SBIRS TEST: Lockheed Martin said Aug. 1 that it successfully completed an end-to-end test between the space and ground elements of the Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS) and called it a key milestone in preparation for launch and on-orbit operations of the program's first geosynchronous orbit (GEO) spacecraft. The Interim Mission Control Station Backup in Boulder, Colo., Lockheed Martin's SBIRS Auxiliary Support Center, Northrop Grumman's Satellite Payload Operational Test Station and the satellite Functional Test Assembly participated in the interface.
The Bush administration is looking to add $5.3 billion to already requested fiscal 2008 defense supplemental appropriations "to maximize production and fielding" of Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles, according to officials' statements and documents. The FY '08 off-budget request, sent to Capitol Hill in February with the base budget request, contained $400 million for MRAPs. But the total FY '08 requirement is now projected to be $5.8 billion, Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England recently told the House Budget Committee.
The U.S. Navy has chosen Northrop Grumman over Boeing for a $635.9 million award for the Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstration (UCAS-D) effort. The demo will involve shipboard operation, including catapult takeoffs, arrested landings and flights in the immediate vicinity of an aircraft carrier, according to Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR). Flight-testing is scheduled to begin in late 2009 and culminate with carrier-based operations by September 2013 when the UCAS-D award runs out.
CBP Air and Marine, the aviation branch of Customs and Border Protection (CPB), has taken delivery of two AgustaWestland AW 139 medium-lift helicopters in Miami. The multi-engine helos "will strengthen Air and Marine's ability to transport law enforcement personnel and provide surveillance in support of homeland security operations in challenging environments," said Michael Kostelnik, head of CBP Air and Marine.
DMSP SENSORS: The Pentagon has solidified contract details with Northrop Grumman to provide sensor work to extend flights 19 and 20 of the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP). Dates to launch these Pentagon-operated weather satellites have been extended to bridge a gap in coverage until the new Defense and Commerce Department National Polar Orbiting Operational Satellite System (NPOESS) is declared operational. The $11 billion NPOESS effort experienced technical difficulties, prompting a launch delay of the program's first sensors to 2009.
A group of House lawmakers wrote Defense Secretary Robert Gates Aug. 1 to use the new urgency in Washington for Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles "to improve the efficiency" of military spending overall.
Finally, the U.S. Air Force's $5 billion multiyear contract to purchase 60 F-22s over three years has been signed, followed by a huge, collective sigh of relief from Lockheed Martin. Congress had until 5 p.m. July 31 to file any objections to the deal. While the process ended in silence, it didn't start that way. To satisfy Congress, the Secretary of Defense had to certify that the deal qualified for a multiyear contract. Lockheed Martin officials note that nobody else has had to do that.
Despite widening war opposition on Capitol Hill, underlying defense budgets continue to be strong, with the House Appropriations Committee's (HAC) markup of fiscal 2008 legislation further reaffirming that a Democratic Congress wants to avoid the stigma of being weak on defense, Wall Street analysts say. While there continues to be rhetoric regarding mandatory troop withdrawals, the reality is that the core Defense Department investment account is up 13 percent while core procurement is up 24 percent from FY '07 under the HAC bill, Citigroup analysts say.
James Kenyon, acting associate director of aerospace technology in the Office of the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Science and Technology, has put out another call for white papers supporting the nation's aeronautics research and development (R&D) policy.
EFV AWARD: U.S. Marine Corps Systems Command is contracting $6.2 million more to General Dynamics Land Systems for the embattled Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV) program. The contract modification is for sustaining program management, as well as technical and engineering support for EFV drive train components. The work will be performed in Indianapolis, Ind., and should be completed by September 2008, according to a July 31 announcement from the Pentagon.
F-119 DEFINITIZED: The U.S. Air Force has definitized the F-119 engine multiyear contract with Pratt & Whitney, the Pentagon said July 31. The company is being awarded a fixed-price with economic price adjustment and firm-fixed-price contract modification for almost $1.3 billion. Already, $367.6 million has been obligated. The work runs through February 2011. The company's F-119 powers the F-22, which is budgeted for at least 180 aircraft - if not far more eventually given Air Force requirements and certain desires to sell the fighter abroad (DAILY, July 31).
The creation of the Pentagon's new Africa Command will not lead to a standing U.S. operational force on the continent, a Defense Department official told a Senate hearing Aug.1. There is "no intention of basing troops or forces on the African continent," Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Theresa Whelan said during a hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The Bush administration announced in February that it was creating an Africa Command in response to national security, humanitarian and diplomatic concerns.
Within the next few weeks, NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in California expects to have finalized an agreement to transfer two of the oldest U.S. Air Force Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) over to NASA ownership. The two UAVs, which currently are parked outside a hangar at nearby Edwards Air Force Base, are expected to be transported to Dryden in October, according to Dryden spokesman Alan Brown. Produced in the program's advanced concept technology demonstration (ACTD) configuration, they are Global Hawks #1 and #6.
NASA's nuclear-powered Cassini probe may dip to within 30 kilometers (19 miles) of Saturn's moon Enceladus next March to collect data in situ on the mysterious geysers that erupt from trenches on the tiny moon and spew hundreds of kilometers into space.
U.S. Army commanders and troops have come to view the Army's Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) as their "70-kilometer sniper rifle," but enemy forces in Iraq see the weapon in a starker light. "The enemy is calling it the 'Hand of Allah,'" said Col. David Rice, Army program manager - Precision Fires Rockets & Missile Systems. For enemy forces, the rockets seemingly come from nowhere, Rice said Aug. 1 during a press briefing on the program.
The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) F-35 will have to undergo three more production blocks before reaching the capability of the F/A-18, according to Boeing Integrated Defense Systems Vice President and F/A-18 Program Manager Robert Grover.
President Bush's choice to be the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said July 31 that he favors deploying ballistic missile defense system (BMDS) components "as soon as they become available." In written answers to questions from the Senate Armed Services Committee, U.S. Navy Adm. Michael Mullen said "the threats we face today" make it important to get those components deployed, even if they are deployed before they are completely operationally effective.
Workers at the Sea Launch homeport facility in Long Beach, Calif., expect to take delivery in mid-August of a new flame deflector to install in the launch services provider's Sea Launch Odyssey floating launch pad. Russia's Design Bureau for Transport Machinery has completed the massive replacement part for the Zenit 3SL launch infrastructure on Odyssey, which was destroyed by an on-pad launcher explosion Jan. 30 (DAILY, Feb. 2).
ENGINES: The Pentagon has awarded Pratt & Whitney a $1 billion contract for an unspecified number of F117-PW-100 engines, the powerplants that drive the C-17 Globemaster. Solicitations were issued in August 2006, negotiations wrapped up in June, and work on the engines will be completed by 2012. The U.S. Air Force first awarded Pratt & Whitney $1.4 billion in 2003 for the manufacture of 240 C-17 engines.
John S. Malanowski has been named vice president of human resources. James R. McCoy has been appointed vice president and chief information officer of the Intelligence and Information Systems business.
