The House Appropriations Committee (HAC) has provided an additional $23 million to restore climate sensors cut from the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) in its fiscal 2008 spending bill. When faced with cost overruns on the multi-agency NPOESS weather satellite program, the U.S. Air Force and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) cut back on sensors to meet satellite deployment deadlines.
At least eight components of the Lockheed Martin Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) have caused problems during the stealthy cruise missile's troubled past, contributing to the missile's 42 percent failure rate in recent months. All of the issues are being addressed and some of the involved systems are being fixed or replaced (see chart p. 2). The steady stream of issues, though, demonstrates a pattern of failures that traces back to the first lot of deliveries.
Eurocopter's hopes of supplying 197 helicopters to the Indian army may be fading, with the Indian government expected to call for retrials of Eurocopter's AS 550 C3 Fennec versus Bell's 407 despite Eurocopter having already entered into the final phase of negotiations.
JSF PARTS: The U.S. Navy awarded Lockheed Martin a $2.4 billion contract on July 28, to begin production of 12 F-35 Lightning IIs. The money will cover low-rate initial production (LRIP) parts, materials, and long-lead items. Six of the F-35s are conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) aircraft for the U.S. Air Force, while the other six are short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) aircraft for the U.S. Marine Corps. Work will take place in Fort Worth, Texas; El Segundo, California; and Samlesbury, England; and is scheduled to be complete by February 2011.
Boeing and the Lockheed Martin/Northrop Grumman team submitted their proposals July 30 for the space segment of the U.S. Air Force's multibillion dollar Transformational Satellite Communications System (TSAT). TSAT is considered by the Pentagon to be a critical part of its future communications network. The five-satellite array will replace current satellite communication systems with in-space laser links for higher bandwidth.
ARMY Comtech Mobile Datacom Corp., Germantown, Md., was awarded on July 6, 2007, a $7,800,000 firm-fixed-price contract for MT-2011F Transceivers. The work will be performed in Tempe, Ariz., and is expected to be completed by Aug. 10, 2007. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This was a sole source contract initiated on June 29, 2007. The U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command, Fort Monmouth, N.J., is the contracting activity (W15P7T-07-C-J416). NAVY
UK TANKER: EADS says the AirTanker consortium it heads has issued an offer aimed at raising 2 billion pounds ($4 billion) to help fund the U.K.'s Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft program. If the offer is successful, it could reinforce chances of closing a deal for the multi-billion dollar private financing initiative with the U.K. defense ministry towards year's end.
B-52 INTERNET: Telephonics Corp. will add an Internet Protocol advanced data controller function to a digital audio distribution system it is developing for the Boeing B-52H under a contract modification from Boeing. This will consist of a network interface module in the secure digital intercom system on the aircraft to provide internet enabled communications between the aircraft and the ground over satellite communications radios. Bomber crews then will have secure data message and file transfer capability plus e-mail and text chat.
An employee of Invocon Inc., a Houston-based subcontractor to Boeing and United Space Alliance, is the focus of an investigation by the FBI, NASA and other federal authorities for alleged sabotage of a small computer box planned for launch to the International Space Station (ISS) on STS-118 Aug. 7.
ASTRONAUT HEARING: In the wake of a NASA report that some astronauts were intoxicated when they boarded their vehicles (see story p. 3), the House Science and Technology Committee plans a hearing in the first week of September to review this and other issues related to astronaut medical and behavioral health. "Drinking and driving is never a good idea - least of all when the vehicle involved is a multi-billion dollar space shuttle or a high performance jet aircraft," committee chairman Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.) says.
GRILLING NUSSLE: House Science space and aeronautics subcommittee chairman Mark Udall (D-Colo.) wants Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) to question James Nussle about his views on NASA's budget during Nussle's hearing for confirmation as the next director of the White House Office of Management and Budget. "I am concerned about the growing mismatch between the resources being provided to NASA by the administration and the tasks that NASA is asked to carry out," Udall says in a letter to Conrad. "If Mr.
The financial - and thus, military - interest on the part of the Bush administration in helping Lebanon is growing, according to a recent report by the Congressional Research Service (CRS). "The Administration's FY2007 emergency supplemental request includes $220 million in FMF (Foreign Military Financing) for Lebanon, a significant increase from previous levels," says the July 12 report.
ROCKWELL RESULTS: Rockwell Collins reported a 21 percent increase in net income in the third fiscal quarter (April-June). Net income was up to $146 million from $121 million in the same period a year ago. Earnings per share also rose 23 percent to 86 cents a share from 70 cents a share a year ago. Third quarter sales increased to $1.113 billion, up 15 percent from last year's figure of $964 million.
UAV FMS: Thales says it expects to conclude by the end of the summer an agreement with a U.S. manufacturer to team for an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) system foreign military sale, possibly for deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan. Executives say Thales is in discussion with Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin and Honeywell for the system, which would draw on experience with the U.K. Watchkeeper tactical UAV and be equipped with a U.S. air vehicle and Thales and/or U.S. subsystems.
Although the House Appropriations Committee (HAC) expressed a number of concerns in the report on its version of NASA's fiscal 2008 spending bill, it increased funding by $313 million to $17.6 billion, in the hopes that the funds will be directed to making much-needed improvements.
The medical panel set up to review U.S. astronaut health monitoring found that one astronaut was deemed too drunk to fly after reporting for a shuttle launch that was subsequently scrubbed for mechanical reasons, but still was allowed to board a T-38 trainer jet for the return to Houston. A second astronaut apparently was allowed to board a Russian Soyuz vehicle and fly in it to the International Space Station under similar circumstances, according to Col. Richard Bachmann, dean of the Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine and chairman of the panel.
SLOW DOWN: The House Appropriations defense subcommittee is trying to rein in the U.S. Air Force's push to gain control of acquisition and operations of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). In its fiscal 2008 spending bill, the committee "strongly cautions against" changes in existing UAV management structures. Before any changes are made, the committee directs the Pentagon to analyze the issue and brief Congress on its findings. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. T.
Shrugging off a White House veto threat, the Senate has overwhelmingly passed the fiscal 2008 Homeland Security appropriations bill that increases spending on aviation, port and border security. The $40.6 billion measure is $5.2 billion more than the department's original budget request, prompting the veto threat. The measure will now go to a House-Senate conference where negotiators will reconcile differences between the $36.3 billion legislation passed by the House.
