The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) plans to approach software giant Microsoft to partner with it on cognitive computing, or computer learning.
The U.S. Defense Department says it is taking several new steps to reduce aviation mishaps as part of a broad safety initiative championed by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. The Army has begun carrying out a plan to equip parachute jumpers with ankle braces to reduce ankle injuries, said Air Force Lt. Col. Ellen Krenke, a DOD spokeswoman. Initially, the braces will be issued to parachute trainees and some special forces units. Eventually, other parachute jumpers could also receive the new gear.
China is aggressively marketing its FC1 jet fighters to four African countries: Zimbabwe, Egypt, Tanzania and Nigeria. The Zimbabwean air force (ZAF), which has six China-made K8 trainer aircraft, is interested in ordering 12 FC1s, a Zimbabwean military official at the embassy in Kuala Lumpur said. The official declined to provide details or discuss specifications of the aircraft.
MOSCOW - The situation at RSC Energia, Russia's prime contractor for its manned space program, is "critical," Russia's Federal Space Agency said May 11 in naming Nikolai Sevastianov as a candidate for president of the company. "In the past three years the corporation is loss-making and its credit debt is growing," the agency said in a statement. No dividends were paid to shareholders in 2002 or 2003, and none are planned based on 2004 results, the agency said.
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. - Army Aviation Branch Chief Brig. Gen. E.J. Sinclair expects unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to be flying missions in tandem with manned Army helicopters by 2010. At Fort Huachuca, Ariz., and elsewhere, the Army is working on the integration of UAVs into the aviation branch, "and how we train those soldiers, how we get them to the level of proficiency that we need to," Sinclair told reporters during a press conference here May 11.
APPROVED: President Bush on May 11 signed into law the $82 billion fiscal 2005 supplemental act, with $75.9 billion for the Defense Department to cover the cost of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan through September. The measure includes provisions stopping the Navy from retiring the USS John F. Kennedy aircraft carrier as well as competing the construction of the DD(X) destroyer.
NASA Administrator Michael Griffin promised that by midsummer he will provide Capitol Hill lawmakers with the results of an ongoing NASA review of various options for completing assembly of the International Space Station (ISS). The baseline assembly schedule includes 28 shuttle flights, including 18 for assembly, five for logistics and five for utilization. Completing all the necessary flights by 2010, when the shuttle is scheduled for retirement, will be a challenge, Griffin said.
POSTPONED: NASA has postponed the launch of the NOAA-N environmental satellite until May 13 due to continued high winds at the Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., launch site. NASA is launching the satellite for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The delay, announced May 12, was the second in as many days due to high winds. Wind on May 11 was blowing as fast as 36 knots, about seven knots above the limits at Space Launch Complex 2, NASA said.
A House Armed Services Committee (HASC) subcommittee voted May 12 to revive the Air Force's C-130J transport aircraft program, merge two heavy-lift rotorcraft programs and trim the Pentagon's fiscal 2006 budget request for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and Future Combat Systems. During consideration of the FY '06 defense authorization bill, the tactical air and land forces panel also approved measures aimed at increasing coordination among acquisition programs for unmanned aerial vehicles.
Rep. Mark Udall (D-Colo.), ranking member of the House Science subcommittee on space and aeronautics, introduced a bill May 12 that would force NASA to restore recent cuts to its aeronautics programs and renew work in hypersonic flight and rotorcraft research, among other areas.
Russia's arms export market, already in decline, is likely to get worse, according to a new study by Forecast International. Russian arms exports dropped by nearly 26% from 2003 to 2004, going from $5.3 billion to $3.9 billion, Forecast said, despite Russia's efforts to use offsets, debt swaps and "creative financing" to attract sales.
In a compromise reached late May 11, the House Armed Services Committee strategic forces subcommittee stripped nuclear warheads from the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator (RNEP) program study and shifted some of its funding as part of the fiscal 2006 defense authorization process.
Eric Howell has been named vice president for contracts, pricing and procurement for Northrop Grumman Information Technology of McLean, Va. Craig Staresinich has been named sector vice president and general manager fo the Kinetic Energy Interceptors program.
The downselect in the Army's Extended Range/ Multipurpose unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) program is expected in late May or early June, after the Army requests a final round of proposal revisions from competitors Northrop Grumman and General Atomics.
The U.S. Defense Department has begun exploring whether the Missile Defense Agency's Airborne Laser (ABL) might have uses beyond shooting down ballistic missiles, a top general said May 11.
An official of Global Military Aircraft Systems says the joint venture will win the competition to produce the U.S. Army's Future Cargo Aircraft because its aircraft will be "superior." L-3 Communications President Robert W. Drewes made the comment on May 11 following a flight demonstration of the C-27J Spartan at Fort Belvoir, Va. L-3 Communications Integrated Systems is in a 50/50 joint venture with Alenia North America Inc., a Finmeccanica company, to compete for the FCA work.
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. - The U.S. Army is slated to receive $458 million for aircraft and related procurement in the fiscal year 2005 supplemental budget bill, according to Valerie Lynn Baldwin, Army comptroller and assistant secretary for financial management. Within that total is $51 million for the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter, $21 million for the AH-64 Apache Longbow and $37 million for aviation survival equipment. "Not a bad take, altogether," Baldwin said during a presentation at the Army Aviation Association of America (AAAA) symposium here May 10.
AIR SCARE: A Cessna aircraft violated Washington airspace restrictions May 11, prompting an evacuation of the White House and Capitol. District of Columbia Air National Guard F-16s and a Black Hawk helicopter assigned to the Homeland Security Department escorted the aircraft to an airport in Frederick, Md. Air Force Master Sgt. Arthur Powell called the interception mission "a standard response" to threats against the U.S. capital.
