The war in Afghanistan is not going well although there is still a chance to fix things – but time is running out, a British military expert says. “We’re not losing but we’re not winning. The next year is absolutely critical,” Michael Clarke, director of the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies (RUSI), said Oct. 27.
PARIS - The Spanish government faces an end-of-month deadline on whether to proceed with its planned acquisition of the Tomahawk land-attack cruise missile. Spain and the U.S. government had been in talks over the sale of the Raytheon missile for some time, in part because Washington had to wave Missile Technology Control Regime export restrictions. In June, the Pentagon notified Congress of the possible foreign military sale, which came after at least two years of talks.
Paradise Point Resort & Spa San Diego, CA November 12-14, 2008 A new U.S. President – what it means to the A&D industry Just one week after the 2008 Presidential Election, AVIATION WEEK will provide insight into the new administration and what it means to the A&D industry – from impact on research programs to shifts in priorities. Learn more at www.aviationweek.com/conferences or call +1.212.904.4483.
SUPPORT SERVICES: Sikorsky Aerospace Services signed $687,000 in contracts to provide the U.S. Coast Guard with scheduled maintenance help for their HH-60J medium-range Jayhawk helicopters. Sikorsky will conduct the work under two separate contracts: one for $486,368 to repair 18 spindle assemblies and another for $200,851 to repair five main rotor blades and two tail rotor blades.
SASSA SELECTEES: The U.S. Air Force has selected Lockheed Martin and Assurance Technologies to continue developing threat-warning devices potentially for use on the service’s satellite fleet. The Self-Awareness Space Situational Awareness (SASSA) program grew out of concerns that in-orbit threats to satellites are virtually undetectable and ground commanders want to be able to attribute in-orbit attacks to those who initiate them.
Armadillo Aerospace is developing a suborbital space-tourism vehicle based on the vertical takeoff/landing techniques it used to win the $350,000 Level One prize in the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge, proposing a $100,000 flight to the edge of space for well-heeled adventurers.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Boeing is joining the new PlanetSpace venture with Lockheed Martin and Alliant Techsystems (ATK) to develop the 2.8-million-pound-thrust shuttle-derived Athena III space station resupply booster. The critical factor in the program’s ability to proceed, in the face of the global financial crisis, is Boeing’s decision just this month to join the venture, according to PlanetSpace CEO Dr. Chirinjeev Kathuria.
German industry is squabbling over what direction the country should take in developing an early warning satellite system, with OHB pushing a low-Earth orbit approach and rival EADS Astrium advocating a constellation in a medium or geosynchronous orbit.
ARMY AM General LLC, South Bend, Ind., was awarded on Oct. 22, 2008, a $6,878,864 firm fixed price contract for theses kits and kits parts to provide for essential improvement of the Frag 5 kit, resulting in overall survivability enhancements from Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). The work will be performed in Mishawaka, Ind., with an estimated completion date of Dec. 31, 20009. One bid was solicited and one bid was received. TACOM, Warren, Mich., is the contracting activity (DAAE07-01-C-S0001).
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Officials at U.S. Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) are prioritizing gaps in their space situational awareness (SSA) architecture and trying to outline a plan for better understanding objects circling Earth and whether they are a threat to friendly satellites. As a result, officials here are considering partnerships with other agencies and even nongovernmental groups to see how AFSPC could boost U.S. SSA, including telescopes or missile defense sensors.
Aurora Flight Sciences plans to demonstrate a vision-based guidance system that combines optical and sonar sensors and allows a micro air vehicle (MAV) to navigate through a cluttered urban environment. The Panoramic Avoidance and Navigation using Optics Integrated with Sonar – Panoptis – system combines bat-inspired echolocation for obstacle detection with a phenomenon called “optic flow” for navigation, says principal investigator Jim Paduano.
In a rare about-face, the Pentagon Inspector General (IG) withdrew a report issued earlier this year questioning security measures for classified material connected with the Joint Strike Fighter program. In its March 6 report, “Security Controls Over Joint Strike Fighter Classified technology,” the IG cited security concerns in the Defense Security Service’s (DSS) review of BAE Systems, a JSF partner and the largest foreign-owned or controlled contractor in the United States.
AIR FORCE The Air Force is modifying a cost plus fixed fee contract with Raytheon Co., Missile Systems of Tucson, Ariz., for $12,948,761. This action will provide for 436 propulsion sections (baseline rocket motors) to be installed into AIM-120B Air Vehicles. This effort supports foreign military sales to Turkey, Denmark, and Finland. At this time all funds have been obligated. 695ARSS, Eglin Air Force Base, is the contracting activity (FA8675-08-C-C=0049 P00005). ARMY
Don’t expect a significant cut in Homeland Security spending by either John McCain or Barack Obama – no matter which one is elected president, a leading securities analyst says. But Brian Ruttenbur, a homeland security analyst at Memphis, Tenn.-based Morgan Keegan & Co., says an increase isn’t very likely either, although he told the DAILY recently he thought there is a better chance of increased spending in homeland security “if Obama gets elected” – especially in port security.
FLY BY: Aviation cadets from a dozen nations will visit U.S. Civil Air Patrol (CAP) squadrons in the U.S. in 2009 as part of an international air cadet exchange program that has been going on for 60 years. The countries participating in 2009 are Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Israel, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Turkey and the United Kingdom. Cadets from Hong Kong and Singapore also will be involved. This year’s visitors flew on CAP aircraft and in Maryland Army National Guard Black Hawk helicopters.
STEVENS GUILTY: Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, one of the highest-profile Republicans on Capitol Hill, was found guilty by a jury Oct. 27 on all seven counts of making false statements on Senate financial documents. Stevens faces up to five years in prison on each count, but under federal sentencing guidelines, he likely would receive much less prison time if any at all, according to the Associated Press. The seven-term GOP lawmaker has been a key overseer of NASA, the FAA and the Transportation Security Administration, as well as record Pentagon appropriations.
WASTE, ENERGY: The Defense Energy Support Center (DESC) awarded Northrop Grumman a $10 million task order to provide support for the Facilities Energy Program and for the privatization of electric, gas, water and wastewater systems at U.S. Air Force, Army and Defense Logistics Agency installations all over the U.S. including Alaska and Hawaii.
SPRINGFIELD, Va. – An Obama administration would not be looking for a major near-term reduction in defense budgets, according to Barack Obama campaign advisor and former DOD acquisitions chief Paul Kaminski. The DOD budget would not change drastically under an Obama presidency “given the challenging base of activities we have under way today,” Kaminski told an industry group at a Government Electronics and Information Technology Association (GEIA) Vision conference here Oct. 22. “The team believes our forces are stretched pretty thin.”
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – Italy’s third Cosmo SkyMed military-civil Earth-observation radar satellite is entering a shakedown and commissioning phase, to be completed as early as December, after its successful injection into a sun-synchronous, down-dusk, polar circular orbit at an altitude of 630 km. (391 miles).
BLAME CANADA: A Canadian navy destroyer completed its first successful sea trials with a new inertial navigation system (INS) and data distribution network from Northrop Grumman. The Iroquois-class destroyer is the first naval ship to go to sea with the MK49 ring-laser gyro navigator INS and Navigation Data Distribution System, developed by Northrop’s Sperry Maine business unit. The MK49 provides real-time, three-dimensional position, heading, speed and attitude reference to provide a network backbone for INS data integration.
