Launch of the AMC-15 satellite for SES Americom has been delayed to allow additional testing of one of the Proton booster's avionics subsystems, launch provider International Launch Services said Sept. 9. The satellite was to be launched in late September from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, but the subsystem is being returned to the Russian manufacturer, ILS said. A new launch date will be set after the assessment is completed.
The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is making or about to make progress on several key fronts, a spokesman for prime contractor Lockheed Martin said Sept. 9. Lockheed Martin recently began testing a new facility that will coat the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to provide stealth and other characteristics. The 82,000-square-foot addition to Lockheed Martin's plant in Fort Worth, Texas, will use people and robots to apply coatings to the aircraft's exterior. A ceremony to dedicate the facility is slated for Sept. 14.
Despite the severe damage done to NASA's Genesis sample return capsule when it crashed into the ground in Utah Sept. 8, the science team remains "very hopeful" of getting good scientific results out of the mission, according to David Lindstrom, Genesis program scientist at NASA headquarters.
LAUNCH ORDERS: Arianespace has signed two new launch contracts with the DirecTV Group and also has been chosen by PanAmSat to launch the Galaxy 17 spacecraft, the company announced Sept. 9. The DirecTV contracts cover the launch of the Spaceway 2 satellite in April 2005 and an unnamed direct-to-home satellite. Galaxy 17 is expected to fly in late 2006. All three spacecraft will be launched on Ariane 5 rockets from Arianespace's spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.
Northrop Grumman Corp. and the U.S. Army have demonstrated the first mobile operational deployment of the Distributed Common Ground System - Army (DCGS-A) with the system's Spiral 2, the company said Sept. 9. The DCGS-A is a system of ground stations that processes intelligence from a variety of sources and enhances open-system, multi-intelligence data sharing and interoperability among the U.S. armed services. Beyond 2006, the Army will be moving to the DCGS. In the interim, the service is using DCGS-A, which has spiraled-in capabilities (DAILY, July 1).
Global military air transport is on the rise and will be worth $53 billion through 2013, according to a new report from Forecast International. Actual shipments and revenues will be higher during the second five-year period than in the first. The world's air forces will take delivery of 922 new transports, the analysis group said Sept. 9. "In the past 10 years, a lot of C-130s were built, but they were of lower value than will be the new deliveries," FI aviation analyst Bill Dane told The DAILY.
The second operational interceptor for the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system was installed at Fort Greely, Alaska, late last week and will be joined by the third one "probably within the next 10 days or so," a Missile Defense Agency spokesman said Sept. 9. The first interceptor, Initial Defensive Capability 1 (IDC-1), was installed in an underground silo July 22 (DAILY, July 26). The second interceptor, IDC-2, was placed in the ground Sept. 4.
Marine Corps Systems Command awarded Oshkosh Truck Corp. of Oshkosh, Wis., a $204 million delivery order under a previous contract for 920 ECP-58 MTVR Armor Kits. The contract calls for the production, delivery and installation of armor kits to be installed on the Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement (MTVR) Standard Cargo vehicles. Oshkosh Truck Corp. is the sole manufacturer of the MTVR family of vehicles, which can carry a 7.1-ton payload cross-country or up to 15 tons on primary and secondary roads.
EADS Astrium has been awarded a contract by communication satellite operator ARABSAT for a Satellite Control Center (SCC) to control the Arabsat-4A, Arabsat-4B, Arabsat-2B, and Arabsat-3A satellites, the company said this week. Europe-based EADS Astrium will deploy, install, validate, design, and integrate the SCC on Arabsat sites in Tunis, Tunisia and Dirab, Saudi Arabia. ARABSAT is based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The SCC is a state-of-the-art, fully integrated multimission control center, EADS Astrium said. Based on OPSWARE
SEEKING SOURCES: The U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command is seeking sources capable of manufacturing and integrating full-rate production systems and performing design and development upgrades to the Airborne Command and Control System (A2C2S). The request for information (RFI) was posted Sept. 1, with responses due by Oct. 15.
During a Capitol Hill hearing Sept. 8, Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) urged NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe to quickly deliver cost estimates of the damage done to Kennedy Space Center (KSC) by Hurricane Frances so the agency can get its share of the emergency relief bills being drafted by Congress.
A prototype of the U.S. Air Force's Multi-Platform Radar Technology Insertion Program (MP-RTIP) radar has finished its first set of tests. Northrop Grumman Corp. and Raytheon Co., which are developing MP-RTIP, said Sept. 8 that the prototype met or exceeded key design specifications during the recent test program. Installed on a building near Los Angeles International Airport in California, the radar detected targets simulated on another facility about a mile away.
The Marines of Fox Battery, 2nd Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment recently tested 19 M198 howitzers at the Prospect Range on the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, Calif., the Marine Corps said Sept. 7. The tests were conducted on Aug. 27. The M198s are used by Marine Air Ground Task Forces for indirect and direct artillery support. They 155mm M198s are towed pieces of artillery.
Northrop Grumman Corp. will develop an advanced power amplifier unit for the U.S. Army's Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) that will increase the range of radios operated by troops on the ground, the company said Sept. 8. This is a new power amplifier requirement for JTRS Cluster 1, designed for Air Force, Army and Marine ground systems, as well as for Army rotorcraft, Greg Jones, JTRS program director at Northrop Grumman Space Technology, told The DAILY.
SCRUBBED: For the second consecutive day, NASA has scrubbed a planned captive-carry flight for the "Hyper-X" X-43A hypersonic demonstrator due to a hydraulic problem on its B-52 carrier. In a dress rehearsal for the X-43A's third and final flight attempt next month, the B-52 was to take off from NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in California and carry the X-43A and its modified Pegasus booster to their release altitude of 40,000 feet during a two-hour flight. Originally scheduled for Sept.
Northrop Grumman Corp. is trying to convince the U.S. Defense Department to develop a battle management system to integrate a host of future electronic warfare (EW) platforms. Company officials said at a Sept. 8 press briefing that they believe some sort of manned system will be needed to coordinate the growing number of EW platforms that DOD plans to field in the coming years.
The Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp. were awarded contracts for the pre-system development and demonstration phase of the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) Airborne and Maritime/Fixed Station (AMF) program, the Department of Defense announced Sept. 8. Boeing received a $54.6 million contract and Lockheed Martin received a $51.4 million contract, DOD said. Northrop Grumman also had been vying for the work (DAILY, Aug. 12).
Prime Research, LC of Blacksburg, Va. was awarded $2 million to develop and manufacture fiber optic sensors for the U.S. Navy, Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) announced. The Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) selected Prime Research, a subsidiary of Prime Photonics LC, to develop high-temperature photonic sensor instrumentation to support the Navy's Condition Based Maintenance program for marine power gas turbine engines. The goal is to increase the efficiency, reliability and performance of gas turbine engines.
The government of Pakistan hopes to purchase High Frequency/Very High Frequency Radio Systems and related equipment and services worth up to $78 million from Harris Corp. of Rochester, N.Y., the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said.
E-8C DELIVERY: Northrop Grumman Corp. is on track to deliver the 17th and final E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (Joint STARS) aircraft to the U.S. Air Force in March 2005, company officials said Sept. 8. There are no plans to produce an 18th E-8C, despite congressional interest in buying more Joint STARS, the officials added. The E-8C is a modified Boeing 707 equipped with a ground surveillance radar.
NASA's Genesis solar sample return mission ended in disappointment Sept. 8 when its sample capsule failed to properly deploy its parachute and crashed at the Army's Dugway Proving Ground in Utah. The Lockheed Martin-built spacecraft spent two years orbiting a libration point between the sun and the Earth, trapping solar atoms on delicate wafers of gold, sapphire, silicon and diamond. It released its sample capsule into Earth's atmosphere at approximately 9 a.m. PDT Sept. 8.
