The fiscal 2008 supplemental spending measure on Capitol Hill for combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan is likely to include billions of dollars in unrequested funds for 10 more C-17 airlifters, according to Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.). "We can expect to see additional C-17s purchased through the emergency supplemental ... maybe as many as 10," Carper told Aerospace Daily Oct. 16.
Boeing will integrate the F-22 Raptor into the U.S. Air Force's Distributed Mission Operations (DMO) training network under a $46 million contract from F-22 prime Lockheed Martin, Boeing announced Oct. 16.
Astronauts Roberto Vittori of Italy and Marsha Ivins of NASA cleared 40 dry-cargo items intended for Europe's first Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) during a day-long cargo bench review in Turin, Italy. The manifest for the vehicle, christened the Jules Verne, includes an early edition of Verne's "From the Earth to the Moon," along with some of his original drawings and calculations for space flight.
INTEL I.T.: Northrop Grumman said Oct.15 it recently received a $220 million contract from the National Security Agency to develop an advanced information management and data storage system that will support efforts to modernize electronic intelligence and broader signals intelligence capabilities. Under the 51-month, cost-plus-award-fee Information Management and Storage (IM&S) system development contract, Northrop will provide architecture design, systems engineering, system development, integration, and test and deployment activities.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Satellite communications, advanced orbital mechanics and intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) courses all will be added to the National Security Space Institute's (NSSI) advanced and specialty course curriculum in 2008 in response to perceived gaps in space education and training.
SPACE BILLS: The House of Representatives is expected to pass the following bills honoring aerospace achievements as early as Oct. 16: H.Con.Res. 225, Honoring the 50th anniversary of the dawn of the Space Age, and the ensuing 50 years of productive and peaceful space activities (Rep. Gordon - Science and Technology); H.Res. 736 - Honoring the 60th anniversary of the aeronautics research accomplishments embodied in the breaking of the sound barrier (Rep. Rohrabacher - Science and Technology); H.Con.Res.
DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Conax Florida Corp., St. Petersburg, Fla., is being awarded a $7,496,638.95 firm fixed price, sole source contract for 5,685 4-man HMMWV seat belt kits with an option for 5,685 additional kits that maybe exercised at a later date. Using service is Army. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. There was one proposal originally solicited with one response. Date of performance completion is Jan. 17, 2008. The contracting activity is Defense Supply Center Columbus, Columbus, Ohio (SPM7L2-07-C-0093).
JAPANESE AEGIS: The Japanese destroyer JS KONGO (DDG 173) has arrived in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in anticipation of conducting an Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) weapon system intercept test in December. Known as Japan Flight Test Mission-1 (JFTM-1), the test will include an intercept of a ballistic missile with a separated warhead and will be the first allied Aegis BMD intercept test using the Standard Missile-3 (SM-3). For additional training prior to their flight test, KONGO also will participate in a U.S. Aegis BMD flight test, FTM-13, in November.
BETTER WARTHOGS: During 2008, BAE Systems will modify more than 100 Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve A-10A aircraft stationed around the United States, the company said Oct. 15. The upgrade will improve pilot awareness of the position of friendly ground forces. It also will reduce pilot workload by automatically transferring target coordinates within the aircraft's internal systems and to other aircraft on the network, the company said. Financial details of the work were not provided in BAE's announcement.
Charles D. Riechers, principal deputy assistant secretary of the U.S. Air Force for acquisition and management, was found dead in his home Oct. 14, apparently of a suicide. Reicher was a retired Air Force officer and master navigator specializing in electronic warfare, with 20 years of operational, acquisition and staff experience. He flew more than 1,900 flight hours, with 90 hours of combat and combat support time in B-52G and EC-130H aircraft. He started his current position in January.
TERMINALS: The U.S. Air Force has ordered AN/PSC-14 broadband manpack terminals for secure and non-secure field operations. The terminals combine ViaSat inline encryption equipment with Inmarsat's new high-speed Broadband Global Area Network technology.
U.S. Navy and Marine Corps leaders may have to promote future CH-53K heavy lift helicopters versus MV-22 tiltrotor aircraft and boost Joint High-Speed Vessel (JHSV) and Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) programs if they want to sell the Army on seabasing ground forces for operations, according to a new Rand Corp. study. The assessment division of the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations asked Rand to examine how still-evolving Navy and Marine Corps concepts for seabasing could be applied to joint operations beyond their services.
BTA AWARD: The Pentagon's effort to consolidate, organize and streamline - as well as save money on - its business and information technology systems has led to a new five-year, $76 million award to Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC).
Although the Pentagon is getting better with its assessments and planning for training ranges, the Defense Department is still running behind schedule on its requirements, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported. "DOD has not yet satisfied all of the elements ... that were to be addressed in fiscal year 2004," GAO said in its Oct. 11 report.
NETCENTS PRODUCTS: Consultancy Input says proposed changes to the U.S. Air Force's Network Centric Solutions 2 contract will significantly strengthen product companies' competitive edge contending for this new contract vehicle. The Air Force intends to split up the new $9 billion plus contract structure into three separate pieces: services, products and services - small business, changing the competitive landscape of the program.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected] Oct. 16 -- Air Force Association Symposium on Space, Beverly Hills Hilton, Beverly Hills, Calif. For more information call (703) 247-5800 or go to www.afa.org. Oct. 17 - 18 -- AVIATIONWEEK MRO Asia 2007 Conference & Exhibition, Shanghai, China. For more information call Lydia Janow at (212) 904-3225, fax: (212) 904-3334, email: [email protected], http://www. aviationweek.com/conferences.
RUSSIA RISING: A "resurgent Russia" worries the commander of U.S. Army in Europe, Gen. David McKiernan, and his concerns are heightened by the resumption of Russian long-range reconnaissance missions and the sale of arms to politically worrisome nations. If Russia becomes a military threat, however, the signs will come from other indicators, such as reorganization and expansion of heavy armored units and actions outside Russia's borders against neighbors like Georgia or Azerbaijan.
CANADA IN AFGHANISTAN: An independent panel formed by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper will advise on options for Canada's mission in Afghanistan after the mandate ends in February 2009. About 2,500 Canadian troops are in Afghanistan - mostly in Kandahar - as part of the U.N.-sanctioned and NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
SPACE WEATHER: Changes in the sensor suite planned for the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) are presenting problems for space weather prediction capabilities. Some of NPOESS' sensors were dropped after the program was restructured last year, and officials still are looking for a way to get them into orbit. This leaves U.S.
