The student-built SSETI Express satellite has suffered an electrical power failure that has rendered it inoperable and cut short its mission. Before going dead, SSETI (Student Space Exploration and Technology Initiative) Express deployed three microsatellites, two of which are confirmed to be alive and well. Had its mission continued, SSETI Express would have taken pictures of the Earth, functioned as a radio transponder and served as a test bed for various designs, including a cold-gas attitude control system (DAILY, Oct. 31).
The Government Accountability Office last week denied protests filed by CherryRoad Technologies and EDS against the U.S. Army for awarding its Army Knowledge Online (AKO) portal contract to a team led by Lockheed Martin.
GOES-R: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has awarded program definition and risk reduction contracts for the Geostationary Operational Enviro- nmental Satellite (GOES) system, GOES-R, to Boeing Satellite Systems, Lockheed Martin Space Systems and a team consisting of Northrop Grumman and Raytheon. The six-month contracts are worth $10 million each.
BOEING TANKERS: Although the U.S. Air Force's tanker modernization plans remain up in the air, Boeing officials say they are making progress meeting foreign orders for their KC-767 tanker, a modified version of the 767 commercial aircraft. The second of four KC-767s for the Italian air force is receiving its tanker modifications near Naples, Italy, and the first of four KC-767s for Japan's air self-defense force is getting its tanker modifications in Wichita, Kan., Boeing officials say. The first KC-767 for Italy is in flight tests.
The U.S. Navy announced late Oct. 27 that Japan has agreed to base a nuclear U.S. aircraft carrier, allowing the USS Kitty Hawk to come stateside and possibly clearing the way for the USS John F. Kennedy's retirement. Japan has long opposed basing a nuclear carrier in its ports, but a rising China, and the dwindling number of conventionally powered U.S. aircraft carriers, apparently helped change Japanese leaders' minds.
FIVE YEARS: NASA will celebrate the fifth anniversary of the International Space Station on Nov. 2, the date when the first ISS crew arrived at the orbital outpost in 2000. The result of a 16-nation partnership led by the United States, the ISS is the largest international space project in history and the largest spacecraft ever assembled, according to NASA. Twelve crews have lived on the station, including current Expedition 12 crewmembers Commander Bill McArthur and Flight Engineer Valery Tokarev, who are preparing for the first spacewalk of their mission on Nov. 7.
Curtiss-Wright Controls and Parker Hannifin Controls System Division will provide the Weapons Bay Door Drive System for Boeing's P-8A Multimission Maritime Aircraft, the companies said. Curtiss-Wright will provide the rotary actuators, angle gearboxes, torque shafts and electronic control units. Parker Hannifin will provide the power drive units, up-lock mechanisms and system integration.
The request for proposals for the next phase of the Global Positioning System III program will be released by the Air Force in December or January, with a contract award to follow by the spring of 2006, according to GPS Program Manager Col. Al Ballenger. The launch of the first GPS III spacecraft is planned for 2013. The Air Force requested $87 million for GPS III in fiscal year 2006. The request is slated to rise sharply to $237 million in FY 2007 and continue to grow until it reaches $1.4 billion by FY 2011 (DAILY, Feb. 7).
Advanced technology products producer ITT Industries said Oct. 27 that its net income surged 72 percent in the third quarter of 2005. Revenue and sales also grew 16 percent, while third quarter revenue for the firm's Defense Electronics & Services segment jumped 28 percent.
President Bush on Oct. 28 submitted to Congress a package of $2.3 billion in budget rescissions, and a request to reallocate $17 billion of already appropriated Hurricane Katrina funds, to speed spending to relief efforts on the Gulf Coast.
The Senate Oct. 27 quietly passed its version of the fiscal 2006 Coast Guard authorization, calling for "targeted" acceleration of the Deepwater recapitalization program for which it approved up to $1.2 billion in spending. "The committee is supportive of examining whether such a 'targeted' acceleration of specific assets might be possible and the potential cost savings it would yield," said the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee's report accompanying the policy bill.
FUTURE COMING: The U.S. Army's Future Force Warrior (FFW) effort will "spiral out" a slew of new technologies this fiscal year for ground troops to use, says a senior military official.
FCA ROLE: Although the Boeing Co. does not make the kind of small transport that the Army is seeking for its Future Cargo Aircraft (FCA), the company is exploring whether its expertise in other areas would still allow it to play a role in the program. Raytheon and EADS are teamed to offer either the C-235, the C-295, or a mixture of both. Global Military Aircraft Systems, a joint venture of L-3 Communications and Italy's Alenia, is offering the C-27J Spartan. The Army is expected to release a request for proposals for FCA by early November.
F-16 PURCHASE: Greece's government is seeking to buy 40 F-16C/D Block 52+ aircraft and related equipment and services from the United States, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said last week. The DSCA notified Congress of the possible foreign military sale on Oct. 25. The purchase could be worth up to $3.1 billion.
The Senate on Oct. 28 confirmed several new civilian leaders at the Defense Department, including the secretary of the Air Force, the chief acquisition official at the Navy and the heads of defense-wide research efforts and networks.
LEGACY BOOST: A new National Plan to Achieve Maritime Domain Awareness calls for the Homeland Security and Defense departments "to reorient and integrate relevant Cold War command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) legacy systems and operational concepts with current and emerging sensor capabilities and applicable procedures." An interagency team overseeing the plan's rollout is supposed to become a forum to share DHS-DOD actions, as well as "propose a coherent, integrated interagency investment strategy," federal off
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency announced this week that it will transfer leadership of the Joint Unmanned Combat Air Systems (J-UCAS) program to the Navy and Air Force by Nov. 1. The program now will be headed up by a new joint Air Force/Navy office headquartered at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, and will continue to be supported by personnel at the Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., and other Navy facilities, DARPA said.
DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION: Sen. John Warner (R-Va.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, is asking senators to give committee staff all of their amendment proposals for the fiscal 2006 defense authorization bill. Warner appeared on the chamber floor Oct. 28 to say progress is being made to work out a list of 24 contentious Republican and Democratic proposals, split equally, which would be lined up for floor debate. An agreement reached Oct. 26 is supposed to allow the Senate to pass the long-stalled, amendment-heavy bill within three days (DAILY, Oct. 28).
Oct. 31 - Nov. 1 -- Technology Training Corp.'s Military Radios Conference. Holiday Inn on-the-bay, San Diego. For more information call 1-310-563-1223 or go to www.ttcus.com. Oct. 31 - Nov. 2 -- Hallgren Associates' Short Course, "Introduction to Hypersonic Aerodynamics," Hope Hotel & Conference Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. Call 1-970-726-6928 or e-mail [email protected].
SSETI: The student-built SSETI Express satellite is up and running following its Oct. 27 launch from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome on a Russian Cosmos 3M rocket. Roughly the size of a washing machine, SSETI (Student Space Exploration and Technology Initiative) Express carried three 1-kilogram (2.2-pound) microsatellites that were deployed one hour and 40 minutes after launch. SSETI Express will take pictures of the Earth, function as a radio transponder and serve as a test bed for various designs, including a cold-gas attitude control system.
HOWITZER COMPONENTS: Triumph Group Inc.'s subsidiary Triumph Structures-Los Angeles will supply 495 M777 155mm Howitzer gun body units under a full-rate production contract from BAE Systems, the company said. The work is worth up to $53 million over four years. The company has been supplying the gun body units to BAE Systems under a low-rate initial production contract for 94 guns.
Boeing and its suppliers are spending tens of millions of dollars to sustain the C-17 production line in case the U.S. Air Force decides to exceed its current commitment to buy 180 aircraft, Boeing officials said Oct. 28. The money is being spent on long-lead materials for a potential 181st C-17 and beyond, Boeing officials told reporters in a phone call from the Airlift/Tanker Association conference in Nashville, Tenn.
