A dropped spacewalk that was to have tested shuttle tile repair techniques on the orbiter's next mission won't affect NASA's upcoming decision on whether to fly a final shuttle mission to the Hubble Space Telescope, according to Administrator Michael Griffin. Griffin said yesterday NASA has taken a "forward-looking posture" on the question of a Hubble servicing mission, and will fly one unless a resumption of shuttle operations later this year demonstrates it would be unsafe.
The Swedish defense procurement agency has spelled out plans to purchase unmanned aircraft for its European Union Nordic Battle Group commitment that commences Jan 1, 2008. Sweden has long said it needs a new tactical unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to meet its surveillance needs under the new EU deployment scheme. The system would be handled by platoons and deployed using standard ground equipment. Two vehicles would be deployed per platoon.
NASA announced April 18 the opening of registration for five Centennial Challenges competitions, in which teams will vie for cash prizes totaling more than $1 million. The prize competitions and co-sponsors that are accepting team registrations are: * Astronaut Glove Challenge, administered by Volanz Aerospace/Spaceflight America, with a total prize value of $250,000. A kick-off conference will be held at the New England Air Museum in Windsor Lock, Conn., on April 24.
WHITE HOUSE: President Bush is nominating U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman to succeed Joshua Bolton as director of the White House Office of Management and Budget. Bolton has been named Bush's new chief of staff. Additionally, Paul Denett has been nominated to be administrator for OMB's Office of Federal Procurement Policy. Denett succeeds David Safavian, who resigned before being indicted as part of the Jack Abramoff scandal.
An April 17 story about management changes within Boeing's space exploration unit contained errors. John Elbon's correct title is vice president and program manager for Boeing's Constellation. Joe Gernand previously was a deputy program manager and chief engineer. Aerospace Daily regrets the error.
Sikorsky Aircraft on April 18 announced a nationwide campaign to recruit more than 300 engineers to help meet demand for the company's military and civil helicopters. Sikorsky plans job fairs in several states over the next few months to fill engineering jobs at company and subsidiary facilities in Connecticut, Florida, Maryland, Alabama and New York.
LLOYD RETIRES: Iridium Satellite LLC announced April 18 that CEO Carmen Lloyd is retiring from the company. Dan A. Colussy has been named interim CEO until Lloyd's successor is appointed. Colussy is a founding investor and former CEO of Iridium Satellite LLC, as well as Chairman of Iridium Holdings LLC.
C-26D SUPPORT: URS Corp. announced April 17 that it was awarded a $17.7 million contract by the U.S. Navy to continue providing logistics support for seven C-26D aircraft, a military version of the Fairchild Metroliner commuter aircraft, at naval facilities in Barking Sands, Hawaii, and Sigonella and Naples, Italy. The contract includes an eight-month base period and four one-year option periods. The company won the initial five-year logistics contract in 1999.
The demise of the Joint Unmanned Combat Air System (J-UCAS) program is another example of why the Pentagon needs to reconsider what it wants from joint development programs, the head of the Navy's strike weapons and unmanned aviation program said April 18. "We start joint, but we never carry it across the goal line for some reason," Rear Adm. Timothy Heely said. "There are very few joint success stories," he told The DAILY after addressing the Precision Strike Association's conference on asymmetric warfare.
Blaming defense budget cuts, program delays and contract completions, the Boeing Co. is restructuring its Wichita, Kan., operation and laying off roughly 900 more employees, the company announced April 17. Boeing Wichita, which is part of the company's Integrated Defense Systems unit, will change its business to focus primarily on military 747 and wide-body aircraft modifications and upgrades, as well as engineering for the B-52 Stratofortress and other defense and civil aviation-related businesses.
The U.S. Air Force has awarded contracts to a Boeing/Lockheed Martin team and Raytheon to compete in the risk reduction phase of the Small Diameter Bomb Increment II program. The Raytheon team is receiving roughly $144 million and the Boeing/Lockheed team about $146 million for the 42-month risk reduction phase. The Air Force announced the awards April 17.
With the Joint Common Missile abandoned for now, the U.S. Navy is looking to adapt Dual-Mode Laser-Guided Bombs (DMLGBs) and Laser Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs) as its weapons of choice to hit moving targets, such as Iraqi insurgents in pick-up trucks, according to a panel of Navy officers leading sea strike systems.
Intelsat, Ltd. on April 18 reported revenue of $1.171 billion and a net loss of $325.3 million for 2005, and said that finalizing the acquisition of PanAmSat is its "top priority" for 2006. Two more U.S. regulatory approvals are needed for the $3.2 billion merger to go through, from the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice. DOJ has sent a second request for information to the companies. Intelsat believes all non-U.S. regulatory hurdles have been cleared.
If the U.S. government is serious about creating an overall terrorism information-sharing road map, a congressional report says, the Director of National Intelligence needs to birddog progress for meeting key milestones, identify barriers to achieving them and recommend changes to Congress.
The 3,300-pound unmanned re-entry module for the Chinese Shenzhou 6 manned mission launched in October 2005 has been commanded into a destructive re-entry after completing six months of autonomous flight and about 3,000 orbits. The two-man Shenzhou 6 astronaut crew returned to Earth after five days aloft. But as in the earlier Shenzhou 5 manned flight and four unmanned test flights, the 9-foot by 8-foot pressurized orbital module with solar arrays spanning 34 feet stayed in orbit as an unmanned satellite.
The Advanced SEAL Delivery System (ASDS) submarine is headed for a critical juncture next summer when the U.S. Navy, Special Operations Command and the industry team led by Northrop Grumman Corp. figure out if the one boat already produced is reliable, and whether to proceed with a new class of mini-subs or stop altogether, according to the Navy's program executive officer for subs.
