The incoming Obama administration is going to have its work cut out for it in bolstering the nation’s defense at a critical time, according to a report by the Defense Science Board (DSB). “It has been more than two generations since the presidency transitioned with American troops engaged in significant combat operations – a deployment begun in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks,” the DSB says.
U.S. proponents of ballistic missile defense are hoping to make their point with lawmakers and the public through a documentary-style film, as concern lingers about lukewarm support for the $10 billion a year program.
PARIS – Airbus Chief Executive Tom Enders expressed apparent frustration over continuing development problems with the Airbus Military A400M airlifter at a dinner last week hosted by the French Association of Professional Air and Space Journalists. His comments come amid concerns over the full authority digital engine control (FADEC) software on the airlifter’s Europrop International TP400-D6 powerplant. Engine issues have pushed first flight well into next year (Aerospace DAILY, Nov. 25).
LISTEN CLOSELY: Despite their complaints about Pentagon acquisition, there are programs that Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Pentagon acquisition czar John Young like — C-17, C-130J, C-5 (despite earlier problems), EA-18G Growler, P-8 Multi-Mission Maritime aircraft and Small Diameter Bomb. And Young expects fewer flawed programs and protests in the future.
LOST SEAT: U.S. District Judge James Cacheris is considering a motion by space-tourism travel agency Space Adventures to drop a lawsuit by Japan’s Daisuke Enomoto charging that the Virginia firm stiffed him on a refund when he was bumped from a Soyuz flight to the International Space Station. The Japanese millionaire paid a reported $21 million for one of the extra Soyuz “taxi seats” brokered by Space Adventures, and argues the no-refunds clause in his ticket shouldn’t count.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicated new calendar listing.) Dec. 2 — Information Sharing Federations, “Trusted Domains, Partnerships and Relationships,” The Ronald Reagan Building, Washington, D.C. For more information go to www.afei.org
SPOOLING UP: Boeing restarted its CH-47 Chinook helicopter and V-22 Osprey tiltrotor fuselage lines at its Philadelphia plant on Nov. 26, after being notified by the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) that it had met the requirements to return to production. Both lines were halted Nov. 21 when DCMA demanded corrective action following discovery of a plastic cap blocking a fuel line in a V-22 fuselage. “We may never know what happened,” Boeing says.
LUNAR LANDER: NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston plans to issue a draft request for proposals (RFP) for conceptual design work on the Altair lunar lander by mid-December, with a final RFP expected by late January 2009 and a contract award around Feb. 20. The contract “shall provide the necessary resources to conduct NASA-directed engineering tasks in support of evaluating vehicle conceptual designs, maturing the vehicle design, and developing the necessary products for System Requirements Review (SRR) and System Design Review (SDR),” NASA says in its announcement.
January 27-28, 2009 Sofitel Miami Miami, FL This in-depth, case study driven management forum will showcase Viable Strategies to Drive Meaningful Cost-Reduction and Improve Operating Efficiencies. Learn more at www.aviationweek.com/conferences or call +1.212.904.4483. Click here to view the pdf
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has shed light on its rationale for sustaining a protest by ASRC Research & Technology Solutions (ARTS) over an award for NASA support services that led the space agency to reverse its original decision.
FLIGHT READY: NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland is investigating the best methods for monitoring a pilot’s brain activity to help them realize when their stress, fatigue or distraction levels are edging into dangerous territory. The studies are employing functional near-infrared spectroscopy, also know as fNIRS, and other imaging technology to measure blood flow in the brain’s cortex and the concentration of oxygen in the blood.
GETTING OUT: Northstar Aerospace plans to divest its non-core business, marshal its resources and focus on manufacturing gears, transmissions and related components, the company says. Assets for sale are Pratt & Whitney repair operation Northstar Aerospace Turbine Engine Service Group in Stroud, Okla., worth an estimated $15 million, and the remaining processing operations at Northstar’s Cambridge, Canada, site. No potential buyers have been named yet, representative Scott Langdon says, adding that the sale process typically takes months to complete.
FUSING TOGETHER: Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. of San Diego, California, plans to merge with Digital Fusion Inc. of Huntsville, Alabama, in an all-stock transaction. Kratos says the combination will enable it to capture a larger market share as a Defense Department and government prime contractor. Digital Fusion, Inc. is an information technology, research, engineering, and acquisition and business support services company focused on a wide range of disciplines.
FIRST DELIVERY: The first helicopter produced by Eurocopter at its Albacete plant in Spain is now in the hands of the Spanish defense ministry. The EC135 light twin was handed over on Nov. 26 for use by the Spanish army’s disaster response unit. One of two assembly lines for the EC135 — the other is at Eurocopter Germany in Donauworth — Eurocopter Spain plans to deliver more than 12 in 2009. Opened in 2007, the Albacete plant is also manufacturing rear fuselages for the Tiger and forward fuselages for the NH90.
U.S. Army aviation incidents and accidents have started to get deadlier and costlier since the beginning of this decade, an exclusive Aerospace DAILY analysis of service mishap data shows. The number of fatalities spiked 875 percent, from 8 in 2000 to 78 in 2001, when the Bush administration’s so-called global war on terror started, the analysis shows. After that, fatalities for the remainder of the decade hovered near or at the top of the list of deadliest years since 1986.
GATES AGAIN?: With Defense Secretary Robert Gates looking at a job extension of at least a year into the Obama administration, his opinions on the future of controversial programs may carry more weight than they did a couple of weeks ago. His staffmembers, including acquisition chief John Young, have pushed cutting F-22 and accelerating F-35. Young says he advocates cutting programs in preference to slipping their schedules. “You have to pay your personnel ... and for your operations and maintenance,” he says.
PALLET-ABLE: The U.S. Coast Guard has awarded a $150.5 million contract to Integrated Coast Guard Systems to purchase three HC-144A Ocean Sentry Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA) plus five Mission System Pallets (MSPs) for aircraft four through eight. These MPAs are the ninth, 10th and 11th HC-144As for the Coast Guard, with delivery dates scheduled for April, August and November 2010. The MSPs will be delivered in May, July, August and September 2010.
EADS will be late with the delivery of its first KC-30B multirole tanker transport aircraft to the lead customer, the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), according to the Australian defense department. In reviewing current and future acquisition programs, Greg Combet, Australia’s Parliamentary Secretary for Defense Procurement, says that “we are expecting a slight delay on their delivery.” Combet hasn’t provided details, but notes that “we will continue to closely monitor [the KC-30’s] progress in the coming year.”
A new study released by the House Armed Services oversight and investigations subcommittee has concluded it is unclear how well the Pentagon’s Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization (JIEDDO) is accomplishing its mission.
THE HAGUE — The European Space Agency (ESA) completed the first day of its two-day triennial ministerial summit on a positive note Nov. 25, but tough discussions remain before the proposed 10.5 billion euro ($13 billion) three-year spending plan can be adopted. Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain said the members had OK’d two issues — funding of the Kourou launch center and streamlining ESA’s decision-making procedure and industrial/procurement policy to prevent gridlock as the agency expands in the coming years.
A new study outlining U.S. strategic airlift needs due by next spring will almost certainly change the planned mix of aircraft, yet defense officials and congressional auditors apparently still disagree on the underlying approach. The Defense Department has not identified specific metrics it will use to make strategic airlift decisions, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) — something DOD had supposedly agreed to do based on previous GAO recommendations.
President-elect Barack Obama wasn’t specific Nov. 25 about what programs he intends to cut from the federal budget to finance middle-class tax cuts and a massive jobs creation program, but he made clear that cuts are coming. “We cannot sustain a system that bleeds billions of taxpayer dollars on programs that have outlived their usefulness, or exist because of the power of a politician, lobbyist or interest group,” Obama told a Chicago news conference where he presented his White House budget team.
