The U.S. Air Force's new chief of staff said Sept. 12 that he will be looking for ways to reduce the time it takes to acquire new weapon systems. Gen. T. Michael "Buzz" Moseley, who replaced Gen. John Jumper as chief on Sept. 2, said the lengthy development process for new systems has hampered Air Force efforts to replace aging aircraft. While the F-15 Eagle was first fielded in the 1970s only six years after its requirement was established, its planned replacement, the F/A-22 Raptor, is expected to need 14 years to take a similar path.
RAPTOR REVIEW: The Pentagon has moved a high-level Defense Acquisition Board review of the F/A-22 Raptor from November to Jan. 18 due to a scheduling conflict, an Air Force spokeswoman says. The delay is not expected to affect plans for the Lockheed Martin-built jet to achieve an initial operational capability in December.
TRAINING DEVICE: New York-based L-3 Communications said Sept. 9 that its Link Simulation and Training division has delivered an F-16C Block 52+ Aircrew Training Device (ATD) to Greece's air force. The ATD will enable pilots to practice their air-to-air and air-to-ground combat skills by acquiring and identifying targets to accurately deliver ordnance. Pilots will also be able to practice takeoffs and landings, aerial in-flight refueling, low-level flight and emergency procedures. The device will be housed at an operational base of the air force.
Turkey is seeking up to $175 million in munitions and aircraft components for its F-16 fighters, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress on Sept. 8. The request is the second this week from Turkey, which is seeking to modernize its F-16 fleet. On Sept. 6, DSCA said Turkey is seeking up to $35 million worth of Joint Standoff Weapons for its F-16s (DAILY, Sept. 7).
U.S. and foreign contractors of the Pentagon and NASA are expected to swarm Capitol Hill this month to try to keep "Buy America" provisions in the House's fiscal 2006 defense, NASA and foreign operations authorization bills from becoming law.
AERIAL TARGETING: The U.S. Navy has ordered Raytheon Systems Co.'s Multi-Spectral Targeting System "A" configuration, including 51 turret units and associated line items, for Predator unmanned aerial vehicles and MH-60 helicopters. The forward-looking infrared system provides real-time imagery and a laser designation capability. The $31.4 million task order from the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Crane, Ind., was announced late Sept. 8. The Raytheon unit will conduct its work in McKinney, Texas, by September 2007.
Sept. 12 - 14 -- ESRI Homeland Security GIS Summit, "The Key to Intelligent Collaboration," Adam's Mark Hotel, Denver, Colo. For more information go to www.esri.com/hssummit. Sept. 12 - 15 -- ASIS International 2005, 51st Annual Seminar and Exhibits, Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, Fla. For more information go to www.asisonline.org.
SONAR SYSTEM: After receiving only one proposal, the U.S. Navy awarded a $13 million contract to Harris Acoustic Products Corp. of East Walpole, Mass., to build high-frequency sail array submarine sonar components for U.S. submarines to send, receive and measure sound energy for detecting mines. The contract, announced late Sept. 8, includes up to 20 projectors, 164 receive-array modules, first articles, related spare parts and technical data. Harris will carry out the contract in East Walpole by July 2013.
NG CRITICIZED: Buy American advocate Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, is criticizing giant U.S. defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corp.'s aerial refueling tanker transatlantic alliance with EADS North America, the U.S. wing of the European defense company (DAILY, Sept. 8). "The idea of shipping these jobs off to a country that's refusing to send troops to Iraq does not appeal to me," Hunter said last week, as confirmed by a spokesman.
PHONING HOME: The European Space Agency has added a deep-space ground station to its ESA Tracking Station network to make it easier to communicate with far-flung spacecraft. The station, in Cebreros, Spain, will come online in time to communicate with Venus Express, Europe's next planetary probe, which is to be launched Oct. 26 from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. The Cebreros station will be the main ground station controlling the spacecraft and getting scientific data from it.
MUNITIONS REMOVAL: DynCorp International LLC of Irving, Texas, said Sept. 8 that it has been awarded a contract worth up to $13.3 million to remove and destroy various munitions from Afghanistan. The munitions include land mines, light weapons, portable air-defense systems and unexploded ordnance. The contract was awarded by the U.S. State Department and has one base year and two option years.
Boeing has begun installing on Space Shuttle Endeavour hardware that will enable it to draw power from the International Space Station, allowing the shuttle to stay docked at the facility for longer periods. When completed, the station's solar arrays will generate a maximum of 75 kilowatts of power total. The Station-Shuttle Power Transfer System will transfer up to eight kilowatts of that power to a docked shuttle, according to SSPTS Integration Manager Eric Gietl.
GREGORY RESIGNS: Deputy Administrator and former astronaut Fred Gregory plans to resign from NASA as soon as a replacement is confirmed by the Senate. Prior to becoming deputy administrator in 2002, Gregory served as associate administrator for space flight and associate administrator of NASA's Office of Safety and Mission Assurance. A retired Air Force colonel, he has logged 7,000 flight hours and 455 hours in space: as pilot for the Challenger (STS-51B) in 1985, commander of Discovery (STS-33) in 1989 and commander of Atlantis (STS-44) in 1991.
Raytheon has delivered a short-range millimeter wave Active Denial nonlethal weapon to the Office of Force Transformation's Full Spectrum Effects Platform (FSEP) program, also known as Project Sheriff, the company announced. In partnership with the U.S. Army's Futures Center and the Naval Surface Warfare Center, OFT is developing an operational prototype to provide forces in urban environments with new nonlethal options for subduing crowds. Active Denial fires a beam that heats the water under the skin to cause temporary pain.
The House Rules Committee has begun taking amendment proposals to the fiscal 2006 Coast Guard authorization bill and may meet this week to prepare the bill for floor consideration, Rep. David Dreier (R-Calif.) told colleagues Sept. 8.
AEGIS BMD: U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Kathleen Paige, program director for the Missile Defense Agency's Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense system, is expected to retire in late November. She will be succeeded by Rear Adm. Alan B. "Brad" Hicks, who has been deputy director for combat systems and weapons, Surface Warfare Directorate, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations.
FRIGATES SOLD: Britain's defense ministry said Sept. 7 that it has finalized the sale of three Type 23 frigates to Chile's government for GBP 135 million (USD $248 million). The agreement was signed by Lord Paul Drayson, Britain's minister for defense procurement, and Jaime Ravinet, Chile's minister of defense. Britain withdrew the former Royal Navy ships Norfolk, Grafton, and Marlborough from service as part of a force restructuring that cut its number of frigates and destroyers from 31 to 25. Chile signed a letter of intent to buy the ships in December 2004.
The U.S. Army will likely make an announcement the week of Sept. 12-16 about the fate of the Aerial Common Sensor (ACS) program, an Army spokeswoman said Sept. 9. Army officials met the week of Sept. 5-9 to deliberate over the program's future in light of prime contractor Lockheed Martin's recent revelation that the Embraer ERJ-145 regional jet that it had chosen for the intelligence-gathering program would actually be too small (DAILY, June 30).
EX-CHAIRMAN DIES: Boeing Co. said Sept. 9 that lead director and former chairman of the board Lew Platt died on Sept. 8. He was 64. Jim McNerney, Boeing chairman, president and chief executive officer, said Platt was "one of our best friends and one of Boeing's most important leaders ... I am deeply saddened by Lew's untimely death."
ASTRONAUT LEAVING: Astronaut John Herrington is leaving NASA to become a commercial test pilot. Herrington has been named vice president, director of flight systems, and chief test pilot for Rocketplane Limited Inc. in Oklahoma City, NASA said Sept. 9. Herrington is an enrolled member of the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma and the first Native American to fly in space and perform a spacewalk. He became an astronaut in 1996 and flew aboard Space Shuttle mission STS-113 to the International Space Station in November 2002.
