ASDS BATTERY: SatCon Technology Corp. announced Feb. 6 that it received $108,600 from the U.S. Navy to evaluate, refurbish and test its emergency battery power supplies for the Advanced SEAL Delivery System (ASDS). The effort follows cancellation of Northrop Grumman's ASDS beyond the first one produced due to reliability concerns, including battery life issues (DAILY, Nov. 6, 2006). SatCon originally designed and built the ASDS power supplies in 1998 and asserts that the units have been successfully deployed and reliably operated in the ASDS since then.
Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) urged the Defense Department on Feb. 6 to reconsider plans to drop the alternate engine program from F-35 Joint Strike Fighter production. "If we have but a single engine then we're, in effect, giving a sole source contract to one contractor, which could amount to $100 billion. I've calculated that out," Warner told Pentagon Comptroller Tina Jonas during a Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) hearing on the $481.4 billion fiscal 2008 defense budget request.
NASA next week is to launch five spacecraft from Cape Canaveral atop the same Delta II rocket to unravel secrets of Earth's aurora. The $180 million flight using small spacecraft also has extensive Canadian ground system involvement. Liftoff of the Delta II with nine solid rocket boosters is set for 6:07 p.m. Eastern time Feb. 15.
The Democratic-run Senate Budget Committee will formally ask Robert Gates to testify before the panel, and the committee's chairman opened speculation Feb. 6 that the defense secretary could be compelled if he does not make a voluntary appearance. The desire to confront the newly installed secretary over defense-related budgets comes after a hearing in which Budget Democrats berated the Bush administration and Pentagon leaders for their budget submissions and costs related to defense and war-fighting.
AMCS: General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems has been awarded a $56.2 million contract for full rate production of 223 Type 3 Advanced Mission Computers (AMCs) for integration into F/A-18E/F and E/A-18G aircraft, the Defense Department said Feb. 5. A total of 84 AMCs will be purchased for forward fit, 114 for retrofit, and 25 spares. The work will be done in Bloomington, Minn., and is expected to be finished by July 2009. The contract was awarded by the Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md.
A day after U.S. Navy officials outlined future cutbacks in the program, Northrop Grumman Corp. said the service awarded it $16 million for two more MQ-8B Fire Scout vertical-takeoff-and-landing unmanned aircraft (VTUAV) and that it would help the Navy in "refining" the rotorcraft drone's concept of operations.
The worldwide commercial geostationary satellite market is projected to stay at 20-25 satellite orders annually for the next few years, according to Clay Mowry, president of Arianespace Inc. The market is continuing to recover after having a rough period from 2002 to 2005, Mowry said during FAA's Tenth Annual Commercial Space Transportation Conference in Arlington, Va., Feb. 6. Over that time, annual orders slipped from the high 20s to less than 10, he said. Launches typically follow two years behind satellite orders.
Funding the Pentagon priority joint air capabilities programs for fiscal year 2008 would cost about $20 billion for 100 aircraft, excluding unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and missiles or other weapons, according to Defense Department budget documents (See related chart, page 7). And all of the aircraft have developmental or other issues that need to be resolved, according to the recently released Director, Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E) annual report. Here's the Pentagon lineup of the aircraft, costs and issues on the table:
TEST EQUIPMENT: The U.S. Army has awarded Raytheon Co. a $19.3 million contract for Patriot "Pure-Fleet" Tactical Assets test equipment, the Defense Department said. The work will be done in Andover, Mass., and is expected to be finished by Jan. 31, 2008. The contract was awarded by the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala.
FRAG KITS: O'Gara-Hess & Eisenhardt Armoring Co. of Fairfield, Ohio, has been awarded an $82.2 million contract modification to provide the U.S. Army with Objective Frag #5 Kits for uparmored Humvees. The work will be done in Andover, Mass., and is expected to be finished by April 30, 2009. The contract was awarded by the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala.
The Bush administration's massive fiscal 2008 defense budget request seeks $8.9 billion for ballistic missile defense - a $500 million reduction from the previous year's budget request, the Pentagon said Feb. 5. Missile Defense Agency officials said the cut came near the end of the budget cycle as a cost reduction in the ballooning $481.4 billion defense request for fiscal 2008. Pentagon planners expect it to be just a one-year cut.
The U.S. Army is requesting $130 billion in fiscal 2008 and $140.7 billion in FY '09, after successfully making the case to Pentagon leaders last year that it needed more money to fulfill its duties as spelled out in the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR).
JOINT TACTICAL RADIO: Boeing has teamed with Rockwell Collins, Harris, L-3 Communications, BBN Technologies, Northrop Grumman and Milcom Systems Corp. to propose a system design and development plan for the Airborne and Maritime/Fixed Station Joint Tactical Radio System. Company officials say the product will be a software-defined radio with Internet-like capabilities that allow network-centric communications for air, land and sea forces.
NASA astronauts Michael Lopez-Alegria and Sunita Williams finished activating the permanent cooling system for the U.S. Destiny laboratory module on Feb. 4, spending 7 hours, 11 minutes outside in a virtual repeat of another extravehicular activity (EVA) last week.
