DOCKED: Russia's Progress M-60 (25P) docked with the International Space Station (ISS) early May 15, safely delivering 5,125 pounds of supplies to the orbiting outpost. The unpiloted cargo-carrier used the automatic Kurs system to dock at the aft end of the Russian-side Zvezda service module, although ISS Expedition 15 Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin was ready to take control with the manual Toru system had it become necessary. Docking came at 1:10 a.m. EDT.
Japan is planning to develop high-power laser weapons next year to strengthen its anti-missile defense system in response to the growing threat from North Korea, Mainichi Shimbum, a Japanese daily, reported May 13. The report said the Defense Ministry was seeking funds to research and develop the ground-based laser weapons in its annual budget request for fiscal 2008.
GMLRS AWARD: The U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command on May 8 awarded Lockheed Martin a $125 million contract modification for the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System's Dual-Purpose Improved Conventional Munitions (DPICM) and unitary rockets. The award, announced by the Defense Department, runs through November 2008. This was a sole-source contract initiated on Nov. 9, 2006, DOD said May 14. Last month an Army official said the 200-pound unitary variant should enter full-rate production in fiscal 2009 (DAILY, April 25).
MBDA has bought key supplier Bayern-Chemie/Protac, which manufactures missile motors. The value of the deal is not being disclosed. Bayern-Chemie/Protac was owned equally by EADS Deutschland and Thales. The unit is being bought by MBDA's German arm, which includes the Lenkflugkorpersysteme (LFK) business. Once completed, Bayern Chemie will be a subsidiary of LFK. The motor maker's turnover is 53 million euros ($72 million) from its two facilities in Aschau am Inn in southern Germany and La Ferte Saint Aubin in France.
CASEY AT BAT: Gen. George Casey Jr., U.S. Army chief of staff, said May 11 that there is some "tweaking" to do, but Rumsfeld-era modularization is the correct path for the Army. It is no secret that the Army, as an institution, "is affected by the cumulative effects of five years at war," he told Pentagon reporters. Current Army modularization and transformation strategies were pushed by controversial former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who was replaced after Democrats won November elections.
Four companies that provide spacecraft to NASA under a catalogue approach will spend as much as $600,000 each over the next four months to deliver data on how their products can accommodate the planned Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM).
The U.S. Navy's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program is pushing for the accelerated development of its most promising candidates. Under program guidelines, there is $15 million available for its accelerated transition (SAT) program for Phase II technologies, which have moved into more detailed demonstrations, SBIR officials said during the May 7-9 2007 Navy Opportunity Forum in Arlington, Va.
Raytheon researchers will test a new interceptor missile's seeker - fired from a fighter - against a boosting ballistic missile in late summer at White Sands Missile Range, N.M.
U.S. Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) has been funding a program that seeks to develop collaborative control for small and mid-sized unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to make more effective use of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) data.
House Democrats are not trying to do away with the U.S. Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) program or seriously diminish the multibillion dollar modernization project, the chairman of the Armed Services' air-land forces subcommittee said May 14.
A May 9 story on the U.S. Navy's Twin-line 29A Array (TL-29A) underwater sensor system listed the wrong manufacturer for the array. Lockheed Martin makes the array and also serves as the design agent, prime contractor and integrator for the TL-29A system. L-3 Communications provides many of the modules for the array. Aerospace Daily regrets the error.
The Pentagon's Joint Requirements Oversight Council (JROC) is keeping acquisition control over the new Mine-Resistant, Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles being bought and fielded to Iraq to make sure they get delivered on time, said Adm. Edmund Giambastiani, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and JROC chairman.
The Department of Defense needs to improve its management of service contracts, which account for an ever-growing portion of military spending and reached $151 billion in fiscal 2006, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). "Over the past decade, DOD has increasingly relied on contractors to provide a range of mission-critical services from operating information technology systems to providing logistical support on the battlefield," GAO said in testimony delivered to the House Appropriations defense subcommittee May 10.
Russia launched another unpiloted Progress resupply vehicle to the International Space Station late May 11, setting up a docking early May 15 using the Kurs system. Progress M-60 (25P) lifted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 11:26 p.m. Eastern time, and antennas and arrays deployed as planned with orbital insertion. Subsequent tests were nominal, clearing the way for docking at about 1:10 a.m. Eastern time May 15 on the ISS Zvezda service module aft port.
The U.S. Air Force surprised no one May 14 by releasing its revised request for proposals (RFP) for the replacement fleet of its combat, search and rescue (CSAR-X) helicopters with a narrow focus on certain lifecycle management issues, industry sources said. Those issues - or the Air Force's inability to deal with them appropriately when it awarded the contract to Boeing - were cited by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) in sustaining the bid protest by losing companies Lockheed Martin and Sikorsky (DAILY, April 20, 26).
AIR FORCE Goodrich Corp., Chelmsford, Mass., is being awarded a $37,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract. This action provides for delivery of two reconnaissance pods, one mobile ground station, and test and integration support. This effort supports foreign military sales to Greece. At this time, $18,449,876 have been obligated. This work will be complete May 2009. Headquarters Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8620-07-C-4021).
NAVY Bell Helicopter Textron, Hurst, Texas, is being awarded $17,485,372 for ceiling-priced-order #0225 under previously awarded contract (N00383-03-G-001B) for spare components for the CV-22 aircraft. Work will be performed in Ridley Park, Pa., and work is expected to be completed by December 2009. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not awarded competitively. The Naval Inventory Control Point is the contracting activity.
RICHARD E. BYRD: The U.S. Navy will christen the USNS Richard E. Byrd at 7:30 p.m. Pacific time May 15 at General Dynamics National Steel and Shipbuilding Company in San Diego, Calif. The 689-foot long vessel will be the fourth in the Navy's new 11-ship T-AKE 1 class of combat logistics force vessels that will replace the current capability of the T-AE 26 Kilauea class ammunition ships, T-AFS 1 Mars class and T-AFS 8 Sirius class combat stores ships.
A communications satellite developed by China for Nigeria is moving toward its geosynchronous orbit station over Somalia following launch from China's Xichang space center May 14 onboard a Long March 3B booster. The flight is China's fourth space mission this year and the 96th straight launch success since the Long March program was revamped in 1998. Two Compass navigation system spacecraft and an oceanographic satellite also have been launched by the Chinese this year.
Secret U.S. reconnaissance and eavesdropping spacecraft were specifically tasked with aiding the search for three U.S. Army soldiers taken prisoner by Al Qaeda or closely aligned terrorists in Iraq on May 12. The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) imaging constellation consists of four Advanced KH-11s with both visible and infrared capabilities and four Lacrosse imaging radar spacecraft. The spacecraft make a total of 16 passes daily over the Mahmoudiya Iraq target area about 20 miles south of Baghdad.
