The Pentagon is considering accelerating a program to field a wide-area surveillance sensor to support operations in Iraq, according to Defense Dept. and industry officials. The Wide-Area Airborne Sensor (WAAS) requirement grew out of a desire from ground troops for more streaming video imagery in U.S. Central Command. Though previously slated to get under way in fiscal 2009, planners at the Pentagon are considering jump starting the effort with $40 million in the fiscal 2008 supplemental spending request now being crafted.
AUTO DEFENSE: The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is investing $8.5 million in BAE Systems to develop a mobile communications network that will be intrinsically secure from cyber attacks. The package is to support all aspects of network communications and data, and is part of the agency’s Intrinsically Assurable Mobile Ad Hoc Network program, which has become a priority since mobile elements of integrated networks such as missile launchers and vehicle-mounted radars have become primary targets for network attack.
GIOVE B: Arianespace says Giove B, the second Galileo test satellite, has been cleared for liftoff after a final launch review. The 1-metric ton spacecraft, built by a team led by EADS Astrium, is to be lofted into orbit from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, aboard a Starsem Soyuz Fregat rocket on the night of April 26-27. It is intended to validate key technologies for Galileo, in particular a new passive hydrogen maser atomic clock, an improved rubidium clock and a signal generator compatible with the new MBOC standard agreed upon with the U.S.
Paul Verhoef, the head of the European Commission’s Galileo unit, says the European Union might have to seek an amendment to the Outer Space Treaty to allow it to meet liability issues with respect to Galileo on behalf of its member states.
ECHOSTAR: Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) will build an eighth EchoStar satellite for Dish Network. SS/L has a string of Dish contracts in the works, including a pending summer liftoff of EchoStar XI on Sea Launch. CMBStar and EchoStar XIV are under development at the company’s Palo Alto, Calif., factory. All the Dish spacecraft are based on the SS/L 1300 platform. A launcher for EchoStar XV has not been selected. The launch is scheduled for 2010.
EXTRA EDGE: U.S. Navy F/A-18E/F Super Hornets will receive ITT Corp.’s ALQ-214(v)3 integrated countermeasure system for protection against enemy air defense and air-to-air weapons through a $111-million full rate production contract. In addition, some of the systems will go to the Royal Australian Air Force’s newest batch of Super Hornets. But that’s nothing compared to the company’s $312-million contract with Special Operations Command for a suite of integrated radio-frequency countermeasures.
Bell Helicopter Textron has agreed to revised delivery and cost targets with its cabin supplier for U.S. Marine Corps UH-1Ys, and the company is discussing the implications with the Corps, Textron executives told analysts during a quarterly conference call.
SLOW MO: The Joint Strike Fighter simulator hints at the aircraft’s abilities. Lockheed Martin will not show targets at ranges greater than 80 nautical miles to pilots in its F-35 simulator, but radar specialists say the fighter’s radar range is around 125 nautical miles. Raytheon is already testing variants of the Aim-120 AMRAAM that can reach into space to kill ballistic missile warheads.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicated new calendar listing.) April 29 - May 1 — AHS International – The Vertical Flight Society, 64th Annual Forum & Technology Display, Montreal, Canada. For more information call (703) 684-6777 or go to www.vtol.org April 29 - May 1 — NTSB Safety Forum Unmanned Aircraft Systems, NTSB Board Room and Conference Center, Washington, D.C. For more information go to www.ntsb.gov
The short take-off and landing F-35B Joint Strike Fighter has moved a step closer to first flight with the first engine runs at Lockheed Martin’s Fort Worth, Texas, plant. Two runs on April 18 totalling almost an hour began the final series of ground tests leading up to a first flight, expected in late May or early June.
AMOS WAITS: Israeli satcom operator Spacecom says the scheduled April 24 launch of its Amos-3 satellite atop a modified Sea Launch Zenit booster from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, has been postponed indefinitely. The delay in the mission — the first for the new booster, known as Land Launch — was attributed to a faulty launch system supporting arm. The launch campaign will not resume until the problem has been resolved.
CYBERIA: The Pentagon has decided that using energy as a weapon is an assignment for Air Force Cyber-Command’s 450th electronic warfare wing at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. “We’re going to stop yielding the battlefield to people who can set off explosives with a cell phone or who can use radar, radio waves or other forms of energy to disrupt our mission or hurt our people,” says Lt. Col. Tim Sands, a cyber-command transition team chief.
South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Committee has approved the purchase of an additional 21 Boeing F-15Ks, but will switch engine suppliers. The 40 F-15Ks ordered in 2002 are powered by General Electric F110s; the additional aircraft will have Pratt & Whitney’s F100, which powers Korea’s Lockheed Martin KF-16s.
A successful French operation earlier this month to free hostages taken from the cruise ship Ponant and capture the Somali pirates who seized them has prompted Paris to call on the United Nations to create an international force to police the waters around the Horn of Africa, which has been the focus of some of the world’s most intense pirating activity. The French navy late last year helped set up a multinational flotilla, now under Danish leadership, to patrol the region.
TOULOUSE, France – The European Parliament has overwhelmingly approved a 2 billion euro ($3 billion) funding plan for the Galileo satellite navigation system that will allow construction and deployment of the 30-spacecraft network to be financed entirely with public money.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) have introduced legislation to curb contracting fraud via Iraq and Afghanistan operations.
The Defense Department will invest billions of dollars over the next few years in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) systems, and yet the department does not have a clearly defined vision of its future ISR enterprise, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO).
JEFX FCS: The U.S. Army’s participation in the Air Force’s Joint Expeditionary Force Experiment (JEFX) 2008 has come to a close. The Army’s Future Combat Systems (FCS) provided ground maneuver for the brigade-level and below network portion of the JEFX. Sensors and unmanned assets were positioned throughout the Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR) to demonstrate full joint connectivity and situational awareness. A “live-fly” operational scenario required target acquisition by FCS soldiers using Unattended Ground Sensors and both Class I and IV unmanned aerial vehicles.
South Korea wants “to upgrade its foreign military sales status with the United States and to have the same access to U.S. military technologies as NATO and other key allies,” according to President Bush. “I strongly support this request and have instructed Secretaries Rice and Gates to work with the Congress to get this done,” Bush further said, referring to his State and Defense department chiefs.
NEW DELHI – With the deadline for proposals in India’s Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) competition drawing closer, EADS held a large conference here to tell industry it’s ready to submit its response April 28. Boeing submitted its 7,000-page proposal four days earlier, offering its advanced F/A-18E/F to the Indian air force. Other expected contenders include Lockheed Martin’s F-16, Dassault Aviation’s Rafale, the MiG-35 and the Swedish Gripen (Aerospace DAILY, Feb. 28).
Lockheed Martin’s Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) prototype has undergone electromagnetic interference (EMI) testing to determine whether on-board electronic systems could be disrupted or detected by enemy forces.
INDUSTRIAL BASE: Members of the Aircraft Carrier Industrial Base Coalition (ACIBC) arrived in force on the Hill April 24 for a two-day blitz in support of their industry. More than 100 aircraft suppliers from 46 states will visit with members of the Congressional Shipbuilding Caucus to ask for support for the president’s fiscal 2009 budget shipbuilding requests, including $2.71 billion in procurement funds for the Gerald R. Ford and $1.24 billion for advanced procurement for CVN 79.
FOUNDER FIRED: Aircraft diesel engine maker Thielert has had to file for insolvency after the board of directors ousted management last week, including founder Frank Thielert. The board took the action over concerns of improper bookkeeping between 2003 and 2005. Industry officials believe the aircraft engine business still will be bought. Among the company’s clients is General Atomics, which uses a Thielert engine for its Sky Warrior unmanned aircraft. An Army aviation official reportedly said another engine can be found for Sky Warrior, if needed.
