AMRAAM DELAY: The Pentagon’s fiscal 2009 budget request reflects another six-month delay in the newest version of the Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM). System design and development for the AIM-120D is now expected to conclude in the fall. Earlier delays occurred in the development of its predecessor, the C model, which is now being sold internationally, and those slips rippled into the D program. The D version, however, will employ a conformal antenna for improved off-boresight engagement, a GPS receiver and a two-way datalink.
Independent commissioners from a panel on the National Guard and reserves pressed their call on Capitol Hill Feb. 7 for better preparation and organization of non-active military forces, and managed to drum up genuine congressional attention - both good and bad.
SAN JUAN: General Dynamics has received a $25.4 million firm-fixed-price delivery order for the fiscal 2008 docking selected restricted availability of the USS San Juan (SSN 751) at the Naval Submarine Base, New London, Conn. The contract includes options that could bring its total value to $28.7 million. Work should be completed by May 2008. Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity.
In its fiscal 2009 budget request, NASA has reduced its Mars exploration budget approximately $1.1 billion through FY ‘12, as compared to the run-out numbers from the agency’s FY ‘08 request. NASA’s fiscal 2009 request for Mars is $386.5 million, which is down $167 million from the FY ‘08 enacted level, and down $208.3 million from the level projected for FY ‘09 in the FY ‘08 request.
Russia has upgraded the satellite telephones that returning International Space Station (ISS) crews use to communicate with recovery forces on the ground after they land when they miss their intended landing zone. When the three-member Expedition 16 ISS crew returns in April on Soyuz TMA-11, it will have an Iridium 9505A satphone in the vehicle. The unit will use the Iridium constellation of low-Earth orbit satellites to relay the capsule’s Global Positioning System coordinates to helicopter-borne recovery crews.
SEOUL – An influential South Korean government think tank is standing fast in its opposition to the air force’s proposed KFX stealth fighter program. The Korea Development Institute reported in its first assessment, issued in December, that the project’s costs outweighed its economic benefits. Under pressure from the defense ministry, it has submitted another finding – and it still opposes the project.
NEW DELHI – With rotorcraft business booming, it’s not difficult to see why 2008 has been declared the Year of the Helicopter in India at the HeliPower show here. Fifteen Bell 429s already have been booked for the commercial market. Helicopter procurement remains strong, despite lingering problems for the Indian helicopter industry such as poor infrastructure, complicated regulations for rooftop landings, delays and congestion at airports.
MADRID CENTER: The European Space Agency has inaugurated a space astronomy center near Madrid. The European Space Astronomy Center (ESAC) will be in charge of operating astrophysics and solar system missions, including the existing XMM-Newton, Integral, Mars Express, Venus Express, Rosetta and Akari observatories and upcoming initiatives like Herschel-Planck, Gaia, LISA Pathfinder, the James Webb Space Telescope and the BepiColombo Mercury probe. ESAC also will have a key role in Earth observation science missions like SMOS, to be launched later this year.
The space shuttle Atlantis is en route to the International Space Station (ISS) with Europe’s Columbus laboratory module, following a weather-dodging launch Feb. 7. A threatening cold front failed to arrive at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) before the 2:45 p.m. EST launch time. Fixes to a technical glitch that held Atlantis on the ground in December worked as planned, clearing the orbiter to launch.
LITTLE RAVEN: AeroVironment (AV) won a $45.8 million order Feb. 7 from the U.S. Army for RQ-11B Raven small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and associated services, with the service exercising an option under an existing contract. Each Raven UAS consists of three aircraft, a ground control station, system spares and related services. The option was submitted under an existing Army program of record for AV’s Raven and will provide systems for the Army and the Marine Corps. The program allows for contract additions from the Army, Special Operations Command and other U.S.
The U.S. Army is counting on expected congressional earmarking to help fund some desired, yet somewhat parochial, research and development efforts during fiscal 2009. “I suspect we’ll get some help in this account this year,” Army budget director Lt. Gen. David Melcher told attendees at an Association of the United States Army’s (AUSA) Institute of Land Warfare breakfast Feb. 7, speaking about the Army’s research, development, testing and evaluation (RDT&E) request for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1, 2008.
ACCIDENT REPORT: A preliminary report into the explosion that killed three Scaled Composites workers during development tests of the SpaceShipTwo (SS2) rocket engine last July points to oxidizer tank failure as a potential cause. The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (Cal/OSHA) bureau of investigation, which delivered the preliminary report Feb. 7, also submitted evidence for review to the Kern County district attorney’s office, which is deciding whether to press criminal or civil charges against Scaled.
Westar Aerospace & Defense Group has received a task order from the U.S. Army Aviation & Missile Command (AMCOM) to provide the Apache Attack Helicopter Project Manager’s Office (PMO) with technical, systems engineering and management support.
PARIS – SES appears to have failed in a bid to acquire Space Communications (Spacecom) of Tel Aviv, operator of the Amos telecom satellite network, although the future shareholding structure of the Israeli company remains unclear. The Spacecom board of directors said Feb. 7 that it had rejected an unsolicited, nonbinding tender submitted by SES Jan. 22 as part of a strategy of seeking modest acquisitions to fill holes in its global satellite network, the world’s second largest after Intelsat/PanAmSat.
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The Pentagon’s inability to come up with a proper contingency plan for information system problems could cost the Defense Department dearly during key mission moments, a new Inspector General report (IG) says.
NOORDWIJK, Netherlands – European Space Agency (ESA) officials say a revamped undertaking to prepare basic technologies for future-generation launch systems is proceeding on schedule, but the road map ahead, including implementation of work done to date, will ride on important upcoming budget decisions.
PARIS – French press reports indicate a U.S. Foreign Military Sale of 24 Lockeed Martin F-16 fighters, won against France’s Rafale, could be on the rocks. According to defense newsletter TTU and daily Les Echos, the subprime financial crisis is making it difficult to raise private funding to back the $2.4 billion deal, which carries no sovereign guarantee.
LONDON – The United Kingdom’s 16 Air Assault Brigade will be deployed to Afghanistan in April to replace units currently in theater, British Defense Secretary Des Browne said Feb. 6. London and Washington are also looking to partners in Afghanistan to bolster their force commitments.
NEW DELHI – The first prototype of the Light Combat Helicopter being designed and developed by India-owned defense manufacturer Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) will be ready for its initial test flight by March 2009. “This will be a fast development. It is 16 months since we started. We plan to involve the private sector to reduce time required for development and certification,” HAL Chairman Ashok Baweja said at the Heli Power India show here.
The Air Force’s Battle Control System-Fixed (BCS-F) air defense command-and-control system is at risk of further delay and its development is in jeopardy because the service cannot keep on schedule, a recent Director, Operational Test & Evaluation (DOT&E) report says.
Lockheed Martin did not ask for a crucial key performance parameter (KPP) change to a deployability requirement for the U.S. Air Force’s $15 billion combat, search and rescue (CSAR-X) helicopter fleet replacement program, company officials said. The Air Force had included Lockheed correspondence in a Dec. 5, 2007, briefing before the House Armed Services air and land subcommittee as proof that the company had wanted the change.
