Boeing and several system suppliers have been awarded U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory contracts to mature technology for an airborne electronic attack (AEA) pod that could be flight tested on the B-52 in fiscal 2012, giving the venerable bomber another shot at one day providing stand-off jamming for early-warning radars.
PERSONAL NAVIGATION: The worldwide market for personal navigation devices is forecast to reach 68 million units in 2012, according to IN-Stat, a research organization that is part of Reed Business. Worldwide shipments of personal navigation devices tallied higher than expected in 2007, reaching 30.7 million units up from just 13.3 million the year before. Price declines, devices with more functions and ample supplies during the end-of-year holiday period fueled the sales, according to the study.
HELPING GAO: Nineteen House committee chairmen have joined forces to introduce legislation to strengthen the investigative arm of the U.S. Congress, the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The measure (H.R. 6388) would restore GAO’s authority to go to court when federal agencies or the White House refuse to provide documents and other records to the agency.
JASSM DEAL: The U.S. Air Force has awarded Lockheed Martin a $107 million contract for the next lot of 111 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles (JAASMs), marking the first firm award since the program was recertified to move forward (Aerospace DAILY, May 5). Last year, it suffered a major GPS dropout problem, preventing missiles from reaching their targets. This new contract reflects the new price for the stealthy cruise missiles at just under $1 million apiece.
THAAD PLANS: Tom McGrath, Lockheed Martin program manager and vice president for the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, says he expects a contract for the third and fourth THAAD units to be signed by the end of the year. The U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) had planned on delaying it but congressional pressure has pushed the agency back to that timeline. A production contract for the first two THAAD fire units was awarded to Lockheed in late 2006, with first delivery slated for early 2009.
STOCK BUYBACK: SES shareholders have OK’d the cancellation of 34 million shares acquired under a pair of stock buyback initiatives started in 2005, and approved a further buyback for up to 10 percent of issued share capital. The company has already bought back 32 percent of its shares in a long-term effort to buoy the stock price.
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center is seeking information from industry in the run-up to the competition for the next Rapid Spacecraft Acquisition (RSA) follow-on program, known as Rapid III. “The Rapid III acquisition may result in the award of multiple fixed-priced, commercial, Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contracts for spacecraft bus core systems that would be used to meet the government’s science and technology needs,” Goddard says in its June 26 request for information (RFI).
China has joined the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS), an international forum for establishing space communications standards to enable joint operations. The China National Space Administration becomes the 11th member of the organization, which was established in 1982.
SPACEFARING SENATORS: The three U.S. senators who have flown on the space shuttle are urging their colleagues to back legislation that would ease the deadline for retiring the vehicle. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) and former Sens. Jake Garn (R-Utah) and John Glenn (D-Ohio) jointly argue in a bylined Orlando Sentinel Op Ed that they “suspect the president doesn’t know” his administration’s space policies could leave the International Space Station uncompleted and under-utilized by the U.S. after 2010.
BACK ON TRACK: After waffling support – and an extensive study of alternatives – from the Pentagon this year, the Transformational Satellite (TSAT) program now appears to be moving forward. The U.S. Air Force is expected to ask for revised proposals by the end of July and announce a contract award in September. Boeing and Lockheed Martin are locked in a duel for this effort, which will replace the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) constellation providing secure communications for the U.S. and, eventually, Australia.
DIRECTED ENERGIES: Development of radio frequency and laser weaponry is a priority, according to U.K. Royal Air Force Air Chief Marshal Glenn Torpy, as the service seeks to acquire “tunable effects.” The U.K. has carried out laser and high power microwave (HPM) weapons research since at least the 1980s, with an HPM payload for a cruise missile one of the near-term applications.
CAREER MOVE: The next likely acquisition czar for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps will try to find ways to recruit and retain program managers to stay in their jobs longer. “If confirmed, I would review current policy and practice for assigning program managers to major programs with senior Navy military and civilian leaders, including such considerations as career flow points, tenure agreements, and succession planning for program managers,” Sean Stackley told senators June 26.
SATELLITE MATING: Lockheed Martin is expecting to put its second Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellite in Baseline Integrated System Test following the mating of the Northrop Grumman payload with the core satellite structure. The first AEHF satellite is now in thermal-vacuum testing, which simulates the extreme temperatures found in space. Finally, Lockheed Martin recently accepted delivery of the third payload module, and a contract is expected in July for the fourth spacecraft.
PORT CANAVERAL, Fla. – NASA Administrator Mike Griffin believes that contractor job cuts at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) following the planned end of the space shuttle program in 2010 will total 3,000-4,000, only about half of the worst-case scenario of cuts in the 6,000-7,000 range. The total Kennedy workforce of both government and civil service personnel is currently about 14,000.
The U.S. Coast Guard has improved its oversight of the troubled Deepwater recapitalization program using its own project managers and technical experts, a congressional report found June 26.
THAAD SUCCESS: The U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and prime contractor Lockheed Martin declared a successful shootdown of a separating target with the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system over a Hawaiian test range June 25. The target, launched from a C-17 airlifter and intercepted in mid endo-atmosphere, presented a new target class compared with previous unitary targets intercepted by THAAD, and it makes for the first separating target shot since the late 1990s.
Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) conducted a full launch dress rehearsal and hold-down firing of its third Falcon 1 rocket June 25 at its launch site at Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. The test marked the first pad firing of SpaceX’s new Merlin 1C reusable engine – an upgraded version of the Merlin 1A used for previous Falcon 1 launches. The regeneratively cooled Merlin 1C operated at full power, with only the hold-down system keeping the rocket from lifting off, according to the company.
VICTORVILLE, Calif. – Boeing is beginning an intensive flight-test period in its A160T Hummingbird rotary unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) program with upcoming evaluation of stub wings, a two-speed transmission and a revised flight control system.
REALISTIC RADAR: Boeing announced June 26 the selection of Elbit Systems as chief supplier of the Virtual Mission Training System (VMTS), which will integrate realistic radar training into the U.S. Navy’s T-45 Training System. VMTS simulates via data link an unclassified, mechanically scanned tactical radar that provides air-to-air and air-to-ground modules as well as simulated weapons and simulated electronic warfare. Those functions can be networked between the participating aircraft and instructor ground stations that control the mission presentation.
The Phoenix Mars lander, in its first series of soil chemistry tests, has discovered that Martian soil is remarkably Earth-like and could support a wide array of plants and organisms. “I am flabbergasted by this data,” says Samuel Kounaves from Tufts University, the lead investigator on the Phoenix wet chemistry investigations. “If the data is sustained by other measurements, it will be an historic discovery relative to the search for life on Mars.”
Combat needs are driving the new acceleration of the U.S. Army’s Future Combat Systems (FCS), generals claimed June 26, saying they will not ask for more money to make the changes. But lawmakers are not yet sold on the move. House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) and airland forces subcommittee Chairman Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii) called the changes a “positive step” in improving FCS. But they are still concerned that the new plan may not allow for adequate testing of the equipment due to its “very tight” schedule.
G/ATOR: The U.S. Marine Corps’ new Ground/Air Task Oriented Radar (G/ATOR) successfully completed Preliminary Design Review (PDR) at Northrop Grumman headquarters in Baltimore, Md. G/ATOR is a highly mobile system intended to support the Marine Corps’ expeditionary warfare requirements. The multimission radar system will provide the Marines with capabilities to detect, track and provide target data to engage hostile aircraft, cruise missiles and unmanned air vehicles, as well as provide the location of hostile rockets, mortars and artillery.
Airbus Military has rolled out the first A400M transport from the EADS Casa final assembly line in Seville, Spain, with the much-delayed first flight now expected in September or October. The 37-ton payload A400M is being developed under a €20 billion ($31 billion) fixed-price contract signed in 2003. The airlifter now is expected to enter service with the French air force in April 2010 – six months later than originally planned.
AASM FIRED: French armaments agency DGA has completed a second successful test firing of the AASM precision weapon in infrared (IR) seeker mode. The test, from a Mirage 2000 fighter, used the AASM’s inertial navigation system for the initial 25-kilometer cruise, with the Global Postitioning System shut off, before switching to the IR for terminal guidance. The basic GPS-guided version is currently in service with Rafale combat aircraft in Afghanistan. The IR/GPS variant, which will have one-meter-class precision, is to complete qualification this summer.
Alabama Aircraft Industries, Inc. (AAII) announced its intentions June 26 to file a lawsuit in the United States Court of Federal Claims challenging the U.S. Air Force’s selection of Boeing for a $1.1 billion contract to maintain its fleet of KC-135 refueling tankers.
