The Missile Defense Agency's Airborne Laser project took a step forward with the delivery of the low-power beacon illuminator laser (BILL) last month. Northrop Grumman Space Technology delivered the solid-state BILL to the Boeing plant in Wichita, Kan., on Dec. 2, where a Boeing 747 is being converted into the YAL-1A prototype Airborne Laser (ABL) aircraft.
The U.S. and Europe soon are expected to decide whether to embrace an upgraded Patriot interceptor for their Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS), marking one of several important events ahead this year for ground, Navy and space-based missile defense projects.
President Bush on Jan. 4 appointed Gordon England as deputy defense secretary, fully empowering the former Navy secretary as the Defense Department's No. 2 official until at least late 2007. Bush also used so-called recess appointments to install former newsman Dorrance Smith as assistant secretary of defense for public affairs, and Julie Myers to head the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Bureau in the Homeland Security Department.
Russia has set a fare of $21.8 million a pop for NASA astronauts to ride a Soyuz vehicle to the International Space Station. Detailed long-term arrangements remain to be negotiated, but the Russian Federal Space Agency has committed to the ticket price through 2011. The price tag emerged in negotiations over how ISS transportation will be handled now that the original barter deal has expired, and the U.S. Iran Nonproliferation Act of 2000 (INA) has been amended to allow NASA to buy station services from Russia.
Mark Krzysko has been named deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategic sourcing, says the head of the Pentagon's Business Transformation Agency.
Northrop Grumman and Textron Systems have been chosen to proceed to the next phase of the effort to develop the Joint High Powered Solid State Laser (JHPSSL) for the U.S. military. Two other competitors, Raytheon Co. and a team of Boeing and Lawrence Livermore Lab, were eliminated, industry officials said Jan. 4. Increase power levels
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is organizing an "Armor Challenge" in which new types of lightweight passive vehicle armor will be tested against an array of projectiles. "The Armor Challenge is aimed primarily at inventors and small organizations who do not have the resources to initiate full-scale armor development programs," DARPA says. Proposals will be accepted from Feb. 20 through Aug. 31. The best-performing samples will be considered by DARPA for further development.
The Navy-Marine Corps and Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. team heading the Marine Heavy Lift Replacement helicopter program expect to start an intense series of competitions over the next several months, including for engines, avionics and even the airframe, officials told reporters Jan. 5 at the Pentagon.
In an amazing show of virtuosity, the Pentagon's civilian leadership is expected to stop C-17 production and stiff-arm any objections by starting an aerial tanker program that doubles as a transport and hinting at a low-observable, follow-on tactical transport program.
NEW AWARDS: The U.S. Naval Air Systems Command in late December awarded almost $1.1 billion to the Bell-Boeing Joint Program Office for long lead components for 14 fiscal 2007 Lot 11 MV-22 and two Lot 11 CV-22 Osprey aircraft, as well as logistic services support of the CV-22 developmental test and initial operational test and evaluation. Also last month, the Defense Department said Rolls-Royce will provide 22 engines for the MV-22 and CV-22 under a $59 million contract modification (DAILY, Dec. 27).
YARD SERVICES: Bath Iron Works, a General Dynamics subsidiary, has been awarded a $64 million contract by the U.S. Navy to provide lead yard services for the DDG 51 Arleigh Burke Class Aegis Destroyer program and FFG 7 Perry Class Frigate program, the company said Jan. 4. Bath Iron Works will provide expert design, planning and material support services for maintenance and modernization. The work will be done in Bath, Maine, and is expected to be finished by Sept. 30, 2010.
The White House is pushing back on a congressional effort to prohibit consolidation of military budget liaison offices. As part of the fiscal 2006 defense spending act, Congress mandated that none of those funds go to "plan or implement the consolidation of a budget or appropriations liaison office of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the office of the secretary of a military department, or the service headquarters of one of the armed forces into a legislative affairs or legislative liaison office."
LONDON - Eight British pilots will begin training in 2007 to fly the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the U.K.'s defense ministry says. The pilots are set to take part in the JSF system development and demonstration test programs, while 11 more pilots will also be trained to form the first group of instructors. The training will go ahead while the ministry is struggling with numerous aspects of its future carrier strike capability.
NASA will work with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) on developing a new Earth-observing satellite to continue the 33-year-old Landsat data set, following a White House decision to pull the mission from the faltering National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS).
Despite cuts made to some Defense Department projects, lawmakers don't want the Pentagon to kill programs -- like Lockheed Martin's C-130J transport or the Boeing F-15 Strike Eagle -- that affect thousands of defense industry jobs back in their home states and districts. The $453.5 billion fiscal 2006 defense appropriations bill, passed by Congress in late December, fully funds the Pentagon request for the F-22 Raptor. The measure includes $3.2 billion to buy 25 of the F-22s, made by Lockheed Martin and Boeing.
