HUNTSVILLE, Ala. - Terse rhetoric from Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez has apparently gotten the attention of technical experts at the Missiles and Space Intelligence Center (MSIC). During an Aug. 14 briefing here at the Army's Space and Missile Defense Command's annual conference, Pam McCue, director of the MSIC, added the oil-rich nation of Venezuela to an oft-recited watch list of nations possessing, selling or seeking weapons technology that could threaten the United States or its allies if proliferated.
BATTLE MANAGEMENT: MEADS International, prime contractor for the joint-U.S.-Germany-Italy Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS), has revealed its battle management tactical operations center (TOC) for the system. Battle management decisions will be made in the TOC shelter, which will couple engagement operations and force operations with intrasystem and intersystem interoperability networks.
The U.S. Air Force has completed final preparation for transitioning its Global Positioning System (GPS) ground segment to the new Architecture Evolution Plan (AEP). The modernization plan has been slowly evolving over the past few years, with a targeted early- to mid-September 2007 transition date.
Lockheed Martin officials have no comment on having missed major milestones in the development of the VH-71, resulting in its being denied a bonus by the U.S. Navy. The award fee "was dependent upon successful completion of key design milestones during the first year of the program," says Naval Air Systems Command spokeswoman Stephanie Vendrasco in a statement. "While these milestones were achieved, it was subsequent to the contracted dates."
The Anniston Army Depot, in conjunction with Honeywell International, completed the first set of durability AGT 1500 turbine engines as part of the Army's Total Integrated Engine Revitalization (TIGER) program. Testing on the four engines and upgraded transmissions was conducted at Yuma Proving Ground, Ariz., in July, where the powerpack was mated and tested on the M1 Abrams tank.
The Defense Department will soon award a master freight contract for the shipping of military-related goods throughout the United States. The Defense Transportation Coordination Initiative (DTCI) contract would be worth about $1.5 billion and run over a seven-year period, according to U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) and Pentagon reports. Recently released DOD documents show the Pentagon plans to award a contract in the third quarter of this year and possibly this month.
OSPREY ADDED: Bell-Boeing's joint program office has been awarded an $82.4 million U.S. Naval Air Systems Command contract add-on to begin production of an additional U.S. Air Force CV-22 Osprey special operations tilt-rotor aircraft. The contract modification runs through December 2010.
COMBAT-READY: Boeing announced Aug. 14 that its CH-47F Chinook helicopter is certified combat-ready by the U.S. Army, and has been fielded to the first operational unit. Boeing unveiled the aircraft in June 2006, after which the CH-47F successfully completed air worthiness and functional tests. In April 2007, the aircraft completed more than 60 hours of flight-testing, which included simulated mission scenarios, air assault, combat resupply, and transport operations.
JSF SOFTWARE: Prime contractor Lockheed Martin has accepted delivery from Northrop Grumman of the initial release of software required to perform manufacturing checkout of the F-35B Lightning II short takeoff vertical landing (STOVL) variant. The initial laboratory release of the software was in October 2006, as part of a larger subcontract with Lockheed Martin, the value of which is unspecified at this time. Northrop Grumman has been delivering software for the first F-35 STOVL for the past two years, according to the company.
BLUE FORCE UPGRADES: The U.S. Army's Communications-Electronics Life Cycle Management Command is awarding DRS Technologies a $131 million contract for Applique computer systems for the service's Force XXI Battle Command, Brigade and Below/Blue Force Tracking programs. The company's Melbourne, Fla., unit will perform the work and is scheduled to begin delivering the computer systems this November. The systems will include multicore processors and increased memory for better graphics processing, data handling and system networking capabilities.
SPACE TELEMETRY: The U.S. Air Force has awarded ViaSat, Inc. an $8 million contract for Space Telemetry Tracking and Commanding (TT&C) Ground Operating Increment One (GOE I1). The GOE I1 will replace the existing GOE and will be the space TT&C solution for new satellite ground stations. So far, $1.23 million has been obligated. Solicitations began in Dec. 2006 and negotiations were completed in June 2007. Work is scheduled to be finished by July 2012.
The Bush administration on Aug. 14 released a report that proposes giving the Interior Department responsibility for coordinating and planning the future of Landsat-type imagery of the Earth's surface. No single government agency up to this point has been assigned responsibility for ensuring the future of Landsat imagery, which is distributed by the Interior Department's U.S. Geological Survey.
NASA's new $1.8 billion development contract with Alliant Techsystems (ATK) for the first stage of the Ares I crew launch vehicle will support a suborbital test of a boilerplate version as early as April 2009. Development and subsequent production of the five-segment version of the four-segment reusable solid rocket motor (RSRM) that the company already builds for the space shuttle program also will help keep the 1,500-person ATK workforce for the hardware stable as NASA shifts from the shuttle to the Ares I and its heavy-lift Ares V variant.
Earlier this month, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) completed its tenth autonomous airborne refueling demonstration (AARD) flight, demonstrating the capability of unmanned aircraft to refuel autonomously while airborne.
Boeing has been awarded a $30 million contract to continue providing Boeing Broadband Satcom Network (BBSN) service to the U.S. Air Force's Mobility Command. The program - a government analog to the canceled Connexion by Boeing commercial airline service - provides high-speed Internet communications and direct broadcast satellite television for the U.S. government's special air mission and VIP aircraft.
PROJECT LISTENER: L-3 Communications Integrated Systems is one of two preferred bidders in the $2 million, 10-month assessment phase of Project Listener for the British military, the company said Aug. 14. Main Gate for the project is scheduled for 2009 following this risk reduction and definition phase. Project Listener is supposed to integrate sensor products for targets and provide interoperability between the U.K., U.S. and coalition ISR and target-acquisition systems. The company had an advantage in that it equipped U.K.
STATION SUPPLIES: Astronauts and cosmonauts on space shuttle Endeavour and the International Space Station (ISS) stayed indoors Aug. 14, transferring supplies from the shuttle to the station and unneeded hardware the other way, and using the robot arm to install another external stowage platform (ESP-3) to the port-side ISS truss. Endeavour mission specialist Rick Mastracchio was scheduled to take his third spacewalk of the mission Aug. 15, accompanied by ISS Expedition 15 flight engineer Clay Anderson.
Forecasting "decades" of "persistent conflict," top U.S. Army Gen. George Casey called on Washington leaders and the U.S. public to ante up and sustain a multiyear effort to grow, modernize and reorganize the "stressed and strained" land force. "It's hard for me to believe we're really not in for decades of persistent conflict," the Army chief of staff told a National Press Club audience Aug. 14.
NORWEGIAN AEGIS: U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command is awarding Lockheed Martin's Maritime Systems & Sensors unit a $23.1 million contract for the operation and maintenance of a limited in-service support program for the Royal Norwegian Navy new frigate (NNF) F310 CL program, the Pentagon said Aug. 13.
