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.
BEIJING – Chinese engineers have made 36 improvements to the Long March 2F rocket for the launch of the Shenzhou 7 manned capsule scheduled for October. The design changes improve reliability and safety, says China’s state-run Xinhua news agency. One has tackled a vibration problem while others introduce monitoring functions. The rocket earmarked for the launch of Shenzhou 7 has arrived at the launch site at Jiuquan for mating with its boosters and payload, as well as system checks.
BREAKING ICE: Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska has called on the Bush administration to issue its long-awaited Arctic Policy update and reiterated her call for construction of more U.S. icebreakers under the Coast Guard. “I strongly agree with Adm. Thad Allen, commandant of the Coast Guard, that ‘we are watching our ice-breaking capabilities decline and we are losing ground in the global competition,’” she said Aug. 6.
The Pentagon has notified the U.S. Congress of further potential exports of Predator-B/Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles to Europe. Italy and the United Kingdom are already using the General Atomics medium-altitude long-endurance vehicle. Now, the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) says Italy has expressed interest in four more of the drones, along with three ground control stations. The deal, with a five-year maintenance package, would cost around $330 million.
The U.S. Coast Guard has not properly implemented Mission Action Plans (MAPs), which are used to correct internal control deficiencies, resulting in an incomplete audit, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Inspector General’s (IG) audit.
Two key House Democrats are concerned with the Bush administration’s agreement to allow foreign aid to Pakistan to be used to upgrade the country’s F-16 fleet and moved last week to at least withhold the more than $225 million requested.
SURREY SPREADS: Surrey Space Technology Ltd. has established a subsidiary in the U.S. to take advantage of growing demand among U.S. government and other international customers for economical but advanced responsive satellites and payloads. To be based in Colorado with facilities to be established later in California and Washington, D.C., SSTL U.S. will eventually become a self-contained design, production and operating entity. Commercial Director John Paffet will head the new company. SSTL has already built several satellites for U.S.
INMARSAT DELAYED: International Launch Services says the Aug. 14 launch of the third Inmarsat 4 satellite aboard a Proton M Breeze M has been delayed because of a problem with a vendor-supplied onboard computer. A new date will be set once a new unit has been installed and tested. The launch will be the Proton M’s first since a failure in March destroyed an SES satellite. The new spacecraft will enable Inmarsat to expand its Broadband Global Area Network over the Asia Pacific, giving the high-speed mobile satellite network worldwide coverage.
FLOATING SHIPS: The future USS Green Bay (LPD 20) is scheduled for commissioning in Long Beach, Calif., next January, the U.S. Navy said after acceptance trials ended Aug. 1. The ship will then join USS New Orleans (LPD 18) as the second of the LPD 17 class to be homeported in San Diego. The New York (LPD 21) is preparing for sea trials next year. The San Diego (LPD 22), Anchorage (LPD 23) and Arlington (LPD 24) are all under construction at Northrop Grumman Gulf Coast shipyards.
SBIRS HANDOVER: The U.S. Air Force has officially taken delivery of the first of a series of new missile warning sensors in the Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS) constellation. This first sensor, HEO-1, was launched June 27, 2006 into highly elliptical orbit on a classified National Reconnaissance Office host satellite. Launch of the first dedicated SBIRS satellite bound for geosynchronous orbit is now set for December 2009.
While the actual purchasing of Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) trucks has slowed down in 2008, MRAP contracts and modifications still remained strong enough to push vehicle acquisitions to top positions for Pentagon expenses through the midyear mark.
AERO DEPUTY: NASA has appointed Thomas Irvine as the new deputy associate administrator for the agency’s aeronautics directorate. He will report to Associate Administrator for Aeronautics Jaiwon Shin. Since May 2005, Irvine has been the director of the Mission Support Office for the aeronautics directorate at NASA headquarters in Washington. “Tom has been instrumental in the restructuring and management of NASA’s aeronautics research programs,” Shin said in a statement.
In a campaign speech Aug. 2 in Titusville, Fla., near Kennedy Space Center (KSC), presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barrack Obama (D-Ill.) expressed support for an extra space shuttle mission beyond the currently planned shuttle phaseout in 2010.
NEW DELHI – The Indian Defense Ministry has released its updated Defense Procurement Procedure (DPP) 2008, exactly two years after the DPP-2006 that introduced the concept of 30 percent offsets for defense procurements over $75 million. The new DPP, which comes into effect Sept. 1, brings a ray of hope to foreign vendors that had looked for banking of offsets in anticipation of future obligations. “Offset banking will help in indigenization and joint venture attempts,” Defense Minister A.K. Antony said.
PARIS – SES says a solar array problem has affected its AMC-4 and AMC-16 satellites and could affect more. In reporting first-half results on Aug. 4, the Luxembourg-based operator said it has experienced varying degrees of power loss in some of the nine Lockheed Martin A2100 communications satellites it operates. To date, the anomaly has caused only a “minor reduction in available commercial capacity” on the two satellites, the company said.
LUNAR LANDER: The X Prize Foundation announced the 10 teams that will compete in the 2008 Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge, a two-level, $2 million competition requiring a vehicle to simulate trips between the moon’s surface and lunar orbit. The teams are Texas-based Armadillo Aerospace; California-based teams BonNova, Unreasonable Rocket and Team Phoenicia; Colorado-based Paragon Labs and Chicago-based TrueZer0.
Singapore Technologies Aerospace has delivered the first of two 757-200s to the Royal New Zealand Air Force for a multimission cargo and transport role. The passenger-to-passenger/freighter combination was carried out at ST Aero’s Mobile, Ala., facility during a 14-month process that included an avionics upgrade. Work has begun on the second aircraft in the $38 million contract, and the facility is expected to have it finished by year’s end. The aircraft are intended for long-haul operations carrying troops, freight and very important persons.
NEW DELHI – The 35-member Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has approved a plan to place India’s 14 civilian nuclear facilities under permanent safeguards. India still needs a waiver from the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) for resumption of nuclear trade and approval by the U.S Congress before the civil nuclear deal comes to fruition (Aerospace DAILY, July 9). The NSG is likely to meet around Aug. 21 in Vienna.
The Pentagon’s amended request for proposals for the recompetition of the U.S. Air Force’s program to design and build new aerial refuelers is expected to be out as soon as Aug. 6, according to industry and defense officials. This should set into motion a new duel between Northrop Grumman/EADS North America and Boeing.
Iridium Satellite LLC has tapped Lockheed Martin and Thales Alenia Space for the final phase of the procurement process for the company’s replacement satellite constellation, Iridium NEXT. During this last nine-month phase, the two companies will vie for the Iridium NEXT prime contract, slated to be awarded by midyear 2009. The current generation of Iridium satellites are expected to begin reaching the end of their operational life around 2014.
NEW DELHI – Prospective vendors submitted their offsets packages Aug. 4 for India’s Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) program to replace the Indian air force’s aging MiG-21s. The proposals were submitted in response to the MMRCA request for proposals (RFP), which asked competitors to provide an “industrial participation” (IP) plan as part of their offering.
Despite improvements in keeping track of private security contractors in Iraq, the Pentagon and U.S. State Department still need to fill some oversight holes, according to a recent report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). “Both DOD and the State Department have taken steps to strengthen oversight of private security contractors in Iraq since September 2007,” GAO acknowledged. “However, staffing and training challenges remain for DOD.”
