NASA REACTION: The Congressional Budget Office's (CBO) recent analysis of alternative launch programs to support NASA's exploration plans "largely... validated" NASA's choice to develop the shuttle-derived Ares launch systems, according to Jeff Hanley, the agency's Constellation program manager. CBO estimates that the total cost of the launch campaign to support a 2018 lunar return, assuming NASA relies solely on the U.S.
CHANGES SOUGHT: South Korea would like to see changes in its agreement for protection under the U.S. "nuclear umbrella" policy, Yoon Kwang Ung, the country's minister of national defense, said during an Oct. 20 Pentagon briefing. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said during the same briefing he didn't know South Korea wanted the changes, but that the two countries' staffs are discussing any alterations. A communique with any changes was not released by press time Oct. 20.
Oct. 23 - 25 -- International Loran Association's 35th Annual Convention and Technical Symposium, Mystic Marriott Hotel, Groton, Conn. For more information call Bob Lilly at (805) 967-8649, email [email protected] or go to www.loran.org . Oct. 23 - 26 -- 11th Annual Expeditionary Warfare Conference, "Joint Expeditionary Operations in an Uncertain World," Marriott Baypoint Resort Village Golf & Yacht Club, Panama City, Fla. For more information go to www.ndia.org.
SCIENCE EXAM: The Defense Science Board is focusing on the impact of export controls on the space industrial base. A board task force expects to make recommendations to Pentagon acquisition chief Kenneth Krieg this spring. The tea leaves are hard to read so far. Some members say industry complaints show that the U.S.'s international licensing is gummed up but doesn't point to serious industrial-base problems.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has announced the 78 Track B teams that will vie for a chance to compete in the 2007 Urban Challenge robotic vehicle race, bringing the total number of teams in contention to 89. Unlike the first two Grand Challenges, the Urban Challenge has two different "tracks" by which teams can participate. The Track A teams, competitively selected by DARPA, receive up to $1 million in development money in exchange for limited licensing rights. Eleven teams already have been chosen for Track A (DAILY, Oct. 4).
Raytheon, Northrop Grumman and L-3 Communications will split $7.4 million in contract awards to study technology alternatives to laser jammer countermeasures against shoulder-fired missile attacks on commercial aircraft, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Northrop Grumman -- whose active electronically scanned array (AESA) radars anchor sensor suites for the F-22 Raptor and F-35 Joint Strike Fighter -- sees a domestic and international market for retrofitting older aircraft such as F-15s and F-16s with AESAs, said John Johnson, vice president and general manager of the Aerospace Systems Division.
Implementing long-term plans for developing, testing, and buying weapon systems and other equipment would necessitate spending, excluding warfighting and other related cost growth risks, of at least $195 billion in 2013, the Congressional Budget Office projected last week. If reasonable cost growths were accounted for, the investment bill could hit as much as $224 billion in the same year, the nonpartisan CBO report said (DAILY, Oct. 20).
PROGRESS LAUNCH: Launch of the next Russian Progress unmanned resupply vehicle to the International Space Station is set for 9:41 a.m. Eastern time Oct. 23 from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The vehicle is set to dock on Oct. 26, carrying propellant, oxygen, and dry cargo. High-priority items being brought include parts for the finicky Russian Elektron oxygen generation system, research payloads and spacewalk equipment.
TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- The F-22's data fusion is so powerful and efficient that Raptor pilots want the aircraft's sensors to collect even more combat and situational data -- and they want to be able to transmit even more detailed information from the plane, U.S. Air Force Maj. Shawn "Rage" Anger says. "We want even more information," Anger said during an Oct. 17 preflight briefing. "We can handle it." As a Raptor officer with the 43rd Fighter Squadron, Anger's job is to train Raptor pilots, or, as he puts it, "Graduate F-22 warriors."
UAS PLAN: The multinational Joint Air Power Competence Center, headed by the U.S. Air Force, is developing an unmanned aerial system (UAS) "flight plan" which will review UAS in NATO, identify gaps in requirements and capabilities and suggest answers and organizations best suited to solve problems. The center's director, Air Force Gen. Tom Hobbins - also commander of U.S. Air Forces Europe and the Air Component Command in Ramstein, Germany - said more than 40 countries are operating more than 80 types of UAS, with the U.S. fleet of 3,000 counting at least 18 variants.
LAS CRUCES, N.M. -- Armadillo Aerospace fell short on its first attempt at a NASA Centennial Challenge prize for lunar lander technology when its lox-ethanol vehicle broke a leg on landing. Judges said the impact also triggered a small fire in some of the circuitry and it was unclear if the vehicle could be repaired to fly again over the weekend.
The U.S. Navy Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center has awarded General Dynamics Robotic Systems a $12.7 million contract for four unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) for the Littoral Combat Ship program's antisubmarine mission module. The award comes as the Navy is pushing USV development and deployment as a major component of the LCS system, as well as to make up for a shrinking naval personnel force (DAILY, Aug. 28). 'Highly efficient'
ROTATING RIG: Pratt & Whitney has transferred a large-scale rotating rig to India's National Aerospace Laboratories for use in collaborative turbo machinery projects. Pratt and NAL have collaborated on projects for the past five years.
SLEEPLESS NIGHTS: Whether or not the Chinese and South Koreans search ships leaving North Korea for weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), the U.S. has other ways to prevent shipment. So says Mario Mancuso, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for special operations and combating terrorism. He says that special operations forces have the capability to derail shipments intended to proliferate WMDs. Moreover, the U.S. also has far broader capabilities. "We're doing things across the spectrum," Mancuso says.
TOURIST CLASS: NASA will probably buy seats on commercial suborbital space vehicles, Administrator Michael Griffin says. He tells a group of space entrepreneurs and financiers in Las Cruses, N.M., that it would be logical for the agency to buy the commercial services both for microgravity experiments and astronaut training on vehicles such as Virgin Galaxy's planned Space Ship Two, provided the nascent industry literally gets off the ground.
TRADING PLACES: No matter which party wins control of the House and Senate next month, there will be new leaders running several committees and subcommittees. Thanks to the term limits rule imposed by Republicans, veteran leaders like Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner (R-Va.) will have to step aside. Also leaving leadership posts because they've hit the six-year maximum: Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, as well as that panel's aviation subcommittee chief, Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.).
Moving to a collaborative digital design process has helped reduce scrap and rework rates for structural parts an estimated 40-50 percent on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program as compared to previous efforts, according to Lockheed Martin JSF Program Deputy Mike Walters. The multinational fighter program, which is still in its system design and development (SDD) phase, currently has more than 1,000 suppliers. That number will continue to expand globally as the program ramps up into full-rate production during the next decade.
MANPADS DEVELOPMENT: EDO Corp. said it has received a $20 million, five-year contract from the U.S. Army's Project Director for Aircraft Survivability Equipment for continued development of its Common Missile Warning System currently used on Army helicopters to defend against man-portable air defense systems. The newly acquired EDO-CAS business unit has been selling CMWS since 1994.
The British destroyer HMS Manchester is ready for sea trials this month following a multimillion pound upgrade, the U.K. defense ministry says. The seven-month project included installation of a new torpedo defense system, communications advancements, new reverse osmosis plants to produce fresh water, and a 'transom flap' to improve fuel efficiency, a news release said. Devonport Management Limited (DML) in Devonport Dockyard conducted the project.
Britain's troops in Afghanistan are set to receive a powerful new battlefield weapon, the Automatic Lightweight Grenade Launcher, the U.K. defense ministry said Oct. 19. The weapon can fire up to 340 of the 40mm high explosive grenades per minute as far as 2,000 meters (2,187 yards), a defense ministry news release said. The grenades can be used against both enemy troops and light armor, and may be fired either automatically or in single shots.
CAMERAS: Gyrocam Camera Systems of Sarasota, Fla., has been awarded a $51.7 million contract to provide the U.S. Navy with 140 camera systems and related parts and support to help perform counter improvised explosive detection missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Defense Department said Oct. 19. The work is set to be complete by October 2007. The Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico, Va., awarded the contract.
