The Orbital Express mission is coming to a close and both spacecraft are expected to be decommissioned next week, according to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). A joint effort between DARPA, the U.S. Air Force and NASA, Orbital Express was launched in March on a three-month mission to demonstrate on-orbit satellite servicing techniques.
U.S. Air Force program officials for the service's Network-Centric Solutions (NETCENTS) contract had the best intentions for picking the product code they did to describe the work the agreement would cover. But according to a June 29 DOD Inspector General's report (DAILY, July 5), the NETCENTS officials picked the wrong code, shutting out potential contractors and leading to the management nightmares the IG says are haunting the program.
MORE MRAPS: The Defense Department's Joint Requirements Oversight Council (JROC) has endorsed procuring as many Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles as industry can provide in fiscal 2008. DOD and military services are trying to "incentivize" companies to boost production while cutting the production timetable, according to Bryan Whitman, deputy assistant secretary of defense for public affairs. He told Pentagon reporters July 2 that the JROC decision follows Defense Secretary Robert Gates' efforts to expedite MRAP fielding (DAILY, July 3).
ATLANTIS RETURNED: NASA's space shuttle Atlantis safely returned to the starting point of its STS-117 mission July 3 when its Boeing 747 carrier aircraft delivered the orbiter to Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Fla. Weather forced Atlantis to divert from KSC, its intended landing site, to a June 22 touchdown at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. The ferry flight back to Florida also was diverted, spending an extra night at Ft.
ESTONIAN SPACE: Estonian engineers and scientists will be playing a greater role in European Space Agency (ESA) programs under a new cooperation agreement between the agency and the Baltic nation. Signed June 20, the deal makes Estonia the first new European Union (EU) member to move toward more formal relations with ESA, and eventually it is expected to become a European Cooperating State.
One of the lessons learned from January's politically surprising Chinese anti-satellite test is the importance of information on Chinese military innovations available in open source media, Pentagon consultant Michael Pillsbury says. "Chinese open source writings are going to be far more important than we realized and some of the material in it is pretty scary," says Pillsbury, a China specialist, Defense Department consultant and former Pentagon official during the Reagan and Bush administrations. Proving value
DEXTRE DELIVERED: Engineers at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) will begin final flight verification tests of Canada's "Dextre" special purpose dexterous manipulator in preparation for its scheduled February 2008 launch on shuttle Endeavour's STS-123/1J/A mission to the International Space Station. MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. delivered the complex robotic device to KSC.
Democratic spending leaders on Capitol Hill are putting the power of appropriations behind their effort to drive a re-examination of the U.S. nuclear weapons strategy, according to the lawmakers' reports accompanying respective House and Senate energy bills.
The next U.S. president must answer how he or she will repair the military and equip for future wars - and pay for it all while baby boomers stretch federal entitlements, according to Peter Singer, Brookings Institution senior fellow and director of the 21st Century Defense Initiative. This will be an unprecedented challenge given the wear and tear on current equipment in Iraq and Afghanistan, the growing need to reset the armed forces, and waste, fraud and abuse in the Defense Department's budget, Singer told a Washington audience June 29.
REPURPOSED: NASA has decided to reuse the "mother ships" from the Stardust and Deep Impact missions for new scientific investigations, including one to characterize extra-solar planets. The Deep Impact Extended Investigation will use the spacecraft that sent a copper projectile into the comet Tempel 1 to observe known extra-solar planets as they pass before their stars. Scientists hope Deep Impact's sensitivity will let them determine if the planets have moons, rings or Earth-sized companion planets.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and NASA are expected to release a draft request for proposals (RFP) for the next-generation Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES-R) system later this month. Industry will be given time to comment, and the final RFP is expected in September, followed by a contract award for the first two spacecraft early next year, according to Stephen O'Neill, president of Boeing Satellite Systems International Inc. First launch is slated for late 2014.
The U.S. Air Force has mismanaged the major contract meant to secure the net-centric future for the service and the Pentagon, the Defense Department Inspector General (IG) reports.
PRESIDENTIAL MISSILES: White House officials believe Russia has expanded its proposal to work together over potential ballistic missile defense in Europe, but the Bush administration will continue to seek a radar site in the Czech Republic and midcourse interceptors in Poland, officials have said. Russian President Vladimir Putin, in Maine to meet President Bush, suggested even building a new radar facility in south Russia and establishing information exchange centers in Moscow and Brussels.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates says industry and military officials must find ways to cut down the production, outfitting and shipping times for Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles meant to blunt the impact of attacks by improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in Iraq. "DOD and industry have to look outside normal ways of doing things," Gates said June 29 during a Pentagon press briefing. "Lives are at stake."
BOEING TOO: Following a similar award to Northrop Grumman, the U.S. Air Force is awarding Boeing a $9 million contract to study a Minotaur launch vehicle and a delivery vehicle designed to carry and dispense multiple BLU-108B/B sensor-fused weapons as part of a prompt global strike (PGS) capability, according to a Defense Department contract announcement June 29. PGS entails striking anywhere around the world with a conventional warhead within an hour of launch.
HOT SIGHTS: BAE Systems said July 2 a $183 million U.S. Army award it recently received for thermal weapons sights is the first award under a five-year, indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract that could reach $1 billion. The award from the Army's Program Executive Office Soldier includes increasing production rates to 3,000 per month. The company already is under contract to produce and deliver more than 29,600 Thermal Weapon Sites-II (TWS-II). That five-year, $295 million contract is administered by the Communications-Electronics Command (DAILY, Jan. 22).
AIR FORCE L3 Communications, Link Simulation and Training, Arlington, Texas, is being awarded a firm-fixed-price contract for $18,786,687. The action provides for one Aircrew Training Device (ATD) for the Hellenic Air Force, upgrades to current ATD and associated Contractor Logistics Support (CLS). The work will be complete by June 2011. To date, total funds have been obligated. Headquarters Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8621-07-C-6260).
BAE Systems and the U.K. Royal Air Force (RAF) will deliver a "Convex Flying Program" - part of the contract to supply a total training solution for an order of 66 Hawk advance jet trainers - converting Indian air force-qualified flying instructors and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) test pilots onto the new Indian Hawk.
