NASA Presolicitations NASA Presolicitations Date of Posting Response Date Opportunity Segment Procurement Office Solicitation Code Contact E-Mail 11-Dec-09 28-Jan-10 Rapid Response Space Works And Modular Space Vehicles RRSW-MSV Research & Developm
UAV SUB: Newcomers to the unmanned aerial system (UAS) market are not likely to find the going as easy as entrenched competitors like Northrop Grumman, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems and others, according to a new report from consultancy Frost & Sullivan. Companies that could provide an 80 percent UAS solution a decade ago dominate the market now across all key platform categories, and market domination by well-established companies has already driven some participants out and forced others to diversify their offerings. “By focusing on UAS subsystems, the U.S.
The U.S. Marines are in active talks with industry for a lightweight vehicle that may supplant the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV), according to Commandant Gen. James Conway. Conway told reporters at the Pentagon Dec. 15 that the JLTV is not only five years away, but is weighing in at 22,000 pounds, which he believes is too heavy for Marine Corps needs. Spearheaded by the U.S. Army and the Marines, the JLTV is intended as a Humvee replacement.
SECOND STOVL: The second F-35 short takeoff and vertical landing test aircraft, BF-2, returned to flight on Dec. 13 after prolonged modification. Following an extended “ferry confidence” test flight with tanker support, the aircraft is expected to head for Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. It will join aircraft BF-1, which has been in maintenance and ground test since arriving at Pax last month. BF-1 could return to flight late this week.
PARIS — Arianespace has set Dec. 17 as the new launch date for France’s Helios IIB imaging intelligence satellite. Liftoff of the satellite, intended to improve coverage and revisit time of day/night optical imagery, in particular for forces in Afghanistan and other overseas theaters, had initially been set for Dec. 9, but was pushed back because of a leaking liquid helium valve on the cryogenic main stage (Aerospace DAILY, Dec. 14).
AIR FORCE Lockheed Martin Corp., Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded a $550,432,272 contract which will provide for the F-22 weapons system during the CY2010. At this time, $312,067,896 has been obligated. 478 AESG/SYK, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8611-08-C-2897, P00036).
Congressional appropriators want a formal request from the White House on any changes in NASA’s human exploration plans, and specifically prohibit program cancellations under the Fiscal 2010 omnibus spending bill sent to President Barack Obama after a rare Sunday vote in the Senate.
The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) is unable to properly account for a large portion of the nontactical vehicles (NTVs) it buys, leases or maintains in support of operations in Iraq, a recent Pentagon Inspector General (IG) report says. “We estimate General Services Administration (GSA) NTVs cost about $70 million to purchase and all 9,793 NTVs in the fleet cost about $109.8 million annually to lease and maintain,” the IG said in its report, “Management of Nontactical Vehicles in Support of Operation Iraqi Freedom,” released late last month.
NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission is under way after a spectacular predawn launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., early Dec. 14.
EMPTY SEAT: House Committee on Science and Technology Chairman Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.) announced Dec. 14 that he will not seek re-election in 2010. Gordon began serving on the science committee when he first arrived in Congress in 1985, occupying leadership roles on several subcommittees before becoming ranking member of the full committee in 2004. He took the chairmanship in 2007 when the Democrats took over control of Congress. Rep. Jerry Costello (D-Ill.), the second-ranking Democrat on the committee, announced the same day his intention to pursue the chairmanship.
There were few glitches on the Dec. 9 first captive-carry flight of the X-51A WaveRider scramjet engine demonstrator, paving the way for a full dress rehearsal in late January and the first hypersonic test flight in late February.
LONDON — British financial watchdog the National Audit Office (NAO) is warning that the Defense Ministry could face a far larger multibillion pound procurement hole than currently anticipated, if funding assumptions prove incorrect.
A failed rocket motor on a target missile is to blame for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency’s (MDA) inability to complete an intercept test of the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (Thaad) anti-ballistic missile system as planned. The test, which took place late Dec. 11 from test facilities near Kauai, Hawaii, was designed to pit Thaad against an air-launched short-range ballistic missile.
After months of back and forth, including two supplemental protests, BAE Systems has prevailed in the latest battle over the U.S. Army’s $3 billion Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles (FMTV) truck contract.
PARIS — Thales’s new chairman and CEO Luc Vigneron has completed his strategic review, leading to a restructuring of the defense and aerospace company and a goal of achieving €1.3 billion ($1.9 billion) in productivity improvements in the coming years.
SUKHOI SCHEDULE: Russia’s next fighter aircraft, the Sukhoi T-50 (also known as PAK FA) is to commence flight trials next year, Vice Premier Sergei Ivanov confirmed last week. The tentative in-service date is 2015.
DARMSTADT, Germany and PARIS The European Space Agency (ESA) has decided to defer selection of the prime contractor for Europe’s third-generation geostationary weather satellite system. The new system, known as MTG, will ensure the continuity of weather data supplied by existing geostationary satellites Meteosat and MSG, and provide an expanded set of climate monitoring data.
HUMINT OPS: The U.S. Air Force’s outspoken intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) chief, Lt. Gen. Dave Deptula, has a number of predictions about what the military’s future may look like. He suggests that traditional staff designations (A2, G3, J8, etc.) will give way to a more flexible “matrixing” of specialties and a rebuilding of the ISR career fields.
NASA HAWKS: NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center is set to acquire a third Northrop Grumman Global Hawk unmanned air vehicle from the U.S. Air Force under a recently signed agreement. The third aircraft is AV-7, the last of the original batch built and flown in the original Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration program sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. NASA is currently re-activating AV-1 and AV-6 for research flights under a Space Act Agreement signed in 2008 and in October got AV-6 back into the air for the first time since May 2003.
