A Boeing-led team has demonstrated a common software to serve the space and ground segments of the U.S. Air Force’s Transformational Satellite Communications System (TSAT). TSAT is a major element of the Defense Department’s next-generation secure, global communications network, particularly because of its ability to provide Internet protocol (IP) connections for airborne, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance communities.
SURGE GAP: Defense demands for unmanned aerial system (UAS) coverage have resulted in “skyrocketing” flying hour statistics by the U.S. Defense Department alone, with 60,000 flight hours in 2004 soaring to more than 250,000 hours last year, a consultancy shop says. “UAS capabilities and concepts of operation are ahead of a defense acquisition curve, meaning ‘rapid’ fielding of new persistent ISR UAS will still result in UAV shortages from an end-user standpoint,” according to G2 Solutions’ Research Director Ron Stearns.
PRECISION KILL: BAE Systems said Nov. 4 that its Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) contract was transferred from the U.S. Army to the Department of the Navy. With full funding in place, the Navy and Marine Corps recently assumed the APKWS development contract with BAE Systems to complete system development and demonstration of the rocket-guidance capability. BAE’s Nashua, N.H., facility plans to begin producing the rockets at the end of 2009. The company has been the prime contractor for APKWS since April 2006.
After being damaged in a crane accident at its launch site in August, Malaysia’s Measat 3A satellite arrived for repair back at manufacturer Orbital Sciences Corp.’s Dulles, Va., facility on Nov. 7. The satellite’s journey back from Baikonur, Kazakhstan was delayed because of the availability of a facility there that was needed for the removal of toxic hydrazine propellant prior to shipment, according to Orbital spokesman Barry Beneski. Cleanup
BRUSSELS, Belgium – European Union defense ministers have asked the European Defense Agency (EDA) to improve the military aviation safety certification system and eliminate overlap that is driving up program costs and slowing the fielding of new hardware.
Avionics manufacturer Rockwell Collins is cutting 400 jobs, mainly in manufacturing operations, as the cancellation or delay of several U.S. military programs adds to the impact of the global economic downturn on its commercial business. The cuts total 1.5 percent of the company’s work force, and include reducing the number of contract workers by about 100, mainly in engineering functions. The majority of cuts will affect the Cedar Rapids headquarters and the company’s other plants in Iowa.
SPACE FLIGHT: NASA has awarded a contract to ZIN Technologies Inc., of Middleburg Heights, Ohio, for work on space flight projects supporting the agency’s Exploration Technology Development and Human Research Programs. The total value of the contract, including a three-year base period and two one-year options, is about $94.5 million. The contract is scheduled to begin this month. ZIN Technologies Inc.
BRUSSELS, Belgium – Twelve European Defense Agency (EDA) member countries agreed Nov. 10 to pool airlifter resources in the future, with the focus on the A400M. At this point it’s a declaration of intent, with a formal letter of agreement due next year. The participants are Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Romania, Slovakia and Spain.
HELO LIFT: Forecast International projects that 2,176 light rotorcraft will be produced for military use from 2008 through 2017. The Connecticut-based firm estimates the value of this production at $22.3 billion in constant 2008 U.S. dollars. Yearly production is projected to rise steadily from an estimated 132 rotorcraft this year to 291 in 2014. According to the consultancy, “this growth will make the light military segment the most dynamic part of the world rotorcraft market during this time period.” Ongoing restructuring of U.S.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – A potential strike – or protracted negotiations that could have crippled United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V, Delta IV and Delta II production and launch operations – has been averted by Machinists Union approval of a 3.5-year pay and benefits contract offer by the company. Approval came from the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW) union, representing workers at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., and a ULA plant at Decatur, Ala.
Paradise Hotel San Diego, CA November 13-14, 2008 Highly complex programs of the 21st century A&D industry – are they too hot to handle? Gain real and timely intelligence and perspective about the politics, the money, the technology and the challenges the supply chain must overcome.
Two video clips that showed an off-the-record briefing by a senior F-15 pilot to retired generals on the recent Red Flag exercise seem to have disappeared from their original posting on YouTube. The discussions included some interesting, possibly classified, and certainly embarrassing details about fighting against the F-22, as well as the performance of the Indian air force’s Su-30MKI and the French air force’s Rafale in September’s Red Flag exercise (Aerospace DAILY, Nov. 6).
NASA declared its Phoenix Mars Lander mission over Nov. 10, a week after the spacecraft sent its last signal from the Martian arctic. “Phoenix not only met the tremendous challenge of landing safely,” said Phoenix Project Manager Barry Goldstein of the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “It accomplished scientific investigations on 149 of its 152 Martian days as a result of dedicated work by a talented team.”
India’s Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft was orbiting closer to the moon Nov. 10, after reaching lunar orbit Nov. 8 and later carrying out the first of a series of maneuvers designed to lower it to its final operational orbit 100 kilometers (61 miles) above the lunar surface. The latest orbit has a perilune of 200 kilometers, down from the 504-kilometer distance achieved when Chandrayaan-1 first entered lunar orbit. The probe’s apolune remains at 7,502 kilometers.
MORE OVERSIGHT: The No. 2 federal acquisition policymaker during almost all of the Bush administration, Robert Burton, says federal procurement and acquisition policy “is set to come under the microscope” with new Washington leadership next year. Burton, now at Washington law firm Venable, says clues can be derived from President-elect Barack Obama’s campaign promises and Democratic-led defense authorization passed recently.
ARMY Oshkosh Corp., Oshkosh, Wis., was awarded on Oct. 31, 2008, a $1,266,601,398 requirements contract/firm-fixed price contract for the purchase of 2,285 new heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Trucks (HEMTTA4) and 768 HEMTT RECAP, an upgrade to a lower model truck. The work will be performed in Oshkosh, Wis., with an estimated completion date of Sept. 30, 2012. One bid was solicited and one bid was received. TACOM, Warren, Mich., is the contracting activity (W56HZV-09-D-0024). AIR FORCE
BYRD FLIES: The top appropriator in the U.S. Senate, Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), will step down from his chair starting in January and could be succeeded by another powerful lawmaker, Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii). However, the chain reaction is likely to further affect defense appropriations, regardless of whether Inouye gives up that chairmanship or retains it (as Byrd did with simultaneous leadership of the homeland security appropriations subcommittee). Byrd said Nov. 7 that he will remain in the latter position.
The NOAA-N Prime weather satellite that tumbled off of a “turn over cart” during a routine repositioning in the factory five years ago has been shipped after undergoing repairs to Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., for a Feb. 4 launch. The fall of the 18-ft. tall satellite required Lockheed Martin Space Systems to rebuild it, but its main instrument packages was not damaged. The mishap occurred in September 2003 (Aerospace DAILY, Sept. 10, 2003).
The German army next year is due to receive its first EADS Tactical Radar Ground Surveillance (TRGS) system to assess the technology in the run up to a competition expected around 2011-2012.
PARIS — After years of false starts, the Gas Turbine Research Establishment (GTRE), a Bangalore-based Defense Research Development Organization (DRDO) laboratory, is homing in on its choice for a partner to jointly develop and produce the indigenous engine for India’s Light Combat Aircraft (LCA). With NPO Saturn and Snecma short-listed and technical evaluations on, a decision may be made soon.
