IDAHO IRIDIUM: World Communications Center (WCC) recently won an award from the state of Idaho to provide Iridium satellite voice and data products and services for government agencies throughout the state. WCC was awarded a three-year contract in March 2007 to be the exclusive supplier of Iridium satellite products and services for 15 Western states. The contract will run through May 2010, with provisions for three one-year renewal options.
A National Academies "midterm review" of NASA's progress in implementing the recommendations of the National Research Council's (NRC) 2003-2013 solar system exploration decadal survey gives the agency passing marks for now, but projects it will fail to meet the survey's goals if current trends continue.
Boeing is ready to continue the competition for the U.S. Air Force's combat, search and rescue (CSAR-X) helicopter replacement fleet without the planned service debriefing the company says would have leveled the playing field against competitors Lockheed Martin and Sikorsky, according Rick Lemaster, Boeing's HH-47 program manager.
The U.S. Air Force is facing an aging fleet and operational stress as it plans upgrades and replacements for its mobility aircraft, according to a new Lexington Institute report released Dec. 3. "The tankers are a disaster waiting to happen, with 90 percent of the 600-plane fleet consisting of Eisenhower-era aircraft that will reach an average age of 50 years in this decade," author Loren Thompson says in the report.
Some African nations undergoing political changes and flush with oil revenue are looking to recapitalize their military and security forces, potentially creating major opportunities for western defense enterprises, according to consultancy Forecast International.
PARIS - The U.K.'s Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. and OHB of Germany have confirmed that they will team up to compete for 26 operational satellites in the so-called Full Operational Capability (FOC) phase and subsequent replenishment stages of the Galileo satellite navigation system program.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says he will try again this month to pass a supplemental defense spending bill that includes a timeline for the start of U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq. The Nevada Democrat also told reporters Dec. 3 that he does not want to keep funding the government with a third continuing resolution (CR), which keeps most government spending - except for the Defense and Homeland Security departments - at fiscal 2006 levels.
The U.S. Navy has awarded General Dynamics Electric Boat a $270 million contract modification to buy long-lead-time material for the fiscal 2009 Virginia-class submarine SSN-784. The contract being modified was initially awarded in August 2003 and will be worth $8.8 billion. Eyeing China and a planned gap in U.S. attack subs, lawmakers of all political leanings are pushing the Navy to build more multibillion-dollar Virginias more quickly than the service planned (DAILY, Nov. 20).
PARIS - Engineers have successfully tested deployment of the giant solar arrays on Europe's Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), a major step forward in preparing the freighter for launch to the International Space Station (ISS).
NASA's Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) has been diverted to the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) in Washington for thermal-vacuum testing after being bumped by a classified spacecraft also under development by manufacturer General Dynamics in Gilbert, Ariz.
A second spot inspection of the damaged solar alpha rotary joint (SARJ) on the starboard side of the International Space Station (ISS) truss produced some better photographs of the situation, but didn't really move engineers toward a better understanding of the source of the trouble.
JSF TESTING: A senior Air Force official says that two F-35 aircraft pulled out of the flight-test program will likely be purchased later and used for follow-on test and evaluation, and possibly operations thereafter. Senior Pentagon leadership gave the nod to reducing the 19-aircraft test program recently. This reduction gives "balance" to the program, says the senior Air Force official.
CRUISE MISSILE DEFENSE: The Missile Defense Advisory Committee, an advisory group to the Missile Defense Agency (MDA), will meet Dec. 19-20 at the Pentagon to hear from the Defense Department, the armed services and industry on the "appropriate" role for MDA in cruise missile defense (CMD). The panel has been meeting this year to mull over MDA and CMD, which increasingly are gaining attention inside Washington (DAILY, Sept. 4).
A New National Intelligence Estimate from the U.S. intelligence community reports that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in the fall of 2003 and likely would not be successful until at least six years from now.
U.S. Army plans to modernize or replace its aging helicopter fleet from now through 2030 could run into a money crunch as the service simultaneously invests heavily in the Future Combat Systems (FCS) program, according to a new congressional study.
PARIS - The French government has given the go-ahead to its first purchase of NH90 helicopters for its army. The deal for up to 68 of the Tactical Transport Helicopter version brings the total order book to 507 rotorcraft for NHIndustries (the joint venture of Eurocopter, AgustaWestland, and Stork Fokker).
