FRENCH FORCE: With several international competitions looming, MBDA has completed a key element in its strategy to field a surface-launched Mica air defense missile system. The VL-Mica, adapted for ship launch, was tested Oct. 23 at the French CELM test range at Biscarosse. The shot intercepted the Banshee target drone. The missile was fired in a radar-seeker configuration, with the intercept occurring at a range of 15 kilometer. The test validates the production version of the launcher – the CLA (Conteneur Lanceur Autonome or autonomous launch container).
MURTHA MORASS: Boeing advocate Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) stands to take over as chairman of the House Defense Appropriations subcommittee if current chair John Murtha (D-Pa.) loses his now-closely contested re-election bid. Murtha’s Republican opponent, retired army Lt. Col. William Russell, has been climbing in the polls since Murtha described his western Pennsylvania district as “racist” and “really redneck” in press interviews. Murtha, himself a retired Marine Corps colonel, has held the seat since 1974.
The U.S. Navy is satisfied with the results of a recent critical design review for Raytheon’s Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) C-1, though the program manager notes that adding a datalink to an existing weapon is likely to meet challenges.
MORE IS LESS: The Pentagon expects to save $5 billion in the fiscal 2010 budget, much of which will be gained through implementing an economic order quantity buy strategy in several programs, Pentagon acquisition chief John Young says. About 12 programs were examined and found to have potential savings opportunities through buying more aircraft in a stable fashion, thus reducing the total cost. Young did not say which programs.
EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – NASA is poised to disassemble the Orion crew module test unit at its Dryden Flight Research Center here in preparation for transfer to the U.S. Army’s White Sands Missile Range for the delayed launch abort system tests. The boilerplate test module, built by NASA Langley, is nearing completion of a series of five mass-property tests to verify modeling predictions, and will later be transferred to the nearby space shuttle facility at Edwards.
MORE ARMY HAWKS: As the Pentagon turns its attention to Afghanistan, the Army is speeding ahead to buy roughly 20 more Constant Hawk intelligence collection aircraft to support operations there. Constant Hawk consists of several electro-optical cameras on a single platform that give a 360-degree view of the space around it. High-resolution streaming video is collected and stored, and the system is used for forensics after an event, such as an improvised explosive device detonation. Col.
AFRICOM HQ IN GEORGIA?: Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) is pressing his efforts to have the Pentagon locate Africa Command’s headquarters in Georgia. In an Oct. 30 letter to Defense Secretary Roberts Gates, Chambliss and most of the Georgia congressional delegation extolled the benefits of locating AFRICOM HQ at either Fort McPherson or Fort Gillem outside Atlanta, or Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta. They note all of the bases are “in close proximity to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, which has frequent and direct access to Africa. Chambliss, Sen.
Dassault is showing new details of its concept to use the Rafale strike fighter as a small satellite launcher. The launcher would be configured to use several of the aircraft’s weapons store stations. The main element of the launcher would be carried centerline, with two solid boosters slung under the wing. The solids would be connected to the main launcher through so-called “fixed arms.” The configuration would still leave clearance for the landing gear, so the Rafale could return to base with the launcher if that were required.
TYPHOON TANKING: EADS has begun air-to-air refueling clearance work on the Eurofighter Typhoon from the Airbus A310 multirole tanker transport. The aim is to have the aircraft certification on the A310 MRTT by the end of the year. Nine flights are planned to gain the approval. Two Eurofighter aircraft, instrumented production aircraft IPA 3 and IPA 7, have been used so far for the flight trials. These are being carried out from the EADS Military Air Systems site in Manching in southern Germany.
NASA Ames Research Center will put its small spacecraft technical expertise in collaboration with Odyssey Moon Ventures to develop lunar landing technology. Odyssey Moon was the first sign-up for the $30 million Google Lunar X-Prize competition to land a robotic rover on the moon by Dec. 31, 2012. The Ames collaboration may be used toward that effort but is being extended for Odyssey Moon’s more general interest in commercializing lunar exploration.
The new Pentagon peer review required for military acquisitions of more than $1 billion seems tailored to prevent the kind of questions and concerns that have plagued the Air Force’s two biggest recent procurement headaches: the service’s $15 billion combat, search and rescue (CSAR-X) helicopter buy and its $35 billion tanker replacement award. Competitors in both procurements questioned how the Air Force formed and changed requirements during the process. Both programs are also currently in limbo, with initially awarded contracts halted.
BAD LANGUAGE: Opaque government language of “streamlining” is causing concern in Britain’s Defense Intelligence Staff (DIS). The DIS provides all-source intelligence analysis for the Defense Ministry and government, ranging from political to technical assessments. British national press reports last week suggest that around 120 jobs will be cut, with a further 70 or so positions to be relocated from Central London. Part of the DIS is currently in the Old War Office Building in Whitehall.
France’s naval land-attack cruise missile development, the MBDA SCALP Naval, is due to begin test firings next year, following a series of program milestones in 2008. Aerodynamic configuration trials have been recently completed using French research agency Onera’s wind-tunnel facility in Modane. Component tests have also been carried out during the course of 2008, including on the main parts of the vertical-launch container – for surface-launch applications – and on elements of the submarine-launch capsule. Warhead trials have also been carried out.
NO PROTECTIONISM: Pentagon acquisition czar John Young says the Pentagon’s decision this fall to terminate the $1.5 billon development contract with Northrop Grumman/EADS North America for an A330-200-based refueling tanker was not aimed at protecting Boeing, the only U.S. widebody maker. In actuality, the decision was based on the discovery of acquisition missteps on the part of the Air Force during the source selection. “There is nothing in this decision that involves protectionism,” Young says, adding that Europe could be more open to U.S. contractors.
NASA’s decision to defer servicing the Hubble Space Telescope until May 2009 will have a domino effect on efforts to replace the space shuttle with the shuttle-derived Ares I/Orion, possibly delaying a key test when time is money for the follow-on project.
SECOND LIFE: The first two of six ex-U.S. Navy Sikorsky UH-3H Sea Kings going to the Argentine navy are flying after being shipped from the United States and reassembled. The helicopters are replacing three Sea Kings lost in April last year when Argentina’s icebreaker Almirante Irizar caught fire in the South Atlantic. They will participate in the summer Antarctic campaigns, resupplying Argentine bases. The first two helos had just retired from U.S. Navy service and were refurbished by U.S.-based Clayton International.
ALLY BUILDING: It seems like there’s a newfound enthusiasm among Western countries to build new militaries. With the United States and partners involved already in rebuilding the Iraqi military and the Afghanistan National Army, Kosovo is the latest country to be preparing for an influx of assistance and equipment. German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung has just completed talks with Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu and offered assistance in building the Kosovo Security Force (KSF).
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – Boeing is assessing whether there is a possibility to extend production of its Delta II launcher beyond the current batch of 17. So far 10 of them have been sold to the U.S. Air Force, and an 11th has a commercial costumer. According to Ken Heinly, Boeing vice president of launch products and services, there also is a good chance the fourth Italian Cosmo SkyMed will ride on a Vandenberg-launched Delta II.
France has earmarked 101.25 billion euros for equipment programs in its newly unveiled future year defense plan covering proposed budgets for 2009-2014. The total outlay during that period is expected to be 184 billion euros, which represents a significant increase over the plan it replaces. One of the goals of the equipment and spending plan is to guarantee the long-term design and engineering capacity in the French defense industry, according to Defense Minister Herve Morin.
The next U.S. president could move forward with a new competition to buy the Air Force’s much-needed aerial tanker replacements with an idea quietly crafted this fall at the Pentagon as a potential compromise. But, for now, the idea has been dashed amid the political firestorm over the $35 billion program. Pentagon acquisition chief John Young says his team discussed the notion of a new strategy to judge the existing KC-X proposals put forth by rivals Northrop Grumman/EADS North America and Boeing.
An engineering team at NASA’s Langley Research Center is studying ways to accelerate development of the vehicles that will replace the space shuttle as the U.S. route to space in case the next president and Congress want to close the upcoming gap in human spaceflight capability.
PARIS – Oto Melara has unveiled a full-scale mockup of its 76mm Super Rapid gun, fitted with the Strales guidance system for the DART-guided round, at Euronaval here. The Finmeccanica company also announced Oct. 29 that it has closed the first export deal for the system, which was sponsored by the Italian navy as the main missile-defense system for Italy’s FREMM frigates.
The three industry team winners for U.S. Army-led Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) technology development contracts already are touting their prospective vehicles, each jockeying for lead position in what promises to be a 27-month slog to the penultimate demonstration selection.
Boeing has selected BAE Systems to supply a next-generation digital electronic warfare suite (DEWS) for future international versions of the F-15. The system is being proposed to Japan and Saudi Arabia, and will be offered for retrofit to U.S. and exported F-15s.
