HEADING NORTH: U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) plans to base a Predator B unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) on the border with Canada in a month or two, says CBP Air and Marine’s chief. Assistant Commissioner Michael Kostelnik tells the House Homeland Security Committee his agency will soon move one of its four Predators – now based at Sierra Vista, Ariz. – to Grand Forks, N.D., which opened last year (Aerospace DAILY, Sept. 25, 2007). It’s all part of CBP Air and Marine’s plan to increase security along the Canadian border.
CONNECTING AFRICA: Satellite operators plan to help double the number of earth terminals operating in the African region so that underserved rural, suburban and urban users can benefit from the 20-odd telecom satellites to be brought into service in the region over the next five years. The announcement, in response to the International Telecommunications Union’s Connect Africa initiative, was made at the ITU Telecom Africa conference last week.
Editor’s Note: These are the next in an exclusive series of articles exploring how the U.S. Air Force came to initially choose Boeing’s HH-47 for its Combat Search and Rescue helicopter replacement (CSAR-X), and the ramifications of that choice for the service, the industry competitors and the warfighter (Aerospace DAILY, May 23).
RADAR APPROACH: The U.S. Navy’s Top Management Attention (TMA) team is investigating several responses to failures occurring to AN/SPS-48E long-range 3-D air search radar systems, including replacing short-lived components with new parts designed to better withstand maritime elements and implementing new training programs. The failures are caused by component corrosion and improper maintenance, according to Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) representatives.
C-17 PITCH: A modification of the C-17 could meet 80 percent of the U.S. Air Force/Army Joint Future Theater Lift (JFTL) requirement for 10 percent of the price, Boeing’s defense chief Jim Albaugh has told investors. A C-17B variant with enhanced short take-off and landing performance is being eyed for JFTL, which is in the requirements definition phase following the January decision to merge competing Army and Air Force efforts to develop a heavy-lift intra-theater transport.
The U.S. Air Force is expecting Boeing, its C-130 Avionics Modernization Program (AMP) contractor, to install the final increment of hardware and software onto a test aircraft in August.
SECURED MEDS: Lockheed Martin will provide the U.S. Navy’s Space and Naval Warfare (SPAWAR) Systems Center in Charleston, S.C., with cybersecurity technical support services for the Joint Medical Information System. If all options are exercised over a five-year period the contract may be worth up to $189.8 million, the company says.
MISSILES DEFENDED: Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.), chair of the House Armed Services (HASC) strategic forces subcommittee, has successfully carried her portion of the fiscal 2009 defense authorization bill through that chamber despite significant challenges from both her left and right. Tauscher on the House floor May 22 fended off two amendment efforts to her subcommittee’s mark-up of authorized missile defense spending, which fell $719 million below the Bush administration’s request of $9.3 billion.
Further changes found their way into the U.S. Air Force’s $15 billion Combat, Search and Rescue (CSAR-X) replacement helicopter procurement that reduced some survivability requirements. “We are asking for capabilities in excess of a validated threat analysis and [to] force the [CSAR-X] designer to make trades in areas where we really need improved capability [range and lift capability],” one of the consultants wrote in a May 2005 email about the survivability requirements.
LONDON - The British Defense Ministry is maintaining its Nimrod MR2 aircraft are airworthy in responding to calls by a British coroner that the aircraft be grounded, following his inquiry into the loss of an aircraft – and 14 personnel – in Afghanistan in 2006.
FT. BLISS, Texas – As the U.S. Army faces further potential budget cuts to its Future Combat Systems (FCS) modernization program, the service continues to announce earlier spin-outs of FCS components and a renewed effort to evaluate the program holistically.
Editor’s Note: These are the next in an exclusive series of articles exploring how the U.S. Air Force came to initially choose Boeing’s HH-47 for its Combat Search and Rescue helicopter replacement (CSAR-X), and the ramifications of that choice for the service, the industry competitors and the warfighter (Aerospace DAILY, May 22).
Editor’s Note: This is part of an exclusive series of articles exploring the U.S. Air Force’s Combat Search and Rescue helicopter replacement (CSAR-X) program. Survivability was another essential combat, search and rescue replacement (CSAR-X) key performance parameter (KPP), initial program requirement-setters said.
ROBOT ORDERS: iRobot Corp. has received a $16 million order, the third under the U.S. Army’s xBot contract, for more than 200 robots and spare parts to be delivered by Oct. 31, 2008. XBot orders to date now total $27 million out of a possible maximum value of $286 million. The company also received a $6.3 million U.S. Army delivery order for a combination of bomb disposal and explosives detection robots, as well as spare parts and equipment. iRobot expects to complete delivery by Sept. 30, 2008. The company has delivered more than 1,500 PackBot robots to date.
FT. BLISS, Texas – The U.S. Army is trying to ensure a bright future for its Future Combat Systems (FCS) modernization program by running FCS components through its modeling and simulation test bed, the Army Evaluation Task Force (AETF).
CONTRACTORS REFORMED: The House looks set to pass a swath of contracting-reform measures trying to rein in alleged warfighting acquisition abuses while demanding more disclosure and cooperation from contractors. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) combined several provisions from House- or Senate-passed bills and formed the 52-page “Clean Contracting Amendment” to the fiscal 2009 defense authorization bill being considered May 22 on the House floor.
In observance of Memorial Day, Aerospace Daily & Defense Report will not publish an issue on Monday, May 26. The next issue will be dated Tuesday, May 27.
ISRAELI JSFs: Israel has formally requested the purchase of 25 Lockheed Martin F-35A Joint Strike Fighters, with an option for another 50. If approved by the U.S. government, the deal would make Israel the first foreign military sales customer for the JSF. Deliveries would begin in 2014. Israel has also requested between three and five Lockheed Martin C-130J transports, possibly with options for a similar number. Lockheed, meanwhile, has received a $2.2 billion contract for the second production lot of 12 F-35s.
PASADENA, Calif. – NASA Phoenix Mars lander flight controllers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) are intensively assessing two final major variables that could affect the success of the Phoenix landing on the planet at 7:53 p.m. EST May 25. One factor is the weather, specifically atmospheric density, at the north polar landing site. Data from Mars Odyssey and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) are being examined to determine if any updates will be needed to the timing of Phoenix parachute deployment.
Airspace restrictions limiting training flights by U.S. Air Force Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aircraft from Beale Air Force Base, Calif., have been eased by FAA. Training was limited to three flights a week by FAA restrictions on access to national airspace, but these are being relaxed incrementally, says Lt. Col. Kevin Quamme, high-altitude reconnaissance operations branch chief at Air Combat Command (ACC).
The Senate passed a massive emergency supplemental spending bill May 22 that includes $166 billion to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through early 2009 – but it did not contain war policy language or a troop withdrawal timeline.
As the Air Force continues its re-evaluations of the proposed Combat, Search and Rescue (CSAR-X) platforms, the competitors are caught up in a swirl of questions regarding rotor downwash. The focus has been mainly on the Boeing HH-47 Chinook variant, whose tandem-rotor design, experts say, will create the most downwash of all three competing CSAR-X aircraft. Boeing, though, says its helicopter meets program requirements and is used daily in missions with U.S. Army personnel working directly underneath it.
As NASA this week prepares to land a spacecraft on Mars, an equally revolutionary spacecraft is poised for launch to observe the stars. The Phoenix Mars lander is being readied for its perilous May 25 descent (see p. 1) while technicians at Cape Canaveral are preparing a United Launch Alliance Delta II Heavy for the June 3 launch of the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) mission.
The uncommanded ballistic re-entry of the Soyuz capsule returning International Space Station (ISS) Expedition 16 to Earth April 19 was caused when the vehicle’s propulsion unit failed to separate in a timely fashion, according to a top Russian space official.
MORE ENCORE: BAE Systems, Booz Allen Hamilton, CACI, CSC, Electronic Data Systems, IBM Business Consulting Services, Jacobs Technology, L-3, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, SAIC, Systems Research and Application (SRA) and Unisys all have been awarded slots on the U.S. Defense Information Systems Agency’s revamped indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract to provide information technology services for the Defense Department and other federal agencies.
