Al-Qaeda terrorists, Iran and North Korea pose the greatest international threats to U.S. national security, top intelligence officials told Congress Feb. 28. "Al Qaeda remains our top concern," Director of National Intelligence (DNI) John Negroponte told a hearing by the Senate Armed Services Committee. "Attacking the U.S. homeland, U.S. interests overseas and U.S. allies - in that order - are al-Qaeda's top operational priorities," Negroponte added.
Leading lawmakers are increasingly criticizing the Bush administration's fiscal 2007 budget requests for the Homeland Security Department, and in particular the Coast Guard, by accusing the White House of treating domestic security as an unwanted "stepchild" next to the U.S. military and failing to back its rhetoric with funds.
NASA is considering whether to remove a tiny particle of debris caught in a pre-valve screen in one of shuttle Discovery's engines that some engineers worry could cause problems if it is dislodged and pulled into the engine. NASA's worry about the piece, which Shuttle Program Manager Wayne Hale described as being about the size of the point on a mechanical pencil, is that it could either clog up engine components or ignite in the oxygen-rich environment of the engine.
EADS North America on Feb. 26 announced the first order from the Homeland Security Department's Customs and Border Protection (CBP) unit for 10 Light Sign Cutter EC120 aircraft under a deal for as many as 55 helicopters worth $75 million. "This success positively reflects our unique capability to support vital national security missions, including our offer of the UH-145 helicopter for the Army's Light Utility Helicopter requirement," chief executive Ralph Crosby Jr. said in a statement.
NASA's latest estimate for the total cost of returning the space shuttle to flight following the Columbia accident is $1.267 billion total spent from fiscal 2003 through FY '06. The cost estimates are included in the latest update to NASA's return-to-flight (RTF) implementation plan. The update, released Feb. 24, is the 11th edition of the plan and the first since the shuttle resumed operations with mission STS-114 in July 2005.
The Scaled Composites/Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer is being readied for delivery to the National Air And Space Museum after being returned from Bournemouth, England, to its Salina, Kan., base on Feb. 25. Jon Karkow, GlobalFlyer chief engineer and test pilot for Scaled Composites, made the westbound trans-Atlantic trip in the aircraft. He also flew a test flight out of Bournemouth on Feb. 24 to ensure the aircraft's systems were ready for the flight back to Salina.
The Air Force is moving select active duty Air Force combat search and rescue (CSAR) aircraft and crew from Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) to Air Combat Command (ACC) to consolidate personnel. Gen. T. Michael Moseley, Air Force chief of staff, directed the transfer of administrative control for select assets, the Air Force said Feb. 27. Under ACC, the CSAR assets can be mobilized faster during a national crisis, as well as integrated into combat training, the service said.
Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) Chairman Joseph Dyer is pleased with NASA's recent progress in developing its Independent Technical Authority (ITA), which has been a major concern for the ASAP since the panel was reconstituted in 2004. The Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) recommended the establishment of the ITA to provide an unbiased look at safety. In the past, ASAP panel members have expressed concern about the pace of the ITA's development (DAILY, July 22, 2004).
ARMOR PROTECTION: O'Gara-Hess & Eisenhardt Armoring Co. of Fairfield, Ohio, has been awarded a $66 million contract modification to provide the U.S. Army with M1114 Up-Armored High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles and Front Wheel Well Armor Protection Field Kits, the Defense Department said Feb. 27. The work will be done in Fairfield, Ohio, and is expected to be finished by Nov. 30, 2007. The contract was awarded by the Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command, Warren, Mich.
With lawmakers set to start grilling top uniformed officers of the military services this week, observers will be watching for programmatic winners and how Congress changes the Bush administration's recent fiscal 2007 budget request. Excluding the latest supplemental spending request for Iraq and Afghanistan, which asks for $65 billion for the Defense Department, the $439 billion budget request already prioritizes many programs.
The U.S. Navy may not speed up production of Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines to two a year as planned even if the price goes below $2 billion per hull, according to the Navy's No. 2 leader. "There are a variety of shipbuilding activities that occur across the program, across the FYDP [five-year defense plan]," Adm. Robert Willard said. "The timing of two submarines a year is based on all of the variables associated with that annual program."
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) have signed a plan to secure the continued flow of environmental satellite data from NOAA-provided instruments aboard EUMETSAT's MetOp spacecraft to select U.S. users during "episodes that might otherwise require data denial," the agencies announced Feb. 22.
DUBAI RISING: If you like Dubai Ports World, the prospective buyer of the British company that operates six major U.S. ports, you'll love Dubai Aerospace Enterprise, the holding company being established to provide, among other things, aircraft leasing, airport development and management and MRO services. At $15 billion, part of it from the government of the United Arab Emirates, the company will be capitalized for a robust startup and early competitiveness in worldwide markets.
SEAL RIBS: The U.S. Navy awarded United States Marine Inc. of Gulfport, Miss., an $8.8 million contract for the Naval Special Warfare's 11-meter rigid, inflatable boat service life extension program. Restoration of 32 boats to like-new condition will be carried out in Gulfport and is expected to be finished by February 2011, the Defense Department said Feb. 23. The contract was not competitively procured - the boats are provided by the company. The high-speed, high-buoyancy, extreme-weather crafts carry a crew of three and special forces, according to the Navy.
To ensure that current and future Mars exploration missions will be able to communicate their data to Earth efficiently, NASA is in the early planning stages for a new orbiter mission that would launch to the red planet in 2013. "We're studying what that ought to be, and it's going to be a hybrid science/telecommunications orbiter," said Doug McCuistion, NASA's director of Mars exploration.
