IROBOT ORDERS: IRobot Corp. announced July 12 that it received two delivery orders totaling $17.5 million for its PackBot robots for the U.S. military. The company expects to complete delivery by the end of January. The Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training, and Instrumentation (PEO STRI), on behalf of the Robotic Systems Joint Project Office and Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), both placed orders for the robots. Under the terms of one existing contract, PEO STRI could order up to $64.3 million in robots, spare parts, training and repair services.
SUPPLEMENTAL SLIDING: White House budget officials say the government, especially the Defense Department, may not need record-setting fiscal 2008 supplemental appropriations until the end of 2007, or months after the next fiscal year begins Oct. 1. "We don't know when it will be necessary to have another supplemental," outgoing Office of Management and Budget Director Rob Portman told reporters July 11. The White House wants the Democratic-run Congress to finish its regular, baseline FY '08 appropriations work first and by the Sept. 30 end of the fiscal year.
Congress is sending President Bush an unrequested bill to bolster the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), which weighs in on foreign-borne business deals that affect U.S. interests. The legislation comes after the Bush administration approved a since-failed deal last year to turn over operational control at six major U.S. ports to a Dubai company, which riled lawmakers in both political parties (DAILY, Feb. 23, 2006).
The Canadian government is getting ready to spend C$25 million (US$24 million) on research and development to protect against chemical, biological, radiological/nuclear and explosives (CBRN&E) attacks.
Capitol Hill's watchdogs say that until the Defense Department resolves and adopts true advance coordination, it may continue to face challenges in successfully integrating unmanned air systems (UAS) and other intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) assets into combat operations, while other concerns such as limited bandwidth are exacerbated.
NASA BILL: The House Appropriations Committee approved a spending bill July 12 that gives NASA a $1.3 billion increase from 2007 and $290 million above the Bush Administration's fiscal 2008 request. Rep. Dave Weldon (R-Fla.) added an amendment to the bill that his office said will help protect NASA jobs as the agency plans the upcoming retirement of the space shuttle.
Turkish forces are facing improvised explosive device (IED) attacks along Turkey's northern border with Iraq that are similar to those wreaking havoc on U.S. troops, says Faruk Logoglu, Turkish ambassador to the United States. The IED and other attacks are the work of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), Logoglu told reporters at a July 12 breakfast roundtable. Losing patience
The U.S. Air Force ignored a U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) opinion and violated federal procurement law and policy in the way the service handled the revised request for proposals (RFP) for the combat, search and rescue (CSAR-X) helicopter competition, Sikorsky charged in its second protest over the matter.
The Defense Department generally is staying on track for making improvements to its supply chain management processes, but the department has a long way to go and its plan could be drafted even better, Government Accountability Office (GAO) auditors are telling Congress. Moreover, GAO's recent review of joint theater logistics raises concerns about whether DOD can effectively implement this initiative without re-examining fundamental aspects of the department's logistics governance and strategy, they said.
U.S.-supplied weapons in northern Iraq may be winding up in the hands of terrorist groups launching attacks along Turkey's border, said Faruk Logoglu, Turkish ambassador to the United States. "We know the United States is supplying the northern Iraq administration [with weapons]," Logoglu said July 12 to reporters at a breakfast roundtable. "It is possible they are ending up in the hands of the terrorist organization."
The U.S. Navy has approved buying 437 of the Raytheon-built APG-79 active electronically scanned radars. A July 9 brief item incorrectly identified the armed service. The DAILY regrets the error.
SBIRS APPROVED: With positive results from the initial system on orbit, the Pentagon's acquisition chief has approved the Air Force's next-generation space-based missile warning system's progression despite years of cost overruns and delays. When confidence in the $11 billion Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS) program reached an all-time low in 2005, Ken Krieg halted the program at just two highly elliptical orbit payloads and two geosynchronous satellites.
AN/TPY-2 RADAR: The Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency has awarded Raytheon a $304 million contract to develop advanced tracking and discrimination capabilities for the Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS) forward-based AN/TPY-2 radar, the company said July 11. The first forward-based capability spiral was released on schedule in October 2006 and is now operational, Raytheon reiterated. The company is currently developing the second forward-based capability spiral, with its release planned in early 2008.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) official Mary Kicza downplayed the importance of NASA's aging QuikSCAT satellite to hurricane forecasting during Senate testimony July 11, saying that its loss would not significantly affect predictions of when and where the storms make landfall.
Space Shuttle Endeavour is undergoing three weeks of final checkout in preparation for its scheduled August launch. The work is taking place on Launch Complex 39A after Endeavour was transported to the pad from the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center starting late July 10. The vehicle arrived at the pad about 3 a.m. July 11.
With service enthusiasm seemingly flagging and lawmakers and defense leaders throughout Washington scrounging for dollars, a panel of military and budgetary experts hosted a congressional briefing July 11 to urge Congress and defense leaders to maintain the U.S Navy's Unmanned Combat Air System (N-UCAS) demonstration effort.
THAAD SEEKER: BAE Systems said it received a $62.3 million contract from Lockheed Martin to begin production of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) Interceptor Seeker. The seeker provides infrared imagery of the targeted warhead to the missile to guide the interceptor to its target. The first THAAD systems will be fielded in fiscal 2009 and ready for deployment in FY '10, according to BAE.
Northrop Grumman Corp.'s KC-30 Tanker team is leveraging Honeywell's FAA-certified Military Airborne Collision Avoidance System - Formation Rendezvous (MILACAS-FR) in its KC-30 tanker bid, Northrop announced July 12. The MILACAS-FR system will enhance accuracy and safety during flight formations by detecting nearby aircraft and evaluating their threat potential to the KC-30.
With billions of dollars and scores of aircraft at stake, the choices that lawmakers legislate on military tactical jets now will be felt decades into the future, says a recent Congressional Research Service (CRS) report.
Scott "Doc" Horowitz, the former astronaut who heads NASA's effort to go back to the moon, is leaving the U.S. space agency in a move one official said came "out of the blue." In an e-mail circulated to staff July 11, Horowitz said he would be leaving on or about Oct. 1 "to devote more attention to my family responsibilities." Horowitz will have served in the position for two years.
