U.S. Air Force Space Command will hand over historic Space Launch Complex 36 (SLC 36) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., for commercial launches arranged by the State of Florida. Pending environmental review, SLC 36 will be reconfigured to handle several light and medium-lift launchers for missions to low-Earth orbit and higher. The Legislature has appropriated $14.5 million in fiscal 2009 to Space Florida, the state’s aerospace development organization, to begin work on modifying the launch facility.
The U.S. Navy’s optimistic prognosis for Lockheed Martin’s VH-71 could wind up having a far greater effect than on just the presidential helicopter replacement program. One of the reasons for prime contractor Lockheed Martin’s poor finish in its attempt to win the $15 billion Air Force combat, search and rescue (CSAR-X) helicopter replacement contract was because of delays and cost increases in VH-71 work.
NEW DELHI — Government-owned Bharat Electronics Ltd. (BEL) has handed India’s first indigenously developed 3-D radar, named “Rohini,” to the Indian Air Force (IAF). The Multifunction Medium Range Surveillance Radar has been developed by the Defense Research and Development Organization’s (DRDO) Electronics and Radar Development Establishment (LRDE), Bangalore and engineered and produced by BEL.
Canada is leasing Mi-8 medium helicopters and Israel Aerospace Industries’ (IAI) Heron unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to support its troops in Afghanistan.
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is urging immediate action to address the looming “silver tsunami” — the wave of impending retirements in the aerospace and defense industries. Although many of those eligible for retirement have stayed on in their jobs, that only exacerbates the problem by putting it off, AIAA says in a new report released following its May work force forum.
OSAN AIR BASE, South Korea — Internet technologies are bringing advanced U.S. intelligence gathering and combat skills to the front lines in Korea. Because of the lack of security, manpower and facilities on the front lines, intelligence practitioners are forging new paths for getting cyber combat power forward, according to a veteran intelligence official in Korea.
SpaceX has revealed that excessive residual thrust in the Merlin 1C first stage engine caused the loss of the Falcon 1 Flight 3 booster on Aug. 2, rather than a separation issue as was first believed.
SHIPBOARD COMMUNICATION: Boeing has been awarded a $5.4 million contract by the U.S. Navy to produce an updated shipboard network communications system for the USS Arleigh Burke guided-missile destroyer (DDG). The contract is part of the Navy’s DDG modernization program, under which new shipboard network communications technologies will be retrofitted in DDG-51 class destroyers during service overhauls and installed as new destroyers are constructed.
AIRCRAFT UPGRADE: Boeing has won a $28.8 million contract from the U.S. Navy to upgrade the service’s fleet of 16 E-6B airborne command, control and communications aircraft. In support of ongoing E-6B spiral development activities, the first phase of the Internet Protocol Bandwidth Expansion program will use commercial-off-the-shelf technology to increase the aircraft’s wideband communications capabilities, allowing for real-time data transmission on the jet. Work on the first aircraft will be completed in 2010.
Faced with continued criticism from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) and Congress, the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization (JIEDDO) is attempting to addresses concerns over its internal control standards. U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Thomas Metz continued his effort to promote an image of greater transparency for JIEDDO at an Aug. 6 Pentagon briefing. “Congress [should] know what we’re doing,” Metz said. JIEDDO should be “open with how our process works.”
The scheduled Aug. 6 launch of the Thailand Earth Observation Satellite (THEOS) on a Dnepr rocket from the Yansy launch site in Russia was scrubbed. An Astrium spokesman said no information on the reason for the launch delay or a new launch date were immediately available. THEOS belongs to the Thai Space Agency’s Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency. The Earth-observing spacecraft was to be placed in 820-kilometer (510-mile) altitude orbit.
OSAN AIR BASE, South Korea – Military planners worry that a collapsed North Korea and a subsequent U.S. pullout from South Korea could trigger regional ambitions, but they don’t expect a direct attack by a major power.
LAV OPS: General Dynamics Land Systems has been awarded a $24 million contract for 10 Light Armored Vehicles (LAVs), three LAV logistics vehicles and vehicle components for the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) to meet anticipated war-loss requirements. The LAV-A2 is an eight-wheeled amphibious vehicle equipped with enhanced armor protection and an automatic fire-suppression system for crew protection, as well as a robust suspension for mobility.
F2AST CONTRACTORS: The U.S. Air Force’s Warner Robins Air Logistics Center has culled a dozen prime contractors that will now be eligible to compete for up to $6.9 billion under the new 10-year Future Flexible Acquisition & Sustainment Tool (F2AST) program. F2AST is a follow-up to the existing Flexible Acquisition & Sustainment Tool and Integrated Weapon System Support Programs contracts to support all Air Force-managed weapons systems and special missions programs.
INTELLIGENT PLAY: Qinetiq Group’s declared $104.5 million acquisition of suburban Washington’s Dominion Technology Resources, Inc. “is a pure intelligence community play,” according to Input analyst Ashlea Higgs. Qinetiq gets a young company – DTRI was founded in 2002 – with more than 100 employees and a strong success record, the federal IT analyst says. And given the intelligence contracts involved, the price (a multiple around two times revenue) is not unusual. “Very importantly, DTRI brings new customer relationships from within the U.S.
HIGH INTEGRITY: Boeing has been awarded a $153.5 million U.S. Naval Research Lab contract to demonstrate High Integrity Global Positioning System (GPS) technology concepts. The contract will run through 2010. The High Integrity GPS effort combines satellite signals from the Iridium Low Earth Orbit telecommunications system and GPS Mid Earth Orbit navigational satellites to enhance navigation availability, integrity, accuracy and jam-resistance capabilities.
NEW DELHI – India is awaiting designs for the structural modifications on the Su-30MKI so it can start tests of the BrahMos cruise missile by the end of 2009. But first the missile and the aircraft have to be fitted. The delay is the result of the Sukhoi design bureau’s preoccupation with the fifth-generation aircraft, so “we have to wait for the availability and complete the design for trials from the aircraft,” said A. Sivathanu Pillai, chief executive of MD BrahMos Aerospace.
NEW DELHI – The indigenously developed Nag missile, with an anti-tank tandem warhead and 4-kilometer range, was successfully fired on stationary and moving targets Aug. 5-6 at the Pokhran Range in the desert of Rajasthan in Western India. Both targets were hit, confirming system capabilities, according to the Indian Defense Research & Development Organization (DRDO). DRDO’s chief controller told Aerospace DAILY that the tests were the last developmental trials of the short-range surface-to-surface Nag, which will go through user trials next month.
The Pentagon plans to take extra capabilities – including added fuel offload capacity – into account when it scores revised proposals from Boeing and Northrop Grumman/EADS that could lead to $35 billion in work replacing aging KC-135 tankers. The Defense Department will consider “value over threshold” when reviewing the revised offers, said Shay Assad, director of defense procurement and acquisitions policy, during an Aug. 6 briefing at the Pentagon.
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SAY CHEESE: Boeing, Goodrich and Insitu have flight-tested a ScanEagle unmanned aircraft equipped for the first time with a shortwave infrared (SWIR) camera. The camera enables ScanEagle operators to see objects more clearly in fog, rain or when little or no heat is radiated. During the July 17 test at Ft. Leonard Wood test range in Missouri, the camera recorded clear streaming video during daytime, twilight and nighttime operations. The Boeing-led team, which integrated the camera in less than 14 weeks, plans additional flight-tests later this year.
A U.S. effort in Africa to stop terrorists from gaining ground ahead of the nascent African Command (AFRICOM) has had difficulty due in part to legacy disagreements between the State and Defense departments, according to a new report from congressional auditors. The Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism Partnership (TSCTP) operates in nine partner countries: Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger in the Sahel region; Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia in the Maghreb region; and Nigeria and Senegal in the sub-Saharan region.
IRAQI ISR: The Iraqi air force is expanding its ability to conduct intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions, says Steve Bond, director of the Intelligence Transition Team in the Multinational Security Transition Command-Iraq. “We’re also looking at adding small, ‘throw-and-go’ unmanned aerial vehicles and some increased analytical capabilities,” Bond said Aug. 1. Meanwhile, to augment their heavy reliance on human intelligence and produce better information feeds, the Iraqi army and Defense Ministry are developing a signals intelligence capability, he said.
A brief in the Aug. 6 Aerospace DAILY contained incorrect information about the fate of the spacecraft, AMC-14, that was aboard a Proton M rocket that failed in March. The satellite was stranded in the wrong orbit.
