Boeing unveiled the first production CH-47F Chinook to the U.S. Army on June 15 during a rollout ceremony at the company's helicopter facility in Ridley Park, Pa. The aircraft is the first of 452 new CH-47Fs included in the Army's Cargo Helicopter modernization program. The F-model features a new airframe and a digital cockpit from Rockwell Collins.
NASA's Program Management Council has determined there are "no insurmountable technical or programmatic challenges" to finishing the U.S./German Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), but the agency still hasn't decided to go ahead with the project.
Orbiting observatories continue to give scientists new views of the universe, unraveling old mysteries and revealing new ones. Space dust - small particles of carbon, silicon, magnesium, iron, oxygen and other elements - is a significant part of galactic structures, as the dark "dust lane" in a new side-on Hubble Space Telescope view of the galaxy NGC 5866 shows. The galaxy has a diameter of about 60,000 light years.
President Bush is nominating Marine Corps Lt. Gen. James Conway to gain a fourth star and for commandant of the Marine Corps. Conway, who commanded the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force during two combat tours in Iraq, now is director of operations, J-3, Joint Staff. Sen. John Warner (R-Va.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said, "General Conway is a superb choice to be the next commandant."
DEFENSE FUNDS: The House Appropriations Committee quickly approved its defense subcommittee's markup of fiscal 2007 spending legislation on June 13. The full panel added only one amendment, by Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) against funds toward permanent U.S. military bases in Iraq, to the subcommittee's $377.6 billion legislation, which includes a $50 billion supplemental "bridge fund" for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan (DAILY, June 12).
PARIS - The Pentagon's Joint Requirements Oversight Council is meeting this week to decide the final fate of the U.S. Army-led Joint Common Missile (JCM) program.
TICONDEROGA WORK: BAE Systems said June 13 it has been awarded a maximum $168 million multiship, multioption award for selected restricted availabilities on CG 47-class ships homeported at and visiting Norfolk, Va. The contract was awarded by the U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command. Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruisers sail primarily in a battle force role and are capable of supporting carrier battle groups and amphibious forces. The ships also are equipped with Tomahawk cruise missiles for long-range strike capability.
Robot manufacturer iRobot is negotiating with potential industry partners about jointly developing and offering to the services an armed version of the company's PackBot in response to requests from U.S. troops overseas.
U.S. Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. John Corley stressed the service's urgent need to recapitalize its aircraft fleet and retire the oldest models during a speech on Capitol Hill June 13. In the early 1970s the fleet average age was eight years, Corley said during a breakfast sponsored by the Air Force Strategic Planning Directorate. Now the average is 24 years. While age may not be the only performance metric, it still represents "a trend we've got to turn around for this nation," he said.
Praising the continued moon-Mars initiative focus but lamenting budget cuts elsewhere to pay for it, the House Appropriations science subcommittee marked up fiscal 2007 spending legislation worth $16.7 billion for NASA, $462 million above the FY '06 level.
A working group comprised of the U.S. Coast Guard, its Lockheed Martin/Northrop Grumman-led Deepwater industry team and technical engineering-support contractors is expected later this summer to make a final assessment for acquiring existing patrol boats to help fill a yawning maritime patrol gap, according to the Coast Guard commandant.
SPACE COMMANDER: U.S. Air Force Space Command is getting its first leader who actually has been there. Gen. Kevin Chilton, a three-time space shuttle astronaut, is scheduled to take over the Colorado Springs-based command next week. Chilton is now the commander of 8th Air Force, which encompasses the Air Force's strategic intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance fleets as well as the nuclear bombers. Chilton will take over from acting commander Lt. Gen. Frank Klotz, who resumes his duties as vice commander.
APPROPRIATIONS: The House on June 13 approved congressional conferees' negotiated agreement for the second fiscal 2006 supplemental appropriations measure, and the Senate is expected do the same imminently. The House voted 351-67 in favor the $94.5 billion legislation, which follows $50 billion appropriated along with other FY '06 spending last December (DAILY, June 13).
TRIDENT WORK: Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co. and Northrop Grumman Marine Systems, both in Sunnyvale, Calif., have been awarded Trident II (D5) missile-related contracts, according to a June 12 announcement by the Defense Department. Lockheed Martin received a $17.19 million contract for the procurement of long-lead material required for the fiscal 2007 follow-on production of the D5 system. The contract runs through September 2010.
The U.S. Navy has awarded Lockheed Martin Corp. a one-year, $3 million contract for its High-Altitude Antisubmarine Warfare Weapons Concept (HAAWC), which will demonstrate delivery of the MK-54 lightweight torpedo from a P-3C aircraft operating at roughly 20,000 feet above surface level. Lockheed Martin's HAAWC, which uses the company's LongShot Wing Adapter Kit to allow launch of torpedoes from high altitudes and long standoff ranges, allows P-3C aircrews to attack from beyond enemy air defenses, the company said June 13.
Congressional negotiators who worked out a compromise over the $94.5 billion fiscal 2006 supplemental spending bill dropped Senate language from their agreement requiring Northrop Grumman Corp. to reimburse the government for at least $140 million in expected hurricane-related appropriations.
