FALCON 1: SpaceX expects to reschedule the long-awaited first flight of its Falcon 1 rocket for Dec. 20, pending the completion of Missile Defense Agency testing near the company's launch pad at Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. The low-cost commercial rocket is to carry the Air Force's FalconSat-2 spacecraft. SpaceX scrubbed a Nov. 26 launch attempt after an improperly set valve allowed liquid oxygen and helium to escape from one of the rocket's auxiliary tanks.
The British navy recently destroyed two World War II sea mines in the waters off Plymouth Sound, the United Kingdom defense ministry said Dec. 8. The mine hunter HMS Blyth found the first mine with its ultrasound sonar during routine surveying work, and the second mine was discovered while working to blow up the first mine. The mines were in 118 feet of water. Commercial vessels were kept 1,093 yards away for their safety.
The chief operating officer of the Air Transport Association has slammed the Homeland Security Department's effort to counter the threat of man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS) to commercial airliners, saying DHS focuses too much on MANPADS and isn't listening to companies tackling other aircraft threats.
NEW YORK - Navy leaders promise more "stability" in the Navy's shipbuilding accounts as the service tries to secure approval to build up to a fleet of more than 300 ships.
U.S. Air Force Gen. Norton Schwartz, the new head of the Transportation Command, said officials are considering ways to hedge losing Boeing's C-17 Globemaster III production ability, including storing the Long Beach, Calif., production line. Such a move could cost several hundred million dollars, he said at a Defense Writers Group breakfast on Dec. 8.
Aerospace boosters on Capitol Hill are trying to secure a NASA request for $760 million for hurricane-related damage, more than twice what the White House has proposed. NASA has tallied nearly $1 billion in damage to Stennis Space Center, Miss., and the Michoud Assembly Facility near New Orleans from hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The agency requested $760 million during internal fiscal 2006 budget negotiations, but the White House Office of Management and Budget asked Congress for $325 million (DAILY, Nov. 3).
NEW YORK - The Defense Department's upcoming fiscal 2007 budget request should align with the results of the ongoing quadrennial defense review, and may contain some "leading edge" investments springing from QDR strategy, said Christopher "Ryan" Henry, principal deputy undersecretary of defense for policy.
GETTING READY: The final Ariane 5 mission for the year is closer to its planned Dec. 21 liftoff after the launcher was transferred to the final assembly building at Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana, Arianespace said Dec. 8. The launcher now is ready for its Insat-4A telecommunications satellite and MSG-2 meteorological spacecraft payload.
Bulgarian military and civil defense officials attended a Dec. 6 flight demonstration of the Falco unmanned aerial vehicle, built by Italy-based Galileo Avionica, the company said. The demonstration took place at the Perdasdefogu firing range in Sardinia and was attended by Radoslav Bozadzhiev, Bulgaria's vice minister of defense, and Alyaeddin Nalbant, the secretary general of the country's civil protection agency.
General Dynamics C4 Systems said Dec. 7 that it has been awarded a $72.5 million contract to provide U.S. Marines in Iraq with 50 additional mobile command and control systems.
Conference agreements on the fiscal 2006 defense authorization and appropriations bills look set to be finalized next week. In a discussion on the House floor Dec. 8, Reps. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told their colleagues to expect motions to appoint and instruct conferees on the two bills around Dec. 13.
Hostile ground-to-air fire caused the crash of a British air force Hercules XV179 in Iraq early this year that killed 10 people on board, a United Kingdom board of inquiry has concluded. The board also identified three other factors that contributed to the crash, and made several safety recommendations. The Jan. 30 attack triggered an explosion in the plane's right hand wing fuel tank, the board said Dec. 8. The blast caused the outboard section of the wing to separate from the rest of the wing, making the aircraft uncontrollable.
Bell-Boeing delivered the first Block B version of the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft on Dec. 8 to the U.S. Marine Corps in ceremonies at Bell's Amarillo, Texas, manufacturing facility. The Block B aircraft has software upgrades and improvements in maintainability and reliability, the Bell-Boeing Program Office said. It was accepted by Col. Bill Taylor, PMA 275 program manager at Naval Air Systems Command, who manages the V-22 program for the government, and Lt. Gen. Jim Amos, commanding general of the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force.
NASA should consider a two-tiered competition for a Human Orbital Vehicle (HOV), with a top prize of as much as $150 million, the X Prize Foundation said in a new study. The foundation, which last year awarded the $10 million Ansari X Prize for the first commercial space flight (DAILY, Oct. 5, 2004), conducted the study to gauge interest in a Centennial Challenges-style competition for an HOV and make recommendations for prize rules and requirements. NASA's Centennial Challenges are based on the X Prize and on early 20th century aviation prizes.
AGREED: Commercial space company Spacehab of Houston has signed an agreement with Netherlands-based HE Space Operations to market Spacehab's space services in Europe, the company said Dec. 8. The agreement establishes HE Space Operations as a European-registered company representing Spacehab in offering commercial space access on European, U.S., Russian and other space vehicles. The deal is "expected to increase Spacehab's business opportunities throughout Europe," as well as boost HE's work with the European Space Agency and other space programs.
Switzerland's army has received the last of its new Grenadier armored combat vehicles from Sweden-based Land Systems Hagglunds, the Swiss defense department said Dec. 7. The final Grenadier, a CV-9030, was delivered during a ceremony at its production site in Thun, Switzerland, culminating a five-year, CHF 990 million (USD $761.7) program. A total of 186 Grenadiers were produced.
A Raytheon-led team completed a series of tests for its Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System II (APKWS II) design, the company said Dec. 8, showing that an off-the-shelf fuse could fire an off-the-shelf warhead.
France-based Airbus Military has signed an MYR 2.8 billion (USD $741.8 million) contract with Malaysia to provide the country's air force with four A400M transport aircraft to replace its aging fleet of 12 Lockheed Martin-built C-130s, the Bernama news agency reported Dec. 8. Malaysian defense ministry officials had been in talks with Airbus since 2003 on the possible buy (DAILY, Feb. 3). Two of the planes are set for delivery in 2013 and the other two in 2014, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said.
EDO DIVIDEND: Defense contractor EDO Corp. of New York said Dec. 6 that its board of directors has declared a quarterly cash dividend of three cents per share, payable Jan. 6 to shareholders of record as of Dec. 16.
