The Air Force last week outlined plans for not only a near-term KC-135 refueling tanker replacement program, called KC-X, but also for a long-term strategy that will include two additional buys in later years called KC-Y and KC-Z.
FAB-T: Boeing has completed hardware and software integration of the Block 4 Software-Defined Radio for the U.S. Air Force's Family of Advanced Beyond-line-of-sight Terminals (FAB-T) for the B-2. FAB-T includes software-defined radios, antennas and user interface hardware to support a multitude of waveforms for data rates in excess of 300 Mbps.
CMWS: BAE Systems said Oct. 25 that it has received an additional $95.6 million from the U.S. Army for its Common Missile Warning System (CMWS) to protect Army fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft from heat-seeking missiles. BAE Systems received a five-year indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract, which gives the Army flexibility to order at various times any number of systems with a ceiling of $1.4 billion. To date, BAE Systems has delivered more than 600 CMWS units. The company said production is more than a year ahead of schedule.
Two NASA Stereo spacecraft are climbing outbound on the first of four loops to the moon's orbit to set up low altitude lunar flybys that will hurtle them far from Earth for the first 3D imaging of the sun. The piggyback mounted spacecraft were launched from Cape Canaveral's Pad 17B at 8:52 p.m. Eastern time Oct. 25 onboard a Boeing Delta II with nine solid rocket boosters.
U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Gor-don England hosted a high-level Pentagon meeting Oct. 26, which comes ahead of finalizing the fiscal 2008 defense budget request and after he met with the Pentagon's Cost Analysis Improvement Group and a special team assembled to study FY '07 congressional mandates. No decisions were reached, although the short takeoff and landing version was discussed.
ITALIAN TRANSITION: Sergio Vetrella will remain as president of the Italian Center for Aerospace Research (CIRA) but has stepped down as head of Italian Space Agency ASI with the recent change of government. It remains to be seen who Research Minister Fabio Mussi will select to replace Vetrella, or even if Mussi will do so, because the government may name someone from outside the ministry to perform a top-down ASI reorganization.
Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) sensors onboard unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) show considerable promise for helping counter improvised explosive devices, although so far the technology has not been used to its full potential by soldiers in theater, according to Lt. Col. Reed Young, product manager for robotic and unmanned sensors at Ft. Monmouth, N.J.
Questions about the position of an orientation antenna on the Progress resupply vehicle that arrived at the International Space Station Oct. 26 delayed hatch opening until Oct. 27 and required a partial station powerdown, but posed no other major issues for either spacecraft.
NASA is quickly mounting an alternate effort to develop thermal protection system (TPS) materials to protect the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) during a return from lunar orbit, after having disappointing results from the primary development program.
HOT BIRD 10: Astrium will build Eutelsat's Hot Bird 10 high-power broadcast satellite, set for launch in the first quarter of 2009. The Paris-based satellite operator says it will place the new spacecraft at 13 degrees East Longitude, where it is already broadcasting 950 television channels and 540 radio stations to Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.
Regarding the story "With Navair chief leaving, cost-savings plan up in air" (Oct. 24), the U.S. Naval Air Systems Command expects to save $2.5 billion from fiscal 2006-2011 by implementing corporate business practices in managing aviation programs (DAILY, Oct. 24). For FY '06, Navair expects to have squeezed $500 million more through its Naval Aviation Enterprise reforms, which comes after bookkeeping savings of $283 million in FY '05.
BAN LIFTED: The Defense Department has issued a final rule amending its own acquisition regulations to remove Libya from the list of terrorist countries banned from DOD contract awards. The change follows the State Department's removal of Libya from the list of countries designated as state sponsors of terrorism, which comes after Libyan leader, Col. Muammar al Qadhafi, agreed in December 2003 to abandon the North African nation's nuclear weapons program.
The U.S. Air Force has awarded Northrop Grumman Mission Systems almost $21.2 million worth of contract modifications regarding the intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) propulsion replacement program. One $16 million award is for Northrop Grumman to identify and provide for the procurement of government furnished property components for Minuteman IIIs that are known to be in short supply and are needed to preclude production shortages under stage-five full-rate production. That award runs through March 2008.
Boeing Integrated Defense Systems' (IDS) revenue rose 4 percent during the three months ending Sept. 30 on higher Precision Engagement & Mobility Systems and Support Systems volume, but Network & Space Systems revenues dropped on lower volume in the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GBMD) program and fewer planned milestone completions in the commercial satellite business, executives said Oct. 25.
The objective of the Stereo Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory mission, which was set for launch late Oct. 25, is to position its Stereo A and Stereo B satellites, each weighing 1,412 pounds, so they can simultaneously image the sun - and the 93 million miles spacing the Earth and sun - from different angles million of miles apart.
HTS MOTORS: American Superconductor Corp. announced Oct. 25 that it signed a cost-plus-fee contract valued at $5.3 million with the U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command for the design and optimization of high-temperature superconductor (HTS) ship propulsion motors and power electronic drives. The first $1.9 million will focus on motor, drive and electrical system options for possible system integration into later versions of planned DDG-1000 and proposed CG(X) surface warships, and should be completed in the next six months.
In regard to the story "With JSTARS, MP-RTIP getting axed, Northrop Grumman fights for radar" (Oct. 25), the Joint STARS system has completed production and is carried on the E-8C, not the E-10A. The E-10A is a platform for the wide-area surveillance Multi-Platform Radar Technology Insertion Program (MP-RTIP) sensor, and both have been canceled under internal Air Force budget drafts for fiscal 2008, although Northrop Grumman is promoting a Global Hawk variant of the radar.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is slated to unveil the latest model of its Predator B unmanned aircraft system (UAS) at an Oct. 30 ceremony at Libby Army Airfield in Sierra Vista, Ariz., officials said Oct. 25. The aircraft, designated CBP-104, is the second UAS to be deployed by the CBP along the southwest border. The first one crashed in the desert in April after nine months of service and nearly 1,000 flight hours.
IRAQ ACQUISITION: Building up Iraqi security forces' logistics, intelligence, engineering, communications and medical support capabilities is the goal for next year, says U.S. Army Gen. George Casey Jr., coalition commander there. Making the forces independent will be the thrust of efforts in 2007, he said. U.S. officials have started lining up larger military equipment for Iraqi forces such as helicopters, vehicles and weapons, as well as logistics support, worth up to $500 million (DAILY, Sept. 21).
Congress may want to rethink the FAA's dual role in both regulating the safety of space tourism and promoting its growth to avoid a potential conflict of interest, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
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