The U.S. Navy will shut down its Advanced Deployable System (ADS) program next year after a final test report for the undersea surveillance system, once intended for the since-delayed Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) to track diesel and nuclear submarines, surface ships and even detect sea mine-laying. Final data archiving and hardware "disposition" will be completed by March 2008, Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) said Nov. 29. Navy officials did not address the cause of the cancellation.
The U.S. Air Force has again grounded its main force of F-15 Eagles for safety reasons, with the commander of Air Combat Command on Nov. 28 directing a fleet-wide inspection of all ACC F-15A through D model aircraft, the service announced.
PARIS - Iran's announcement that it has developed the 1,200-mile range Ashura ballistic missile is being viewed with some concern by the Pentagon. Although the Defense Department has long been projecting Iranian ballistic missiles to achieve that range, it was expected to be through upgrades of the long-known Shahab-3. However, the Ashura is "different," says U.S. Missile Defense Agency director Air Force Lt. Gen. Trey Obering. "That's what surprised us," he said.
NEW DELHI - BAE Systems and Wipro Technologies in Hyderabad and Bangalore will combine efforts on the design of subsystems for the air transport and business jet markets, following a memorandum of agreement to work jointly on commercial aerospace projects. The partners also will cooperate on developing subsystems for aircraft engines and establish technical development centers in Hyderabad and Bangalore that will help them cooperate globally in the defense and aerospace markets, according to a statement.
Following new efforts to expand contacts with Chinese counterparts, U.S. Navy Adm. Timothy Keating hopes to go to China in mid-January, his second visit there in less than a year as the commander of Pacific Command. Keating told Pentagon reporters Nov. 27 that the request to visit aligns with U.S. desires to engage Chinese officials more over their military buildup and their January anti-satellite weapon test.
NEW DELHI - Final negotiations are ongoing between India's ministry of defense and Eurocopter to purchase 197 AS 550 C3 Fennec light helicopters for the Indian army, although the contract has not yet been formally signed by defense minister A.K. Antony. The Indian army has denied recent media reports alleging irregularities and the likelihood of the deal being scrapped, saying that neither an inquiry nor fresh bids have been sought.
NEW YORK - Despite continued protestations by the U.S. Air Force that the service lacks the money to procure additional C-17 airlifters, Boeing CEO Jim Albaugh said he is "confident" the 2008 Global War on Terror (GWOT) bill contains provisions for the aircraft.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is recommending that NASA not proceed beyond the 2008 preliminary design review (PDR) for the Ares I Crew Launch Vehicle until it establishes a sound business case for the program.
MARINES IN AFGHANISTAN: U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Gen. James Castellaw, deputy commandant for programs and resources, says that his service is well postured to shift its attention to the increasingly tenuous military situation in Afghanistan. NATO now leads the operation there. But political strife in Pakistan has provided an opening for an already aggressive resurgence of the Taliban to grow.
JAPAN'S TANKER: Boeing has completed first flight of Japan's second KC-767 following its modification to an aerial refueler, the company announced Nov. 29. The 2-hour, 45-minute flight was conducted Nov. 18 at McConnell Air Force Base, Kansas. The company also has flight-tested a new pylon design for the Wing Air Refueling Pod (WARP) designed for Italian KC-767s. The Italian air force has two aircraft flying, and testing of the WARP and hose drum unit refueling systems will demonstrate fuel transfer.
LEAK CHECK: Concerned that the vestibule to the Destiny lab aboard the International Space Station (ISS) may be leaking, the Expedition 16 crew has performed two leak checks on successive nights but found no signs of pressure loss. There was no pressure change detected between the Destiny Lab and the vestibule when Commander Peggy Whitson opened the lab's forward hatch for the second check on the morning of Nov. 29, according to NASA. Telemetry also suggested that the vestibule did not leak overnight.
Honeywell Aerospace is working for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) on a system to help intelligence analysts screen reconnaissance imagery from satellites and aircraft six times faster than is currently possible. The $4 million, multiphase DARPA contract is aimed at tackling a critical problem in the intelligence community: surveillance systems can gather images much faster than computers and humans can screen them for targets of interest. The program is called Neurotechnology for Intelligence Analysts (NIA).
NASA UAVSAR: NASA said Nov. 27 it is evaluating a small L-Band synthetic aperture radar, potentially for unmanned aircraft, to detect changes in the Earth's surface such as volcanoes, earthquake faults, landslides and glaciers. NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) are partnering in the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar (UAVSAR), mounted below a modified NASA Gulfstream III aircraft that is outfitted with a precision autopilot system for repeat passes over land.
CUTTER WAESCHE: The Coast Guard's second National Security Cutter (NSC), the to-be-commissioned Waesche (WMSL 751), is 42 percent complete and launch is scheduled for April 2008, industry representatives said. Waesche is now fully assembled at the Northrop Grumman Ship Systems facility in Pascagoula, Miss., they said Nov. 28. "Because of planning and work sequencing lessons learned from USCGC Bertholf, Waesche's mast was landed with 30 percent more of its outfitting work completed prior to the lift," said Bob Penney, ship program manager for NSC 2.
GENERAL AWARDS: General Dynamics C4 Systems has received a $75 million order on the U.S. Army's Common Hardware/Software 3 (CHS-3) contract, namely computers and network equipment for the Warfighter Information Network-Tactical (WIN-T) program. WIN-T has been restructured, delayed and reduced this year, yet General Dynamics eyes hundreds of millions of dollars in work under the revamped program (DAILY, Nov. 16). Also Nov. 27, General Dynamics Land Systems said it received a $47.2 million order for spare parts from Force Protection Inc.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the U.S. Army plan to address difficult issues associated with the command and control of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the second phase of the Heterogeneous Unmanned Reconnaissance Team (HURT) program, according to agency and industry officials.
IEDs: A Defense Science Board (DSB) task force on improvised explosive devices is examining ongoing anti-IED programs and the Pentagon's Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization (JIEDDO) in the context of a strategic campaign to address the IED threat. Senate defense authorizers have said they expect the DSB to address perceived duplication in different armed services' anti-IED efforts, along with JIEDDO's approach to short- and long-term investments. Monthly meetings of the task force next year were announced in the Federal Register on Nov. 26.
U.S. missile defense officials welcome recent congressional support for Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) beyond what the Bush administration requested for fiscal 2008, but the Aegis BMD program director says the military still may not have enough missiles to meet needs.
NEW YORK - U.S. Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne says his service is likely to add extra redundancy and hardening to its next-generation bomber to ensure the platform can carry and deliver nuclear weapons.
EAGLES FLY: All of the U.S. Air Force's F-15E Eagles have returned to flight after a temporary stand-down following a crash earlier this month, Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne said Nov. 28. The service put them back into operation around the globe following a rigorous structural inspection. Inspections on earlier models continue, and they are being returned to flight on a case-by-case basis. Wynne said the temporary gap in F-15 support underscored the need to fund a modernized fleet, specifically the F-22 Raptor (DAILY, Nov. 7).
The U.S. Air Force's Arnold Engineering and Development Center (AEDC) and GE/Rolls-Royce are initiating a series of tests aimed at collecting data on the alternate F136 engine for the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter. The engine and afterburner have been installed in AEDC's J-2 test cell and will undergo a variety of simulated flight conditions across a wide envelope of altitudes and Mach speeds, says Gene Klingensmith, project manager for the tests.
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) completed thermal vacuum testing on the second of its two Space Tracking and Surveillance System (STSS) satellites, which are expected to launch from Cape Canaveral in July.
