Senior NASA managers won’t decide until March whether to release one of the two space shuttle launch pads at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) for the first flight test of the follow-on Ares I crew launch vehicle.
INDRA’S OUTLOOK: Despite some expected slowdown in business activity, Spanish aerospace and defense electronics provider Indra expects to book more orders in the coming year than deliveries, expanding its backlog. The company also is promising to maintain double-digit earnings margin. The focus for the year will be on international markets. Total revenue should grow 5-7 percent, the company says, with business outside Spain stronger than that.
NEW DEAL: The scheduled Feb. 2 launch of the 3,130-pound NOAA-N Prime spacecraft will end the long heritage of NASA launching polar-orbiting weather satellites on behalf of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The new Lockheed Martin satellite also will be updated — in addition to an advanced data recording system, it will carry an search-and-rescue tracker with greater bandwidth, both provided by the French space agency CNES. Mission cost, including the spacecraft and instruments, launch, technical support and a 14-month launch delay is $564 million.
SPACE SUBCOMMITTEE: Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), will be chair of the House Science subcommittee on space and aeronautics in the new Congress, replacing Mark Udall (D-Colo.), who has moved to the Senate. In that position, she will be a key player in overseeing NASA and the U.S. civil space program. Beginning her second term representing the Tucson area on Capitol Hill, Giffords is a “blue-dog Democrat” who has promoted fiscal conservatism. She is married to shuttle astronaut Mark Kelly, commander of the STS-124 space station assembly mission last year.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicated new calendar listing.) Jan. 28 — Wichita Aero Club luncheon featuring Craig Fuller, President of Aircraft Owners & Pilots Association, Airport Hilton Hotel, Wichita, KS. For more information call 316-641-5962, e-mail: [email protected]
The U.S. Air Force is planning to deploy its first MC-12W Project Liberty aircraft in April to support ground forces in combat. The service is purchasing 37 intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft, based on the Hawker Beechcraft King A350 or 350-ER platform.
Pictures from the Gaza Strip show what looks like flaming baseballs bouncing around a courtyard among vehicles with “UN” and “Ambulance” painted on them. Israeli officials say that the open courtyards of schools, hospitals and other buildings were used by Hamas as mortar and rocket launching sites.
ORLANDO, Fla. — The U.S. Air Force faces key challenges in its drive to stay ahead in electronic systems, but the dangers of failing to outpace the enemy have been underlined by last summer’s massive cyber attack on Georgia that preceded Russia’s incursion into the breakaway South Ossetia region.
Initial results from a European study suggest most of the technology required for a Mach 3-6 transport aircraft is viable, but the results also caution that sonic boom mitigation remains a problem.
Forty-two senators joined Sens. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) in signing a Jan. 16 letter of support for continued F-22 production. The DAILY reported on the letter in the Jan. 20 edition.
PARIS – Airbus is facing much more than just contractual and schedule challenges in its A400M military airlifter program, as the aircraft may need massive re-engineering work to achieve its performance targets.
SOFTWARE SUPPORT: The U.S. Army has awarded Northrop Grumman a contract potentially valued at $71.2 million over three years to provide software engineering support to Headquarters, U.S. Army Europe and Seventh Army (HQUSAREUR/7A). Support will cover mission critical defense systems including command, control, communications, computers and intelligence (C4I) systems serving U.S. Army, Coalition and NATO operations.
The nomination of William J. Lynn III to be top deputy at the Defense Department was delayed Jan. 22 after the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) sought clarification on the impact of new, more stringent lobbying rules for presidential appointees.
Lockheed Martin sees greater potential for their legacy fighter and transport programs, the F-16 and C-130J, abroad, and plans to expand in new markets, such as cybersecurity and health care information technology. International sales of the two programs were in the neighborhood of $6 billion, or 14-15 percent of total sales, in 2008, Chief Financial Officer Bruce Tanner told analysts Jan. 22 during an earnings call. The outlook for 2009 will be similar in percentage, although the dollar figure could change, he said.
SPACESUIT WORK: Hamilton Sundstrand, which recently joined the winning team developing NASA’s next-generation spacesuit, will get another $86 million under a one-year extension on its contract to service the suits currently used on the U.S. agency’s space shuttle missions and on the U.S. side of the International Space Station. Work will begin in October and run through September 2010, bringing the total contract value to about $514 million.
NAVY AARGM: The U.S. Navy has awarded Alliant Techsystems (ATK) a $55 million contract to begin low-rate initial production of the AGM-88E Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile (AARGM). The low-rate buy is for 27 missiles. This is an upgrade for the High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missile (HARM) system that incorporates a millimeter-wave terminal seeker and GPS/INS systems, and it was jointly developed by the U.S. Navy and Italian Air Force. The weapon is designed to destroy air defense targets and counter radio-frequency shutdown tactics.
A prototype lightweight synthetic aperture radar (SAR) supplied by NASA had generated its first data from the bottom of a permanently dark crater at one of the moon’s poles, riding India’s Chandrayaan-1 lunar orbiter to test its ability to search for water ice and other volatiles that might help support a human presence.
LONDON – The British Defense Ministry’s $10.5 billion revamp of its information systems infrastructure is under fire from Parliament’s Public Accounts committee. The ministry’s Defense Information Infrastructure (DII) has suffered from “major delays” and was “badly planned in some respects.”
NEW DELHI – Time is running out for the competition over the 126-aircraft Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) as the bidders await a date for field trials from the Indian defense ministry. The Indian air force, meanwhile, has already chosen six fighter test pilots headed by an air commodore to train with the aircraft abroad before field testing begins at three locations in India. The pilots are ready to move as soon as the ministry announces the field trials date.
LAUNCH PREP: The NOAA-N Prime spacecraft, a Polar Operational Environmental Satellite (POES), is being prepared for launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta 2 rocket on Feb. 4. Lockheed Martin built N Prime, the final spacecraft in the Advanced TIROS-N (ATN) satellite series. All have been designed and built for NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
FRENCH EXPORTS: French Defense Minister Herve Morin says France exported 6.3 billion euros worth of military hardware last year, up from 5.5 billion euros in 2007 and the most since 2000. Morin predicted the turnaround last autumn, attributing it to streamlined export procedures put in place in 2006 and reinforced last year, along with greater and more concerted high-level political support, but final figures were not yet in.
