellite users. The BSIS entity is intended to enable the company to take advantage of hot government demand around the world for satellite services, especially for communications, where demand is outstripping supply, says Craig Cooning, BSIS vice president and general manager. It will employ 30-40 people and eventually will be headquartered in Washington to be near its target customer base.
Lockheed Martin has taken the top spot away from BAE Systems in the list of top global arms providers, according to the latest list provided by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri). The data reflects business activities in 2009 and show both Lockheed Martin and BAE Systems recording more than $33 billion in sales. Overall, Sipri says arms sales were up in 2009 over the prior year, reaching $401 billion ($14.8 billion above the 2008 level).
SAO JOSE DOS CAMPOS, Brazil — Embraer has unveiled the first of three EMB-145s ordered by India’s Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) as testbeds for an indigenously developed airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) system. The first aircraft, equipped with the antenna structure for the phased-array radar under development by DRDO’s Bengalaru-based Center for Air Borne Systems (CABS), will be flight tested at Embraer before its scheduled delivery to India in August.
LONDON — Brazil is looking at a 26.5% cut in defense spending, with acquisition programs largely unaffected, the Brazilian government says. The projected reduction in defense outlays will not necessarily affect the F-X2 fighter competition pitting the Boeing F/A-18E/F against the Dassault Rafale and Saab Gripen.
ARMY LORD Corporation, Erie , Pa. , was awarded a $13,152,000 firm-fixed-price contract on Feb. 14, 2011. The award will provide for at least 2,400 UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters. The work will be performed in Erie , with an estimated completion date of Jan. 31, 2016. Two bids were solicited with two bids received. The U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal , Ala. , is the contracting activity (W58RGZ-11-D-0108).
LONDON — Continued unease about Defense Ministry program management and decisions made in its recent defense review is driving the U.K. parliament to ask the government to spell out, by the end of April, the full implications of last year’s Strategic Defense and Security Review (SDSR).
After trailing in the funding wake of aircraft programs for more than a decade, major U.S. Navy shipbuilding programs are picking up enough steam in the service’s fiscal 2012 budget request to keep them on a steady course through the rest of the decade.
