DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION: The Senate could take up its version of the fiscal 2007 defense authorization bill as early as June 9, and Armed Services leaders on both sides of Capitol Hill believe they can make a July 4 recess deadline for starting negotiations. Sen.
Whoever succeeds Frank C. Lanza as CEO of L-3 Communications will inherit a far-flung operation that will be difficult to manage, a co-founder of the company says. Robert V. LaPenta, who was instrumental in helping Lanza build L-3 into one of the defense and homeland security industry's most successful contractors, says that while L-3's loose integration of acquisitions encouraged entrepreneurial thinking, it also makes the company harder to run.
DICE-K CONFIRMED: Space Adventures announced June 7 that Japanese entrepreneur Daisuke "Dice-K" Enomoto has been confirmed to the Soyuz TMA-9 crew scheduled to launch to the International Space Station in September from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Enomoto will accompany Expedition 14 crewmembers Michael Lopez-Alegria and Mikhail Tyurin. The backup crew for the Soyuz TMA-9 mission includes Ansari X-Prize title sponsor Anousheh Ansari, who if required to fly would become the world's first female space tourist.
Researchers from NASA's Ames Research Center and the U.S. Forest Service have wrapped up a three-day demonstration the Fort Hunter Liggett Garrison near King City, Calif., in which small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) were flown over controlled fires to demonstrate their ability to monitor wildfires.
Alan M. Foonberg and Diana M. Johnson have been named principal directors in the communications and networking division. Ranwa N. Haddad has been appointed principal director in the navigation division.
L-3 Communications Corp. chairman and chief executive Frank C. Lanza asserted shortly before his death that the company was poised to thrive without him and dismissed investor concerns about his refusal to designate an heir apparent as CEO. L-3 said that Lanza, 74, passed away on the evening of June 6. No cause was immediately announced, but the death was "sudden and unexpected," the company said.
A scientist and a former astronaut told a Senate panel June 6 that the medical consequences of long-duration space travel are not well understood and proposed cuts to NASA's life science budget will leave crucial questions unanswered as the agency tries to send people back to the moon and on to Mars. "Simply put, the biological risks associated with exploration-class spaceflight are far from being mitigated," said James Pawelczyk, associate professor of physiology and kinesiology at Pennsylvania State University.
PHANTOM DRONES: BAE Systems said June 7 that it received a $25.1 million U.S. Air Force contract to provide 20 QF-4 full-scale aerial targets and associated technical support. The QF-4 is an F-4 Phantom aircraft modified for remote-control operation. The contract is the second of five possible options exercised under an original agreement in effect until 2013. BAE Systems, the exclusive provider of QF-4 drones to the Air Force, will perform the modification work at its facility in Mojave. The production effort will be completed by July 2008.
WINGS AWARD: Albert Lee Ueltschi, founder and chairman of FlightSafety International Inc., has been chosen to receive The Wings Club's 2006 Distinguished Achievement Award. The award, which honors outstanding accomplishments in aviation and astronautics, will be presented Oct. 27 at The Wings Club's 64th annual dinner-dance in New York City.
The three industry teams vying to build the Joint Cargo Aircraft (JCA) submitted their bids to the U.S. Army this week. Raytheon and EADS CASA North America jointly submitted two proposals based on the C-295 and CN-235 aircraft. The company says that the C-295 is the only two-engine aircraft in its class that can carry five cargo pallets, providing additional flexibility for intratheater lift.
The House passed a fiscal 2007 appropriations bill for the Homeland Security Department late June 6, funding $32.08 billion altogether, $1.8 billion above the FY '06 enacted level and $1.065 billion above President Bush's request. The chamber voted 389-9 to pass the annual spending bill, which was mostly separate from the ongoing border security and immigration policy and supplemental spending debate now in Congress.
