HARTFORD, Conn. – Boeing and ATK have joined the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works team bidding to build the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) Blackswift hypersonic technology demonstrator. Northrop Grumman is understood not to have bid, making it likely a contract will be awarded to Lockheed by September. The unmanned, reusable turbojet/scramjet-powered Blackswift is planned to fly in 2012.
TDL TOUCHDOWN: The U.S. Navy has awarded Northrop Grumman a potential five-year, $218 million contract to develop the Next Generation Command and Control Processor (NGC2P), a tactical data link (TDL) communication processor that is supposed to provide warfighters with critical real-time information about friendly and enemy activity during combat operations. The program will upgrade fielded systems with additional TDL capabilities. NGC2P will be installed on Navy and allied ships. Northrop Grumman said it has received $3.3 million to begin work.
Launch of NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), the first robotic precursor mission under President Bush’s plan for moving human space exploration beyond Earth orbit, will be delayed until after Bush leaves office. Also delayed until late February or early March 2009 is the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS), a piggyback payload added by Ames Research Center when LRO was upgraded to an Atlas V-class mission.
INTERNATIONAL JDAM: Boeing has signed a contract with Germany for the production of Laser Joint Direct Attack Munitions (LJDAM) and integration support on Tornado aircraft, marking the first international sale of the LJDAM weapon system. Delivery of the kits is expected to begin in mid-2009, and the order includes options for additional kits that year.
NUCLEAR BRAINS: Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) said it was awarded the Nuclear Matters Professional Services contract by the Office of the Deputy Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Nuclear Matters. Under the potentially five-year, $26 million deal, SAIC will complete a variety of nuclear-related technical assessments and deliver a series of recommendations that outline changes necessary for the office to continue supporting top Defense Department leaders and other federal officials.
NAP TIME: A reported violation of procedures for handling classified material at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota turned out to be a case of sleepy airmen. The U.S. Air Force reported that a crew fell asleep at a missile alert facility (MAF) while watching the components at the MAF on July 12. An investigation by the Air Force revealed the codes had remained secured in containers using locks for which the combinations were known only to the napping crew. The codes were not compromised, according to the Air Force.
The Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) has been favoring contractors during audits and bullying those within the agency who try to speak out, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) revealed in a July report. The DCAA is charged with contractor oversight, providing auditing, accounting and financial advisory services on DOD and federal agency contracts and subcontracts. DCAA is required to adhere to a set of generally accepted government auditing standards, or GAGAS.
NEW DELHI – India’s government, which was in danger of being overthrown as a result of the controversial U.S.-India civil nuclear cooperation deal, has survived a vote of confidence in parliament. It is expected now that the government will move ahead full throttle on the agreement (Aerospace DAILY, July 9). The U.S. is hopeful that the issue will be wrapped up before time runs out for the U.S. Congress to ratify the pact. It is also trying to mobilize support in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).
Cost and weight issues have forced NASA back to a metal nozzle for the Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne J-2X rocket engine that will power the upper stage of the Ares I crew launch vehicle and Earth Departure Stage of the heavy-lift Ares V. In its original configuration, the 8 ft.-long, 10 ft.-diameter nozzle extension was metal – an alloy known as Haynes 230 – but weight and thermal issues led to a change to a composite nozzle extension that was lighter and had more thermal margin.
The Pentagon is planning this fiscal year to buy one C-27 for quick modification as a prototype gunship to augment U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command’s (AFSOC) existing AC-130 fleet.
U.S. European Command Headquarters (EUCOM) improperly used – or managed the use of – government purchase cards (GPCs), the Pentagon Inspector General (IG) says in a recent report. EUCOM personnel misused the cards for such purchases as computer equipment and commemorative coins that were eventually given away as gifts or sold at local snack bars, according to the IG report, released late last month. Irregularities
AHEAD OF SKED: Lockheed Martin delivered the core propulsion module for the third space vehicle (SV-3) of its Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) military communications system six months ahead of the planned schedule, the company announced July 24. The core propulsion module contains the integrated propulsion system as well as panels and other components that serve as the structural foundation of the satellite.
The U.S. Defense Department is allowing misperceptions about future warfare needs to color its view of the importance of F-22 Raptors to U.S. military strategy, Lexington Institute analyst Loren Thompson says in a recent brief. The DOD and next presidential administration need to bolster the production plan for the jet fighter, according to Thompson.
Fiscal 2009 spending bills, already bogged down in the House, have also hit a snag in the Senate. Senate Appropriations Chairman Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) halted work on the three remaining spending bills, including defense appropriations, in a political wrangle with Republicans over oil drilling.
Lockheed Martin and Aerojet report success in a demonstration of the High Power Hall Current Thruster electric propulsion system to be used for orbital transfer and station keeping for the Lockheed/Northrop Grumman Transformational Satellite Communications System (TSAT). Hall thruster technology is seen as a major step forward for orbital thrusters because its operational lifetime is measured in thousands of hours – the comparison is to a light bulb – instead of the minutes that conventional chemical thrusters provide. AEHF tech
Boeing’s earnings per share dropped 14 percent to $1.16 during the second quarter of 2008, in part due to the $248 million charge the company incurred as a result of delays in the Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning & Control (AEW&C) program. Boeing’s overall revenue for the quarter stayed relatively steady at $17 billion, and was affected by both the Wedgetail charge and lower profitability “due to mix and timing in Commercial Airplanes, partially offset by lower centralized costs,” the company said in announcing its results July 23.
UNMANNED ASSISTANCE: General Dynamics Robotic Systems said the U.S. Office of Naval Research (ONR) recently awarded it a contract to develop the Common Launch and Recovery System (CLRS) for the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS). The effort will seek robotics and automation technologies to develop a method for launching and recovering unmanned maritime systems, such as unmanned boats and other watercraft, from the LCS. Such seaborne launch and recovery capabilities are crucial, and one of the most challenging aspects to the Navy’s seabasing and remotely operated strategies.
Phoenix Mars lander spacecraft controllers at the University of Arizona are preparing for a quick series of maneuvers as early as this weekend that they hope will allow them to collect a sample of what they believe is icy soil and get it into one of their test ovens for analysis before it sublimates in the thin Martian atmosphere.
TRANSPONDERS LOST: Eutelsat says power output on its W5 communications satellite has been stabilized following the loss of a solar panel, but that the spacecraft will have to operate with just 20 of its 24 Ku-band transponders. The Paris-based fixed satellite service operator said the four transponders had to be switched off following the glitch, which occurred on June 16-17, and that attempts to recover their use in collaboration with the satellite manufacturer, Thales Alenia Space, were not successful. Launched in 2002 to a position at 70.5 deg. E.
SATURDAY JTRS: Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics John Young, senior advisors and the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) board of directions will meet on Saturday, July 26 to discuss the program, a Pentagon spokesperson says. The conversation is part of an ongoing review, and the reason for the weekend gathering is to provide the group an uninterrupted stretch of “time for a more in-depth review” of JTRS, the spokesperson says.
HARTFORD, Conn. – NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Ohio is refurbishing its open-rotor wind tunnel test stand to support joint research with General Electric into reducing the noise levels of the fuel-saving engines. Last used in the 1980s during the development of geared propfan and direct-drive unducted fan designs, the drive system allows 1/6th-scale models of open-rotor engines to be tested in the anechoic wind tunnel at Glenn.
Inmarsat says it has broken off talks with Harbinger Capital Partners, initiated earlier this month, that could have led to a takeover proposal from the U.S. hedge fund. The London-based mobile satellite service (MSS) operator says the discussions had focused principally on the regulatory processes relating to a possible offer, and that no offer or indication of a potential offer price was made.
