The Israeli TecSar/Polaris 1 imaging radar reconnaissance satellite is being prepared to transmit its first images after being launched from India Jan. 21 onboard an Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) version with no strap-on boosters.
AIR FORCE Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Aeronautical Systems of Marietta, Ga., is being awarded a contract modification for $24,839,777. The contract will exercise the option to procure fabrication, support, and assembly of C-5B Large Aircraft Infrared Countermeasures (LAIRCM) Group A and Spares for seven aircraft. At this time, $12,419,889 has been obligated. 716th Aeronautical Systems Group, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8625-07-C-6473, P00003).
The British defense industry, already a major player in Australia, is expanding in the country with a series of acquisitions. BAE Systems will buy Australia's privately owned Tenix Defence, whose businesses include one of Australia's two main naval shipyards. The purchase will double BAE's presence in the country to more than 5,500 employees and annual sales exceeding A$1.2 billion ($1 billion).
As it runs through the third revised competition for the $15 billion combat, search and rescue replacement (CSAR-X) helicopter program, the U.S. Air Force appears to be taking steps to ensure a more protest-proof selection process, sources intimately familiar with the process say.
A-10 MODELING: The U.S. Air Force has awarded Boeing a $14.9 million contract for systems engineering and modeling services for the A-10 Wing Replacement program. The contract will provide the engineering foundation for the program, allowing for a "paperless engineering package" and ensuring the production wings will be delivered on time, Boeing said. Boeing will perform the majority of the work in St. Louis, with the remaining work done in Salt Lake City, Utah. The contract runs through September 2010.
PARIS - Eurocopter expects to boost helicopter output again this year even as deliveries in 2007 reached a high of 488 rotorcraft, driving revenue to almost 4.2 billion euros. The rotorcraft maker also saw order intake reach a new high of 802 helos, boosting backlog to 13.5 billion euros. And, Eurocopter CEO Lutz Bertling says that doesn't even include some deals announced last year, such as France's purchase of additional NH90 transport helos.
ARMY Global Fleet Sales Inc., Charlottesville, Va., was awarded on Jan. 15, 2008, an $84,220,350 firm-fixed-price contract for police light tactical vehicles and spare parts. The work will be performed in Thailand and is expected to be completed by Feb. 4, 2011. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Web bids were solicited on May 18, 2006, and nine bids were received. TACOM, Warren, Mich., is the contracting activity W56HZV-07-D-G002. AIR FORCE
LONDON - The British Defense Ministry is looking at potentially funding the purchase of 14 Boeing Chinook helicopters for its special forces as part of its ongoing spending round. British special forces are heavily committed in operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, with available helicopter resources stretched.
PROTOSTAR: Boeing Satellite Systems has landed a contract to supply a 601 HP bus for ProtoStar, a Bermuda-based startup that is forming a constellation to supply direct TV and broadband access throughout Asia. To be launched in 2009, ProtoStar-2 will provide Ku-band beams over southeast and southern Asia, plus an S-band beam over Indonesia. The spacecraft will complement a first satellite already under construction at Space Systems/Loral.
President Bush has ordered new directives that will "advance a more efficient and transparent export licensing process and enhance dispute resolution mechanisms," the White House announced Jan. 22. The moves, which were expected, come as trade groups in Washington have pushed for regulatory and executive-branch changes since last year that would not run a Democratic-led legislative buzzsaw on Capitol Hill (DAILY, Sept. 6, 2007).
Further delays with the troublesome VIIRS sensor will push back the launch of the NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP), the precursor mission for the civil/military weather satellite system.
Managers of NASA's Ares launch vehicle project are in early discussions with their space shuttle counterparts over using a shuttle launch early next year to gather flight-test data on a potentially dangerous vibration that ground-test data suggest might occur in the Ares I first stage.
SURGED SPENDING: U.S. and Canadian military efforts to coordinate and modernize their defense agencies and armed branches "spells boom time" for military power suppliers, according to a Frost & Sullivan research service report. "Increased usage of electronics in the battlefield, supplemented by a hike in budget allocation and military spending, has given a substantial thrust to the military power supplies market in North America," analysts said. Heightened focus on military readiness has led to greater use of electronics in military systems.
A Jan. 15 story on Lockheed Martin's Remote Mine-hunting System gave the wrong affiliation for Gary Humes. Mr. Humes is the U.S. Navy's program manager for mine warfare.
THROUGH WALLS: The U.S. Air Force's only Emissions Security flight (of the 346th Test Squadron), part of the service's Information Operation Center, has teams that can intrude into computer networks by collecting emissions from computer monitors that are inside a building they cannot enter. A properly programmed computer can turn that radiated energy into a live feed on one of the flight's laptops just as if they have plugged a monitor into the computer. That type of invasion can be done to computers, telephones, radios or data links, Air Force officials say.
With 99 percent of its F-15A-D fleet inspected for a recently uncovered structural defect, nearly half of the air-to-air fighters have been returned to flight status, according to Air Combat Command (ACC).
AERO DIRECTOR: As expected, Jaiwon Shin will serve as the new associate administrator for NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate in Washington, following the departure of former aeronautics chief Lisa Porter. Before coming to NASA headquarters in 2004, Shin served as chief of the aeronautics projects office at NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. Prior to that, he was the deputy director of aeronautics at Glenn.
Inconsistent inspections of U.S. Army equipment being refurbished after wartime use are causing delays in getting the gear back into service, according to the DOD Inspector General (IG). As a result of the IG's investigation, detailed in a Jan. 18 report, the service is establishing more consistent inspection policies, the IG says.
INDUSTRY AGENDA: U.S. defense trade representatives will push Congress this year to boost the federal acquisition workforce's size and skills, facilitate more and quicker security clearances for industry workers, and underpin government-sponsored science and technology efforts, according to the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA).
CAN DO: Lockheed Martin presented its Canadian Advanced Command and Control System (CanACCS-9LV) to the Canadian Navy Jan.16 in Montreal. The demonstration was part of Lockheed's bid to lead the combat systems integration element of the Canadian Navy's Halifax Class Modernization program, which will update the nation's 12 multi-mission frigates. The proposed Saab-Lockheed CanACCS-9LV system will provide the Canadian Navy's Halifax fleet with advanced capabilities, including Enhanced Sea Sparrow Missile anti-ship missile defense capabilities.
