To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected] Jan. 22 -- Midlands Aerospace Alliance's Reach Information Event: "Complying with Chemical Regulations." Rolls-Royce Learning & Career Development Center, Derby, England. For more information call +44 (845) 225-0503, fax +44 (845) 225-0504 or go to www.midlandaerospace.org.uk
The U.S. Air Force is promoting technical standards for operationally responsive space (ORS) payloads and satellite buses, with an eye toward enabling quick and cost-effective block purchases of small military satellites. The standards effort began in the former Office of Force Transformation (OFT). In December, it transitioned to the Joint ORS office at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M.
EFV AWARD: U.S. Marine Corps Systems Command is awarding General Dynamics Land Systems an $11.96 million modification to a previously awarded contract for the advanced procurement of long-lead materials for Systems Development and Demonstration (SDD) phase 2 of the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle program. Work is expected to be complete by November 2009.
SHIFTING FOCUS: Democrats in the House of Representatives are shifting their attention - along with their Republican colleagues and President Bush - from the war in Iraq to the sagging U.S. economy. Although swept into power on a tide of voter angst about the war in 2006, Democrats last year failed to get Bush to curtail the number of troops in Iraq. Now, prodded by presidential primary and exit poll results reflecting voters economic worries, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are looking for a way to fix things.
SILVER LINING: According to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, the Bush administration's fiscal 2009 defense budget request is not going to include grand spending expansions like last year's record requests did, but the armed services appear to be winning some converts within the Office of the Secretary of Defense for some equipment-related desires nonetheless. The Air Force is a step closer to getting some more Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptors that the service has been clamoring for this decade (DAILY, Jan. 18).
Welding problems discovered on Virginia-class submarines built at Northrop Grumman's Newport News facility were not entirely the fault of the company, according to U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) chief Vice Admiral Paul Sullivan, who says the government shares some of the blame. "The government was complicit," Sullivan told reporters at the Surface Navy symposium in Arlington, Virginia, Jan. 17. "We used the same procedures on our Los Angeles-class subs...not realizing we were opening ourselves up" to problems.
AL QAEDA: A high-tempo information war is underway between the U.S. and Al Qaeda. "Al Qaeda and insurgents distribute videos every day via non-traditional media operations," says Central Command air forces chief Lt. Gen. Gary North. "We're every day and attacking them ... to shut them down." For future wars involving more discovering these outlets traditional military foes, a new electronic attack and information warfare roadmap is being constructed. "I see the capacity to shift that capacity to our Predator and Reaper [unmanned aircraft]," he says.
Iraq's security forces actually expect to take responsibility for their own internal security between the first quarter of 2009 and 2012 - later than some earlier Iraqi statements targeting early 2009 - and progress will take years and depend on the war-torn country's ability to build up military equipment, a coalition commander said Jan. 17.
The fiscal 2008 defense authorization bill, stripped of language that prompted a presidential veto the first time around, was passed again by the House Jan. 16 and is now on its way to the Senate.
The Pentagon is investing significantly less in science and technology (S&T) supporting space programs than on S&T supporting nonspace programs, and that trend is likely to continue, a recent Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report says.
The U.S. Air Force has asked the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) to reconsider its ruling that the Air Force mishandled a $1.2 billion contract with Boeing for depot maintenance of KC-135 refueling aircraft. The GAO is due to rule on the request by April 16, but a decision could come earlier. Protest
NEW DELHI - Six Indian Su-30MKIs and six South Korean F-15K Eagles will take part in the Red Flag exercise at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., in August. But the Indian fighters, which will be deployed to the United States despite the disapproval of communists who support the government, will not use their Bars radars during Red Flag.
The U.S. Air Force is one step closer to getting the additional number of Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptors the service has been clamoring for throughout the decade, with Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England requesting money to keep the production line open. The Pentagon wants to use so-called global war on terror (GWOT) money to buy more F-22s to replace aircraft lost during current military conflicts - a move that would likely extend the production line for the Raptor beyond the early part of the coming decade.
SAVIOR SATELLITES: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellites helped rescue 353 people equipped with locator beacons from potentially life-threatening situations in the U.S. and its surrounding waters during 2007. NOAA's polar-orbiting and geostationary satellites, along with Russia's Cospas spacecraft, are part of the international Search and Rescue Satellite-Aided Tracking System, called COSPAS-SARSAT. The system uses a network of satellites to quickly detect and locate distress signals.
PARIS - France is establishing a permanent base in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that will allow it to hike its support of peacekeeping and security activities in the face of increased unrest in the Gulf region and a growing Iranian menace. The French took advantage of a state visit this week by President Nicolas Sarkozy to establish a permanent base in Abu Dhabi that could accommodate air, naval and land forces and serve as a platform for growing multilateral exercises with Qatar and Kuwait, with which France also has close defense ties.
The U.S. Army has accelerated testing of two of the prototype unmanned vehicles in its Future Combat Systems (FCS) program - the Small Unmanned Ground Vehicle (SUGV) and the Class I unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Beginning this month, 25 SUGV units from iRobot Corp. and 11 Class I (Block 0) UAVs from Honeywell will be delivered to Army Evaluation Task Force soldiers at Fort Bliss, Texas, who will train with the equipment before conducting user testing in the summer.
CANADIAN HERCULES: Lockheed Martin announced late Jan. 16 that Canada officially signed for 17 C-130J Super Hercules airlifters and related equipment and services worth $1.4 billion. Lockheed has trumpeted its Hercules backlog as the Canadian order was expected, along with potentially others for Norway, India and Australia. Canada's version will sport a longer fuselage - the "stretched" variant - of the C-130J, similar to those being delivered to the U.S. Air Force. Deliveries to Canada will begin in 2010, according to Lockheed.
U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) has awarded a development contract to BAE Systems for the development of an interim all-quadrant defensive weapon system for the CV-22 tiltrotor aircraft. The contract for the CV-22 interim capability is valued at $491,000, with a potential value of $16.3 million including options.
In observance of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, Aerospace Daily and Defense Report will not publish on Jan. 21. The next issue will be dated Jan. 22.
COLOMBIAN BREW: FLIR Systems said Jan. 16 that it received a $13 million order from the Colombian Ministry of Defense for its Star Safire high-definition stabilized, multisensor systems. The units will be loaded aboard Colombian air force helicopters for national security and counter-narcotics missions. Deliveries are expected to take place during the second half of the year.
The U.S. Air Force has declared a Global Positioning System IIR-M satellite launched in December fully operational. The declaration came Jan. 2; IIR-M contractor Lockheed Martin made the announcement Jan. 15. The Air Force and Lockheed Martin declared the system operational in a record-setting three days, according to the company. Liftoff from a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket took place Dec. 20 at 3:04 p.m. EST.
MEADS MSE AWARD: Lockheed Martin said Jan. 16 that the NATO Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS) Management Agency awarded it a $66 million contract to incorporate its PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement (MSE) missile as the baseline interceptor for the tri-national program. The MSE increases the system's range and "lethality" over the baseline PAC-3 Missile, which was selected as the primary MEADS missile when the design and development program began in 2004, Lockheed said.
After considering alternatives to the Lockheed Martin VH-71 presidential helicopter - including upgrading the Sikorsky H-3s - the Navy has decided to stick with the US101 aircraft and fund more significant and costly modifications, according to sources familiar with the program and recent discussions between the contractor and the government.
