NASA's exploration, science and aeronautics directorates have joined forces to instrument the heat shield for the upcoming Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission to gather aerodynamics data that could help eventually land human astronauts on the red planet.
To help future astronauts establish a lunar outpost and explore the surrounding terrain, the advanced-technology program at NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate (ESMD) is studying rovers, a nuclear power source and in situ resource utilization (ISRU) techniques.
The Malaysian air force is still pushing for Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, but if it doesn't get them, it says it could seek more Sukhoi 30MKM fighters instead. The country expects its 16 remaining Su-30MKMs to arrive by the end of the year, joining two that have already been delivered. Chief of the air force Gen. Azizan Ariffin says airborne warning and control aircraft also are on the shopping list, along with combat search and rescue helicopters.
The House Homeland Security Committee is looking into how a Georgia man infected with a dangerous form of tuberculosis was able to board transatlantic flights in both the U.S. and Europe, even though authorities were looking for him.
The U.S. Navy could cut the number of Joint Strike Fighters (JSFs) planned for purchase if Congress again forces the Pentagon to continue funding an alternative engine for the aircraft, a Navy and Marine Corps acquisition official warned June 4.
China's ability to improve its navy fleet and capabilities make the country a force to be watched and reckoned with, according to a recent Congressional Research Service (CRS) report. "Several elements of China's military modernization have potential implications for future required U.S. Navy capabilities," according to report author Ronald O'Rourke, a CRS specialist in its National Defense Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division.
The biggest challenge facing the aerospace industry in the next 10 years is the government's failure to develop a national security strategy, the head of the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) said June 4. "We don't have a long-term strategy," AIA President and CEO John Douglass told a defense suppliers forum sponsored by Aviation Week. "And without a long-term strategy," the defense department "tends to be victimized by politics," Douglass said.
The U.S. Air Force has awarded Northrop Grumman $12.2 million for work related to the E-10A, which was believed to be an otherwise defunct program come fiscal 2008.
ARMY Longbow L.L.C., Orlando, Fla., was awarded on May 24, 2007, a $28,880,672 firm-fixed-price contract to support the Saudi Arabia AH-64D Apache Longbow Fire Control Radar Programs. The work will be performed in Orlando, Fla., and is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, 2011. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This was a sole source contract initiated on April 17, 2007. The U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., is the contracting activity (W58RGZ-07-C-0129).
HELLFIRE: Lockheed Martin has been awarded a direct commercial sale contract by Eurocopter to support integration of the Hellfire II missile and all-digital M299 missile launcher on the Tiger attack helicopter. The 54-month effort includes training missiles, inert missiles, 80 M299 missile launchers and test equipment. Integration will occur at the Eurocopter facility in Marignane, France, with ground tests beginning this October and flight tests in March 2008. The financial terms of the contract were not disclosed.
Boeing expects to be field testing tactical lasers in the 5-25 kilowatt range within the next six to 12 months, said Lee Gutheinz, company director for high energy laser/electro-optical (HEL/EO) systems. One of the more promising systems is a laser that could hit a Stinger or other portable shoulder-fired (MANPAD) missile in flight to keep it from hitting an aircraft, Gutheinz said June 1. Such a laser could be deployed to a forward operating base in current conflicts, he said.
LAKOTA: The U.S. Army's Light Utility Helicopter, the UH-72A Lakota, has achieved its first unit equipped milestone with the May 22 delivery of six aircraft to the National Training Center Air Ambulance Detachment at Ft. Irwin, Calif., the Army announced June 4. The service intends to procure and field a total of 322 Lakotas, which are built by EADS North America Defense. The estimated ten-year contract value of the program is approximately $2.6 billion.
A threatened strike by aerospace union workers against United Space Alliance (USA) has the potential of affecting the planned June 8 launch of Atlantis on STS-117, especially if weather or technical issues force a launch postponement to the evening of June 9 or later. Local 2061 of the International Association of Machinist and Aerospace Workers voted June 2 to reject a contract offer by USA at Kennedy Space Center, calling the company's offer substandard. The company said it is surprised and disappointed at the union's action.
As industry observers await the expected announcement of the winner of the Joint Cargo Aircraft (JCA) for the U.S. Army and Air Force this month, the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) is looking to redistribute lead acquisition duties from the Army to the Air Force.
CHAMELEON SENSORS: The U.S. Defense Microelectronics Activity (DMA) awarded Signal Technology Corp. a $5.5 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract on May 25 for the Chameleon Phase VI Program. Signal Technology, doing business as Advanced Integrated Systems Division, has been the sole-source contractor for the first five phases of the sensor technology effort, according to a U.S. government FedBizOpps announcement. There were four bids solicited on April 4, 2007, for Phase VI but only one bid was received.
MORE LETHAL: Don't expect to see non-lethal directed energy (DE) weapons like the microwave-transmitting Active Denial System in Iraq soon, says Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute. The weapons simply are too benign for U.S. soldiers battling with lethal-weapon-toting insurgents, Thompson says. A Pentagon consultant for DE programs earlier in this decade, Thompson says there's still interest in developing and deploying such systems. Just not in Iraq and not now.
NEW SHOWTIME: The German TerraSAR-X satellite is slated to be launched on June 15 from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The launch had to be pushed back as technical personnel fixed problems with the Dnepr launcher. The 1.3-metric ton spacecraft is already in Kazakhstan undergoing pre-launch preparations. TerraSAR-X is the first German spacecraft financed through a public-private partnership. Astrium is the industrial partner. The satellite will be placed in a polar orbit at an altitude of 514 kilometers (319 miles). Service life is pegged at five years.
WEBB SERVICING: While NASA is doing everything it can to ensure that its upcoming James Webb Space Telescope won't need to be serviced by astronauts like the Hubble telescope following its 2013 launch, the agency may leave the door open to the possibility. When orbiting at the second Lagrange point roughly 1,000,000 miles from Earth, Webb will be too far out for any current manned spacecraft to reach.
SATCOM NETWORK: Yah Satellite Communications, an affiliate of Abu Dhabi government-owned Mubadala Development, says it has selected EADS Astrium and Thales Alenia Space to supply a 5 billion dirham ($1.4 billion) dual-use satcom network to serve the Middle East, Africa, Europe and Southeast Asia. Neither manufacturer would comment on the deal, but based on past collaborations by the two firms, Astrium could be expected to supply the two spacecraft and Thales the payload and ground segment.
