The U.S. General Services Administration has granted XTAR, the Loral Space & Communications and Hisdesat joint venture, a contract useable by any U.S. federal, state or local agency for X-band transponders. XTAR Chief Operating Officer Denis Curtin, who has been trying to interest the U.S. armed forces in XTAR since its launch in 2005, called the award "significant," noting he expects military, homeland and border security agencies badly in need of added bandwidth to be the most likely users.
Lawmakers will keep their microscopes trained on intelligence funding and acquisitions - especially on Pentagon operations, satellite costs and overall integration efforts, a recent Congressional Research Service report (CRS) says. "The role of the Defense Department and the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence are also likely to be a congressional concern," said the report, "Intelligence Issues for Congress," released last month.
Thales Alenia Space says it has transferred the Rascom-1 telecom satellite to Kourou, French Guiana, where it is to be launched with Intelsat/JSAT Horizons-2 in Arianespace's sixth and final 2007 Ariane 5 mission in December.
ARMOR MARKET: More than $8 billion of material will be required to meet Defense Department armor procurement rates for military ground vehicles between 2007 and 2013, a Vector Strategy report recently projected. The company believes the material market for armor for military ground vehicles will decline slightly in the 2010 to 2011 timeframe, but experience a resurgence by 2013 due to Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) armor and a transition from lower-cost metallic armor solutions to higher cost non-metallic armor solutions.
Asian satcom startup ProtoStar says it has signed up PlanetSky of Cyprus as the initial anchor for its first satellite, targeted at underserved direct-to-home broadcasting markets in Asia. PlanetSky will lease five 36 MHz-equivalent C-band transponders on ProtoStar-1, to be launched next May by Arianespace, allowing the spacecraft to extend service to Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. Other anchor agreements are under discussion, ProtoStar officials say.
LUNAR PROBE: China's Chang'e lunar probe is well on its way to its operational orbit after a successful injection burn Nov. 5 and a subsequent burn Nov. 6 to begin circularizing its orbit. A third burn scheduled Nov. 7 is intended to place the 5,200-pound spacecraft in a circular polar orbit about 120 miles above the lunar surface, orbiting every 127 minutes. China launched the spacecraft on Sept. 14 on a Long March 3A with a cryogenic upper stage.
Thales has completed a campaign of flight-tests intended to show the capability of its TopOwl H-helmet mounted sight/display in a military transport night vision environment. The company says it has sold more than 1,500 units to forces in 15 nations, including the U.S. Marine Corps, which is installing them on AH-1Z Cobras and UH-1Y Hueys.
ANTI-IED CHIEF: The war against improvised explosive devices (IEDs) has a new leader. U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Thomas Metz has been appointed director of the Joint IED Defeat Organization, which is headquartered in Arlington, Va. Metz has been deputy commanding general/chief of staff of U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command.
The Discovery STS-120 astronauts are preparing for landing at Kennedy Space Center Nov. 7 after a re-entry that will sweep from north-to-south across the central U.S. The unusual hypersonic ground track across the U.S. heartland is required to enable mission commander U.S. Air Force Col. (ret.) Pam Melroy to land the orbiter in daylight instead of the night landing planned before launch.
BAE Systems San Diego Ship Repair, San Diego, Calif., is being awarded a $30,982,483 cost-plus-award-fee contract for maintenance, repair and alterations for the USS Bunker Hill (CG 52) Depot Modernization Period. The work will be performed in San Diego, Calif., and is expected to be completed in February 2009. Contract funds in the amount of $21,931,255, will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The contract was competitively procured and advertised via the Internet, with two proposals received.
S-92 SALE: In 2009 Sikorsky will begin delivering 12 S-92 helicopters recently ordered by CHC Helicopter Corp. for offshore transportation requirements and possibly commercial search and rescue (SAR) operations. CHC is under contract to supply aircraft to the U.K.'s Maritime and Coastguard Agency from 2007 to 2012. Sikorsky is offering an S-92 variant for the U.S. Air Force's hotly contested Combat, Search and Rescue-X (CSAR-X) procurement.
Expanding in the Asia Pacific market, Embraer has signed contracts with the Royal Thai Army and the Royal Thai Navy for two ERJ-135 LR (Long-Range) jets. Both agreements include a logistics package, Embraer's Defense and Government business said in a statement. The new ERJ-135 jets will be used for government transportation by both Thai services, as well as for medical evacuation missions by the Royal Thai Navy.
UNDERWATER AWARD: General Dynamics Electric Boat is on its way to a potentially $890 million award - if fully exercised - to continue Virginia-class submarine lead-yard services and related engineering efforts for the U.S. Navy, the company said Nov. 5. A recent contract modification worth $148 million runs through September 2009. Electric Boat will maintain, update and support design drawings and data for each sub during the construction and post-shakedown availability period.
The U.S. District Court of Massachusetts has granted iRobot a preliminary injunction against competitor Robotic FX prohibiting its use of certain features of a track design iRobot says originated with its PackBot. Earlier this year iRobot filed a theft of trade secrets lawsuit against Robotic FX, which was founded by former iRobot employee Jameel Ahed. The suit alleges Ahed stole the secrets before he left and used them to create his own company's Negotiator robot.
House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.) has decried "contrived posturing" by the Bush administration over a growing spending showdown but is showing little willingness to capitulate to President Bush's demands over his fiscal 2008 budget requests.
ITT Corp. may have to up its $1.7 billion bid for EDO Corp. to win shareholder approval of its proposed acquisition of the 82-year-old defense electronics supplier. SAC Capital Advisors, which owns about 6 percent of EDO's outstanding shares, said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing late last week that ITT's $56 a share offer "may be inadequate." EDO has scheduled a special shareholder meeting for Dec. 18 to ratify the acquisition.
As the U.S. Air Force puts together its long-term funding plans, long-lead items in the fiscal year 2009 budget are a must if the service wants to execute its unstated but well-understood plans to get more than 183 Raptors. But sources say the Pentagon is looking to shoot down any attempts to build more F-22s. The Raptor number has always been a flash point for Air Force and Pentagon acquisition officials. The service wanted 750 at first, but as costs rose the Pentagon and lawmakers cut into the number. Compromise
ACQUIRED: Parker Aerospace, an operating segment of Parker Hannifin Corp., has acquired Shaw Aero Devices, a Naples, Fla.-based producer of fuel system components, hydraulic system equipment and other hardware for military and commercial aircraft. Founded in 1956, Aero Devices has 250 employees and annual sales of $45 million. It will be integrated into Parker Aerospace's Air & Fuel Division. Terms of the purchase were not disclosed.
The International Space Station (ISS) is ready to provide power to Europe's Columbus laboratory module, thanks to some spectacular space surgery on its torn solar array. But it will be a race against the clock to get the station ready for the shuttle Atlantis to dock with Columbus before the final launch window of the year slams shut.
