Preparations continue smoothly for the scheduled July 13 launch of NASA's space shuttle Discovery from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the first shuttle mission since the loss of Columbia in February 2003. Liftoff is scheduled for 3:51 p.m. EDT. The launch countdown officially began at 6 p.m. EDT on July 10, which marked T-43 hours. "All our hardware and systems are performing nominally," NASA Test Director Pete Nickolenko said during a press conference July 11. "We're currently tracking no technical issues."
V-22 RECOMMENDATION: The U.S. Defense Department's operational testers have been urged by their Navy counterparts to declare the V-22 Osprey ready to enter service by the Marine Corps, according to a government source. The V-22 recently completed a nearly three-month test phase designed to guide the fate of the Bell-Boeing tiltrotor aircraft (DAILY, June 28), and all signs so far indicate the phase went well.
ARMY Lockheed Martin Corp., Grand Prairie, Texas, was awarded on June 30, 2005, a $79,405,878 modification to a firm-fixed-price contract for Block IA Army TACMS Variants (Unitary) XM57 Guided Missile and Launching Assembly. Work will be performed in Dallas, Texas, and is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, 2007. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This was a sole source contract initiated on Nov. 7, 2003. The U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., is the contracting activity (DAAH01-03-C-0203).
The Boeing Co. plans to pick a subcontractor in the next month or so to play a key role in a "network-centric operations" upgrade it is developing for the U.S. Air Force's B-52 Stratofortress bomber, company officials said July 11.
MOSCOW - A representative of Russia's federal space agency Roscosmos said the agency has lifted the ban on Soyuz vehicle launches that was imposed after the June 21 launch failure of a vehicle carrying a Molniya military communications satellite. The modified Soyuz version, called Molniya, had been used to launch the satellite of the same name. The problem is believed to stem from Molniya-specific hardware, so although the Molniya version still is under a launch moratorium, other Soyuz vehicles are now cleared for flight.
Although FAA has made progress recently in managing its troubled air traffic control acquisition programs, challenges remain for the agency as it seeks to keep pace with projected demand, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office. FAA has spent $43.5 billion on airspace modernization since the early 1980s and plans to spend nearly another $10 billion through fiscal 2009. The effort has suffered from cost, schedule and performance problems and has been on GAO's list of high-risk programs since 1995, the report says.
ITT Night Vision and Northrop Grumman both submitted proposals July 11 for the Army's Omnibus VII night vision goggle procurement, which provides for up to 360,000 new goggles. The Army has purchased NVGs in large "omnibus" procurements since the 1980s. Omnibus VII will be the biggest yet, according to Larry Curfiss, ITT Night Vision's vice president and director of business development. An award is expected by September.
DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., Stratford, Conn., is being awarded a maximum $74,805,917 firm fixed price requirements type contract for various aircraft spare parts for Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Federal Civilian Agencies. This is a sole source contract with a one-year base period with nine one-year option periods. Performance completion date is July 7, 2006. Proposals were Web solicited and one responded. The contracting activity is the Defense Supply Center Richmond (DSCR), Richmond, Va. (SP0400005D9413). NAVY
The Defense Department's Office of Industrial Policy has identified five logistics technologies where an insufficient or potentially insufficient industrial base exists to support the U.S. military's projection worldwide for sustained operations, including advanced solid rocket motors (SRMs) and autonomous space rendezvous and docking.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The new commander of the Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center here, which is charged with warning of attacks on the U.S. and Canada, comes from a job that she acknowledges was "very different." Air Force Brig. Gen. Rosanne Bailey, who became the CMOC commander during a July 11 ceremony - relieving Brig. Gen. Duane W. Deal, who is retiring - most recently was commander of the 45th Air Base Wing at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, and commander of the Kaiserslautern Military Community there.
The U.S. industrial base is "well positioned" to develop and apply the 1,428 most critical war-fighting technologies that the Defense Department seeks, with U.S. suppliers trailing foreign firms in only 7% of the technological areas, a DOD policy study has concluded.
AIR FORCE Carnegie Mellon University/Software Engineering Institute, Pittsburgh, Pa., is being awarded a $411,105,411 cost reimbursement contract to provide for Software research and development, pertinent to national defense. At this time, $750,000 of the funds has been obligated. This work will be complete by 2010. Solicitation began March 2005 and negotiations were completed June 2005. The Headquarters Electronic Systems Center, Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass., is the contracting activity (FA8721-05-C-0003). U.S. SPECIAL OPERATIONS COMMAND
As a dispute over who gets to operate nine of the Large Medium Speed Roll-On/Roll-Off (LMSR) ships for the U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command (MSC) continues, Patriot Contract Services is set to turn over the last LMSR to General Dynamics' American Overseas Marine Corp. (Amsea).
OUT FOR BUSINESS: Two new joint ventures created by France's Alcatel and Italy's Finmeccanica will aim to be leaders in the field of telecommunication satellite systems and to get "a strong position" on European programs such as the Galileo satellite navigation system, the companies said. Alcatel Alenia Space, 67% owned by Alcatel and 33% by Finmeccanica, combines the work of Alcatel Space and Alenia Spazio. Telespazio Holding, 67% owned by Finmeccanica and 33% by Alcatel, combines Telespazio and Alcatel Space Services and Operations.
NEW SHIP: Navy Rear Adm. Charles Hamilton, the program executive officer for ships, said the Navy looks forward later this month to delivery of the USS San Antonio, the lead ship of the new LPD-17 class. As the final milestone before ship delivery, Northrop Grumman Ship Systems in late June successfully demonstrated main propulsion, engineering and ship control systems, combat systems, damage control, food service and crew support systems. The shipbuilder continues working compartment completion and certification tasks needed to complete the San Antonio.
General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems will provide the U.S. military with a variety of medium-caliber ammunition under four contracts worth more than $56 million, the company said July 8. The first award is a $9.2 million contract to produce 25mm M793 target practice-traced and 25mm M910 target practice discarding sabot-traced cartridges for the Army. The M793 is part of a family of 25mm Bushmaster munitions used on the Army's M2/M3 Bradley Fighting Vehicle and the Marine Corps' Light Armored Vehicle. The work is set to be finished in July 2006.
John J. Young Jr., the assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition, on July 1 approved the AN/WLD-1 Remote Minehunting System for low-rate production, the Naval Sea Systems Command announced July 8. The mine warfare package will be the first mission set deployed with the future Littoral Combat Ship, and Lockheed Martin Corp.'s AN/WLD-1 will be the primary unmanned vehicle used for mine hunting (DAILY, July 6). Before the LCS, the RMS will deploy aboard DDG 51-class Flight IIA destroyers.
The kill laser for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency's Airborne Laser (ABL) program has met or exceeded key expectations in months of ground tests, an industry official said July 8.
SPACE ACQUISITION: The House Armed Services Committee's strategic forces subcommittee will host a panel of high-profile space program participants on July 12, coming on the heels of House and Senate moves to cut funds from proposed Defense Department space acquisition. Gen. Lance W. Lord, commander of the U.S. Air Force Space Command, A. Thomas Young, former Lockheed Martin Corp. CEO, Peter Rostan of the National Reconnaissance Office and Robert Levin of the Government Accountability Office are scheduled to testify.
