TANK WORK: NASA has signed a $465.7 million contract modification with Lockheed Martin extending all activities associated with the production of space shuttle external tanks to 2010, when the shuttle is slated to retire. The cost-plus-award fee/incentive fee contract brings the total value of the original October 2000 contract to nearly $3 billion, covering 17 external tanks. Lockheed Martin produces the tanks at the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans.
WORK FORCE STRATEGY: The fiscal 2008 omnibus spending bill that Congress plans to send to President Bush for final approval requires NASA to deliver a report within 90 days of the bill's enactment on how it plans to minimize job losses as it transitions from the space shuttle to the successor Orion and Ares vehicles.
MRAP NEEDS: The Pentagon still wants at least 15,374 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles despite a downturn in Marine Corps demand, and the Defense Department could even raise its overall goal eventually, a Pentagon spokesman says. "That is the current joint requirement. But that number could still rise as the Army continues to evaluate its needs," Press Secretary Geoff Morrell says. Afghanistan commanders may want more MRAPs, for instance. "We're relooking it two ways," says Gen. Richard Cody, Army vice chief of staff.
ORION SUPPORT: Barrios Technology Ltd. of Houston will perform integration services for NASA's Orion project under a three-year small business contract, NASA announced Dec. 18. The contract has a base value of $29 million but could be worth up to $49 million with two one-year options. Barrios will provide critical products and services supporting development of the Orion vehicle, which will transport astronauts to the International Space Station, the moon and beyond.
TOKYO -- The future of a detachable experiment pallet on Japan's Kibo module for the International Space Station (ISS) has been cast into doubt by the scheduled 2010 retirement of the space shuttle.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected] (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) Jan. 7 - 10 -- 46th American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit. Grand Sierra Resort Hotel, Reno. Call +1 (703) 264-7500, fax +1 (703) 264-7551 or go to www.aiaa.org Jan. 27 - 31 -- AAS/AIAA Space Flight Mechanics Winter Meeting. San Luis Resort, Galveston, Tex. Call +1 (703) 866-0020, +1 (703) 866-3526 or go to www.space-flight.org
INTEL DIVISION: Boeing is forming a new intelligence and security systems division (I&SS) to provide integrated intelligence and security services to a variety of U.S. government agencies. Steve Oswald, a retired Naval Reserve rear admiral and former astronaut, will head the new division which will be based in the Washington, D.C. area, according to the company. I&SS has a work force of about 2,000 people at nine locations nationwide.
A delay in the selection process for the next Mars Scout mission has forced NASA to slip its launch from 2011 to 2013, marking the first time in a decade that the agency will miss a launch opportunity to the Red Planet. The selection delay occurred after NASA discovered an organizational conflict of interest on the board that evaluates Scout mission proposals.
AIR FORCE ADVISORS: The U.S. Air Force's Scientific Advisory Board will meet Jan. 15, 2008, in Arlington, Va., to discuss the four fiscal 2008 study topics approved by Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne: Airborne Tactical Laser Feasibility for Gunship Operations, Kinetic Precision Effects, Implications of Spectrum Management for the Air Force, and Defending and Operating in a Contested Cyber Domain. Advisors also will undergo media relations training and mull the results of the FY '07 Science and Technology Review of the Air Force Research Laboratory.
DHS AWARD: General Dynamics will provide 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week watch officer, technical and analytical and liaison support to the National Coordinating Center (NCC) under a newly awarded contract from the Department of Homeland Security. The NCC is a government/industry center providing emergency response capabilities for the U.S. government and the telecommunications industry. The award has a maximum potential value of $21.8 million over 50 months if all options are exercised.
ADVANCED FLIGHTS: Northrop Grumman-led E-2D Advanced Hawkeye officials plan a third flight of Delta Two, the program's second development aircraft, to check out engine air start capability and high angle-of-attack flying qualities. Then they will complete installation of the weapon system, program representatives said Dec. 19. Delta Two completed its first flight from Northrop's St. Augustine, Fla., manufacturing and flight-test center Nov. 29, followed by a second flight Dec. 4.
DEFENSE I.T.: While the Global War on Terror has spurred spending on advanced technologies, including net-centric capabilities, it is siphoning funds away from "traditional or pure-play" information technology (IT) projects, according to consultancy Input. This has resulted in a "slight slowing of the annual growth rate of such technologies over the next few years," according to Lauren Jones, principal analyst with Input.
NEW DELHI - Boeing has signed a 10-year memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) intended to bring more than $1 billion in new aerospace manufacturing work to India. "It makes good business sense and will also help drive our costs down," said Jim Albaugh, president and CEO of Boeing Integrated Defense Systems (IDS). "There are no strings attached to this MOU."
Fifty-five house lawmakers are warning the Pentagon that excluding funding for Boeing C-17s in its fiscal 2009 budget will bring about a "strong negative response" from Congress. Capitol Hill has funded C-17 production, which costs $3 billion-$4 billion for 15 airframes annually, despite the Pentagon's decision starting in 2005 to cancel funding. A bipartisan group of lawmakers sent their request in a letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates Dec. 19.
TRIDENT AWARD: The U.S. Navy has awarded Lockheed Martin $849 million for fiscal 2008 production and deployment support for the Trident II D5 Fleet Ballistic Missile program. The contract includes D5 production support and also continues life-extension (LE) development work. D5 deliveries, with production of 425 missiles, concluded this year and D5 LE missiles are scheduled to begin deliveries in 2011 with a minimum of 108 additional missiles due by 2017. The LE program also helps stretch the Navy's Trident II Ohio-class submarines, which have been extended to 2042.
Japan's defense research organization successfully conducted the second airborne test of its infrared (IR) missile detection and tracking system during the Dec. 17 interception of a ballistic missile target by the Aegis destroyer Kongo. The Advanced Infrared Ballistic-missile Observation Sensor System (AIRBOSS) was carried in a UP-3C test bed flying near Hawaii. The agency, the Technical Research & Development Institute, says it successfully detected and tracked the ascending SM-3 interceptor (DAILY, Dec. 19).
U.S. Air Force Electronic Systems Command (ESC) said the ThalesRaytheonSystems (TRS) Sentry system met higher testing standards than the one based on the NORAD Contingency Suite (NCS), meaning, among other things, that the system would be more secure. But contract modifications obtained through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by Aerospace Daily show that the Air Force was greatly concerned about the TRS system's inability to meet service security standards, and the company received more funding to close the gap.
Arianespace has decided to delay the scheduled launch of the RASCOM-QAF1/Horizons-2 satellites 24 hours to Dec. 21, to allow for additional checks on the Ariane 5 GS launch vehicle. The flight from the company's launch site at Kourou, French Guiana, will be Arianespace's sixth Ariane 5 mission of 2007. This will be the first time Arianespace has conducted six flights of its heavy-lift vehicle within a single year, the company says.
GPS LAUNCH: The U.S. Air Force launched its fifth Global Positioning System (GPS) IIR-M satellite at 3:04 p.m. EST Dec. 20 from Cape Canaveral, Fla., aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket. The Lockheed Martin-built spacecraft separated from the third stage of the rocket 68 minutes after liftoff. It joins 32 GPS satellites already in orbit, including four other GPS IIR-M satellites sending a new military signal on both L1 and L2 channels, as well as a more robust civil signal. The next GPS launch is slated for March.
The USS Michigan (SSGN 727), a Trident ballistic missile submarine recently reconfigured to better support Navy commandos and covert missions, will conduct at-sea testing with the lone Advanced SEAL Delivery System (ASDS) mini-sub in early 2008. The next tests of the special forces mini-sub follow an initial battery on the Michigan last month, according to Naval Sea Systems Command. These included mating the ASDS docking pylons to Michigan's hull and then landing ASDS aboard the sub.
Reader's Note: These are the last in an exclusive series of articles piecing together the history and costs of recent U.S. Air Force efforts to safeguard the skies (DAILY, Dec. 19, 20). The stories draw on material obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, including contract documents and briefing materials, as well as interviews with key players inside and outside the service.
