The Pentagon is negotiating an update to defense procurement deals with Italy and is asking U.S. industry with experience in public defense procurements conducted by or on behalf of the Italian military to speak up, according to a Pentagon notice in the Federal Register. The current Research Defense Procurement Memorandum of Understanding (RDP MOU) includes reciprocal waivers of buy-national laws by each country and the replacement is expected to continue these waivers, defense acquisition officials said in the Oct. 17 notice.
ILLEGAL EXPORTS: The Homeland Security Department's inspector general (IG) said foreign-bound shipments of defense goods are not consistently targeted and inspected by Customs and Border Protection (CPB) officers at U.S. ports for compliance with federal export laws and regulations. CBP does not devote sufficient resources, does not have the information necessary to effectively monitor the program and does not have performance measures to evaluate program results, the IG said in a summary of report published Oct. 17.
The question of whether the burgeoning program for Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles is a "$25 billion Kleenex" that meets only immediate war needs or if the heavily armored personnel carrier is set find a niche in long-term U.S. land forces bedeviled analysts, commenters and military officers gathered on Capitol Hill Oct. 17. Leading Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA) analysts issued a report questioning the Pentagon's crash program this year for more than 15,000 MRAPs costing as much as $25 billion (See charts pp. 6-8).
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has issued 22 safety recommendations springing from its first investigation of an unmanned aircraft accident - the 2006 crash of a Predator B while flying a mission for U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in Arizona.
Top NASA managers have cleared the space shuttle Discovery to launch on Oct. 23 on the STS-120 space station assembly mission, despite concerns over degradation of a protective coating on three reinforced carbon-carbon (RCC) panels that protect the orbiter's wing leading edges from the 3,000-degree heat of reentry.
Achieving stealth in space will be a critical element in dealing with the Chinese threat to U.S. space assets, according to a panel on emerging U.S.-Chinese military competition hosted by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) Oct. 17.
LOCKHEED ACCA: Lockheed Martin announced Oct. 17 that U.S. Air Force researchers will fund Phase II of the company's bid for an Advanced Composite Cargo Aircraft (ACCA) Flight Demonstration contract. The Air Force Research Laboratory's Air Vehicles Directorate is pursuing the aircraft, whose mission is to cut the weight and cost of future military air transports, and in the spring tapped Lockheed and Aurora Flight Sciences to work on demonstrators (DAILY, April 23).
A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta II rocket sent the latest Global Positioning System IIR-M (GPS IIR-17M) satellite on the way to its slot in the GPS constellation Oct. 17 after a launch from Cape Canaveral, Fla. Liftoff of the Delta II came at 8:23 a.m. EDT. All nine of the vehicle's strap-on solid-fuel boosters - six ignited on liftoff and three in the air - had burned out and separated as planned two minutes later.
The Senate passed its $54 billion fiscal 2008 Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) appropriations bill (H.R. 3093) by a vote of 75-19 on the evening of Oct. 16, approving a $17.5 billion budget for NASA and $4.2 billion for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Passage of the bill brightens somewhat NASA's prospects of not having to suffer through another year-long continuing budget resolution for FY '08 - which would amount to about a billion-dollar cut from the agency's request - although the bill faces a showdown with the White House.
FUSE FINISHED: NASA's Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) mission is drawing to a close after eight years in space, NASA announced Oct. 17. The FUSE satellite became inoperable in July when it lost its ability to point accurately at areas of interest. Launched in 1999, FUSE helped scientists answer important questions about the conditions in the universe immediately following the Big Bang, how chemicals disperse throughout galaxies, and the composition of interstellar gas clouds, according to NASA. The agency will formally terminate the mission Oct. 18.
PACKBOT ORDER: The U.S. Army Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training, and Instrumentation (PEO STRI), on behalf of the Robotic Systems Joint Project Office at Redstone Arsenal, Ala., has placed an $8.8 million order with iRobot Corp. for 40 PackBot robots, plus spare parts and equipment, the company announced. The award brings total PackBot orders to date from PEO STRI to $45 million, under a contract with a potential value ceiling of $64.3 million. iRobot expects to complete delivery by the end of June 2008.
FRAMED BETTER: The Defense Department is contracting for Raytheon's Solipsys Tactical Component Network technology in a $45.5 million deal for the sensor netting framework, which is supposed to provide a single integrated picture and joint interoperability for U.S. forces. In its Oct. 16 announcement, Raytheon said the latest DOD award follows one from the department's Missile Defense Agency (MDA) earlier in the year for the ballistic missile defense system.
THWARTED: An amendment by Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) that would have eliminated the $150 million boost to NASA's fiscal 2008 budget request contained in the Senate Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) spending bill failed Oct. 16 after a 70-23 vote to table it. Ensign wanted the cut as an offset to increase funds for the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program. A final Senate vote on the CJS bill was expected later that evening. The White House has threatened to veto the Senate's entire CJS appropriation because of various spending plus-ups.
In the wake of the sudden death of its second-highest-ranking procurement official, the U.S. Air Force must address some lingering competitive concerns. Charles Riechers, 47, the service's principal deputy assistant secretary for acquisitions, was found dead Oct. 14 at his home in South Riding, near Dulles Airport, Va. He apparently committed suicide (DAILY, Oct. 16).
Rover drivers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory may be on the job into 2009 under the fifth extension of Mars Exploration Rover operations. Originally targeted for a 90-day service, the rovers Spirit and Opportunity have weathered mechanical difficulties and a major dust storm (DAILY, July 26) to continue plugging away on opposite sides of the Red Planet since they landed in January 2004.
Pat Shanahan is moving from his former position heading up Boeing Missile Defense Systems to take over the company's 787 commercial airliner program from longtime manager Mike Bair.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and Boeing completed a 12-hour test flight of the A160T Hummingbird Oct. 12, marking the longest flight yet for the unmanned rotorcraft demonstrator. The A160T took off at 6:27 a.m. Pacific time near Victorville, Calif., and landed at 6:32 p.m. The aircraft carried a 500-pound payload at an altitude of 5,000 feet, simulating a multi-sensor operational mission, Boeing said in its Oct. 16 announcement.
Charter U.S. passenger carriers could be more vulnerable to a drop in outsourced Defense Department airlift business after a coming drawdown of major combat forces from Iraq and force reductions overseas, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has found. Nevertheless, a decrease in DOD's use of commercial airlift services, under the Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF), might not take a large dent out of the air transportation industry, CBO says in a new report for House and Senate Armed Services committees. (See charts pp. 6-7).
The Royal Thai Air Force has purchased three Sikorsky S-92 helicopters to transport the Thai royal family, while South Korea's SK Telecom has signed a position agreement for the upcoming S-76D, Sikorsky Aircraft announced Oct. 16. The S-92s, scheduled to be delivered in 2010, are Sikorsky's first sale to the Royal Thai Air Force. Air Chief Marshal Paisal Sitabutr and Sikorsky representatives signed the contract.
SPRINGFIELD, Va. - Rep. Ike Skelton (D-Missouri) believes troops and equipment must be increased in Afghanistan lest the U.S. cede initiative to the Taliban, drug lords and other forces, he told an industry group at a Government Electronics and Information Technology Association conference here Oct. 16
