The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps’ Unmanned Aviation and Strike Weapons program executive office has split a program management activity (PMA) group into three separate acquisition programs and created a fourth PMA. Two efforts of PMA-263 were separated into their own acquisition programs: the Persistent Maritime Unmanned Aircraft Systems program (PMA-262) and Navy and Marine Corps Multi-Mission Tactical Unmanned Air Systems program (PMA-266) were created. The Navy Unmanned Combat Air System program, now known as PMA-268, also was established.
TOKYO – Mitsubishi Heavy Industries marked its eighth consecutive successful H-IIA launch from Tanegashima Space Center on Feb. 23, orbiting Japan’s Wideband InterNetworking engineering test and Demonstration Satellite (WINDS).
DDG-51 CONTRACT: Lockheed Martin Simulation, Training and Support of Orlando, Fla., is being awarded a $9.85 million U.S. Navy contract for DDG-51 Class Machinery Control System and Universal Engine Controller engineering, software, logistics, training, and fleet support services. The work will be split evenly between facilities in Philadelphia and Orlando, and should be complete by Jan. 2013.
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER - NASA is analyzing two separate solid rocket booster parachute failures that occurred during the launch of Atlantis earlier this month and assessing their possible effect on Endeavour’s STS-123 mission, planned for a March 11 liftoff.
PAVED WAY: Raytheon said it has been awarded more than $100 million worth of contracts since January by Asia-Pacific countries for its Paveway family of precision-guided munitions. The company – which battles rival Lockheed Martin for international Paveway business and even trademark issues – further proclaimed a record-setting $300 million worth of Paveway bookings for last year. Lockheed says its Paveway guidance kits draw on key technologies and components from the training rounds but meet more stringent live-weapon and aircraft interface specifications.
PARIS – EADS has finally closed a deal to sell refueling aircraft to the United Arab Emirates. The Airbus A330-based offering has long been the preferred bid in the UAE’s program, but details were taking longer to iron out than initially expected. Terms were still not agreed to at the time of the Dubai air show in November. However, EADS managed to come to terms in time to generate one last bit of good news before the Pentagon picks its winner for the KC-X program, expected this week.
The chances that the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor production line could be further extended through foreign sales are looking more remote, with Defense Secretary Robert Gates saying he is “not optimistic” about the prospects. Speaking with the media Feb. 23 while visiting Australia, Gates said the Pentagon has not given serious consideration to selling Raptors to Japan. And while he did say he would start looking at a possible sale to Australia, Gates said he does not expect the law to allow such a transaction.
April 15-17, 2008 Broward County Convention Center Fort Lauderdale, FL Military and industry leaders assemble in a unique Working Group Seminar designed to develop a realistic plan of action to improve readiness, availability, cost, and cycle time for U.S. fighters, airlift/tanker, rotor wing and complex electronic aircraft.
Taiwan should be allowed to pursue more robust requests for U.S.-provided defense goods and services, like an erstwhile bid for F-16s, as well as develop better cruise missile and antisubmarine defenses, according to an expert panel of scholars and analysts in the U.S. capital.
Lawmakers this week line up to take their first whack at the Bush administration’s official fiscal 2009 regular budget submissions for the Defense Department and other security agencies as authorizers and appropriators begin annual hearings on Capitol Hill. Department secretaries and the top uniformed officers from the armed services are scheduled to appear, among other officials, and each could encounter difficult questions from legislators of both political parties. SASC hearing
ARMY BAE Systems Land and Armaments Inc., Jacksonville, Fla., was awarded on Feb. 15, 2008, an $8,423,780 firm fixed price contract to purchase 952 Bradley Urban Survivability Kits, Hotbox Restraint Kits. The work will be performed in York, Pa., with an estimated completion date of July 30, 2008. The reporting contract office is TACOM LCMC, Warren, Mich. Contract Number: W56HZV-05-G-0005.
The Pentagon is “confident” after days of analysis that a single Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) intercepted the fuel tank of an inoperable intelligence satellite last week, virtually eliminating potential danger to life on the ground. The fuel tank was holding hydrazine, and government officials were concerned that if the tank re-entered the atmosphere intact it could threaten human life.
CLUSTER BOMBS: Washington officials released a document Feb. 15 outlining U.S. policy on cluster munitions, including its opposition to a new international treaty banning the use of cluster munitions. But while official U.S. opposition to the cluster bomb ban is well known, U.S. policy on cluster munitions is complex, according to Center for Defense Information analysts based in the capital. Their analysis of U.S.
SUPPLEMENTAL SPENDING: The House Appropriations Committee is preparing to move on the next installment of war funds as early as March, according to an aerospace and defense trade group. The allocation is expected to be at least $100 billion and would include the balance of appropriations that President Bush requested last fall for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as other purposes, according to the National Defense Industrial Association.
The Google X-Prize has drawn its first 10 registered contestants for prizes totaling $30 million for whoever lands a rover on the moon by Dec. 31, 2012. X Prize Chairman and CEO Peter H. Diamandis says the contest has drawn 567 expressions of interest from 53 nations since being announced six months ago (DAILY, Sept. 14, 2007).
BIG SUBS: The U.S. Navy says shipbuilding giant Northrop Grumman continues to improve on building massive, complicated submarines - a change that comes after the company suffered setbacks over the past few years and had to re-acquire such skills. A program executive made the observation as the company delivered the USS North Carolina this month, which is the fourth Virginia-class sub and second where Northrop led the manufacturing versus program-partner General Dynamics. Capt.
AUSTRALIAN DEFENSE: Australia is crafting a “vital” planning document that will serve as the foundation of its future defense capabilities, according to relatively new Australian Defense Minister Joel Fitzgibbon. “The white paper will help the government make fully-informed and cost-effective decisions about the military capabilities we need to defend Australia and to promote our interests,” Fitzgibbon says.
AIRBORNE LASER: Boeing’s Airborne Laser (ABL) industry team has installed all major laser components - six chemical oxygen iodine laser modules - on its ABL test aircraft and the program remains on track for a ballistic missile shootdown demonstration planned for 2009, according to Scott Fancher, vice president and general manager of Boeing Missile Defense Systems. Overall laser integration is more than 70 percent complete.
WINDS: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has rescheduled the launch of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Wideband Internetworking engineering test and Demonstration Satellite (WINDS) to Feb. 23 between 16:20 to 17:55 Japan time. Initial plans for a Feb.15 launch had to be scrapped after a leaking diaphragm was discovered in one of the second-stage fuel tanks Feb. 12 (DAILY, Feb. 14). According to JAXA, it will be the world’s fastest telecommunications satellite, allowing direct connections with small antennas on the ground.
NASA engineers are adding instrumentation to the first full-scale flight version of the Ares I crew launch vehicle to gather real data about vibrations from its solid-fuel first stage that initially were predicted to be seriously out-of-spec.
EW FORECAST: An estimated $23 billion will be spent on the development and production of major electronic warfare (EW) programs over the next decade, consultancy Forecast International predicts. More than 35,800 units of leading electronic countermeasures, radar warning receivers, electronic support measures and other EW systems are expected to be produced through 2017. Forecast says market leaders are Northrop Grumman, BAE Systems, Raytheon, ITT, and Lockheed Martin. Based on a projection of the current U.S.
NEW DELHI - Indian defense minister AK Antony says “no decision has been made” yet on the creation of an Indian Aerospace Command, despite statements from the Indian air force indicating that the command was being established. Antony spoke to Aerospace Daily at the Defexpo land and naval show here.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicated new calendar listing.) March 3 - 7 — 2008 Directed Energy System Symposium, Monterey Marriott Hotel and Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, Calif. For more information go to www.deps.org March 4- 5 — Fulfilling the Warfighters Vision Conference, Grand Hyatt, Tampa, Fla. For more information go to www.afei.org/brochure/8A04/index.cfm
Qatar will become the latest country to buy the Boeing C-17 Globemaster cargo aircraft, according to a program source. Commenting earlier on the sale, Bruce Lemkin, deputy undersecretary of the U.S. Air Force for international affairs, wouldn’t identify the purchaser but said the order would be for two aircraft, with an option for two more. Meanwhile, in Washington, one proposal for even more C-17s was rebuffed by the Pentagon’s acquisition chief, John Young.
