C-5M AWARD: The U.S. Air Force is awarding Lockheed Martin a $23 million contract for advance procurement of long lead items for Lot 1 of the low-rate initial production for the C-5M Reliability Enhancements and Re-engining program. The Air Force both solicited and closed negotiations last month, the Defense Department said. Air Force officials continue to say that they will not be able to pay for new Boeing C-17s without relief from the legislative requirement to continue upgrading its oldest C-5 transports, a program that is running into cost increases.
Raytheon said April 30 that the Defense Department's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency awarded it a multiyear, potentially $14.4 million contract to develop an improved composite material for infrared windows and missile domes.
QUEBEC CITY, Canada - U.S. intelligence officials believe al Qaeda may have moved operatives into the U.S., the head of the FBI's Counterterrorism Division says. Assistant FBI Director Joseph Billy Jr., says other concerns of intelligence organizations are homegrown terrorists, Osama bin Laden's quest for a dirty bomb, al Qaeda's mergers with terrorist or insurgent groups in Turkey, Syria, Iraq and elsewhere around the world and the final destination of foreign fighters in the Iraq insurgency after they leave Iraq.
The Defense Department's Missile Defense Agency is looking into ways to provide more program transparency, congressional auditors told House defense appropriators April 30. But the MDA, which enjoys unique spending flexibility under the Pentagon, and the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office continue to disagree on whether MDA should take an element-based reporting approach in its budgeting (DAILY, April 18).
It is difficult to assess NASA's true spending plan because of changes in the agency's financial formula in the years it uses for comparison, according to a recent report by the Congressional Research Service (CRS). The CRS's March brief also calls into question the space shuttle launching plan in relation to the planned schedule for the International Space Station (ISS).
Spacecraft and launch vehicle processing at Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral are building to a peak for two planned summer launches. On June 30, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory Dawn spacecraft is set to journey to the asteroid Vesta and dwarf planet Ceres, and on Aug. 3 the JPL Phoenix lander is scheduled to head toward Mars.
The U.S. Marine Corps is weighing in against the Air Force's proposal to assume authority over all unmanned aerial systems (UAS) flying above 3,500 feet. In an April 12 memo, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Conway says the Air Force proposal "conveys a lack of appreciation for the employment of medium- and high-altitude tactical UASs in direct support of maneuver forces."
With the U.S. Coast Guard already implementing unprecedented oversight to its largest-ever acquisition effort, senators are pushing a bill on Capitol Hill that would direct the service to use a competitive process for selecting future contractors for its embattled Deepwater recapitalization and modernization program.
Even as the U.S. Marines prepare to deploy the first MV-22 squadron to Iraq in the coming months, defense analysts are still debating whether the tilt-rotor aircraft is the technological leap the service says it is.
LONDON - A pending funding decision will fundamentally inform key choices the U.K. will make on the extent and nature of its long-term participation in space exploration within the next 12 months. While the government is struggling with the timetable for its comprehensive spending review - elements of the package have now been delayed until toward the end of the year - top-level figures for science funding are still expected around mid-year.
AIR FORCE UAVS: The U.S. Air Force has declared it will make history when it stands up the 432nd Wing - its first-ever unmanned aerial systems wing - at Creech Air Force Base, Nev. on May 1. Col. Chris Chambliss will assume command of the new wing. The wing will assume control of the missions of the MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper squadrons that are currently operated by the 57th Wing at Nellis AFB, Nev. The service has touched off a heated debate with the other armed services over a proposal to lead high-flying UAV development and aircraft.
Engineers at Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne (PWR) have gotten a specially equipped RL-10 rocket engine to run at 10 percent of its full 13,000-pound thrust in a series of tests aimed at using the venerable cryogenic engine for the descent stage of NASA's planned lunar lander.
SMALL VESSELS: The potential use of small vessels by terrorists in U.S. waters is a major concern of Customs and Border Protection (CPB), says the head of the agency's Office of Anti-Terrorism. U.S. officials have no specific information about a planned terror attack using small water craft, but attacks overseas on the USS Cole in 2000 and the French supertanker N.V. Limburg in 2002 have them planning ways to counter the threat, says Thomas Bush, acting executive director of the CBP anti-terrorism office.
The Bush administration's plans for the Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW) at the Energy Department are drawing increasing skepticism inside Washington's Beltway, if for no other reason than its planning seems thin.
GUNSHIP TESTING: Boeing has begun flight testing the AC-130U Gunship with new Bushmaster 30-mm cannons at Hurlburt Field, Fla., the company announced April 27. The 30-mm cannon eventually will replace both the 40-mm cannon and 25-mm gun on U-model gunships. Boeing is modifying four gunships for U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command and is due to deliver them later this year.
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and the U.S. Navy jointly conducted a successful intercept test of the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) System on April 26th off the coast of Hawaii, making the eight successful intercept out of ten flight tests for the system, according to MDA.
BEST GLOVES: On May 2-3, teams from around the nation will compete for a total of $250,000 in prize money from NASA for an improved astronaut glove design. One of NASA's seven Centennial Challenges, the Astronaut Glove Challenge will take place at the New England Air Museum at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Conn. NASA is offering a total of $200,000 for the team that designs and manufactures the best glove, with an additional $50,000 going to the team that best demonstrates Mechanical Counter Pressure gloves. Volanz Aerospace, Inc.
SPACEX: Although SpaceX now has the go-ahead from the U.S. Air Force to operate future Falcon commercial launches off Cape Canaveral's Launch Complex 40, the agreement covers ground use of the launch pad only, and does not constitute specific permission to fly SpaceX launch vehicles like the large Falcon 9 off the pad. Those discussions still are underway with the service.
NASA's list of top contractors shows the agency's emphasis on launch services and research throughout the decade, according to an Aerospace Daily analysis. The number one and two contractors for 2001, 2002 and 2006 were United Space Alliance and the California Institute of Technology, according to the analysis of millions of contracts and modifications for those years provided by the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting (see chart p. 6). CalTech manages NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.
Aircraft carriers make big targets in lots of ways, and industry supporters are swarming Capitol Hill to make sure the U.S. Navy's CVN-21 and other flattop efforts don't become a casualty of budget wars. The burgeoning Aircraft Carrier Industrial Base Coalition (ACIBC) met with legislators, their staff and others on the Hill April 25-26 to press for Congress to support funding levels outlined in President Bush's fiscal 2008 budget request. In particular, they spotlighted CVN 78, the first carrier in the CVN-21 class, as well as other carrier programs.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected] May 7 - 10 -- AIAA Infotech@Aerospace 2007 Conference and Exhibit, Doubletree Hotel Sonoma Wine Country, Rohnert Park, Calif. For more information go to www.aiaa.org/events/infotech@aerospace. May 7 - 10 -- Joint Service Small Arms Symposium, Virginia Beach Convention Center, Virginia Beach, Va, For more information call (703) 522-1820, fax: (703) 522-1885 or go to www.ndia.org.
