The U.S. Air Force's Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC) at Arnold Air Force Base in Tennessee is seeking research proposals that will allow improved test and evaluation of hypersonics over the next ten to 15 years. "The goal is not to develop hypersonic flight systems or subsystems in this solicitation, but to investigate improved ground and flight test facilities, techniques and test methodologies that are needed to support hypersonic system/subsystem development," DOD said in an announcement. Proposals are due June 8.
PARIS - An Ariane 5 rocket has launched a pair of communications satellites that will expand video and broadband capacity at SES Astra and Intelsat. The launch, the second of six planned this year by Arianespace, carried Astra 1L, a Ku-/Ka-band spacecraft, and Galaxy 17, a Ku-/C-band satellite. The combined total payload mass of 9.4 metric tons, including integration and deployment hardware, established a new record for a mission to standard geostationary transfer orbit, Arianespace said.
Observers are watching for Israel's secret, large-payload, weapons-carrying unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to make its first public appearance at the Paris Air Show in June. The potential exhibition comes as uncertainty grows whether the recent resignation of the Israel Defense Force's chief of the general staff, Israeli Air Force (IAF) Lt. Gen. Dani Halutz, will affect the modernization plans that include the UAV, variously known as the Heron II, Eitan and Machatz II.
PAM ON: The container-launched Precision Attack Munition (PAM), developed for the congressionally protected Non-Line-of-Sight Launch System, is being eyed for the Joint Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM), formerly the Joint Common Missile. Besides the fact that it is already being pursued, the PAM is a major contender because its dual infrared and laser designator seekers make it appealing, according to U.S. Army Col. Chuck Bush, chief of force development for the Future Combat Systems.
Accurate Automation Corp. has delivered one of its 38-foot Sentinel unmanned surface vessels (USVs) to the U.S. Navy, according to company President Robert Pap. The company delivered the USV in March and it features a sensor payload and fusion capability that makes it suitable for riverine operations, Pap said May 7 during a briefing at the 2007 Navy Opportunity Forum.
Initial imagery from France's COROT planet finding probe suggest the spacecraft may be capable of detecting extrasolar planets equivalent in size to our own.
BAE Systems' $4.5 billion deal to acquire Armor Holdings would add to the London-based defense giant's heft in the U.S. while furthering its push into the global land systems market. The acquisition, which is subject to regulatory approval, would add more than $3 billion to BAE's U.S. sales, which were $11 billion last year. It would also make the company the Pentagon's sixth largest contractor and move BAE close to its goal of generating 50 percent of its sales from the U.S.
Assistant Secretary of Defense for Networks and Information Integration and DOD Chief Information Officer John Grimes has signed into effect a new "DOD Information Sharing Strategy."
The U.S. Navy's Small Business Innovation Research program (SBIR) is gaining in importance and has tripled its budget in recent years to more than $60 million in fiscal 2007, according to Vice Adm. Paul Sullivan, commander of Naval Sea System Command, "When you're under $20 million, you're under the radar," Sullivan said in a May 7 presentation at the 2007 Navy Opportunity Forum. "When you're over $70 million, people tend to pay attention."
'GOOD SOLDIERS': Much of the funding for the Iraq war is being directed to the Army and Marine Corps, and while the ground forces replace war losses, some analysts have suggested the Air Force may need to tighten its belt and cancel some programs. USAF Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley disagrees and says he can recapitalize the Air Force with an additional $20 billion per year. Leave it to a retired blue-suiter, former Air Combat Command chief Gen. Richard Hawley, to speak candidly on the question. "Money. It consumes almost everyone who works at the Pentagon.
EXECUTIVE AGENT: The Pentagon Joint Requirements Oversight Committee (JROC) this week will likely take up the Air Force's bid to become the executive agent for higher flying unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). A unified command and control UAV structure just makes sense, argues Gen. Michael Moseley, Air Force Chief of staff. The Air Force wants to oversee operation and acquisition for UAVs flying above 3,500 feet. One of the most sought-after UAVs in the field is the Predator.
A set of 10 advanced technologies that will be needed to make the next-generation James Webb Space Telescope work properly has won approval from an independent review panel charged with ensuring they are sufficiently mature before further development work on the spacecraft.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected] May 7 - 10 -- AIAA Infotech@Aerospace 2007 Conference and Exhibit, Doubletree Hotel Sonoma Wine Country, Rohnert Park, Calif. For more information go to www.aiaa.org/events/infotech@aerospace. May 7 - 10 -- Joint Service Small Arms Symposium, Virginia Beach Convention Center, Virginia Beach, Va, For more information call (703) 522-1820, fax: (703) 522-1885 or go to www.ndia.org.
CLEAN SWEEP: Science Applications International Corp. is pursuing a so-called "clean sweep" algorithm to wash a target area of non-moving, non-radio frequency-emitting military objects of interest. The $5.7 million contract from the Air Force Research Laboratory, announced May 3, will be complete by February 2011, according to the Defense Department. "The objective of the clean sweep is to develop a wide-area search (detection) and high-confidence identification (HCID) capability," the Pentagon said.
ROCKET REJECTION: European aerospace interests have been buzzing this spring with the possibility that NASA may turn to the Safran Vulcain rocket engine for the upper stage of its Ares I crew launch vehicle if it can't develop the Apollo-heritage J2-X for the job. The European LOX/hydrogen engine has comparable performance to what is hoped for the J2-X, a derivative of the Saturn V upper stage engine, and while it isn't human-rated, it has a lot more run time than what is basically a new Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne development. Officials from the U.S.
Acknowledging the growing importance of environmental issues in aerospace businesses, Boeing said May 4 that it has established a company-wide Environment, Health and Safety organization and named a 23-year company veteran, Mary Armstrong, to be its vice president. Citing Boeing's concern with "environmental performance of our products and services" and compliance with environmental regulations, CEO Jim McNerney said the new organization will develop an integrated strategic plan for the company, also encompassing its work with suppliers and customers.
The U.S. shipbuilding industry, still reeling from recent rebukes over problems in military acquisitions, could see a significant boost in Navy orders for new boats, including expedited Virginia-class submarines, Littoral Combat Ships and two amphibious classes. The House Armed Services seapower and expeditionary forces subcommittee has added another LPD-17-class amphibious transport dock ship and another T-AKE-class combat logistics force ship on top of one each that the Bush administration requested for fiscal 2008. Two more LCS
Successful wind tunnel tests of Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne's X-1 Scramjet engine just completed at NASA's Langley Research Center show that the U.S. Air Force's plans to conduct hypersonic flight-tests in 2009 are on track.
Gen. Michael Moseley, Air Force chief of staff, sees the future in battlefield situational awareness as being in the palm of his hand. Literally. The Air Force is working to develop a handheld version of its Remotely Operated Video Enhanced Receiver (ROVER), Moseley said in a May 3 interview. Essentially what Moseley envisions is the ability of troops on the ground to dial up overhead full-motion video on a Blackberry-like device the way the rest of the world uses cell phones now.
