The U.S. Navy and Marines have some points of disagreement regarding the mixture of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters (JSFs) that would be appropriate to the two services, said Gen. James Conway, Marine commandant. The Navy would like the Marines to buy mostly - if not entirely - carrier-version F-35s. The Marines say the short-take-off-and-landing (STOVL) version they have picked is better for their missions.
REVENUES UP: Inmarsat reported a 16 percent jump in revenues to $140.8 million for the first quarter, and a 24 percent surge in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. The company's Broadband Global Area Network, which entered service last year, generated revenues of $7.1 million in the first quarter and recorded 9,842 subscribers, reflecting strong demand for land-based aeronautical services.
NO CODDLING: Contrary to recent reports that flight restrictions would limit V-22 Osprey combat capabilities in Iraq, the U.S. Marines plan to put the tilt-rotor aircraft to the supreme battle test, says Gen. James Conway, Marine Corps commandant. "We're not going to coddle this thing," he says. "We're going to make it prove its worth to us." The Osprey is scheduled to travel to Iraq in August and be deployed there by September.
The VH-71 presidential helicopter systems development and demonstration (SDD) contract cost has increased to $2.4 billion from $1.7 billion due to aircraft changes and more testing needs, according to prime contractor Lockheed Martin. "The VH-71 Program has incurred additional cost due to modifications to the aircraft and additional testing that were not originally anticipated," Lockheed spokesman Greg Caires said.
Homeland Security Department Inspector General (IG) Richard Skinner told House authorizers May 17 that while investigators' relations with the U.S. Coast Guard have improved over recent months his office is still encountering difficulties with Deepwater contractors.
FAIR SHARE: Austrian firm Rite Approach Group is claiming it did not get its fair share of a commission paid to Rosonoboronexport for work the companies did for Russian armaments manufacturer Kazan Helicopters seven years ago. Kazan had contracted to pay a 16 percent commission - or $6.5 million - to Rite Approach Group and Rosonoboronexport for the work they did on 16 MI-17 helicopters for the Indian ministry of defense. India's supreme court has sent notices of the claim to the country's ministries of defense, finance, and home.
ISR FOCUS: The Pentagon is trying to figure out how to judge the effectiveness of weapons that don't blow up targets or smash them on impact. Determining the subtle effects of air-delivered weapons is becoming crucial as the U.S. Air Force acquires non-kinetic systems that don't rely on explosives or impact. For example, the military is struggling to quantify the assessment of high-power microwave pulse effects on important electronics, such as sensors or communications.
NASA's Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) will lose about 1,000 pounds of the mass it carries to orbit with a newly adopted redesign of the service module that flies just aft of the pressurized crew capsule. Orion also may save some more weight from an ongoing redesign of the boost protective cover that shelters the capsule during its ascent through the lower atmosphere, according to Skip Hatfield, NASA's CEV project manager.
MORE FIGHTERS: With an advanced combat acquisition on hold, the Brazilian air force is looking to purchase 9-12 additional F-5s to expand its ongoing fighter modernization program. Executives at Embraer, which is managing the upgrade, say they hope the deal can be clinched by the end of 2008, when modernization of the present 46-aircraft fleet is expected to be completed. At least 12 units have been delivered to date.
SPRING CLEANING: The Democratic-controlled 110th congressional budget plan, finalized last week, meets the Bush administration's growing defense budget requests through early fiscal 2009 while boosting domestic spending and not yet dismantling Bush's tax cuts earlier this decade. How do Democrats propose to fund defense?
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected] May 21 - 24 -- Joint Services Environmental Management and Geospatial Information & Services Conference & Exposition, "A Comprehensive Summit on the Evolving World of Environment, Energy & Geospatial Information within DOD," Greater Columbus Convention Center, Columbus, Ohio. For more information go to www.ndia.org.
SAT IN SERVICE: Astrium has indicated that the first of three U.K. fifth-generation Skynet military communications satellites, launched on March 11, has entered service. The company says it fully met an obligation to bring the unit into operation by April 24 under a 3.6 billion pound ($7 billion), 20-year contract with the U.K. government.
GLOBAL HAWK LOT 7: The U.S. Air Force is awarding Northrop Grumman a $11.5 million fixed-price-incentive/firm-target contract to provide for two RQ-4 Block 30 Airborne Signal Intelligence Processor-enabled unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) each containing enhanced Integrated Sensor Suites; three RQ-4 Block 40 UAVs each with a Multi Platform-Radar Technology Insertion Program sensor; one Mission Control Element; two enhanced Integrated Sensor Suites; support equipment and initial spares.
The House-approved cuts to the U.S. Missile Defense Agency's fiscal 2008 budget would cause the Airborne Laser (ABL) program's first demonstration to slip three years while also damaging U.S. credibility on the eve of formal negotiations over the proposed European missile defense sites, according to MDA Executive Director Patricia Sanders.
Congress has several potential operational and performance issues to consider in its review of the Coast Guard's $4.5 billion fiscal year 2008 budget request for homeland security missions, according to a recent Congressional Research Service (CRS) report. The funding request represents about half of the Coast Guard's total budget proposal, says Ronald O'Rourke, CRS specialist in its National Defense Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division.
Telesat Canada has agreed to operate Canada's new Radarsat-2 satellite for MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates (MDA) for the lifetime of the spacecraft's mission. Radarsat-2 will be launched this summer from Baikonur, Kazakhstan aboard a Starsem Soyuz rocket. It will be the first commercial radar satellite with multipolarization capability, which facilitates the identification of a wide variety of surface features and objects. Spatial resolution will be 3-100 meters.
Getting the needed number of Mine-Resistant, Ambush-Protected (MRAP) vehicles into combat quickly is a "moral imperative," said Gen. James Conway, U.S. Marine Corps commandant. He acknowledged the Pentagon is pushing procurement limits with MRAP acquisition, and said jokingly that before the purchases were complete, "I could still be wearing stripes."
PARIS - The European Commission is proposing to fund the entire Galileo satellite navigation system with public money, putting the controversial project on solid footing for the first time.
Plans by the U.S. and European Union (EU) to form a trans-Atlantic economic council could go a long way toward harmonizing technology transfer rules and ending trade barriers, EADS Chief Executive Officer Thomas Enders said May 17. Enders called the U.S. International Trade in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and home sourcing regulations like the Buy America campaign "unnecessary impediments" to trans-Atlantic trade.
RSRM TEST: ATK Launch Systems and NASA will test fire a four-segment space shuttle Reusable Solid Rocket Motor (RSRM) on May 24 at 1 p.m. Mountain time to help improve shuttle performance and advance development of the five-segment RSRM first stage for the future Ares I rocket. During the static test the RSRM will be fixed horizontally to the ground with a hydraulic system designed to hold 2.6 million pounds of average thrust throughout the duration of the two-minute burn.
HORNET AESA: U.S. Naval Air Systems Command is extending Boeing $7.4 million for the redesign of five monolithic microwave integrated circuits utilized in the F/A-18E/F AN/APG-79 Active Electronically Scanned Array radars. The McDonnell Douglas subsidiary's modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract is expected to run out in December 2008, the Defense Department announced May 16.
The Democratic-controlled House passed its version of the fiscal 2008 defense authorization legislation May 17, including a last-minute provision pushed by conservative Republicans to further integrate the U.S. ballistic missile defense system (BMDS) with Israel. The amendment, proposed by Republican presidential contender Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), who also leads the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) minority, would redirect $205 million in BMDS funds, as determined by Pentagon leaders, for the Israeli effort.
NEW NEIGHBORHOOD: Eutelsat is opening a new neighborhood at 9 degrees east longitude to expand direct TV broadcasting capacity to Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The slot is being served by Hot Bird 2, renamed Eurobird 9. This is the third spacecraft to be re-deployed following the launch of Hot Bird 7A and 8 to Eutelsat's primary neighborhood at 13 degrees east longitude last year.
SPIKE SUCCESS: Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) officials on May 15 announced that for the first time their developmental Spike missile successfully tracked and hit a moving target. Spike would be the smallest guided missile in the world at 25 inches long, 2.25 inches in diameter, and 5.3 pounds. It would also be the only missile using an electro-optical imaging strapped-down seeker, according to NAVAIR. The next demo, set for the fall, will replicate launch from a high-altitude unmanned aircraft.
