EURO MISSILE DEFENSE: An Aster 30 missile successfully intercepted a target simulating a theater ballistic missile in the first operational test of the Franco-Italian SAMP/T ground-based medium-range missile defense system. The test was conducted at the missile test range in Biscarosse, in southwestern France. Expected to begin series delivery toward the end of the year, the SAMP/T will be the first European system capable of defeating theater ballistic missiles of the Scud class.
MESA, Ariz. – A prototype of Boeing’s AH-64D Apache Block III attack helicopter will cooperate with the company’s A160T Hummingbird unmanned rotorcraft during the U.S. Army’s C4ISR On-The-Move (OTM) demonstration under way at Fort Dix in New Jersey.
Investment by Norwegian-based Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace in a new advanced materials and composite aerostructures plant is beginning to pay off, now that the company has signed a long-term framework agreement with Lockheed Martin for the production of parts in composite and titanium for the new F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF).
The U.S. Army is committed to navigating the Nunn-McCurdy breach of its Bell ARH-70 Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH) as quickly as possible, Army Secretary Pete Geren said July 10.
GIOVE B: EADS Astrium says the second Galileo test satellite, Giove B, has successfully completed in-orbit testing. The spacecraft is intended to validate key technologies of the European satellite navigation system, notably a passive hydrogen maser clock, and to provide test signals that replicate the actual frequencies and formats that will be used in the operational system. Astrium notes that Giove B also closely replicates the design adopted for the first four operational satellites that are to be launched in 2010 to demonstrate and validate Galileo performance.
A National Research Council (NRC) panel is recommending NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) consider orbiting a microwave radiometer to cover an anticipated climate data gap before the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) comes online.
The delivery of Martian water ice to the Phoenix lander’s organic chemistry instrument remains the highest priority for the mission during the coming week, although efforts have been slowed by the ice’s toughness. Phoenix has had trouble trying to scrape enough ice off the extremely hard ice layer near the spacecraft to ensure a significant quantity can be delivered to the Thermal and Evolved Gas Analyzer (TEGA) instrument. The robotic arm was used in early July to remove soil from a 9 x 13 inch section where the ice samples will be obtained.
U.S. lawmakers, in their first chance to respond to the Pentagon plan to recompete the U.S. Air Force’s new aerial refueling tanker, cited the service’s alleged shortcomings as the pinnacle of a failed defense acquisition system. “How does a high-priority acquisition program, with intense oversight and scrutiny at the highest levels of the Department of Defense, fall so short of the mark,” said Rep. Jim Saxton (N.J.), the ranking Republican on the House Armed Services (HASC) Committee’s airland subcommittee.
Following its April launch, the U.S. Air Force’s Communication/Navigation Outage Forecasting System (C/NOFS) satellite is now gathering data that scientists hope will enable better forecasting of ionospheric interference with radio communications. This interference, known as scintillation, occurs when radio waves traveling through the ionosphere at 50-360 miles altitude become distorted or lost. The phenomenon can cause serious transmission problems for communications or Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites.
Boeing will take a pre-tax charge of around $250 million in the second quarter to cover further losses on its Wedgetail airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) program for the Royal Australian Air Force.
The U.S. Transportation Department (DOT) has chosen the X Prize Foundation to create a competition for jet fuel alternatives, DOT Secretary Mary Peters announced July 10. The aim of the award is to stimulate market competition for the development of alternative fuels. The original X Prize competition awarded a $10 million prize in 2004 to the team behind the world’s first privately developed manned suborbital spacecraft, SpaceShipOne.
Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) has added Hispasat to its satellite customer list, winning a contract to built Hispasat 1E for a 2010 launch. For its recent spacecraft, Hispasat has turned to Alcatel Alenia Space and its 3000B series platform. SS/L will use its 1300 series platform, equipping it with 53 Ku-band transponders for fixed and broadcast satellite services. Hispasat 1E is to have a launch mass of about 5 tons and prime power rating of 14 kW at end-of-life. No contract value or launch provider have been announced.
MESA, Ariz. – Boeing will begin work this month on the first of two new sites on the U.S./Mexico border for the “virtual fence” being developed under the Secure Border Initiative (SBI) program. The stretches of border south and west of Tucson, Ariz., will be the first equipped with the improved surveillance system being developed by Boeing under Block 1 of its SBInet contract.
NEW DELHI – At the request of the U.S. Air Force, an Indian Air Force (IAF) contingent will arrive in the U.S. on July 17 to participate in the Red Flag 08 exercise. The contingent will first arrive at Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho, before heading to Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., where Red Flag will take place from Aug. 9-23. The IAF will participate in the exercise with eight SU-30 MK-Is, two IL-78 air-to-air refuelers and one IL-76 transport aircraft. The contingent has 156 personnel below officer rank and 91 officers.
MESA, Ariz. – Boeing has flown the first AH-64D Apache Block III, the next major upgrade of the long-serving attack helicopter. The first of two avionics test aircraft flew for the first time on June 27 at Boeing’s rotorcraft plant here, followed on July 5 by a helicopter equipped with new composite main rotor blades. A formal first flight was conducted on July 9 with U.S. Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Richard Cody as co-pilot. The Block III Apache is scheduled to enter service with the Army in 2011.
MAINTAINING JSC: Boeing submitted a proposal to NASA July 8 for the Facilities Development and Operations Contract (FDOC), a four-year contract under which Boeing hopes to work in collaboration with NASA on maintaining and improving the agency’s next-generation mission control center and other facilities at Johnson Space Center in Houston. NASA’s Johnson Space Center Mission Operations Directorate will manage FDOC, which consolidates a portion of the current Space Program Operations and Mission Support Operations contracts.
Iran’s latest test of its long-range missile capability bolsters U.S. arguments for the need to base an anti-ballistic missile defense system in Eastern Europe, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said July 9. Iran reported that its Revolutionary Guards test fired up to nine missiles, including the Shahab-3, which U.S. analysts say can hit targets up to 1,250 miles away.
STRIKE ARCHITECTURE: The U.S. Air Force and Northrop Grumman have completed an incremental system design review of the new software and computing architecture that will manage B-2 stealth bomber missions for the next several decades. The new architecture defines standardized hardware and software interfaces that will allow the B-2’s new integrated processing unit (IPU) to communicate, via fiber network, with the aircraft’s processing applications, both now and in the future.
Carol A. Haave is the new Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary for International Affairs. DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff calls her “a skilled international negotiator” with more than 25 years of combined experience in national security and international affairs. While serving at the Defense Department, Haave oversaw the development of the Iraqi National ID Card program, which required sensitive negotiations with the Iraqi government and other Middle Eastern countries.
The Pentagon’s decision to recompete the U.S. Air Force’s aerial refueling tanker between Boeing and Northrop Grumman-EADS teams was welcomed by Capitol Hill, but the industry rivals apparently remain more suspicious.
With thousands of shoulder-fired missiles still on the black market after a six-year effort by the U.S. to have surplus weapons destroyed and foreign stockpiles fully secured, the threat reduction effort is continuing.
The U.S. Army’s Bell ARH-70 Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH) program has filed a Nunn-McCurdy cost and schedule breach, but the Army’s second-highest general asserts the program already is advancing. “The key performance parameters for ARH have been validated and revalidated,” said Army Gen. Richard Cody, vice chief of staff. “We have to go through this process by law.”
