With contracts being closed out and facilities turned over for work on the new Orion and Ares vehicles, the space shuttle has reached the point of no return from its scheduled 2010 retirement date, according to NASA officials.
March 5 - 8 -- The Aerospace Corp. and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics' 2007 Planetary Defense Conference, "Protecting Earth From Asteroids," George Washington University, Washington, D.C. For more information call (310) 336-6805 or go to www.aero. org/conferences/planetarydefense. March 7 - 8 -- Simply Group, Ltd., Avionics '07, Amsterdam, Netherlands. For more information call Gareth Watkins, Sales Dir., +44 208-542-9090
Congress has several micro and macro issues to consider with the Navy's proposed plan to renovate the service's cruisers and destroyers, a recent Congressional Research Service report says. The Navy wants to modernize 84 Aegis cruisers and destroyers over a period of more than 20 years at a potential total cost of about $9.7 billion in today's dollars.
Bell Helicopter Textron officials say the company has canceled further development of the proposed Model 417 because of performance shortfalls. The single-engine aircraft, which debuted at last year's Heli-Expo show in Dallas, would not represent a significant advantage in speed over the Model 407, one of Bell's best selling rotorcraft. The company held orders for more than 130 Model 417s. In other news;
U.S. Army Secretary Francis Harvey defended the service's vehicle armor strategy during a briefing in Washington March 1, touting the protection offered by the latest version of up-armored Humvee. The service has weathered criticism from Capitol Hill lawmakers for not moving fast enough to replace its more than 100,000 Humvees with a more robust vehicle that provides better protection against improvised explosive devices (IEDs), which remain the number one killer of U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
HUEYS FOR KAZAKHSTAN: US Helicopter will provide two Huey II helicopters to Kazakhstan under a U.S. Army contract, with options for six additional aircraft. The helos will be operated by the Kazakhstan Air Mobilization Force to interdict drug and crime operations. The aircraft are set for delivery later this year.
The C-17 cargo aircraft program is at the center of a number of airlift issues that confront policymakers, a recent Congressional Research Service (CRS) report says. The issues include, but may not be limited to, airlift needs and requirements, cost and budget, and industrial base issues. Alternatives to the C-17 program must also be weighed, the report says. On the plus side, the report says, the C-17 gives the military needed capabilities.
The commission charged with studying the future of the National Guard and Reserves released a report to Congress March 1 that agrees with some of the provisions of pending legislation that would make sweeping changes to the organizations, but stops short of fully endorsing all its provisions.
CEC AWARD: The U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command has extended Raytheon's Network Centric Systems a $31.9 million firm-fixed-price contract modification for fiscal 2006 add-on requirements and FY '07 option requirements for the Navy's Cooperative Engagement Capability (CEC) program. CEC collects and distributes sensor-derived information to all participating CEC units (DAILY, March 20, 2006). The contract was not competitively procured, according to the Defense Department's announcement Feb. 28.
DELTA II AWARD: Boeing Corp. is being awarded a $49.5 million cost-plus-award fee contract modification from the U.S. Air Force for one Delta II Launch Vehicle in the standard 7925-9.5 configuration used to launch the last Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) IIR on the National Launch Forecast, the Defense Department said Feb. 28. The Delta II booster purchase includes one first stage, one second stage and one payload-attach fitting, one spin table, one third-stage motor, one 9.5-foot payload fairing and 40-inch Graphite Epoxy Motors, as well as all integration activities.
KUWAITI PATRIOT: Raytheon Co. said it received an $18 million operation and maintenance support contract from the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command to provide Kuwait with Patriot system technical assistance. Raytheon will provide support to Kuwaiti operational and maintenance personnel at fire unit locations and also at the depot in Kuwait. This program is a four-year follow-on Foreign Military Sale award. Raytheon has provided Patriot support in Kuwait since 1996.
HELO DEMAND GROWING: Scott Crislip, president of Rolls-Royce's helicopter and small gas turbine division, says during the next 10 years demand for turbine-powered helicopters will reach 15,038 aircraft worth $144 billion. Of that amount, engine sales will account for $15 billion. Crislip expects deliveries of 8,943 military and 6,095 commercial rotorcraft worth $120 billion and $24 billion, respectively. The majority of commercial helicopters delivered are forecast to be light- and twin-engine intermediate models.
The Australian government has issued a Defense Industrial Policy to ensure long-term support of its industry while also still cutting procurement costs. The document will be followed by a series of further studies in the coming months that will spell out in greater detail what industries are to be protected and what the military's long-term needs are.
Dramatic cost growths with Littoral Combat Ship hulls appear likely to spur "significant" changes in how the U.S. Navy contracts for its shipbuilding, according to top service officials.
The U.S. Navy and Marine Corp.'s top acquisition official said Feb. 28 that all options remain under consideration for the troubled Littoral Combat Ship and Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle programs. She also blamed seemingly systemic procurement problems on poor cost modeling and oversight, as well as overt industry and service enthusiasm for complex acquisitions.
Expanding the size of the U.S. Army and Marine Corps could force the Air Force to expand its ground support units, Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne told Congress Feb. 28. At a hearing on the Air Force's $110.77 billion budget request for fiscal 2008, Wynne said he was concerned that the planned Army and Marine Corps expansion could pose problems for his service. "If you increase ground forces, you're increasing (air)lift demands," he said.
Europe's next planetary mission -- with a big role for Japan -- will be the long-planned BepiColombo project to explore Mercury. The European Space Agency's Science Program Committee has formally "adopted" the project, kicking off its industrial phase under prime contractor Astrium GmbH to support a launch in 2013.
Impacts from micrometeoroids and orbital debris represent a "high safety risk" to the International Space Station (ISS) and its crew, according to a report from a congressionally mandated task force. While the ISS is a "robust and sound program" in terms of safety, the risk of a micrometeoroid or orbital debris (MMOD) impact penetrating the outpost during the decade after its completion is 55 percent, with a 9 percent chance of a catastrophic hit, according to the ISS Independent Safety Task Force (IISTF).
PHALANX PBL: Raytheon Co. said Feb. 28 it has been awarded a five-year, $169.9 million performance-based logistics contract to manage the spare parts for the U.S. Navy's Phalanx Close-In Weapon System. Provisions of the contract - in which Raytheon works with United Parcel Service Supply Chain Solutions, which guarantees delivery of spares to drop points within an agreed-to timeframe - apply to both the U.S. and 24 international navies that have Phalanx. Last fall, Raytheon was awarded a $369.1 million modification for systems and associated spares for the U.S.
