KAZSAT-1 LAUNCHED: Kazakhstan's dream of using its giant Baikonur cosmodrome as a stepping stone to space power status has taken a tiny step forward with the launch of its first spacecraft - a telecom satellite to provide broadcasting and telecom services to Central Asia and Russia. Moscow provided engineering assistance and a Proton K booster for the spacecraft, KazSat-1, and France's Alcatel, the payload.
U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley and National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) Director Donald Kerr have inked a new cooperative agreement that includes plans to appoint an Air Force two-star general as deputy NRO director.
A potential North Korean test of an intercontinental ballistic missile has fueled national missile defense advocates in Washington to boost their own defense of the embattled U.S. system.
AD-HOC NETWORKING: The U.S. Navy's Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center awarded BAE Systems' Advanced Information Technologies Inc., of Burlington, Mass., a potential 2.5-year, $13.27 million contract for support of the Control-Based, Mobile Ad-Hoc Networking program to include the design, development, and demonstration of a mobile network that improves performance by using more effective and adaptive resource allocation, cross-layer design, and novel protocols for wireless tactical networking.
OSPREY REWORK: The U.S. Naval Air Systems Command awarded the Bell-Boeing Joint Program Office an $89.32 million contract modification for rework of five Lot IV MV-22 low-rate initial production tiltrotor aircraft to a block A/B configuration. Most of the re-engineering will be performed in Bell Helicopter Textron's Amarillo, and Fort Worth, Texas, facilities, as well as Ridley Park, Pa., and is expected to be finished in November 2008, the Defense Department said June 19.
VIETNAM SAT: Arianespace will launch Vietnam's first satellite, a 20-transponder C-/Ku-band telecom spacecraft that will provide broadband, broadcasting and telecom services to southeast Asia and the Asia-Pacific region. Construction of the satellite, Vinasat-1, was awarded to Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems after a long search for funding to underpin the mission. The 2.6 metric ton unit, based on LMCSS's A2100 bus, is to be orbited in the first half of 2008. It was Arianespace's eighth launch award of the year.
House Coast Guard authorizers will direct the Bush administration and Deepwater recapitalization program industry leaders to ensure a U.S. provider for the service's Fast Response Cutter. A provision of the 2006 Coast Guard authorization bill, unveiled June 20, requires the Coast Guard to use a "competitive contracting procedure among shipyards in the United States" and to manage it or have Integrated Coast Guard Systems (ICGS) do so.
Europe's Meteor rocket-ramjet powered air-to-air missile was successfully test fired on June 20. The firing, the second to be carried out, marks the first fully successful launch. During the first launch, the missile failed to transition to ramjet-powered flight.
The House Appropriations Committee approved a NASA spending bill June 20 that cuts the agencyís topline budget by $83.2 million below the Bush administrationís request, while shifting more money than requested into science and aeronautics. The committee recommended a total of $16.7 billion for NASA in fiscal 2007, which is an increase of $462.4 million from the FY í06 budget, not counting emergency supplemental funding for hurricane recovery.
The U.S. Air Force has awarded the Boeing Co. an estimated $150 million contract, including cost reimbursement, for new weapons integration aboard B-52 bombers, the Defense Department announced June 16. The Smart Weapons Integration Next Generation contract runs for 12 years. It will consist of a development demonstration contract that will modify the aircraft's weapon delivery software as modifications are required to integrate each new weapon onto the B-52.
NASA has decided to proceed with a July 1 shuttle launch after a rigorous Flight Readiness Review in which the agency's chief engineer and lead safety manager noted in writing that although they support the decision, given several risk mitigation measures, they still have reservations. Relative to their more specific oversight responsibilities, without regard to those risk mitigation measures, they recommended against launch given the risk posed by falling debris from the current design of the external tank's ice/frost ramps.
The U.S. Marine Corps is expected to show off its MV-22 Osprey next month at the 2006 Farnborough air show in Britain after flying two of the tilt-rotor aircraft across the North Atlantic. Crews from Marine Tilt-rotor Operational Test and Evaluation Squadron (VMX-22) successfully completed two nonstop, transcontinental flights last week with a pair of Ospreys.
CONTRACTING ISSUES: The value of sole-source and other noncompetitive federal contracts awarded under the Bush administration has increased faster than overall procurement spending, up 115 percent from $67.5 billion in 2000 to $145 billion in 2005, according to a report by House Government Reform Committee Democrats. Almost 40 percent of federal dollars awarded last year were without full and open competition.
H-1 FUNDED: The U.S. Navy awarded Bell Helicopter Textron Inc. of Fort Worth, Texas, a potential three-year, $68.45 million contract for repair of various components of the AH-1W and UH-1N helicopters. The award comes after the company struggled with programmatic issues, but defense officials apparently decided to maintain the acquisition (DAILY, June 5). The contract, carried out in Fort Worth, runs through December 2008.
The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratories awarded Synchrony Inc. a $9.9 million contract through June 2013 for late-stage development of "electric" technologies such as switched reluctance electrical machine technology, magnetic bearing technologies, temperature coil technology and related electronic components.
A British couple claim to have generated profits of 400,000 pounds ($736,000) by selling property on the moon. Francis and Sue Williams of Cornwall are selling lunar property at about $37 an acre, whether it is legal or not. They are also selling property on Mars and Venus, and people are buying to receive certificates of ownership.
House appropriators continue to push the Pentagon to follow through on the Joint Common Missile and are allocating $35 million in unrequested funds to keep the program alive. On schedule, on budget
The House Appropriations Committee, whose fiscal 2007 defense spending bill is expected to be passed by the full chamber as soon as June 20, has criticized and rebuffed Pentagon budget writers for trying to partially fund DD(X) destroyers and F-22A aircraft. The result has been additional pressure on Air Force accounts, appropriators said.
