The U.S. Navy has conducted the first test of the Standard Missile 6 (SM-6) extended range anti-air warfare missile at White Sands Missile Range, N.M. The Raytheon-built missile was launched from the Navy’s Desert Ship and successfully intercepted a BQM-74 aerial drone using its new SM-6 active seeker. The launch demonstrates the first successful integration of the Navy’s active missile technology into the weapon system to provide for both near-term advanced anti-air warfare and future over-the-horizon capability, according to Raytheon.
STSS STUDY: Northrop Grumman and Raytheon have completed a satellite payload trade study for the Northrop-led Space Tracking and Surveillance System (STSS), Raytheon announced June 24. “Results of the study may be used to enhance the performance of follow-on satellites, improving their capacity to provide timely midcourse tracking data and report missile attacks,” Raytheon said. Under development by the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, the STSS constellation (formerly SBIRS Low) is designed to detect enemy missiles in all phases of flight.
Capitol Hill denizens are increasingly debating whether the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) should alter its research and spending priorities to better address more immediate concerns than defending against a long-range strike.
MADAME GENERAL: If U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Ann Dunwoody passes her Senate confirmation hearing to take the reins at Army Materiel Command, she will become the first female four-star general in the service’s history. Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced June 23 that Dunwoody has been nominated to receive a fourth star as well as the appointment to head Materiel Command, where she holds the position of commanding general and chief of staff. Dunwoody was commissioned in 1975, and is among only 57 active duty female general officers in all the U.S.
REAP DIVIDENDS: Boeing President and Chief Executive Officer Jim McNerney reported June 23 that the company’s board of directors declared a quarterly dividend of 40 cents per share. The dividend is payable Sept. 5.
While the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) is falling into line with audit changes suggested by the Pentagon Inspector General (IG), DIA still has to complete nearly half the task to be in compliance, the IG reported recently.
AIR FORCE Kern Steel Fabrication Inc. of Bakersfield, Calif., is being awarded a firm fixed price contract for $13,626,906. This effort will provide for the design and production of an Isochronal (ISO) Maintenance Stand for the C-5 aircraft. The award amount in item #3 involves the design and one first production unit (Albeit not exercised yet, Option I involves quantities of one to three maintenance stands. At this time $13,626,906 has been obligated. Kern Steel Fabrication Inc., Bakersfield, Calif., is the contracting activity (FA8533-08-C-0004).
Canada has provided details of its plan to increase defense spending over the next 20 years, including a timetable and budget for replacing its major aircraft, warship and combat vehicle fleets. Quietly posted on the Department of National Defence Web site late last week, the plan answers criticisms that the new Canada First defense strategy lacked detail when it was unveiled by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in March.
Plans for French President Nicolas Sarkozy to make a big announcement next month at the Farnborough air show related to his country’s own refueling tanker program have apparently fizzled out after recent events in the United States, according to industry sources. Sarkozy was set to announce that Paris was planning to buy A330-based tankers assembled at the yet-to-be built EADS North America manufacturing facility in Mobile, Ala. The country has a need for new refuelers, though a procurement strategy hasn’t been released.
NASA and the California Air Resources Board are conducting a series of research flights from San Diego to Trinidad Head near the Oregon border, taking atmospheric composition measurements in a study of the chemical dynamics of smog and greenhouse gases.
BAE Systems has developed a new lighter, smaller and more powerful radiation-hardened computer memory chip for use initially on a classified space mission, while also upgrading the design of its space-qualified computer. The two projects demonstrate how a major investment in upgrading the Specialty Microelectronics Foundry in Manassas, Va., is providing the type of custom-made, radiation-hardened devices the Defense Department needs to support its space operations.
THURAYA HANDOVER: Boeing has completed the handover of the Thuraya-3 Geo-Mobile satellite to Thuraya Satellite Telecommunications, which will use it to provide mobile phone services in 170 countries in Europe, Africa and Asia. A Boeing 702, the satellite was launched Jan. 15 by a Sea Launch Zenit-3SL.
PARIS – France plans to greatly expand its military space capabilities in its first major strategic shift since the end of the Cold War. The move is part of a major reinforcement of reconnaissance/intelligence, ballistic missile protection, force projection and ground force capabilities planned over the next 15 years to allow the country to combat terrorism and other evolving global threats.
Two independent analysts at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA) are nervous that the U.S. Navy’s bureaucracy may be on its way to essentially killing its Unmanned Combat Air System (N-UCAS) effort by rolling back its nascent demonstration program.
AUSTRALIAN TORPEDO: Australia test fired the new MU90 Lightweight Anti-Submarine Warfare Torpedo from the HMAS Toowoomba off Mandurah in Western Australia late last week. The MU90 “will provide a significant upgrade to the Anti-Submarine Warfare capabilities of the surface combatant platforms of the Royal Australian Navy, including the RAN’s FFG and ANZAC frigates,” Defense Minister Joel Fitzgibbon said. The MU90 is being acquired in a three-phase program worth AUS$616 million.
September 23, 2008 Madrid, Spain Don’t miss the second annual AVIATION WEEK Management Forum dedicated to green initiatives in the airline industry, including: emissions treading; carbon offsets; and air traffic management improvement. Learn more at www.aviationweek.com/forums or call +1.212.904.3195.
Testing problems have led the U.S. Missile Defense Agency to shift the focus of next month’s ground-based midcourse ballistic missile defense system (GBMDS) test to radar integration rather than an intercept, according to MDA chief U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Trey Obering. Obering, who has appeared twice on Capitol Hill in recent days, told separate audiences that the GBMDS program would be back “on track” with intercept tests late this year when the second of two system tests planned for 2008 occurs.
NASA Kennedy Space Center managers are confident that extensively damaged brickwork in the flame trench of Launch Complex 39A can be repaired without disrupting the planned Oct. 8 launch of Atlantis to service the Hubble Space Telescope.
The notion of predictable, reliable inter- and intracontinental airlift will be integral to the success of the new U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), according to the command’s chief, U.S. Army Gen. William Ward.
Nine Lockheed Martin C-5s are unable to fly and classified as “non-mission capable for supply” following a May 1 incident, though Air Mobility Command says the problem has created “no operational impacts.”
HUSH FUNDS: The fiscal 2009 funding request for classified programs will be the second-highest level of funding provided for classified acquisition programs since FY 1987, according to the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA). In a new update, the organization says the $34 billion tag on acquisition funding included in the FY 2009 DOD budget request represents a near doubling of classified acquisition funding since FY 1995.
