The Integrated Program Office for the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite system (NPOESS) has selected the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) to develop the microwave imager/sounder sensor for the NPOESS constellation.
When the U.S. Air Force first went to Capitol Hill in the early part of this decade to discuss the type of CSAR-X aircraft it wanted, the service received pushback from lawmakers. The Air Force wanted a speedy, maneuverable aircraft that could survive the worst combat zones while carrying the latest communications technology.
APOLLO IMAGING: Japan’s lunar orbiter has taken 3-D images of the Apollo 15 landing site. Released May 20, the images were taken by the Terrain Camera onboard the SELenological and ENgineering Explorer satellite on Feb. 24, and also show a whitened area thought to be the movement of lunar gravel at the landing site near Hadley Rille in an area of the Mare Imbrium called Palus Putredinus (Marsh of Decay).
Editor’s Note: This is the first in an exclusive series of articles, based on dozens of interviews, reviews of key documents and analysis of military databases, exploring how the U.S. Air Force came to 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.
Intelsat controllers can begin to raise the new Galaxy 18 telecom spacecraft toward its geosynchronous orbital slot following a flawless launch from the Sea Launch Odyssey floating platform early May 21.
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) is one step closer to testing a new focal plane array technology that could be used on its next-generation kill vehicle. Last month, the agency calibrated a new BAE Systems telescope that will be a test bed for demonstrating the capabilities of two new infrared focal plane arrays designed by DRS and Raytheon Vision Systems. Calibration took place with a 256 x 256 pixel infrared detector; this technology exists and is in use today.
Groundbreaking export control treaties between the United States and the United Kingdom and Australia tripped on a legislative stumbling block May 21 when Senate Foreign Relations Committee leaders warned they could block ratification if they do not receive more information over treaty enactment details.
PASSING BY: The French naval ship FS Dupleix arrived at Visakhapatnam in South India May 14 on a two-day visit commanded by Capt. Henri Schricke. The Dupleix is an F70 type anti-submarine frigate of the French Marine Nationale. The ship was received by the officers and sailors of Eastern Naval Command with the ENC Band in attendance at the Jetty when the ship arrived.
Paradise Point Resort & Spa San Diego, CA November 12-14, 2008 A new U.S. President – what it means to the A&D industry Just one week after the 2008 Presidential Election, AVIATION WEEK will provide insight into the new administration and what it means to the A&D industry – from impact on research programs to shifts in priorities. Learn more at www.aviationweek.com/conferences
SUPPLEMENTAL DELAY: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) says the latest $193 billion war spending bill may have to wait until after the week-long Memorial Day break to be considered. The Senate would have to vote on the controversial legislation by May 22 and get it back to the House for approval before it can go to President Bush for his signature. Senate aides think that’s looking unlikely with the Memorial Day recess looming. Pentagon officials say they will have to start laying off civilian personnel in mid-June without an infusion of cash.
SEATTLE – Boeing’s A160T Hummingbird unmanned rotorcraft flew for 18.7 hours on an overnight flight May 14-15, setting what the company believes is a world endurance record for a UAV in its weight class.
Congressional investigators believe at least 422 former Defense Department officials could have worked on defense contracts related to their former agencies and that at least nine could have worked on the same contracts for which they had oversight responsibilities or decision-making authorities while at DOD.
The Australian parliamentary secretary for defense procurement, Greg Combet, said $1.065 billion of the Australian military’s major acquisition efforts have been pushed into later years from 2008/09, as well as another $1.767 billion in future-year estimates.
F-22 DESIRE: Senior Japanese officials tell Aviation Week they might give up their demand for F-22 Raptors from the United States if they can get sufficient industrial participation in F-35 Joint Strike Fighters to satisfy Japanese industry and labor unions. Japan plans to replace its 50-odd Phantom interceptors with new multirole fighters, which it says must be fifth-generation aircraft – implicitly, either Lockheed Martin’s F-22 or F-35, although the Japanese also have said the Eurofighter Typhoon is a contender (Aerospace DAILY, April 18).
Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope and NASA’s Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) believe they have detected about half of the stray protons, neutrons and other subatomic particles known as baryons that were formed during and shortly after the Big Bang but didn’t coalesce into galaxies.
EADS has decided against trying to outbid Finmeccanica for DRS Technologies, averting a potential showdown between two of Europe’s largest defense contractors. Officials at EADS’ North American unit had been pushing hard for their company to counter last week’s $5.2 billion bid by Finmeccanica for DRS, a 10,000-employee defense electronics contractor based in New Jersey. They worried that DRS would give their Italian rival a beachhead in the U.S. military market and allow it to surpass EADS in the military electronics business.
Mike Turner, chief executive officer of the U.K.’s BAE Systems, was intercepted upon entering the U.S. via George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston last week and handed a subpoena by the U.S. Justice Department, company officials confirmed May 20. His personal electronic devices also were examined during the encounter at the airport. A group of BAE Systems officials as well as officers working for BAE Systems plc, the parent of the company’s U.S. arm, headquartered in Rockville, Md., also were subpoenaed last week.
The Ocean Surface Topography Mission (OSTM)/Jason 2 spacecraft is gearing up for a June 15 launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., on a mission to help scientists better monitor rises in global sea level and more accurately predict climate change. The $432 million mission is a collaboration between NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the French space agency CNES, and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT).
If Congress fails to pass a fiscal 2009 defense appropriations bill – leaving military spending at 2008 levels for the near term – it would cause numerous planning and contracting problems, the Pentagon’s top civilian and uniformed officials said May 20.
A fiscal 2009 NASA authorization bill cleared in record time by the agency’s main oversight panel in the House of Representatives could form the basis of a bipartisan road map in space for the next U.S. president. Adopted unanimously by voice vote by the only three members of the House Science space and aeronautics subcommittee who showed up for the six-minute legislative markup session, the bill would restore NASA spending to the level envisioned in the last NASA authorization to pass Congress – in 2005 – plus inflation, for a total of $19.21 billion.
The discovery of hydroxyl on Venus has scientists scurrying to detect whether there is also an abundance of ozone on the planet. The discovery – the first on another planet – was made in a thin layer of the Venusian atmosphere 100 kilometers (60 miles) above the planet by the visible and infrared imaging spectrometer on the European Space Agency’s Venus Express probe.
LOOPHOLE FILLING: The Bush administration is beginning to close a supposed loophole in a proposed federal regulation that would have exempted federal contractors who carry out their contracts overseas from being required to self-report criminal activity they are involved in, according to Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.). McCaskill and Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) have been pushing related language on Capitol Hill amid a slew of acquisition reform legislation and regulations.
CHINOOK VANDALISM: A worker at Boeing’s Ridley Park, Pa., helicopter plant has been charged in the vandalism of a U.S. Army CH-47 Chinook helicopter, according to press reports. Prosecutors at a news conference said the worker apparently was upset about being reassigned to another line, and cut a bundle of wires in the aircraft on the morning of May 10. The damage was discovered May 13, prompting a brief shutdown of the production line (Aerospace DAILY, May 15, 16). Another Chinook was found with a suspicious washer, but that case is still under investigation.
Bell Helicopter will upgrade another 27 OH-58D Kiowa Warriors under the Safety Enhancement Program (SEP) as the U.S. Army moves to bring all of the armed scout helicopters up to the same standard by fiscal year 2012.
