ANTI-SAT HEARING: An AVIATION WEEK online report that China destroyed an aging weather satellite with an anti-satellite weapon has prompted Bush administration officials to conduct a highly classified briefing for lawmakers on Capitol Hill. "China's successful test raises serious concerns about the vulnerability of our space-based assets," said Rep. Terry Everett (R-Ala.), one of those who attended the Jan. 19 briefing.
The U.S. Air Force is counting on its recently awarded Air and Space Operations Center Weapons System Integrator (AOC WSI) program to cut costs, particularly in personnel and equipment, while streamlining 48 different systems now used by roughly 20 air and space operations centers globally, according to Lt. Gen. Charles Johnson II. But the program likely will go slow, be required to go through internal budget debates competing with other Air Force priorities and possibly lead to changes within the program itself.
After years of investing in Army aviation protection against infrared (IR)-seeking munitions, the service needs to research ways to thwart attacks on helicopters and other airborne platforms using radio frequencies (RF) or other elements of the electromagnetic spectrum, says Edward Bair, service program executive officer for intelligence, electronic warfare and sensors.
While the Army has decided to cut some money in fielding Future Combat Systems (FCS) to make it more affordable, shifting missions to different parts of the program should keep most of its capabilities intact, said service Brig. Gen. Thomas Cole, deputy program manager, program integration (platforms), for FCS. "We've made some adjustments," Cole said Jan. 19 during a briefing at the Association of the United States Army's Institute of Land Warfare Aviation Symposium and Exhibition.
Defense industry representatives say efforts are under way on newly Democratic-controlled Capitol Hill to accelerate the starting date of 3 percent contract withholding to offset increases in various legislative proposals this year. Under a law passed last year, all governments, local to federal, will deduct and withhold 3 percent from their nonwage payments to contractors starting in 2011 (DAILY, May 30, 2006).
The purchase of the UH-72A Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) is prompting the U.S. Army to adjust its acquisition processes and devise new policies for commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) purchases, according to service officials.
The Army has underfunded aviation science and technology development and is taking steps to invest more in those areas, says Paul Bogosian, service aviation program executive officer. "We are going to pay attention to drive S&T development," Bogosian said Jan. 18 during a briefing at the Association of the United States Army's Institute of Land Warfare Aviation Symposium and Exhibition in Arlington, Va. Concern for the lack of S&T funding became apparent after the cancellation of the Comanche helicopter program, Bogosian said.
The U.S. Marine Corps and the Army are accelerating a program to make and deploy new V-shaped-bottom armored vehicles for their ground forces. But lawmakers are concerned with industry's ability to meet the manufacturing goal, and defense officials acknowledge they cannot supply Iraq-bound troops with them fast enough.
CACI International Inc. said Jan. 17 that it should take in less revenue for its fiscal 2007 based on "unexpected" reductions in demand on Defense Department contracts supporting certain unidentified operations and maintenance activities. "This is the result of the continuing high priority of funding for the warfighter in Iraq and Afghanistan," the Arlington, Va., federal information technology contractor said.
Northrop Grumman officials have internally decided not to submit a bid for the Air Force's KC-X tanker competition based on early results from a key acquisition meeting at the Pentagon this week. However, an official announcement is not expected until the Air Force releases its final request for proposals (RFP), as changes could still be made to the competition up until the last minute.
The Army should be ready to move on a source selection for the Joint Cargo Aircraft (JCA) program by next month, says Paul Bogosian, service aviation program executive officer. JCA program officials are about a "month and a half away" from moving ahead on a contract for the aircraft, Bogosian said Jan. 18 during a briefing at the Association of the United States Army's Institute of Land Warfare Aviation Symposium and Exhibition in Arlington, Va.
ITAS SUPPORT: Raytheon Co. has received another $11.7 million from the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command for the Tube Launcher Optically Guided Weapon Improved Target Acquisition System, according to a Jan. 17 announcement from the Defense Department. The award, for contractor logistics support, will be performed in McKinney, Texas, and is expected to be finished by the end of 2011. The command awarded a $161.78 million contract modification for system production last fall under a $285.4 million firm-fixed-price contract for ITAS production (DAILY, Nov. 29, 2006).
Bush administration officials are declaring alarm over an apparent Chinese anti-satellite (asat) test and are organizing allies to denounce it as well. White House spokesman Tony Snow said Jan. 18 that he did not know whether the alleged Jan. 11 test was meant to be provocative, but it has triggered virtual alarm bells. "We are concerned about it, and we've made it known," he said.
NEW SKIES LAUNCH: Sea Launch is set to orbit the SES New Skies NSS-8 spacecraft Jan. 25 on a Zenit-3SL from its floating Odyssey platform in the equatorial Pacific Ocean. The 5.9 metric ton Boeing-built satellite, equipped with 56 C-band and 36 Ku-band transponders, will be the sixth unit to be operated by New Skies, and the first to be launched by Sea Launch this year. NSS-8 will be placed at 57 degrees east longitude over the Indian Ocean, a slot currently occupied by NSS-703.
SECOND ATTEMPT: SpaceX could make its second attempt to launch its Falcon 1 vehicle soon, working under a Jan. 21-22 launch window at the U.S. Army's Reagan Test Site on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. The company is seeking a couple of more contingency days, and founder Elon Musk says it could go beyond that "as we work with the upgraded vehicle, pad and procedures." The vehicle cleared its flight readiness review and has been rolled to the pad. A wet-dress rehearsal identified "a number of noncritical issues," but no showstoppers.
NASA's New Horizons Pluto probe is on a shakedown tour of the Jupiter system as it uses the gas giant's gravity to pick up 9,000 mph in speed and hasten the final leg of its journey.
NASA is mounting a low-level in-house technology effort to gauge the utility of composite structures as the pressure vessels and other components of future human spacecraft, including the lander the agency hopes to use to return astronauts to the moon by 2020. Administrator Michael Griffin joined composite-structures experts from across the space agency earlier this month to lay out the project, which will start with a look at how the Orion crew exploration vehicle would have been built had it been designed with composites instead of aluminum.
The number of systems envisioned for the U.S. Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) program may drop as the service grapples with its current budgetary pressures, according to Assistant Secretary for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Claude Bolton. The number of systems in FCS - a networked suite of manned and unmanned ground and air platforms - has fluctuated in the past, dipping as low as 12 before settling at 18, Bolton said.
MCNAUGHT CAUGHT: The heliospheric imager on one of NASA's twin Stereo spacecraft captured an image of the Comet McNaught, which is brightening the dawn and dusk skies in the Southern Hemisphere after putting on a show for northern skywatchers before it passed behind the sun on Jan. 12. Taken on Jan. 11, the image clearly shows the near-sun separation of the comet's ion tail and the brighter dust trail above it. The twin tails are formed by the action of the intense sunlight on the comet's dust, and of the solar wind on ionized gas from the comet.
Newly empowered House Armed Services seapower subcommittee Demo-crats are criticizing industrial suppliers for Army and Marine Corps armored personnel vehicles in light of an expected tripling in requirements and an increase in ground forces in Iraq and across the U.S. military.
