ABL EVENT: The industry team behind the U.S. Missile Defense Agency's (MDA) Airborne Laser (ABL) program is planning an Oct. 31 ceremony to celebrate the program's completion of flight tests at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. Boeing is prime contractor for ABL and provides the 747-400F airframe, Lockheed Martin is providing the beam control/fire control system and Northrop Grumman furnishes the high-power chemical laser for shooting down missiles in their boost phase.
AC-130 DISPLAYS: U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command plans to use CMC Electronics' new TacView display in the AC-130 gunship with dual installation in each cockpit. TacView is a military version of the company's popular Class 2 electronic flight bag. The 5 x 7-inch display has a touch-sensitive screen and can be used by crew members wearing gloves.
International Space Station (ISS) controllers adjusted the second extravehicular activity (EVA) of the ongoing STS-120/10A assembly mission to insert a visual inspection of the 10-foot-diameter joint that rotates the 240-foot solar array wing at the starboard end of the main station truss.
As a Chinese spacecraft is ready to head to the moon, the leading U.S. democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), is calling for an increase in overall U.S. robotic exploration, but not necessarily manned exploration of the moon. A Clinton policy paper on her proposed space and technology strategy clouds the issue of whether NASA's program to return astronauts to the moon would receive the support of a Clinton White House.
TALKING POINTS: One section of the U.S. Air Force's draft revised request for proposal (RFP) for its combat, search and rescue (CSAR-X) helicopter replacement program concerns a little added presentation the service wants - oral. "Both the oral presentations and presentation material shall be used to explain the organization and general content of the mission capability volume and shall not include new information," the RFP says.
A code of conduct for "responsible" spacefaring nations drafted by nongovernmental organizations in Canada, France, Japan, Russia and the U.S. would limit threatening activities in space without the difficult diplomatic task of reaching agreement on a space arms control treaty.
IT SPENDING: Delays in the fiscal 2007 defense supplemental spending bill will spell problems for non-warfighting programs late this year and early next year, according to an evaluation of federal government information technology (IT) and professional services by Stifel Nicolaus Equity Research. In addition, upcoming elections may result in delays for new initiatives in the sector, which won't be helped by anticipated sluggish growth in the near-term budget.
Legacy military aircraft are some of the big winners in the Bush administration's additions to its standing off-budget supplemental request for fiscal 2008. More than $808 million is requested for aircraft "essential to continuing" the so-called global war on terror, according to details the White House sent Congress earlier this week. New supplemental spending would go toward five EA-18G Growlers ($375 million), one F/A-18E/F Hornet ($54.5 million) and three MH-60S helicopters ($102.3 million).
Boeing has ground tested the hydrogen engine propulsion system slated for its High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) unmanned aircraft, the company announced Oct. 24. Ford Motor Co. developed the hydrogen engine in the system, which ran for nearly four days in a controlled chamber at Aurora Flight Sciences in Manassas, Va., including a total of three days that simulated conditions at 65,000 feet.
Checkmate, a cross-functional planning and analysis organization that has been around since the 1970s in various forms, is taking on a more strategic function to provide critical assessment and analysis to U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley. "The chief wants to return to a strategic perspective for airpower," Col. Steven McPherson, Checkmate's deputy director, told Aerospace Daily Oct. 25. "That's why he's reached down and moved Checkmate back to a strategic level...working directly for him."
FRENCH CARRIER: Acquisition of a 39.2 percent stake in Norwegian shipbuilder Aker Yards by South Korea's STX could complicate French plans to build a second aircraft carrier, union leaders say. Aker's French affiliate, Chantiers de l'Atlantique, has been in line to build the hull and propulsion system for the carrier. The unions fear foreign ownership could cause the defense ministry to look elsewhere.
USCG MPA: Three new U.S. Coast Guard HC-144A maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) have been relocated to the Coast Guard Aviation Training Center in Mobile, Ala., in preparation for final delivery. Lockheed Martin is completing integration and developmental testing of the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance mission system pallet for the aircraft. The first MPA airframe was delivered to the Coast Guard in Dec. 2006. Five additional aircraft are on contract, and the fourth and fifth are under construction in Seville, Spain.
The U.S. Air Force's desire to keep key performance parameters (KPPs) and the initial deadline for the revised request for proposals (RFP) for its combat, search and rescue (CSAR-X) helicopter fleet shows that the service still has a split personality between requirements and expediency for the acquisition, analysts say.
The first of five extravehicular activities (EVAs) that will take place while the shuttle Discovery is docked to the International Space Station (ISS) is set for Oct. 26, following a smooth docking by the orbiter to the station Oct. 25. Four of those EVAs will be done by the Discovery crew and one by the U.S./Russian ISS crew throughout the coming week.
Eutelsat has issued a new three-year guidance for 2008-2010 targeting a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of better than 5.5 percent, with a strong acceleration in growth toward the end of this period, and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of more than 77 percent. In presenting full-year 2006-07 results at the end of July, Chairman/CEO Giuliano Berretta had scared analysts by deferring long-term guidance while awaiting evaluation of capital expenditures, notably for a new Ka-band satellite.
The U.S. Army has decided to halt the xBot ground robot program while it reassesses the ability of winning contractor Robotic FX to fulfill its responsibilities.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has begun training the first nonmilitary government pilots to operate its unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) patrolling the U.S.-Mexican border, a department official said Oct. 24. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the DHS unit charged with securing U.S. borders, patrols the southern border with two General Atomics Predator B UAVs based at Fort Huachuca, near Sierra Vista, Ariz.
BEIJING - A Long March 3A rocket boosted China's Chang'e 1 lunar mission into an initial Earth orbit of 205 by 50,930 kilometers (127 by 31,650 miles) from the Xichang launch center in Sichuan province on Oct. 24, three days after the end of the Communist Party's latest congress. If it can overcome such key challenges as tracking and control in deep space, Chang'e 1 will open the way for Chinese scientists to move on to their next moon shot - the launch of a rover as early as 2012.
The STS-120 Discovery crew will dock to the International Space Station at about 8:35 a.m. EDT Oct. 25 after spending its first full day in space doing thermal protection system inspections with the Orbiter Boom Sensor System (OBSS). Concerns about the degradation of the coatings on specific Discovery reinforced carbon-carbon (RCC) wing leading edge panels prompted mission managers to decide before launch that one of the OBSS scans on each wing would be done more slowly.
