Thales Alenia Space is exploring possible space-related activities in India. "We are monitoring development in the launch market as a user," said Pascalle Sourisse, senior vice president, president and CEO of Thales Alenia Space. She added the relationship could also be a two-way one, with India supplying products to Thales Alenia.
U.S. Coast Guard engineers had identified and warned of the fatigue problems -- years ago -- that were recently acknowledged with the Deepwater program's security cutters, said Rear. Adm. Gary Blore. The engineers made the warnings two to three years ago, Blore said, but the comments failed to have the effects they should have because of internal communications problems with the Coast Guard.
U.S. military planners are increasingly interested in buying electro-optical scene-matching capability for some weapons that would allow them to discriminate and confirm targets using previously captured imagery.
A team of European scientists has discovered the first presence of water vapor on an extrasolar planet. The discovery, using data from NASA's Spitzer space telescope, was made by studying infrared bands as the planet HD 189733b transited in front of its parent star, located in the constellation Vulpecula.
NASA may shift seed money for private-rocket development to another company under its Commercial Orbital Transportation System (COTS) program if Rocketplane Kistler (RpK) can't meet its financial milestones, according to Scott Horowitz, the agency's outgoing exploration systems chief.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected] July 30 - Aug. 2 -- 2007 Naval S&T Partnership Conference, "The Navy After Next... Powered by Naval Research II -- Power & Energy for the Fleet and Force," Marriott Wardman Park, Washington, D.C. For more information go to www.ndia.org/meetings/7200. Aug. 6 - 9 -- AUVSI's Unmmaned Systems North America 2007, Washington Convention Center, Washington, D.C. For more information go to www.auvsi.org.
FCS RENAMING: The U.S. Army is going to rename its number-one development and acquisition program, the Future Combat Systems (FCS), says Lt. Gen. David Melcher, military deputy for budget, assistant secretary of the Army for financial management and comptroller. "It's not the 'future' any more," Melcher says. "It's happening today." The service is already using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), robotics and other systems generally associated with FCS, he says, adding that "spin-outs" of FCS technology to the current force are expected soon.
COMING HOME: Jack Bell, deputy undersecretary of defense for logistics and materiel readiness, says there is "extensive" planning under way inside the Defense Department to make sure it brings home the right equipment and troops at the right time from Iraq. Planning is occurring in the Pentagon and in the Central Command in the Persian Gulf for how U.S. forces will return major forces from the region, whenever that occurs. Air Force Gen.
FINAL DAYS: The final go-ahead for decommissioning the Orbital Express spacecraft is expected in a matter of days, says Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency spokeswoman Jan Walker. Launched in March, the dual-spacecraft mission has pioneered a number of on-orbit satellite servicing techniques, including component and propellant transfer. The formal end of the mission was delayed while U.S. Air Force officials pondered possible mission extensions.
N-UCAS SUPPORT: Retired Rear Adm. Eric McVadon says that while the U.S. Navy's proposed unmanned combat air system (N-UCAS) will not be a panacea for U.S. requirements, it will go a long way toward overcoming a mostly defensive posture that U.S. aircraft carriers otherwise would take against China's growing fleet of diesel-electric Kilo submarines that are armed with SS-N-27B anti-ship cruise missiles.
WMD TEAM: DOD notified Congress July 13 that the Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team (WMD-CST) of the South Dakota National Guard is now certified. The 82nd WMD-CST of Rapid City, S.D., is one of 52 teams now certified to assist civil authorities in responding to a domestic WMD incident, DOD said. Congress has authorized a total of 55 WMD-CSTs, which is enough to field at least one in every state and territory, as well as Washington, D.C. The remaining three teams will be certified by September 2007.
ORION ABORT: Orbital Sciences Corp. will pay Alliant Techsystems $62.5 million to develop and produce the largest of three solid-fuel rocket motors that will make up the launch abort system (LAS) for NASA's planned Orion crew exploration vehicle. The company already has tested a subscale version of the LAS main abort motor four times at its Promontory, Utah, facility - once under the contract with Orbital and three times with its own funds, according to a spokesperson.
GEVEDEN LEAVING: NASA Chief Engineer Christopher Scolese will take over as associate administrator of the U.S. space agency at the end of July, replacing Rex Geveden. Geveden announced July 11 he was resigning to become president of Teledyne Brown Engineering. In that position he will return to Huntsville, Ala., where he served as deputy director of Marshall Space Flight Center and program manager on the Gravity Probe B mission.
The U.S. Army is going to need more procurement funding to buy mine-resistant, ambush-protected (MRAP) vehicles, says a key service acquisition official. Currently, Army budgets call for a little more than $1 billion each year in fiscal year 2007 and 2008 for MRAPs, said Lt. Gen. David Melcher, military deputy for budget, assistant secretary of the Army for financial management and comptroller. But, Melcher said July 12 during an address at the AFCEA Army IT day, the service may need about $8 billion for MRAPs in fiscal 2008.
ARMY IT: The U.S. Army plans to spend about $7.5 billion a year for information technology (IT)-related systems for the next few years, according to Lt. Gen. David Melcher, military deputy for budget, assistant secretary of the Army for financial management and comptroller. Those systems will be needed as the service continues to make significant upgrades in its communications and meets other technology needs, Melcher says.
GROWTH SPURT: The Defense Department is requesting $2.54 billion for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in fiscal 2008, up from $2.23 billion in FY '07. UAV funding back in FY '01 was only $363 million. Those amounts, compiled by congressional auditors, include procurement, operations, maintenance, research, development and evaluation from regular annual defense budgets but exclude supplemental spending. As of February, DOD had more than 3,900 unmanned aircraft in its inventory compared with fewer than 50 in 2000.
PARIS - Europe's highest court appears ready to back a European Commission (EC) ruling that Italy must partially open up government helicopter procurement to competitive bidding. The Advocate General of the European Court of Justice (ECJ), Jan Mazak, on July 10 backed the Commission's claim that rotorcraft purchased by the government for civil or civil defense purposes fall under European Union (EU) free-market rules mandating competitive tenders, and not under Article 296 of the EU treaty, which exempts defense procurement from such rules.
On next month's scheduled STS-118/13.A.1 International Space Station assembly mission, shuttle Endeavour's crew will install a short "spacer" on the starboard end of the main station truss in a mirror image of the job carried out at the other end of the truss last December.
SES says its new Astra 1L Ku-/Ka-band spacecraft has deployed to its intended orbital slot and is ready to enter routine service. Launched May 5, the Lockheed Martin-built satellite will reinforce capacity at SES's prime DTH (Direct To Home) neighborhood at 19.2 degrees east longitude, while allowing the redeployment of two existing spacecraft in that neighborhood to new slots.
Leveraging systems developed for new fighter aircraft, Thales has offered electronic combat subsystems and upgrade products for 51 Mirage 2000s in India, for which the request for proposals (RFP) may now be released within the next month. The RFP originally was expected last year. The Mirage 2000, which first was expected to be upgraded to the Mirage 2000-5, now will incorporate features specified by India (M2000 H/TH).
