LAUNCHED: An Orbital Sciences Corp. Taurus rocket launched ROCSAT-2, Taiwan's remote sensing satellite, from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., on May 20, an OSC spokesman said. "Everything looks great," said Barry Beneski. "The launch was terrific, picture perfect, got it to the right orbit" of about 735 kilometers inclined at 99.1 degrees. "It went right at the opening of the window," 10:47 a.m. Pacific time, he said. Telemetry from the satellite was received by the McMurdo station at the South Pole.
Lockheed Martin's Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) Unitary rocket achieved all objectives in a recent test at White Sands Missile Range, the company said May 20. The GMLRS is an all-weather, precision-guided rocket that is more accurate and reduces by 80 percent the number of rockets needed to defeat a target, the company said.
TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. - Changes to improve the U.S. Air Force F/A-22 Raptor's ability to withstand severe weather are planned or under consideration, its developer said.
NEW YORK, N.Y. - Defense and aerospace contractors are beginning to reap the benefits of homeland security funding, according to company officials and industry analysts who spoke at the Aerospace and Defense Finance Conference here this week. "Defense companies are in the best position to take advantage of the homeland security market because they have the technical expertise, the clearances, and they are equipped [to cater to] the customer's mission," Dennis Kelly, senior vice president of corporate communications, Anteon International, told The DAILY.
Metal Storm Ltd. said it has taken another step toward a demonstration of an unmanned aerial vehicle-mounted system that fires 40mm grenades. The company hopes to conduct the demonstration for U.S. officials in the next three months, Metal Storm said May 20.
The development of an instrumented boom for inspecting the space shuttle's leading edge panels in orbit continues to jeopardize NASA's goal of returning the shuttle to flight in March or April of next year, according to the Stafford-Covey Return to Flight Task Group.
NEW YORK, N.Y. - Third- and fourth-tier companies will make up the next consolidation wave in the aerospace and defense industry, executives and industry analysts said this week at the Aerospace & Defense Finance Conference, sponsored by Aviation Week and Credit Suisse/First Boston.
Systems look good for a May 20 launch of the Republic of China's ROCSAT-2 satellite on a Taurus rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., according to Orbital Sciences Corp.'s Taurus program manager. "The weather looks good ... and we're in the final arming phases right now, so it appears we're going to be in good shape," said Bill Wrobel. ROCSAT-2, a 750-kilogram (1,653-pound) remote sensing satellite built for Taiwan's National Space Program Office (NSPO) by EADS/Astrium, was to have been launched in April.
As the House began consideration May 19 of the House Armed Services Committee's version of the fiscal 2005 Defense Department authorization bill, committee member Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-Md.) urged his colleagues to support it, saying it would add money for almost $300 million in military chiefs' unfunded program requirements.
NASA's chief financial officer defended the agency's ongoing financial reform effort before lawmakers at a hearing in Washington May 19, responding to questions arising from NASA's second troubled audit in the past three years. In January, independent auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers determined that it could not render an opinion on NASA's fiscal 2003 financial statements, citing insufficient documentation. NASA received a similar "disclaimed" audit for FY '01, although it received a clean audit for FY '02 (DAILY, March 21, 2002).
PRAGUE, Czech Republic - Czech and U.S. officials are refusing to comment on reports that the United States is in talks over the purchase of a high-tech Czech passive radar system known as Vera. The Czech daily newspaper Lidove Noviny reported this week that U.S. defense officials are in advanced negotiations with the Czech arms company Thomas, which holds a license to export the system. The Czech defense ministry, which says Vera is capable of detecting even stealth aircraft, told The DAILY they had no official comment.
Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.) is seeking to shift $37 million in funding for the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator (RNEP) and related programs into efforts to improve conventional capabilities and intelligence. Tauscher wants to offer an amendment to the House version of the fiscal 2005 Department of Defense budget authorization bill, which is being considered by the full House.
The prime contract to develop the Airborne Laser (ABL) - which may lack "military utility" - could cost $2.9 billion, nearly three times initial estimates, the General Accounting Office said in a highly critical report released May 19.
JSF ASSEMBLY: Northrop Grumman has begun assembly of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter's center fuselage and delivered a software-defined radio to JSF prime contractor Lockheed Martin two weeks ahead of schedule, the company said May 19. The company began the fuselage work by installing a single-piece, composite air inlet duct for the JSF's engine in an assembly fixture at its Palmdale, Calif., facility.
MARIETTA, Ga. - The U.S. Air Force soon could be flooded with industry ideas for improving long-range strike. A recent request for information (RFI) is expected to generate as many as 200 responses describing interim steps the Air Force could take to enhance its global attack capabilities before a next-generation platform becomes available, according to J.R. McDonald, Lockheed Martin's director of Washington operations for the F/A-22 Raptor fighter. Replies to the RFI are due at the end of May.
AEROSPACE INTEGRATION CORP., Crestview, Fla. R. Stanley Shinkle has been named vice president, Airborne Systems Division. INTEGRATED NANO-TECHNOLOGIES, Rochester, N.Y. Gen. Dennis J. Reimer (USA, Ret.), former chief of staff of the U.S. Army, and Richard J. Whitley have been named to INT's Advisory Panel. LOCKHEED MARTIN MARITIME SYSTEMS & SENSORS TACTICAL SYSTEMS, Eagan, Minn.
OHB-System-AG and Elbit Systems Ltd. will form a joint venture to develop and market electro-optical systems and infrared payloads for spacecraft and Unmanned Airborne Vehicles (UAVs), the companies announced last week. The venture will be called OHB ELectroOPtics, based in Bremen, Germany, and will concentrate its marketing in Europe. Electro-optical sensors use the visible and infrared areas of the spectrum to create images and are used in civilian satellites, meteorological satellites and military reconnaissance platforms.
PRAGUE, Czech Republic - Czech defense officials have rejected claims in the Czech press that the Gripen JAS-39 aircraft has serious shortcomings. The Czech government is preparing to sign an agreement with Sweden on the 10-year lease of 14 Gripen fighters. An article in the May 14 issue of daily Mlada Fronta Dnes quoted unnamed "experts" as saying that the Gripen cannot carry the AMRAAM medium-range missile, and will not be equipped with NATO-compatible IFF (Identify Friend or Foe) systems.
ROCSAT-2: Orbital Sciences Corp. said it is making final preparations for the May 20 launch of Taiwan's ROCSAT-2 remote-sensing satellite atop its four-stage Taurus booster. The satellite will monitor the terrestrial and marine environment of Taiwan and its surrounding waters, and also carries an instrument to observe lightning in the upper atmosphere. The launch is to occur from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.
MARIETTA, Ga. - Lockheed Martin Corp. expects to erase a production backlog for the F/A-22 Raptor by December, company officials said May 18. So far Lockheed Martin has delivered about seven aircraft fewer than planned. But during a press briefing at F/A-22 production facilities here, company officials said they are making significant progress in getting the program on schedule and expect to be caught up less than eight months from now.
The Satellite Industry Association (SIA) is spearheading a series of ad hoc meetings between DOD organizations and representatives of the commercial satellite communications industry that will help shape the military's use of commercial satcom.
There's "no basis to question" the Department of Defense's need for another round of military base closures, the General Accounting Office said in a report issued days after the House Armed Services Committee recommended suspension of the base realignment and closure (BRAC) process until 2007. "While clear limitations exist in DOD's assessment of excess capacity, it does point to some areas that warrant additional analysis - and the current BRAC process is an appropriate forum for doing so," the investigative arm of Congress said in a May 17 report.
