NASA has unveiled early plans for establishing a lunar base at either the south or north poles of the moon that would be home to future astronauts staying up to 180 days following NASA's return to the moon before the end of the next decade. The polar regions are considered desirable because of the large amount of sunlight they receive, their relative lack of temperature variation, and the fact that little is known about them scientifically. Right now the agency is leaning toward the south pole.
NO RFP UPDATE: The U.S. Air Force's promised update to a Sept. 25 draft request for proposals for the KC-X future refueling tanker was not released on Dec. 4 as planned. Sue Payton, the service's acquisition chief, said Nov. 30 "when you read the language ... it will make things much clearer" on controversial issues surrounding the program, including the Air Force's request for information from bidders - Boeing vs. a Northrop Grumman/EADS North America team - on whether a ruling on an ongoing trade dispute before the World Trade Organization could affect pricing.
Defense Department contracting and program personnel did not comply with acquisition rules and regulations when using non-DOD acquisition contracts, the Pentagon's inspector general's office found in a Nov. 13 report on a review of DOD contracting through NASA.
POGO PLEA: The Project on Government Oversight is urging Sens. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.), and Reps. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) to look into an alleged "upsurge" in no-bid commercial items contracts. The friendly request -- the lawmakers are vocal supporters of acquisition reform and oversight -- stems from a Sept.
GUARDED GROWTH: Army Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau, still opposes cuts to Air National Guard personnel levels and continues to call for even increasing the ranks beyond 106,000 - a countermove to active Air Force and Air Force Reserve reduction plans. Blum admits he's doing "a very delicate kabuki dance" with Air Force, Pentagon and congressional leaders as he tries to determine exactly what size the Air Guard should be.
F-18 ATFLIRS: The U.S. Navy has ordered $28 million worth of repairs from Raytheon Space & Airborne Systems for Advanced Targeting Forward Looking Infrared Radar (ATFLIR) Systems on the F/A-18 aircraft, especially the Electro-Optical Sensor Unit. The work will be performed in El Segundo, Calif., and is expected to be completed by December 2007.
DISPOSABLE EW: Top BAE Systems officials who are mapping the company's future technology investments say there may be transmitters in a few years so small they can be spray-painted onto a surface, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) one-tenth the size and cost -- but several times the capability -- of current designs and disposable electronic warfare (EW) systems that are cheaper to replace than repair.
RETIREMENT ISSUE: U.S. Air Force leaders are pushing the aircraft retirement issue again, claiming they will have to retire an additional 654 aging aircraft over the latest five-year defense budget plan, according to a slick new brochure being passed around Washington. Congress is letting them retire 302 of 354 aircraft they requested during fiscal 2007 under the recent defense authorization act, although 108 were "further restricted" by lawmakers as to the condition or timing of retirement (DAILY, Oct. 4).
IRAQ OPTIONS: The rumors about what the military's study group is looking at for future Iraq plans are probably all true, says Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "Bits and pieces somehow are leaking out," he says. "When somebody hears one end of the spectrum or the other," that get reported as the primary plan. "It's part of the whole spectrum we're looking at, whether it's...beefing up or ...skinnying down.
GRINCH TIME: As the holidays near -- and even though Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has resigned -- wary program officials in the Pentagon and industry are preparing for a third annual surprise budget slashing. The White House and Pentagon are finalizing the second fiscal 2007 supplemental appropriation request, which is expected to come in between $130-$160 billion.
HEZBOLLAH PSYOPS: Hezbollah is incapable of penetrating and exploiting the Israeli army's tactical radio systems as it claimed it did during the recent fighting in Lebanon, say senior U.S. electronics industry officials. Even so, the militant Islamic organization is parlaying the results of a relatively common signals intelligence capability, analyzing communications traffic and intercepting cell phone calls into a major psychological warfare victory, say U.S. officials. The success has been so complete that both Israel Defense Force and U.S.
Dec. 5 - 6 -- SMi: NATO Defence Procurement: Objectives, Programs and Opportunities; Brussels. For more information call +44 (0) 20 7827 6000, fax: +44 (0) 20 7827 6001; email: [email protected]. Dec. 5 - 6 -- Aerospace & Defense Finance Conference, CSFB Headquarters, New York City, N.Y. For information call Lydia Janow at (212) 904-3225 or (800) 240-7645 ext. 5 or go to http://www.aviationweek.com/ conferences.
United Launch Alliance (ULA) formally opened for business Dec. 1, embarking on a two-year plan to consolidate Atlas and Delta rocket operations primarily in Denver, Colo., and Decatur, Ala. ULA is a 50-50 joint venture between Atlas builder Lockheed Martin and Delta manufacturer Boeing that will have just under $2 billion in annual sales at startup. The company begins life with 3,800 employees total - 1,500 from the Atlas program and 2,300 from Delta.
PAD RESTRICTION: For safety reasons, NASA will be placing additional restrictions on access to the launch pad in the final days leading up to the planned Dec. 7 liftoff of shuttle Discovery on mission STS-116. The agency's concern is over composite tanks, known as over-wrap pressure vessels, which are used to pressurize systems on the orbiter. Evidence suggests that the tanks, developed 25 years ago, could fail over time. "We have an aggressive test program under way to try to understand how that affects us," Shuttle Program Manager Wayne Hale says.
The U.S. Navy has funded an $860.6 million contract modification to a previously awarded contract to Northrop Grumman Corp. for continued work on the futuristic CVN 21 aircraft carrier program. The base contract modification is valued at roughly $754 million with an additional $106.7 million in options. This expected additional work brings the total value of the contract to $2.2 billion, according to the company.
The Nuclear Weapons Council (NWC), a working group of senior Pentagon and National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) officials, decided Dec. 1 to proceed with the Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW) program after reviewing competing designs from Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories. The two labs now will compete to gain acceptance of their respective designs for the replacement warhead, which aims to create an improved and safer nuclear weapons stockpile without traditional means such as nuclear tests.
BATTLELAB CONTRACT: Goodrich Corp. said Nov. 30 that it was awarded a U.S. Air Force Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Battlelab contract to develop and fabricate a shortwave infrared sensor for the Spectre-Finder initiative. The goal is to demonstrate the potential of a small, air-launched and recoverable unmanned aircraft to provide off-board sensing for future Air Force Special Operations Command concepts of operation. Goodrich's team will develop a SWIR camera payload assembly.
The U.K. government has tapped a team of Lockheed Martin and the VT Group to be the preferred bidder for the country's 6 million pound ($11.8 million) Military Flying Training System program. The so-called Ascent Team beat out the rival Thales-led Sterling bid and the Vector team, led by KBR and Bombardier.
WEAPONS MOUNTS: Tonsberg, Norway-based Vinghog AS has been awarded an $8.4 million contract to provide the U.S. military with Improved Crew Served Weapons Mounts for MK47 Advanced Lightweight Grenade Launchers, the U.S. Defense Department said Nov. 29. The mounts, which help improve accuracy when firing on the move, will also be used with M2 and M240 machine guns. The work will be done in Norway and is expected to be completed by November 2011. The contract was awarded by The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division, Crane, Ind.
NASA says it will continue to support its Centennial Challenges prize program, despite the fact that Congress may be on the brink of denying funding to the effort for the second year in a row. Senate appropriators have voted to deny the program's $10 million fiscal 2007 budget request, although the Senate and House have yet to agree on a final FY '07 NASA budget (DAILY, Nov. 29).
