A National Research Council review of critical technology accessibility, chartered to look at alleged U.S. weapon system vulnerability to foreign sources of supply, has essentially concluded that while there may be a supply chain issue, there is not necessarily a foreign vulnerability concern. "Globalization is a fact of world economic activity," said an executive summary of the National Academy of Sciences publication.
SAT CONTRACT: EADS Astrium and Alcatel Alenia Space have been awarded a contract for a satellite to replace Badr-1 (Arabsat 4A), which was lost in an ILS Proton launch incident earlier this year. The new satellite, Badr-6, will enter service in 2008 at Arabsat's prime video hotspot at 26 degrees east longitude. As with Badr-1 and 4 (Arabsat 4B), to be orbited in the third quarter, Astrium will be responsible for in-orbit delivery and supply the bus, based on the Eurostar 2000+ model, while Alcatel will provide the telecom payload.
LONG RANGE STRIKE: The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory's Air Vehicles Directorate has advanced its studies of generation-after-next manned bomber concepts to the point where pilots are "flying" notional supersonic vehicles in simulators. Under the service's three-phase Long Range Strike strategy, the "far-term" or Phase 3 effort is exploring "various innovative control options for future platforms," according to Keith Numbers, a Primary Aerospace Engineer in the directorate.
A new report from the National Research Council urges NASA to "create a more balanced split" as it allocates aeronautics research funding between in-house work at its field centers and external work performed by industry or academia. "As of January 2006, NASA seemed intent on allocating 93 percent of NASA's aeronautics research funding for in-house use," the report says.
AEGIS BMD: To date, the U.S. Navy and Missile Defense Agency have outfitted 10 Aegis destroyers with a ballistic missile defense (BMD) long-range surveillance and tracking capability and have certified them for tactical deployment against short- and medium-range missiles. Ultimately, 15 Aegis destroyers and three Aegis cruisers will be outfitted. Lockheed Martin Corp.'s Aegis BMD Signal Processor is in development and will be installed on Aegis BMD ships beginning in 2010.
NEW PRESIDENT: Lin Zuoming has been named president of China Aviation Industry Corp. I, the largest of China's state-owned aerospace research and manufacturing groups. He was an AVIC I vice president for five years, and before that general manager of Shenyang Liming Aero-Engine Group Corp. Lin is a representative to the national People's Congress and an alternate member for the Chinese People's Congress Central Committee. He is taking over for Liu Gaozhuo, who will retire and become an adviser to AVIC I.
Teledyne Benthos Inc. recently completed a "very successful" test of an underwater wireless communications system via an underwater glider off the coast of Hawaii, Regional Sales Manager Richard Dentzman told a Navy Opportunity Forum in Washington on June 5.
NASA on June 5 announced the roles that its field centers will play in the agency's space exploration plans, which keep most of the centers' traditional human spaceflight duties intact while finding additional work for other centers to get them more involved in sending astronauts into space.
HELOS FOR LATVIA: AgustaWestland said June 2 that Latvia's interior ministry has awarded it a contract to provide the country's boarder guard with two A109 Power helicopters. Financial terms were not disclosed. The helicopters' procurement is being financed by the European Union with Schengen Facility program funds. Schengen Facility aid is an interim way to help new EU member-states with financing. The Latvian border guard's central board launched the helicopter contract competition in late 2005.
Bell Helicopter Textron has selected Aurora Flight Sciences of Manassas, Va., to provide the airframe for its small Eagle Eye unmanned aerial vehicles, which will be used by the U.S. Coast Guard's Deepwater system of future ships and aircraft.
Boeing Phantom Works will equip the ScanEagle unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to look for released biological agents in the wake of U.S. military strikes under an $8.2 million, two-year contract from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA). DTRA and Boeing will work with the U.S. Pacific Command and the U.S. Navy Third Fleet on the program, formally known as the Biological Combat Assessment System (BCAS) Advanced Technology Demonstration (ATD).
The South Korean government has awarded Eurocopter and the Korea Aerospace Industry a $6 billion-$8 billion contract to provide the country with 245 new KHP military transport helicopters, Eurocopter said June 2. The aircraft will replace South Korea's fleet of aging U.S. built transport and corporate helicopters. KAI will serve as the main contractor, while Eurocopter will provide technical assistance and produce some sub-assemblies.
CONFORMING CONVEYOR: Physical Science Inc. of Andover, Mass., is proposing a hull-conforming, conveyor ramp, launch-and-recovery system for the U.S. Navy's Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) program, but needs at least $21 million more to get its offering to the final technology readiness level (TRL) by June 2012, according to Mark Druy, a PSI representative.
RECERTIFIED: The Pentagon and the Air Force announced June 5 that both the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite system (NPOESS) program and the Global Hawk unmanned aircraft program have been recertified after breaching Nunn-McCurdy cost growth caps last year. The restructured NPOESS plan provides for two satellites with the option of buying two more in fiscal 2010. Global Hawk production will temporarily be limited to no more than five Low Rate Initial Production aircraft per year.
The market for U.S. Navy unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) is heating up as Chattanooga, Tenn.-based Accurate Automation Corp. is under a technology demonstration contract to provide five boats, including a so-called "go-fast" craft capable of speeds up to 100 miles per hour.
Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition (RD&A) Delores Etter has signed into effect a new policy that will try to "curb" contractors' and program managers' "optimism" - and thus, overruns - in software projects. The policy requires Navy software contractors to show their "maturity and the discipline and the experience" to predict software development costs and schedules, she told a Navy Opportunity Forum in Washington on June 5.
Britain-based Marshall Aerospace has been awarded a 1.52 billion pound ($1.94 billion) contract to provide support for the British air force's Hercules transport aircraft, the U.K. defense ministry said June 2. Marshall Aerospace will work with partners Lockheed Martin, Rolls-Royce, and the Defense Logistics Organization on the Hercules Integrated Operational Support program.
