The U.S. House of Representatives approved a waiver to the Iran, North Korea and Syria Nonproliferation Act late Sept. 24 that will allow NASA to continue buying space vehicles and services from Russia for support of the International Space Station after the space shuttle’s scheduled retirement in 2010. The legislation would extend the waiver from Jan. 1, 2012 to July 1, 2016, and was part of a continuing resolution that would fund NASA through March 6, 2009 at fiscal year 2008 levels. It passed by a vote of 370-58.
The U.S. Army and Air Force are nearly finished working out plans for cooperating on operations of medium-altitude unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Gen. William Wallace, commander of U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC), and U.S. Air Force Gen. John Corley, commander of Air Combat Command, are scheduled to meet Sept. 26 to finalize plans before briefing them to their respective service chiefs in advance of annual Army/Air Force staff talks set for early next year.
The U.S. Defense Department is beginning to buy commercial radar imaging services from the Canadian Space Agency-MacDonald Dettwiler partnership, the first of what one senior Air Force official says could be many such agreements to come.
RADIO READY: The Montreal, Quebec-based firm Ultra Electronics Tactical Communication Systems Division announced this week that it had inked a $50 million contract to supply the U.S. Army’s WIN-T Program with its AN/GRC-245 HCLOS radio, TRC190 V1 and V3 kits, along with spares and associated equipment. The company describes the AN/GRC-245A HCLOS radio as a state-of-the-art Software Defined Radio (SDR) using the Software Communications Architecture (SCA) open framework. The radio has a 16Mb/s capacity and is software-upgradeable to 34Mb/s full-duplex capacity.
Denel Dynamics is working on an active radar seeker under the Raster program as the basis of a sensor for both air-to-air and surface-to-air missiles. Furthermore, Denel is preparing for air-launched test shots of its A-Darter dogfight missile within the next few months and is considering the design as the basis of an active, radar-guided, medium-range air-to-air missile.
AFTERSHOCK: The USS Mesa Verde (LPD 19) completed its third and final shock trial off of Mayport, Fla., earlier this month. Naval Sea Systems Command claimed the ship – the third of the new San Antonio-class of amphibious transport dock ships – performed well and was going to Norfolk, Va., for post-trial inspection. Shock trials are part of the congressionally mandated Live Fire Test and Evaluation Program that requires realistic survivability testing on each new class of Navy ships.
Chinese news agency Xinhua reported that China’s third human spaceflight mission blasted off Sept. 25 carrying three astronauts who will attempt the country’s first-ever extravehicular activity (EVA). The Shenzhou-7 spacecraft lifted off from Jiuquan Launch Center in northwestern China aboard a Long March 2F rocket at 9:10 p.m. local time, the news agency said. Taikonauts Zhai Zhigang, Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng are slated to orbit the Earth for three days before landing in their re-entry module.
Several peace-aligned organizations are trying to build public support for U.S. Senate legislation that would effectively ban the United States from using and exporting cluster bombs. The activists want the U.S. government to agree to a treaty worked out last spring among 110 other nations that in effect bans cluster munitions (Aerospace DAILY, May 2).
The U.S. Army will run an Integrated Mission Test (IMT) on Future Combat Systems (FCS) components in November, the first of four tests designed to provide the Army with feedback on hardware and software for eventual use in FCS.
Spacewalking astronauts will lubricate two big rotating joints on the International Space Station (ISS) with grease this year to ease their way until a permanent fix can be mounted in 2010. Mike Suffredini, NASA’s ISS program manager, says engineers have determined the root cause behind a degrading race ring on the starboard solar alpha rotary joint (SARJ) that has limited rotation of the big solar array wings on that end of the station to follow the sun (Aerospace DAILY, June 12).
Acting Secretary of the U.S. Air Force Michael Donley and Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz announced actions will be taken against 15 Air Force officers – six generals and nine colonels – as a result of the findings in the Donald Report, released in May.
PARIS – Four British companies, including a U.K.-based affiliate of Lockheed Martin Integrated Systems & Solutions (IS&S), are among 11 contractors short listed to negotiate six supply contracts for the main phase of the Galileo navigation satellite system.
OSHKOSH ORDER: Oshkosh Defense has been awarded a $10.7 million contract from the U.S. Marine Corps for 49 more armor-ready Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacements (MTVR) in a continuation of a contract originally awarded in 1998. Oshkosh will manufacture and deliver the MTVRs in the cargo truck variants, which also feature additional armor capabilities for increased troop protection. The vehicles will be manufactured in Oshkosh, Wis., with a scheduled completion time of December 2009.
NASA managers have pushed back the next space shuttle mission by four days to regain time lost while Johnson Space Center (JSC) recovered from Hurricane Ike and crews at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) cleaned up a mission payload that was accidentally contaminated. The shuttle Atlantis is now scheduled to lift off on the STS-125 mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope at 10:19 p.m. EDT Oct. 14, instead of on Oct. 10. The change also will push back the STS-126 mission to resupply the International Space Station (ISS) from Nov. 12 to Nov. 16.
The U.S. federal government’s spending toward cybersecurity and IT hardening is expected to grow at a 7.9 percent compounded annual growth rate, from $6.6 billion this year to $9.6 billion by 2013, as trade representatives and analysts expect Washington to turn even more attention to the issue in coming years. Analysts at Northern Virginia consultancy Input say growth in so-called information security spending will outpace spending growth in overall federal IT due to the government’s challenge in addressing fundamental IT security concerns at all levels.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) has begun deliveries of Lynx II radars to complete the sensor fit on five Hawker Beechcraft King Air 350ER intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft for the Iraqi air force. GA-ASI is the system integrator for the ISR King Airs, which are being supplied to Iraq under the U.S. government’s foreign military sales program. Three of the twin-turboprop aircraft are in-country, with the fourth and fifth to be delivered this month and next.
ADVANCED TARGETING: The U.S. Air Force awarded Boeing a $15 million contract to develop advanced targeting capabilities for the B-52 Stratofortress. The software upgrades will include improvements for transmitting video and targeting information from the targeting pod to friendly forces and are intended to reduce flight crew workload. Boeing said these capabilities will enable better close air support for ground troops and prepare the aircraft for future enhancements of the flight crew’s situational awareness.
YSTERPLAAT AIR FORCE BASE, South Africa – The timing and schedule of South African military acquisition programs may fall foul of the strife rocking the continent’s powerhouse nation. Political struggles between departing President Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma, the African National Congress party’s candidate for the 2009 elections, is the cause of the turmoil.
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Congressional defense authorizers are backing missile defense, the U.S. Army’s Future Combat Systems, shipbuilding and other major efforts in their pending fiscal 2009 defense policy bill, although lawmakers are increasingly expressing concern with the Pentagon’s acquisition efforts.
DEEP REFORM: The Integrated Deepwater Program Reform Act of 2008 was expected to pass the House Sept. 24 in an unrecorded, unanimous vote. Changes include revamping the role of the lead systems integrator (LSI). A private sector LSI would no longer be allowed, and all acquisition in support of Deepwater would be conducted as an open competition.
Intelsat engineers are preparing to plug Galaxy 19 into the company’s North American constellation of 16 other telecommunications satellites following its successful launch early Sept. 24 on a Sea Launch Zenit-3SL. The oceangoing launch service provider lofted the 10,340-pound spacecraft from its Sea Launch Odyssey platform at 5:28 a.m. EDT Sept. 24 from a position on the equator at 154 deg. W. Long. The rocket’s Block DM-SL upper stage delivered the satellite to its geosynchronous transfer orbit a little more than an hour later.
Raytheon has won the competition for the U.S. Navy’s planned landing guidance equipment, the Joint Precision Approach and Landing System (JPALS), although a land-based system remains ostensibly up for grabs. The company – considered to be the favorite – said late Sept. 23 it was awarded a $232.8 million contract for the system development and demonstration (SDD) phase of the Global Positioning System-based JPALS program for shipboard applications. The team, led by Raytheon Network Centric Systems, includes Rockwell Collins, Northrop Grumman and SAIC.
