The Senate on Nov. 18 passed a continuing resolution funding several federal agencies, including the Defense Department, until Dec. 17. The House did the same a day earlier. Congress is struggling to work through four remaining spending bills that account for 78 percent of government appropriations. The latest continuing resolution, actually an extension of one that ran out Nov. 18, funds the affected agencies at generally lower levels than pending fiscal 2006 spending legislation.
NAVAL RESEARCH: Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chief of naval operations, has assigned Rear Adm. William E. Landay III as chief of naval research and director of test and evaluation and technology requirements in the CNO office. Landay currently is program executive officer for littoral and mine warfare.
Authorizers from the House and Senate met late Nov. 16 to start working on an agreement for the Coast Guard's fiscal 2006 policy bill, but they adjourned after only reading opening statements and it is uncertain when they will meet again. Nevertheless, Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), said he will keep pushing the Bush administration to speed up the Coast Guard's Deepwater recapitalization program, including further boosting annual appropriations.
Experiments to test software for rotary wing UAVs were a "good step" in developing the autonomy of such vehicles, but "lots of challenges" remain, a Georgia Institute of Technology professor involved in the project said. Prof. Daniel P. Schrage, director of the Center of Excellence in Rotorcraft Technology in the School of Aerospace Engineering, described the experiments and screened an accompanying video on Nov. 17 during the Helicon 2005 conference in Washington. The event was sponsored by the Institute for Defense and Government Advancement.
The U.S. Navy's F/A-18E/F Super Hornet program is proposing to buy up to two dozen more fighters than currently planned, according to a program official.
The Army's Aerial Common Sensor Project Manager Team is in Denver meeting with Lockheed Martin officials to discuss the three options the company presented the Army to try to move ahead with the troubled program, the Army said Nov. 17. Company officials met with Army acquisition chief Claude Bolton on Nov. 14 to present three options and a platform recommendation, the Army said. That evening, the Army ACS team flew to Denver and on Nov. 15 began discussing the options and "determining the feasibility of moving ahead."
The Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (Aegis BMD) system shot down a medium-range ballistic missile Nov. 17 in its first test against a target whose warhead separated from its booster rocket, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency said.
The Senate unanimously passed a bill Nov. 16 to direct the Interior Department to carry out a study for establishing memorials in Texas to the fatal Columbia space shuttle mission, after agreeing to a modified version that authorized the study rather than the actual memorials.
Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) on Nov. 15 got Senate backing to exempt manufacturers of unidentified "force-protection equipment needed to prevent combat fatalities in Iraq and Afghanistan" from Berry Amendment requirements.
Honeywell's Spectra Shield composite material is being used to armor 164 U.S. Marine Corps Sea Knight helicopters, the company said Nov. 17. Armor technology company ArmorWorks is using the material in Light Weight Armor Replacement System kits for the helicopters. It expects to complete the work in December. Honeywell said Spectra Shield is based on Spectra fiber, which is 10 times stronger than steel but light enough to float.
SpaceDev said it will begin work on a large hybrid rocket motor under a $2.7 million contract from the U.S. Air Force. The Poway, Calif.-based company will design, develop and test a small common booster that can produce about 100,000 pounds of thrust, nearly nine times more than the motor the company built for the SpaceShipOne, which won the Ansari X Prize last year for the first commercial space flight. The company will own the technology it develops, although the Air Force will keep some licensing rights, SpaceDev said.
SENSOR TESTING: Northrop Grumman has begun initial flight-testing of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter's Electro-Optical Distributed Aperture System sensors, which are to warn pilots of incoming aircraft and missiles, provide day/night vision and support navigation, the company said Nov. 17. On Nov. 11, the BAC 1-11 test bed aircraft flew with three of the sensors installed.
Boeing has delayed the launch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's GOES-N weather satellite until February at the earliest due to an ongoing strike by its Delta booster program work force. About half of the company's Delta work force went on strike just after midnight on Nov. 2 after a three-year contract between Boeing and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 725 expired (DAILY, Nov. 3).
The Navy has awarded Northrop Grumman's Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Co. a $558.7 million contract modification to continue its CVN-21 design effort. The company was cleared for long-lead time material procurement and non-nuclear advance construction, as well as system development, engineering services and feasibility studies for the future aircraft carrier. The work is to be finished by December 2006.
Arianespace successfully launched two satellites late Nov. 16, carrying DirecTV's Spaceway 2 direct-broadcast satellite and the Telkom 2 communications satellite for PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia to orbit. The mission represented the heaviest dual payload ever launched, Arianespace said. The launch was conducted from the European spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, using Arianespace's heavier-lift Ariane 5 ECA booster.
The fiscal 2006 defense spending measure has become a possible vehicle for several unrelated legislative packages, according to Rep. David Obey (D-Wis.), the top House Democratic appropriator. Obey said on the House floor Nov. 17 that Republican leaders were considering attaching additional Hurricane Katrina spending and other measures under the guise that the must-pass defense appropriations usually receives strong final support across Capitol Hill.
MILESTONE: Northrop Grumman and the U.S. Navy successfully completed the critical design review of the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye aircraft, the company said Nov. 17. The company can now complete production of the two test aircraft. Its Integrated Systems sector is the prime contractor under a $2 billion system development and demonstration contract.
The House on Nov. 16 passed a bill to authorize the Navy to enter into a contract for the nuclear refueling and complex overhaul of the Pacific Fleet aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson. The bill, proposed by shipbuilding advocate Rep. Jo Ann Davis (R-Va.) and cosponsored by Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), would allow $89 million in fiscal 2006 funds to be used to start work on the contract. Additional amounts could be obligated this fiscal year.
Italy's defense ministry and the U.S. Defense Department have signed an agreement establishing a partnership for the joint development of the AGM-88E Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile (AARGM), Alliant Techsystems said Nov. 16. Italy will provide around $20 million in developmental funding and will make "several million dollars worth of nonfinancial contributions, including surrogate targets/simulators," the company said.
The draft request for proposals (RFP) for spiral 5 of the Army's part of the Distributed Common Ground System (DCGS-A) likely will not be issued in January, as previously expected, and could be pushed back to next spring, according to DCGS-A official Donald Porter Sr.
Lee Van Arsdale has been appointed CEO effective Jan. 1, 2006. Ignacio Balderas, the current CEO, has been named to the board of directors and chief development officer.
