The space shuttle Endeavour may be able to stay aloft a full two weeks on its upcoming STS-118/13A.1 International Space Station (ISS) assembly mission, drawing power from the big ISS arrays for the first time to ease the load on its fuel cells.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is still holding off for now on plans to decommission Orbital Express, pending the results of U.S. Air Force senior leadership discussions about what else might be done with the two spacecraft.
Responding to recent media reports about downwash incidents associated with the H-47 Chinook helicopter family that have raised questions about the HH-47 variant's ability to do combat, search and rescue (CSAR-X) missions, prime contractor Boeing says their own tests and actual combat experience prove the helicopter's suitability for such a role.
Raytheon Company has been awarded a U.S. Air Force contract to develop the next generation of the Distributed Common Ground System (DCGS) Integration Backbone (DIB). The DIB 1.2 updates will extend the baseline architecture to address new requirements for more widespread sharing of data across enterprise firewalls. They will provide expanded event delivery and notification capabilities using mechanisms such as real simple syndication, or RSS, and e-mail, with additional enhancements for data retrieval and presentation of results to the user.
SCRAMJET SOARS: The Senate Armed Services Committee wants the Pentagon to add $3.5 million to its $179.2 million budget request for applied research on aerospace propulsion specifically for scramjet technologies. "The committee notes the role that hypersonic technologies can play in future Air Force operations, by enabling capabilities such as prompt global strike and space access," senators said in their report accompanying the fiscal 2008 defense authorization bill.
The Senate is moving toward prompting the Defense Department to reorganize and centralize its drive for prompt global strike, potentially redirecting requested funds from Conventional Trident Modification (CTM), Trident II modifications and the Common Aero Vehicle (CAV) to other efforts like an Army proposal for a hypersonic demonstrator.
THINK NOT: The congressional Government Accountability Office (GAO) won't reconsider its ruling that the Army erred in awarding a $4.65-billion linguist services contract to DynCorp, according to a decision released July 6. In March, GAO upheld L-3 Communications' protest of the award, opening the door for a re-competition. The Army fought back, filing a Request for Reconsideration with the government watchdog agency, the first time in more than a decade the service has made such a challenge (DAILY, April 16).
NAVAL SCALP: Snecma's Solid Propellant Division and SNPE-MBDA joint venture Roxel have been selected to develop and produce the boost and transition propulsion system for MBDA's Naval Scalp cruise missile. Development of the system, which is to equip frigate and submarine-launched weapons for the French navy, is expected to take four years. The 1,000 kilometer-plus class Naval Scalp, derived from the airborne Scalp/Storm Shadow cruise missile, began full-scale development at the end of last year.
ADVANCED HAWKEYES: U.S. Naval Air Systems Command has awarded Northrop Grumman a $408 million contract modification for three more E-2D Advanced Hawkeye Pilot Production aircraft. The latest award, announced July 9 by the Pentagon, runs through August 2010. The redesigned E-2D will feature a hybrid radar that's mechanically scanned for 360-degree coverage and also electronically scanned for long-range and cruise missile/small-target detection.
RAPTOR RESERVATIONS: Japan faces an array of legal and budgetary concerns about enhancing its military, raising questions about whether Tokyo could follow through on a potential F-22 sale, a June 29 Congressional Research Service (CRS) report says (DAILY, July 6). Under a self-imposed ban on exporting arms, Japan cannot in principle participate in joint development that requires it to export weapons parts and research data to other countries. This ban has been loosened to allow Japan to work on missile defense with the U.S., but the issue remains contentious.
ARMY General Dynamics Land Systems Inc., Sterling Heights, Mich., was awarded on June 27, 2007, a $71,907,000 modification to a cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for system technical support for the Abrams Tank program. Work will be performed in Sterling Heights, Mich., and is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, 2011. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This was a sole source contract initiated on June 8, 2006. The U.S. Army Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command, Warren, Mich., is the contracting activity (W56HZV-07-C-0046).
NO NUKES: The U.S. Air Force has removed Ramstein Air Base, Germany, from a list of installations that receive periodic nuclear weapons inspections, indicating that nuclear weapons previously stored there may have been permanently removed and withdrawn to the United States, the Federation of American Scientists announced July 9. With Büchel Air Base now possibly the only remaining nuclear weapons base in Germany, U.S. nukes would then be stored at seven bases in six NATO countries: Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Turkey and the United Kingdom.
SPECIAL AIR TRAINING: The U.S. Air Force has turned to Lockheed Martin Simulation, Training and Support for a $1.07 billion deal for airborne special operations forces and combat search and rescue schoolhouse training. The award covers the Aircrew Training and Rehearsal Support (ATARS) II program, which sustains and supports mission qualification training and rehearsal system hardware, software and courseware, including instructors. The work runs through June 2017.
KOREAN MISSILE: Richard Lawless, who retired June 30 after almost five years as deputy assistant secretary for Asian and Pacific affairs, told Pentagon reporters that U.S. officials are "deeply concerned" that North Korea is close to fielding a new short-range missile that could ultimately end up on the international arms market, as well as providing a greater threat to South Korea and the significant U.S. military presence there. "The North Koreans don't build anything they're not willing to sell to somebody else for the right price," he said.
As Japan continues its quest to buy the F-22, the country could face an internal hurdle that could divert its attention to other candidate aircraft - the Raptor's offensive capabilities could make it illegal there. "Under the current interpretation of the Japanese constitution, (the Japanese military) is only allowed to possess defensive capability," says a June 29 Congressional Research Service (CRS) report. "Military aircraft are almost inherently flexible weapon systems and can be difficult to classify as 'offensive' or 'defensive.'
