ENHANCED PAVEWAY: The U.S. Air Force is awarding Raytheon Missile Systems a $17 million firm-fixed-price contract modification for 139 Guided Bomb Unit 28C/B guidance control units and tail kits. The GBU-28C/B, also known as Enhanced Paveway III, possesses a Global Positioning System-aided laser guidance capability and provides improved lethality, survivability and penetration over the predecessor GBU-28B/B, officials said. The work is set to be finished by May 2008, the Defense Department announced March 21.
The U.S. Air Force plans to amend its combat search and rescue (CSAR-X) request for proposals (RFP) to better explain how it evaluates Operations and Support (O&S) costs, after GAO's bid protest office clarifies any remaining issues it has with the competition, the service said March 22.
The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) needs to adopt more transparent criteria for reporting the quantities, cost, and performance of its systems and their components, says a March report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). "GAO recommends that DOD adopt firm baselines, use procurement funds for operational assets, and adopt other measures to better track cost and outcomes against goals," GAO said in the report, "Missile Defense Acquisition Strategy Generates Results but Delivers Less at a Higher Cost."
DEFENSE BUDGETED: House Democrats' new budget resolution provides $507 billion for national defense and another $145 billion for overseas deployments and other activities, which mirrors the Congressional Budget Office's scoring of the Bush administration's fiscal 2008 request and future plans, according to House Armed Services Chairman Ike Skelton (D-Mo.). Skelton supports the March 21 proposal since it meets President Bush's overall request, as the HASC asked the House Budget Committee to do earlier this year.
By 2009, the U.S. Army should have enough data and information on its Future Combat Systems (FCS) program to either buy in completely or go another route, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has reported.
TURBINE SETS: Rolls-Royce Naval Marine Inc. has been awarded a $76.6 million contract to provide the U.S. Navy with DDG-1000 main turbine generator sets, the Defense Department said March 21. The work will be performed in Walpole, Mass., and is expected to be finished by September 2009. The contract was awarded by the Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington Navy Yard, D.C.
U.S. Marine Corps Gen. James Cartwright, the head of U.S. Strategic Command, told members of the House Armed Services Committee March 21 that the development of a conventional intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) for prompt global strike is both needed to counter future threats and also will help the U.S. reduce its nuclear stockpile.
The U.S. Air Force plans to amend the request for proposals (RFP) for its combat, search and rescue (CSAR-X) helicopter program and allow the three industry bidders to resubmit information regarding lifecycle costs, according to an Air Force official. Lifecycle costs were cited by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) in its sustainment of the protests of the CSAR-X award to Boeing by losing bidders Lockheed Martin and Sikorsky.
Aerospace Daily & Defense Report will no longer include the weekly NetDefense supplement on Thursdays, although network-centric warfare (NCW) topics will continue to be covered in the DAILY. With network-centric technologies and concepts becoming increasingly embedded in programs at all levels of the military, refolding NCW coverage back into the DAILY is a move that we feel makes sense.
Most safety experts see major shortcomings in the "see and avoid" methods used by aircraft pilots to forestall collisions, and a Dassault Aviation engineering expert believes unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) will stimulate improvements once a way is found to let them operate in civil airspace. The human eye has many limitations, including a limited field of view and blind zones as well as shortfalls in certain weather and lighting conditions, according to Serge Lebourg, an engineering expert with Dassault Aviation.
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency and Boeing's Sea-Based X-Band Radar (SBX), positioned in the north-central Pacific Ocean, has demonstrated its capability by detecting, tracking and assessing a long-range ballistic missile target launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., company officials declared March 21.
MISSILE HIT: A Belorussian transport aircraft was hit by a ground-fired missile earlier this month but landed safely in Somalia. The Il-76 was flying at about 500 feet when a projectile caused major damage to the fuselage. Transaviaexport Cargo Airline operated the aircraft.
House Democrats are proposing a budget plan for fiscal 2008 and beyond that says the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency should be funded at "an adequate but lower level." They further assert that killing space-based interceptor development would ensure a "more prudent acquisition strategy" while still supporting a "robust" ballistic missile defense program, according to legislation sponsored by House Budget Chairman John Spratt Jr. (D-S.C.).
During testimony on Capitol Hill March 21, U.S. Marine Corps Gen. James Cartwright, commander of U.S. Strategic Command, outlined the growing challenges of defending the nation from cyberattack, which include understanding "the fight that occurs in milliseconds" and making sure freedom of speech for noncombatants is protected.
European Commission vice president Jacques Barrot is urging European transport ministers to throw their support behind the Galileo navigation and timing satellite system that aims to compete with the Global Positioning System. But he is also signaling that fundamental changes in how the program was to be structured may be needed to achieve the vision Europe set for itself years ago.
The U.S. Air Force plans to give its fledgling Cyberspace Command "major command status," possibly as early as late summer 2007, the service's top officials told Congress March 21. The command's elevation reflects the importance that Air Force leaders attach to cyberspace as a battlefield and terrorist sanctuary -- as well as a communications and intelligence-sharing venue.
The second flight of Space Exploration Technologies' (SpaceX) low-cost Falcon 1 rocket on March 20 reached 200 miles altitude but did not make it to orbit due to the premature shutdown of its second-stage Kestrel engine. Liftoff took place at 9:10 p.m. Eastern time from the U.S. Army's Kwajalein missile range in the Marshall Islands. A prior launch attempt on March 19 was aborted a few minutes before liftoff due to a communications glitch that was fixed with a software update.
Boeing and its partners became the first team to successfully demonstrate the ability of its transformational satellite (TSAT) laser communications system to deliver high-power operations at three data rates during recent U.S. Air Force tests, the prime contractor announced March 21. Boeing is battling another team lead by Lockheed Martin to win the contract to build the Air Force's TSAT constellation -- with an estimated value up to $18 billion -- meant to provide a laser-linked orbital router network. Both companies are conducting the same type of tests.
Austria's first Eurofighter Typhoon is now in flight-testing, just as the government in Vienna decides what to do with the program. There's a political debate raging in Austria over the decision-making process and size of the program that led the country to sign up for 18 aircraft. The question now is whether the buy will be truncated, as some in government are advocating. A decision is pending.
RAPID II: NASA has selected Space Systems Loral of Palo Alto, Calif., and MicroSat Systems Inc. of Littleton, Colo., to receive Rapid Spacecraft Development Office (Rapid II) contracts with a minimum value of $50,000 each. Each of the Rapid II contracts has a potential maximum value of $1.5 billion. Rapid II is a multiple-award contract for core spacecraft systems and nonstandard services which can include operations, components and studies to meet the government's space, Earth science and technology needs, according to NASA.
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and prime contractor Lockheed Martin are now targeting 2009 for the first "hover test" of the Multiple Kill Vehicle (MKV). The test will take place at the National Hover Test Facility at Edwards Air Force Base in California, according to Doug Graham, vice president for advanced programs at Lockheed Martin missile defense systems.
The U.S. Air Force is navigating its way through requirements and operational concepts for the domain it has recently tagged as its own: cyberspace, service secretary Michael Wynne says. "It's clouded with a lot of legal aspects," Wynne said March 19 during a breakfast speech on Capitol Hill. "We can play defensive, but not offensive," he said. "But we can do red flags (exercises)." Little trouble
