A key congressional subcommittee has rescinded its objection to the U.S. Army reprogramming $11 million in fiscal 2008 funds to pay for its share of Joint Heavy Lift (JHL) concept definition and risk reduction work.
The Defense Department’s Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System (JCIDS) process has been ineffective in identifying and prioritizing combat needs, congressional auditors at the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) have found. Almost 70 percent of new proposals occur outside the joint community, GAO said in its report. By continuing to rely on service-specific proposals, DOD may be losing opportunities to improve joint capabilities.
HYPER ACTIVITY: Missile manufacturer MBDA and propulsion company Roxel, which MBDA jointly owns with SNPE, are setting up a test cell capable of simulating flight conditions at hypersonic speeds. The Bourges-Subdray plant in France will be home to the test facility, known as Methyle. The facility will be used to examine the performance of a dual-mode ramjet-powered test item, with the cell capable of simulating flight at speeds of up to Mach 7.5
GUIDED FLIGHT: Following a successful series of flight-tests at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, the U.S. Navy announced that it concluded the four-year Ballistic Trajectory Extended Range Munition (BTERM) engineering demonstration. Of the three planned guided flight-tests, all achieved full rocket motor burn. One of the three BTERM rounds successfully hit its target at a range of 54 nautical miles. Two of the three rounds traveled greater than 50 nautical miles, but fell well outside the designated aim point.
The U.S. Defense Department’s resolution plan to address flight software problems with the Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) is too ambitious to succeed, the congressional Government Accountability Office (GAO) says.
IBCS LAUNCHING: Northrop Grumman said Sept. 30 it received a U.S. Army award for the first phase of the Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System (IBCS) program. The long-awaited award should be matched by one to Raytheon as well. IBCS is supposed to provide air and missile defense forces better situational awareness and tools to carry out their mission (Aerospace DAILY, June 10). Related programs such as Patriot, SLAMRAAM, JLENS, Sentinel and THAAD will be connected. Northrop’s 11-month contract is valued at $15 million.
Aurora Flight Sciences is designing a new wing for Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Composite Cargo Aircraft (ACCA) flight demonstrator. The ACCA is based on a Dornier 328Jet regional airliner, with a new composite fuselage and tail, and the new wing will have the same aerodynamic shape as the metal original, but would be produced using nonautoclave composites, Aurora President John Langford says.
The worldwide 34-year technology embargo against India has ended with a late-session vote by the U.S. Congress endorsing a civil U.S.-India nuclear accord, opening new opportunities for the countries to collaborate in commerce, civil nuclear research, technology transfer and nuclear fuel.
SPECIAL SUPPORT: Boeing has submitted a comprehensive proposal for the $5 billion Special Operations Forces Support Activity (SOFSA) contract in response to a U.S. Special Operations Command request for proposals. SOFSA is a 10-year program that will provide comprehensive logistics support services to ensure the readiness requirements of the special operations forces are met. It includes support of virtually any product or item unique to the SOF. Boeing submitted its bid Oct. 1.
JNBCRS AWARD: The U.S. Army Research and Development Engineering Command Acquisition Center awarded ICx Technologies a contract award potentially worth $711 million over seven years for the Joint Nuclear, Biological, Chemical Reconnaissance System Increment II (JNBCRS 2) program. The contract is for system engineering, analysis and integration.
The British Royal Air Force has a new intelligence aircraft, the Sentinel R1, that’s part of the Astor radar ground surveillance system. The radar’s resolution is officially described at under one meter, but aerospace specialists say it is at least on par with the U-2’s acuity of well under a foot – and probably just a few inches. The aircraft is small, fast, can do some things better than the U.S. E-8 Joint Stars, and it’s going to Afghanistan soon.
The Russian government has allocated funding to buy 34 MiG-29SMTs originally destined for Algeria in a move that comes as a welcome bonus to Russian combat aircraft manufacturer MiG. Moscow has earmarked 23 billion roubles ($900 million) to fund the purchase, according to Russian business daily Kommersant. All of the aircraft will be handed over to the air force by 2010.
Top NASA managers will decide next week the fate of the Mars Science Laboratory, a nuclear-powered astrobiology rover that already has cost $1.5 billion and is likely to hit the 30-percent overrun ceiling that could trigger cancellation by Congress. Officials from the agency’s Mars Exploration Program (MEP) and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) are set to brief Administrator Mike Griffin and Science Associate Administrator Ed Weiler on the program next week.
Lawmakers in last-minute fiscal 2009 legislation last week passed provisions that extend a moratorium on selling cluster bombs abroad while officially rejecting the Bush administration’s last efforts toward a Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW). The Friends Committee on National Legislation, a Quaker lobby organization, declared the first provision “another clear victory” for its campaign to ban cluster bombs. A one-year moratorium on exports of most types of cluster bombs was set to expire Sept. 30, but legislators approved an extension through March 2009.
Lockheed Martin’s F-35A Joint Strike Fighter, AA-1, arrived at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., on Oct. 1 following a three-hour ferry flight from the company’s Fort Worth, Texas, production facility.
Alabama Aircraft Industries Inc. (AAII) has won the latest skirmish in the long-running battle for a $1.1 billion contract to perform programmed depot maintenance (PDM) on the U.S. Air Force’s fleet of aging KC-135 tankers.
The German parliament’s economics committee has given preliminary approval to a lunar orbiter. Government and industry officials say the budget committee of the Bundestag on Oct. 1 OK’d 300 million euros ($450 million) to begin work on the mission, and instructed Economics Minister Mickael Glos, who is responsible for space, to draw up a financing package. The research ministry will also contribute funding for the project, which is to be finalized in November when the overall 2009 budget is approved, officials said.
SHIP CHRISTENING: The U.S. Navy will christen the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) Independence on Oct. 4 during a ceremony at Austal USA Shipyard in Mobile, Ala. The Independence is one of two LCS sea frames being produced. LCS 1, Freedom, completed its acceptance trials and was delivered on Sept. 18. It is scheduled for commissioning on Nov. 8.
EADS Astrium has inked a long-term framework agreement with Antrix, the commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organization, to launch the company’s Earth observation satellites on India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).
Textron Inc., the parent of Cessna Aircraft, Bell Helicopter and Textron Systems, was added Oct. 1 to the New York Stock Exchange’s list of companies that cannot be shorted, becoming the latest beneficiary of a temporary U.S. Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) ban on short selling to calm tumultuous financial markets.
Turkey has formally started the competition to provide two air and missile defense systems to the country’s armed forces. Bids for both the Low Altitude Air Defense Missile System (LALADMIS) and the medium altitude air defense missile system are due Feb. 16, 2009; companies have until the end of this month to formally receive the request for proposals.
ALL-AROUND DEAL: Sikorsky Aircraft said Sept. 30 that it is partnering with Carson Helicopters to launch a modernization program for the S-61 helicopters. “The Sikorsky Modernization Program will breathe new life into this iconic symbol of rotorcraft excellence, providing the enhancements needed to perform effectively in high/hot operating conditions and to put this aircraft back to duty for years to come,” claimed David Adler, president of Sikorsky Aerospace Services.
South Africa has accepted the first four fighters under an order for 26 Gripen C/Ds. A Sept. 30 DAILY article incorrectly identified the type of those four Gripens.
BLACK BUDGET: Classified acquisition funding has more than doubled in real terms since fiscal 1995, according to Washington watchdogs, and 18 percent of the Defense Department’s requested acquisition funding is for classified, or “black,” programs. The findings, under OpenTheGovernment.org’s latest annual Secrecy Report Card, try to identify trends in public access to government information. Black funding includes $14.4 billion in procurement and $17.5 billion in research and development (R&D) funding.
