Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Nov. 29 that he and the chiefs of the Army and Marines are constantly "scrubbing," i.e., rechecking, their forecasts for future ground force sizes - a hot topic in light of Iraq and Afghanistan operations. If Pace deems an increase is needed, he will recommend as much to the defense secretary and president, he politely told Pentagon reporters.
India is beginning the definition of a small Mars orbiter for launch as early as 2013 on India's geosynchronous space launch vehicle. The spacecraft, costing only about $70 million excluding the booster, would carry instruments to research the Martian atmosphere and sub surface, possibly including a radar. The mission is probably more significant at this point in that India is planning to do it, rather than what scientifically it is planning to do.
Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne in mid-November decided to kill a proposal that would have kept competing teams led by Boeing and Northrop Grumman under contract for a new proposed tanker fleet until 2009, opting instead to make a winner-take-all award for the first 179 planes next July, The Lexington Institute reports in an issue brief released Nov. 28.
MISSION EXTENDED: The Chinese-European Space Agency Double Star mission will be extended an additional nine months following approval of additional funding by the ESA science committee. The twin satellites, launched in December 2003 and July 2004, had already benefited from a 17-month extension approved last year. The extensions are intended to allow Double Star to work in tandem with ESA's Cluster mission, which was recently stretched to December 2009, the upcoming NASA Themis mission and NASA's new Stereo system, launched late last month.
ESA says the control center built to operate Europe's Columbus orbital laboratory is now operational. The center, located at a DLR facility in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany, is initially earmarked for ESA science missions on the International Space Station such as Astrolab, which is currently under way. When Columbus is launched to the ISS toward the end of next year, the center will assume control of that lab as well.
NATO summit participants in Riga, Latvia, have come out in support of several alliance modernization programs, but stopped short of putting forward major new initiatives.
The Boeing/Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency X-37B unmanned winged Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV) is in advanced development, aiming toward a first launch from Cape Canaveral in early 2008 onboard a Lockheed Martin Atlas V.
U.S. Air Force Undersecretary Ronald Sega says he expects continued bipartisan support for military space programs following the Democratic takeover of Congress in January. "From a space perspective, in the committees that I have testified in front of and the staffers I have interacted with, there ... has not been a partisan nature to discussions," Sega said during a Defense Writers Group breakfast in Washington Nov. 29. "We're trying to do the right thing, and working with them."
NEW DLR CHIEF: Johann-Dietrich Woerner will replace Sigmar Wittig as head of German aerospace center DLR. Woerner, who will take up his new job on March 1, 2007, is president of the Technical University of Darmstadt. Wittig, who also chairs the council of the European Space Agency, is retiring after five years at the DLR helm.
Pentagon brass testifying next year before the Senate Armed Services Committee will answer questions from three potential presidential candidates. John McCain (Ariz.) has all but announced his intention to seek the Republican nomination in 2008, and as ranking minority member he will have a bully pulpit. Incoming Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) says he hopes McCain will keep pushing for military acquisition reform.
The Naval Research Advisory Committee (NRAC) will meet to discuss classified information from government organizations Dec. 5-6. All sessions, except the publicly available NRAC Security, Ethics, and Travel Brief on Dec. 5, will be devoted to closed briefings, discussions and technical examinations of issues related to maritime strategy and Navy and Marine Corps plans, programs and objectives.
RUMSFELD A TARGET?: As Washington waits for the Baker-Hamilton and Joint Chiefs' assessments of what to do next about Iraq, Donald Rumsfeld's resignation puts him in the bull's-eye as to whom to blame next. Remember what George Tenet got when he resigned/was fired in July 2004 after seven years as CIA director? A handshake, a presidential medal of freedom and blame throughout the presidential election campaign for just about everything known to have been done wrong in the run-up to the war.
SAT SHIPPED: Measat Satellite Systems of Malaysia says its Measat-3 communications satellite has been shipped to Baikonur, Kazakstan for a December launch atop an International Launch Services Proton M booster. The spacecraft, built by Boeing, will provide C- and Ku-band service to Asia, Australia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Africa.
U.S. Air Force Gen. Norton Schwartz, chief of Transportation Command, said Nov. 28 that he does not foresee nor support a merger of TransCom and the Defense Logistics Agency.
NINE LIVES FOR CIEL: Canadian satellite communications startup Ciel has filed nine applications for new orbital positions across several frequencies. The applications were submitted in response to the largest call for proposals ever issued by the Canadian government. Ciel has already been awarded a slot at 129 degrees west longitude, where it plans to deploy its first dedicated spacecraft, Ciel-2, in late 2008.
TAKEOVER APPROVED: The White House has approved the $11.8 billion takeover of Lucent Technologies by Alcatel, including Lucent's famous Bell Labs, clearing the transaction to go forward. The purchase had drawn concerns by Congress that security issues related to classified work done at the Bell Labs had not been sufficiently addressed. A panel of government experts had agreed that steps taken by Lucent, including placing sensitive units in a new affiliate headed by U.S. citizens, adequately addressed these concerns.
Supporters are calling on Congress to preserve and expand funding for NASA's Centennial Challenges prize program, which Senate appropriators have voted to zero in fiscal 2007. Although House lawmakers have supported the effort, Senate appropriators have now cut all funding for the program two years in a row, complaining that it doesn't give them enough oversight of how NASA spends its money.
EMP PROTECTION: The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory has turned to General Electric Co. for a $12.5 million effort to demonstrate the resilience of aircraft flight control, electric actuation and power management and distribution subsystems against high-power microwaves and nuclear electromagnetic pulses. The focus of the program is a near-term solution to the need to make aircraft immune to electromagnetic environmental effects, the Defense Department said. The award runs through November 2011.
The California Air National Guard's 163rd Air Refueling Wing, March Air Reserve Base, Calif., will become the home for a new MQ-1 Predator Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) unit, the National Guard Bureau and the Adjutant General of California announced Nov. 28. The 163rd Air Refueling Wing is being renamed the 163rd Reconnaissance Wing.
Small arms and light weapons are proliferating worldwide, according to a new book by Rachel Stohl of the Center for Defense Information, Matthew Schroeder of the Federation of American Scientists and Daniel Smith of the Friends Committee on National Legislation.
