INFRARED PODS: The U.S. Navy has awarded Raytheon Co. a $92 million contract to provide 50 full-rate production Lot 4 Advanced Targeting Forward Looking Infrared pods for F/A-18C/D aircraft, the Defense Department said Jan. 19. Textron Systems Corp. has also received a $108 million contract from the Air Force for 332 Sensor Fuzed Weapons for Lot 11 F-16s, DOD said Jan. 20.
DRYDOCK SALES: The Congressional Budget Office expects the U.S. Navy to make $2 million from the sales of three yard and auxiliary floating drydocks - YFD-70, AFDM-7 and AFDM-2 - to various shipyards and port authorities this year. The fiscal 2006 defense policy act authorized the sales, and CBO reported on likely offsetting receipts Jan. 18.
EXOMARS DESIGN: The European Space Agency intends to select a design option by mid-year for its ExoMars sample-return precursor mission. Set for around 2011, the mission currently is planned as a lander/rover combination to be carried aloft by a Soyuz booster. But with available funding higher than required - and Canada set to offer more money on top of that - planners are looking at expanding its scope. One option under study is to add an orbiter and perhaps a communications payload that might draw more international cooperation.
Successful completion of engineering thermal vacuum testing of the payload for the first geosynchronous orbit satellite of the Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) is another step toward launch of the satellite in fiscal year 2008, according to Lockheed Martin Space Systems, which is developing SBIRS for the U.S. Air Force.
ISS ASSEMBLY: Top managers of the five International Space Station partners will hold a critical meeting in March to discuss a new plan for completing assembly of the orbital facility. Jean-Jacques Dordain, director general of the European Space Agency (ESA), admits that the agency heads won't be able to redraw the shuttle manifest definitively because the second of two post-Columbia space shuttle test flights isn't scheduled until later in the spring.
The Aerospace Industries Association is making "good progress" on developing an international ethics code for overseas aerospace countries wanting to do business in the United States, according to AIA President and CEO John Douglass. AIA began the effort about six months ago, Douglass said. During a review of AIA's own ethics program, a member of the executive committee suggested broadening the effort to include other countries and level the often "unbalanced" ethical playing field, he said.
Jan. 25 -- Precision Strike Association, PSA Winter Roundtable, "Precision Requirements, New Policies, Creating Innovative Opportunities," Crystal City Forum, Crystal City Marriott, Arlington, Va. For more information go to www.precisionstrike.org. Jan. 31 - Feb. 1 -- Image Fusion 2006, "Applications & Advances for Improved Situational Awareness," Hilton Washington D.C./Silver Spring, Silver Spring, Md. For more information call (800) 882-8684, email [email protected] or go to www.idga.org.
LONDON - Britain's defense ministry is trying to find funding to purchase an additional Boeing C-17 strategic airlifter. The Royal Air Force operates four C-17s, which have supported ongoing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The aircraft were acquired under a lease agreement, which the British are now turning into a purchase.
MORE PRESSURE: Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.), the vice chairman of the House Armed Services and Homeland Security committees, is promising increased pressure this legislative session on the CIA, the FBI, the Defense Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency. Weldon asserted during an American Legion Post 20 luncheon in Washington Jan. 18 that some intel leaders have stymied his oversight and that he won't take it anymore. He also continues to promote the Army's Land Information Warfare Assistance Center for its open-source information gathering ability.
Lockheed Martin is applying lessons learned from the Stardust sample return capsule and other similar capsules in its bid to build NASA's Crew Exploration Vehicle, according to the company. Stardust parachuted down into the Utah desert carrying comet and interstellar dust samples on Jan. 15 (DAILY, Jan. 18). The CEV capsule also will parachute down to solid ground, possibly with the help of retro-rockets or airbags.
SPACEWALK PREP: Expedition 12 Commander Bill McArthur and Flight Engineer Valery Tokarev are preparing for the second spacewalk of their mission aboard the International Space Station. NASA last week chose to push the spacewalk back a day from Feb. 2 to Feb. 3 to ease the preparation schedule. During the spacewalk, the crew will move a cargo boom adapter from one module to another, install a safety bolt into a cable cutter on the Mobile Transporter truss rail car, and deploy SuitSat.
M&S SUMMIT: Making good on a promise, albeit a little behind schedule, Rep. J. Randy Forbes (R-Va.) will co-host the first so-called Modeling and Simulation Leadership Summit on Feb. 6 in Suffolk, Va. The congressman, who leads the M&S caucus on Capitol Hill, wanted industry to gather to discuss M&S technologies last year (DAILY, March 8, 2005). The one-day event, which organizers hope to make an annual affair, is sponsored by the National Training Systems Association.
The White House said Jan. 19 that President Bush has chosen Coast Guard Vice Adm. Thad Allen, who entered the spotlight to take over federal hurricane-response efforts after FEMA was relieved, to be the next commandant of the Homeland Security Department's armed service. The Coast Guard is part of the Homeland Security Department. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who chairs the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, endorsed Bush's pick.
NUKE GAMES: A war game exercise run by The Heritage Foundation indicates that Cold War strategies, when there were two nuclear superpowers, may not work in an age of wider nuclear proliferation. There are indications that the more widespread nuclear defenses are could diminish the effectiveness of attack strategies and make players less likely to use them, according to the study done by Baker Spring, a national security policy expert at the conservative Washington think tank.
Boeing Co. laid off 84 workers at its Wichita, Kansas, facility on Jan. 20, citing Defense Department budget issues and program delays. The layoffs took place in the company's Integrated Defense Systems business unit. Wichita site programs include the KC-135 tanker, 767 tankers, the B-52 Stratofortress, and the Airborne Laser. Affected workers include hourly and salaried employees. All were given 60-day notices.
GLOBAL HAWK: The first production Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle arrived in theater in southwest Asia on Jan. 18, according to the Air Force. To date, deployed Global Hawks have flown more than 5,000 combat hours supporting the war on terrorism, according to manufacturer Northrop Grumman.
A star-laden panel of U.S. military leaders responsible for network-centric systems told industry contenders Jan. 19 to focus their product pitches on protecting networks, helping with limited spectrum allocation and assisting information sharing across disparate networks for the U.S. military, nongovernmental organizations and allied nations.
NASA's New Horizons mission became the first spacecraft ever launched to Pluto on Jan. 19, blasting off at approximately 2 p.m. Eastern time from Cape Canaveral, Fla., aboard an Atlas V rocket. Traveling 36,000 miles per hour at the time of spacecraft separation, the New Horizons mission marked the fastest-ever departure from Earth's gravity, passing the moon less than nine hours after launch.
Seven House members have written the chief of naval operations, Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, urging him to propose building two attack submarines every year starting in fiscal 2009 instead of FY '12. The bipartisan group also asked Mullen to include advance procurement funding for a second Virginia-class nuclear attack submarine in the Defense Department's fiscal 2007 budget request.
Aerospace Industries Association members have "serious concerns" about the proposed funding for NASA aeronautics, which AIA President and CEO John Douglass says will not be enough to sustain America's global leadership in aerospace. Under newly appointed Associate Administrator for Aeronautics Lisa Porter, NASA is refocusing on fundamental aeronautics research and backing away from flight demonstrations (DAILY, Jan. 17). The agency is expected to request $694.4 million for aeronautics in fiscal 2007, down 14 percent from its FY '06 request.
SAVANNAH, Ga. -- Senior Scout camouflages itself as a standard C-130 airlifter, but inside it offers new weapons for information warfare and network attack. It is a barometer of changing warfighting priorities. The military's principal battlefield targets are changing. Instead of tanks and aircraft, the objects of choice are radars, microwave towers, cell phones, satellite dishes and other communication links.
MH-60R Seahawk program officials and their industry providers, Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. and Lockheed Martin Corp., expect to receive permission within four to six weeks to begin full-rate production of the helicopter, they said Jan. 19.
