TEEING UP: After performing "extensive analysis," International Space Station (ISS) prime contractor Boeing concluded that the golf balls which Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin plans to drive away from the ISS during his Nov. 22 spacewalk will not do any damage if they somehow strike the station, according to Joy Bryant, Boeing's ISS Program Manager. Boeing was instrumental in convincing the Russian organizers of the commercially sponsored event to switch from 15-gram (0.5-ounce) balls to 3-gram (0.1-ounce) balls, she says.
The U.S. Army has ordered 34 additional UH-145 Light Utility Helicopters, bringing the total number of aircraft purchased to 42, contractor EADS North America announced Nov. 9. The LUH requirement is for up to 322 helicopters with a potential total program life-cycle value of more than $2 billion. EADS North America, the prime contractor for the UH-145, was selected by the Army to provide the UH-145 for the Light Utility Helicopter mission requirement on June 30. The value of the new order is $170 million.
BLUE TO GREEN: Only 172 U.S. airmen and sailors transferred into the Army in fiscal 2006, short of the "Blue to Green" program's goal of 200, according to defense officials. The interservice transfers - offered to airmen and sailors identified for discharges - follow efforts to boost ground ranks while air and naval forces are cut to help pay costs. Officials claim a "pretty good jump-start" this fiscal year, with 88 officers and enlisted personnel already approved and another 65 pending.
Nov. 13 - 15 -- Aerospace & Defense (A&D) Programs, Arizona Biltmore Hotel and Spa, Phoenix, Ariz. For information call Lydia Janow at 212-904-3225 or 800-240-7645 ext. 5 or go to http://www.aviationweek.com/conferences. Nov. 14 - 15 -- AAS National Conference and 53rd Annual Meeting: "The Human + Machine Equation," Pasadena Hilton, Pasadena, Calif. For more information call (703) 866-0020 or go to www.astronautical.org.
PROCESS TENSION: While immediate defense appropriations are not expected to change much, if at all, under Democratic congressional control and after Donald Rumsfeld's departure, tension between Capitol Hill and the White House is set to rise as the two government branches battle about budget making. In particular, supplemental spending will come under intensified scrutiny just as the largest-yet supplemental request could travel down Pennsylvania Avenue.
The official word from the Pentagon is that major acquisition programs - based largely on the transformation and jointness concepts championed by outgoing Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld - will continue without interruption despite the secretary's resignation.
NASA and Lockheed Martin are trying to regain full communications with the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) orbiter, which appears to have entered a pre-programmed safe mode after having difficulty moving one of its solar arrays.
The Navy is focusing on how to use directed energy and unmanned aerial vehicles for electronic warfare, according to Bryan Fox of the Naval Surface Warfare Center. DE programs are of particular concern, Fox said Nov. 8 in his briefing, "Enhanced Surface Electronic Capabilities for the Navy," during the 43rd Annual AOC (Association of Old Crows) International Symposium and Convention in Washington. "It's going to change the way we fight," Fox said.
NAVAL RESEARCH: The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory has chosen Telephonics Corp. for a $17.1 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to select commercial, off-the-shelf hardware for a prototype system to "evaluate the performance and effectiveness of discriminator algorithms in a more vigorous airborne environment." Two demonstration systems will collect data, one of which collects flight data and the other shore data, according to a Nov. 8 contract announcement.
Alliant Techsystems (ATK) has joined the Rocketplane Kistler team developing the K-1 two-stage-to-orbit reusable launch vehicle under NASA's Commercial Orbital Space Transportation (COTS) seed-money effort, which is also helping fund the Space X Falcon 9 development. The Utah-based company will oversee final development of the K-1; its assembly at the government-owned Michoud Assembly Facility near New Orleans; construction of an initial launch site in Woomera, Australia, and eventually handle launch operations.
International Launch Services used a Russian Proton rocket to orbit a big direct-broadcast satellite for the Riyadh-based Arab Satellite Communications Organization. It was the first ILS-organized launch since Lockheed Martin sold its interest in the U.S.-Russian joint venture (DAILY, Sept. 8).
Rep. Ike Skelton (D-Mo.), in line to head the House Armed Services Committee, has said he will make oversight of the Pentagon and the Bush administration's military policies a top priority. His Senate Armed Services Committee counterpart, Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), will announce his agenda Nov. 13, but Levin has said repeatedly for the past few weeks that Iraq operations would be his top priority as well. "A comprehensive examination of our current policy in Iraq and identifying options for the future is a must," Skelton said Nov. 8.
The Air Force on Nov. 9 awarded Boeing Co. a $10 billion-$13 billion contract for slightly more than 141 combat, search and rescue (CSAR-X) helicopters. The Boeing HH-47 CSAR-X is a modified version of the popular tandem-rotor Chinook helicopter used heavily by the U.S. Army and Special Forces. "The increased capabilities the CSAR-X will provide our joint force commanders and future civil disaster needs is tremendous," said Gen. Michael Moseley, Air Force chief of staff.
In its biggest deal since it bought TRW four years ago, Northrop Grumman announced it will purchase signals intelligence company Essex Corp. for $580 million ($24 a share). Essex supplies signals and imagery processing systems to the National Security Agency (NSA) and other intelligence and defense agencies. The company, based near the NSA in Columbia, Md., has grown from fewer than 50 employees in 2000 to nearly 1,000. Three classified programs account for about 60 percent of its revenues, which are forecast to be $330-350 million next year.
LONG SERVING: As of Nov. 8, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had served 2,546 days at that job - and 2,119 days for the Bush administration, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said. If Rumsfeld remains in the job until Dec. 29 - which will depend on the approval process for his successor - he will have served 2,597 days. That would make him the longest-serving defense secretary, Whitman said, behind Robert McNamara. If Rumsfeld remains at the post until March 9, Whitman said, the Pentagon chief will then be the longest consecutively serving defense secretary.
DEFENSE SPENDING: The Defense Department spent $499 billion on military activities in 2006, 6.1 percent more than last year, according to the latest Congressional Budget Office monthly update. Military activities accounted for about 3.8 percent of gross domestic product for the past three years, up from 2.9 percent in 2001, the CBO reported Nov. 6. The Army posted the greatest growth in 2006, up 8 percent, compared with 6 percent and 4 percent for the Navy and Air Force, respectively.
Employee attrition is up slightly among Boeing's space shuttle work force following the late August loss of the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) prime contract, although the company has not yet had any employees move directly over to Lockheed Martin's winning CEV team, according to Boeing Space Shuttle Program Manager Steve Oswald.
VOLVO AERO EXPANDS: Volvo Aero will expand its Aero-Craft affiliate in Newington, Conn., by 50 percent, to 67,000 square feet (6,200 square meters), and double its staff to meet increased demand for fan cases. The expansion will serve the GE90 and perhaps the Trent 900, as well as the Trent 1000 and GEnx.
Boeing Space Shuttle Program Manager Steve Oswald says he's not concerned about the "Y2K-ish" problem with the orbiter's computer clocks that might occur during any mission that extended over New Year's Day. Shuttle Discovery is scheduled to launch on the 11-day STS-116 mission some time between Dec. 6 and Dec. 17, which means it should be returning before Jan. 1. However, if the mission launches toward the end of its window and then experiences a delay in orbit, it could be in space for New Year's.
The European Space Agency is among 6,000 representatives attending a United Nations summit in Nairobi aimed at preparing a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. This summit, set for Nov. 6-17, will combine the second meeting of the parties to the protocol and the twelfth session of the conference of the parties to the U.N. framework convention on climate change.
JSF COMPOSITES: EDO Corp. has received a $1.8 million contract from Lockheed Martin Corp. for composites for 14 F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft by December 2008. The composite structures serve the aircraft's proposed stealth properties. "This is a significant contract for EDO because it allows us to demonstrate our composite-materials technology and engineering capabilities to Lockheed Martin and the Department of Defense," said James Smith, EDO chief executive.
