As the U.S. Air Force puts together its long-term funding plans, long-lead items in the fiscal year 2009 budget are a must if the service wants to execute its unstated but well-understood plans to get more than 183 Raptors. But sources say the Pentagon is looking to shoot down any attempts to build more F-22s. The Raptor number has always been a flash point for Air Force and Pentagon acquisition officials. The service wanted 750 at first, but as costs rose the Pentagon and lawmakers cut into the number. Compromise
ACQUIRED: Parker Aerospace, an operating segment of Parker Hannifin Corp., has acquired Shaw Aero Devices, a Naples, Fla.-based producer of fuel system components, hydraulic system equipment and other hardware for military and commercial aircraft. Founded in 1956, Aero Devices has 250 employees and annual sales of $45 million. It will be integrated into Parker Aerospace's Air & Fuel Division. Terms of the purchase were not disclosed.
The International Space Station (ISS) is ready to provide power to Europe's Columbus laboratory module, thanks to some spectacular space surgery on its torn solar array. But it will be a race against the clock to get the station ready for the shuttle Atlantis to dock with Columbus before the final launch window of the year slams shut.
A team comprising Carnegie Mellon, General Motors and Caterpillar took the $2 million first prize Nov. 3 at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) third robot race since 2004. Urban Challenge required fully autonomous cars and trucks to navigate a 60-mile course at the former George Air Force Base near Victorville, Calif. The course included intersections, traffic circles and parking lots, as well as a couple dozen human-driven cars simulating traffic. Replacing drivers
EADS India is opening a Sourcing Office in India that will identify sourcing opportunities for EADS Business units in the country. The move comes as India's pending defense procurement projects pile up with vendors expecting major announcements in the near future that will require 30 percent offsets. Harvansh Batra will head the new office. EADS also will sponsor, along with the Supply Chain Management Institute of the European Business School, a Chair for Sourcing and Supply Chain Management at the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore.
A new Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA) report finds that over the next two decades, space-based ballistic missile defenses are likely to prove expensive and -- especially in the case of laser weapons -- technologically risky and relatively easy for an opponent to defeat. The report comes as lawmakers and defense officials debate space-based weapons in light of the U.S. military's dependence on satellites, cost and program issues, and other nations' efforts to counter them (DAILY, Oct. 4).
AEGIS TEST: The U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) is planning a test for early this week of the Aegis sea-based missile defense system. The test will feature two short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) targets launched nearly simultaneously. The USS Lake Erie will provide the primary sensor and dispatch two Raytheon SM-3 Block 1A interceptors for the hit-to-kill demonstration.
POLISH AIRLIFT: The Polish air force has acquired two more EADS Casa C-295 military transports, bringing the country's C-295 fleet to 12 aircraft. The new units will be delivered in 2008. Poland had previously ordered eight aircraft in 2001 and another two last year. The two units purchased in 2006 were received this summer. Casa has now sold 60 C-295s, 39 of which have been delivered. Six nations in addition to Poland operate the aircraft.
MORE COMPETITION: U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Stephen Mundt says he's supportive of acting Pentagon acquisition chief John Young's initiative to fund multiple designs during major development efforts, though he acknowledges that will create funding questions. Specifically, Mundt says the Army selected a winning design for the Joint Tactical Radio System, a software programmable radio effort led by Boeing, too early, and that contributed to technical challenges that have rippled throughout the massive effort and added cost.
BRITISH WAIVER: The Pentagon's acquisition chief is waiving Buy American restrictions for certain defense items made in the United Kingdom, according to the Federal Register. The move further will permit their procurement unless otherwise restricted by law, such as Section 8015 of the fiscal 2007 defense appropriations act. The domestic preference requirements can be waived if their enforcement impinges on an ally with whom the United States has an acquisition arrangement and the ally does not discriminate against U.S. goods more than the United States does likewise.
SBIR PROMO: Democratic Sens. John Kerry (Mass.) and Tom Harkin (Iowa) are urging defense appropriators to include an additional $100 million in funding for the Defense Department's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. The House version of the fiscal 2008 defense spending bill included the funding to increase the use of small, high-tech businesses to help the military develop the best technologies, diversify the supply base and reduce costs, according to the senators. Kerry, Harkin and Sen.
GREAT EXPECTATIONS: Claire Grandy, director of contracting and procurement for the U.S. Coast Guard, is vowing to clearly define expectations on future projects "to ensure we get the best possible performance from a cost and schedule perspective." Grandy says that in the past, "broad statements of objectives weren't always clear. We've moved away from [that] to more detailed specifications for what we require." She cites the National Security Cutter (NSC) as an example of the Coast Guard taking "a step back" to re-evaluate the process.
DWINDLING EURO: "Defense spending continues to be a relative afterthought throughout European capitals, despite the increased demands placed on Europe's militaries to participate in out-of-theater operations under multiple banners," according to Forecast International. The consultancy says limited defense finances of European states could be drained by NATO and European Union defense structures and analysts doubt that a recent mushrooming of missions is sustainable.
GET ORGANIZED: Washington would be unwise to discard or significantly alter major network-centric warfare (NCW) programs like the U.S. Army's Future Combat Systems or the Air Force's F-22 until the military community gets a better grasp on a new leading concept of operations now NCW has lost its fervor, a conservative think tank analyst warns. But they need a new theory soon, before lawmakers and taxpayers demand and make changes of their own, says Frederick Kagan of the American Enterprise Institute.
Loral Space & Communications and Canada's Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP) have completed the acquisition of Telesat Canada for CAD 3.25 billion ($3.45 billion) and the assumption of CAD 160 million in Telesat debt.
Raytheon predicted a potential market for over 1,000 fighters and systems to be upgraded with its advanced active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar system over the next 20 years, as it announced the selection of the system for Boeing's F-15E.
TEL AVIV -- Moshe Keret, long-serving chief of Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI), says he now feels vindicated by what he considers an extremely fast end to the government's investigation of him for corruption charges.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected] Nov. 5 - 8 -- Tenth Annual Directed Energy Symposium, Von Braun Center, Huntsville, Ala. For more information call (505) 998-4910 or go to www.deps.org. Nov. 5 - 8 -- California Space Authority's Conference and Spotbeam Awards Dinner, Sheraton Gateway Los Angeles International Airport Hotel. For more information call (805) 349-2633 or go to www.californiaspaceauthority.org.
HURRICANE HUNGER: NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) sent an unmanned aircraft into hurricane-force, 80 mph winds for the first time Nov. 2, to give researchers a real-time, low-altitude look at the storm. The five-foot-long, 10-foot wingspan Aerosonde from AAI Corp. was launched at 2:08 p.m. from NASA's Wallops Island, Va., facility and was expected to penetrate the center of Hurricane Noel at 10 p.m. In September 2005, the Aerosonde was flown from Wallops into Tropical Storm Ophelia on a 10-hour mission.
Rescheduling forced by the major power-generating problems on each end of the International Space Station (ISS) threatens to delay delivery of the pressurized ISS laboratory modules long awaited by Europe and Japan.
