Defense and aerospace companies are required to follow the first data management standard, recently released by the Government Electronics and Information Technology Association (GEIA), the organization said Sept. 3. "Through military specifications, the government told defense contractors how to deal with acquiring and delivering data, but this [standard] goes beyond that requirement to specify an integrated process throughout the product and data life cycles," GEIA spokesman Chris Denham told The DAILY.
U.S. Marine Commandant Gen. Michael Hagee said he is disappointed in defense contractors charged with developing new technologies and equipment for the military's movement toward jointness and interoperability. Hagee said defense companies promise that their products will be interoperable, but that isn't always the case. "What disappoints me about industry is their focus on their product," Hagee said. "We're told, 'don't worry, it will work, and if it doesn't we'll fix it.'"
Israel's attempt to launch a reconnaissance satellite was unsuccessful Sept. 6 after a third-stage rocket malfunction, the Israeli government announced in a statement. A special team is being established to investigate the Ofek-6 satellite's failed launch, which cost Israel $50 million, the Jerusalem Post reported.
MILESTONE: Lockheed Martin Corp.'s A2100 communications satellite fleet has reached 100 years of successful accumulated in-orbit operations, the company said Sept. 3. The A2100 satellite series has 900 transponders and 24 satellites with more than 4,000 years of accumulated orbital operations. The fleet is manufactured and designed at Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems in Newtown, Pa. The first A2100 satellite, AMC-1, was launched Sept. 8, 1996. AMC-15, a hybrid Ku/Ka-band satellite, is scheduled for launch later this year.
Sept. 7 - 8 -- 8th World Summit for Satellite Financing, Hotel Inter-Continental, Paris. For more information contact Linda Zaiche, email [email protected] or go to www.euroconsult-ec.com. Sept. 9 -- 6th World Summit on the Space Transportation Business, Hotel Inter-Continental, Paris. For more information contact Linda Zaiche, email [email protected] or go to www.euroconsult-ec.com.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has amended the request for proposals (RFP) for its Organic Air Vehicle (OAV) II program, including new specifications for the vehicle's payload volume. The OAV effort is intended to refine the technology of autonomous ducted-fan unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and prepare it for inclusion in the Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) program. Honeywell was the prime contractor for the OAV I effort. Contract awards for the OAV II RFP are expected in October.
GENESIS CATCH: NASAís Genesis mission is on track to drop its sample capsule into Earthís atmosphere for mid-air recovery by a helicopter Sept. 8, according to the agency. Launched in 2001, the Lockheed Martin-built spacecraft spent two years orbiting a libration point between the Earth and the sun while trapping solar particles on delicate wafers of gold, sapphire, silicon and diamond. The samples will shed light on the composition of the sun and the origins of our solar system, according to NASA (DAILY, Aug. 25).
EW CUTTER: Construction is scheduled to begin Sept. 9 on the U.S. Coast Guard's Maritime Security Cutter, Large (WMSL), according to Deepwater program contractor Integrated Coast Guard Systems. The ship, which will be built by Northrop Grumman's Ship Systems sector at its Pascagoula, Miss., shipyard, is the first multimission cutter to be introduced into the Coast Guard in the past 25 years. The $250 million production contract was awarded to ICGS this summer.
RETURNING: With Congress returning to work this week after a monthlong recess, the House Aerospace Caucus is set to meet Sept. 8 to discuss NASA. The aerospace agency's fiscal 2005 budget has not bee completed, and is likely to be rolled into an omnibus spending bill. Work on the FY '05 defense authorization bill also is expected to resume, with the House choosing its conferees to meet with the Senate and hammer out a compromise.
Configuration changes and a lack of accurate analysis methods combined to doom NASA's Helios unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), according to the just-released final report on its June 2003 loss. Built by AeroVironment Inc. of Monrovia, Calif., the 247-foot wingspan Helios was a highly flexible flying wing designed to demonstrate technologies for solar-powered, high-altitude/long-endurance (HALE) aircraft. It flew in two configurations - one designed for very high altitudes, one for long-duration flights.
LONDON - Thales and BAE Systems are conducting a $193 million assessment phase to select a final design for the United Kingdom's two new aircraft carriers, the HMS Queen Elizabeth and the HMS Prince of Wales. Each ship may carry around 50 aircraft, which would make them the largest warships ever operated by Britain's Senior Service. They are to replace the navy's three Invincible-class, Cold War-era carriers and enable British forces to operate independently of host nation support, a cornerstone of the country's defense doctrine.
The European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. (EADS) is making progress addressing key concerns that the U.S. Air Force has expressed about the Airbus KC-330 refueling aircraft, company officials said Sept. 3.
LOOKING AT FRANCES: The European Space Agency's Envisat satellite is "taking apart" Hurricane Frances, according to ESA. "Because of Envisat's multisensor capability, we can slice right through the hurricane with just a single satellite," says Jose Achache, ESA's director of Earth observation programs. Data from the satellite indicates cloud structure and height at the top of the hurricane, thermal conditions that influence its intensity, and other factors, ESA says.
B-52 JAMMER: The U.S. Air Force is moving forward with plans to give the B-52 bomber a standoff radar-jamming capability. The Air Force says it intends to award a pre-system development and demonstration (pre-SDD) contract in March 2005 and an SDD contract in April 2006. Both contracts will go to a still-unidentified lead system integrator. A market survey is under way to identify candidates for the system integrator. The Air Force hopes to give the B-52 a limited jamming capability as early as fiscal 2009 and a more robust capability a few years after that.
SBIRS-HIGH REVIEW: Acting Pentagon acquisition chief Michael Wynne plans to lead a Sept. 9 Defense Acquisition Board (DAB) review of the Air Force's Space Based Infrared System-High (SBIRS-High) program, which has experienced a series of cost and schedule overruns over the past few years. The most recent glitch, which involves software problems and other difficulties, is expected to raise the cost of the missile-detecting satellite system by more than $1 billion.
MORE SHIPS? The U.S. Navy may not need more than 375 ships because the vessels it is buying will be more capable than their predecessors, says Steven Kosiak, director of budget studies at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. Requirement studies have at times estimated a need for as many as 400 ships. Kosiak says the Navy may need to reconsider its fleet configuration. "If they want that many ships, you can't buy lots of $2 billion submarines and billion-dollar-plus surface combatants ...
With their Phase II obligations complete, competing teams led by Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman are awaiting a downselect decision to kick off the next phase of the Unmanned Combat Armed Rotorcraft (UCAR) program.
ERAM AWARD: Raytheon Co. has been awarded a $440 million contract for the system development and demonstration phase of the Standard Missile-6 Block I/Extended Range Active Missile (ERAM), the Department of Defense announced Sept. 3. ERAM is intended to fill the Navy's need for a long-range interceptor to defeat aircraft and cruise missiles (DAILY, Aug. 26).
SLAM-ER TEST: The Boeing Co. has successfully conducted a first captive-carry test of a Standoff Land Attack Missile Expanded Response (SLAM-ER) enhanced with moving-target, network-centric software, the company said Sept. 3. SLAM-ER production software with moving target capability will be delivered to the U.S. Navy in October.
Boeing Co. has won an $891.6 million contract modification from the U.S. Air Force to provide support services for the C-17 airlifter fleet, the company said Sept. 2. The contract was first awarded in July 2004 and has a potential value of $4.9 billion. It contains four options, and this modification is the first to be exercised.
Low rate initial production of the EA-6B Prowler electronic attack aircraft's Improved Capability (ICAP) III system was approved last year without complete information on an operational assessment, increasing the risk of having to make costly retrofits, according to a new report from the Department of Defense's inspector general.
HYPER-X: The "Hyper-X" X-43A demonstrator aircraft tentatively is scheduled for a captive-carry flight Sept. 7 that will serve as a "dress rehearsal" for its third and final flight attempt expected in late October, according to NASA. The unpiloted demonstrator and its modified Pegasus booster will be carried to 40,000 feet by a B-52 but will not be released. In a normal flight, following deployment from the B-52 the modified Pegasus boosts the X-43A to 95,000 feet, at which point the demonstrator separates and ignites its supersonic-combustion ramjet (scramjet) engine.
The program schedule for the U.S. Navy's DD(X) multimission destroyer does not allow for the vessel's new technologies to demonstrate a high level of maturity, according to a report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). "[With] many of the tests to demonstrate technology maturity occurring around the time of critical design review in the late fiscal year 2005, there is a risk that additional time and money will be necessary to address issues discovered in testing," the report says.
