GRIFFIN HEARING: The full Senate Commerce Committee will consider the nomination of Michael Griffin to be the next administrator of NASA during a hearing in Washington on April 12. The former chief engineer and associate administrator for exploration at NASA, Griffin currently heads the space department at Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory. Before that he led In-Q-Tel, a venture-capital organization supported by the CIA that develops cutting-edge technologies for espionage and intelligence work (DAILY, March 14).
The Strengthening the Mid-Atlantic Region for Tomorrow (SMART) Congressional Caucus will host a daylong conference on Defense Department unmanned aerial vehicles on April 8 at Naval Air Engineering Station, Lakehurt, N.J. The UAV Payloads and Integration conference will be a technology-focused event, concentrating on recent research and development efforts.
NASA officials on April 7 laid out the day-to-day schedule for the space shuttle's return-to-flight mission (STS-114), which will spend 13 days in orbit testing new safety procedures and resupplying the International Space Station (ISS).
Frederick J. Doyle Jr. has been appointed vice president of special programs. Doug Neam, who Doyle is replacing, is returning to his prior position of vice president, program operations.
Tom Ridge has been named to the board of directors. Ridge is a former Pennsylvania governor and was the first secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The Pentagon plans to determine within the next month or so how much it would cost to terminate the C-130J Super Hercules production line, an Air Force official said April 6. The cost estimate will be finished by late April or early May, in time to support congressional deliberations on the Defense Department's fiscal 2006 budget request, said Acting Air Force Secretary Michael Dominguez, who testified before the Senate Appropriations Committee's defense panel.
The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program is getting ready to start putting the landing gear on its first flight-test jet. Prime contractor Lockheed Martin Corp. plans to install the nose landing gear on the aircraft's forward fuselage the week of April 11 at the company's plant in Fort Worth, Texas, according to a company spokesman. The single-tire, forward-retracting device is about 26 inches wide and 6 feet high in the extended position. The two main landing gears will be added to the center fuselage sometime later.
SALE ADVICE: Satellite imagery provider Space Imaging of Thornton, Colo., has hired Banc of America Securities to advise it on the possible sale of the company. Space Imaging is being forced to take this step after losing out on the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency's NextView program, which has awarded $500 million each to competitors Digital Globe and Orbimage for the companies to develop their next-generation satellite systems.
H-1 LRIP: The Marine Corps has awarded Bell Helicopter Textron of Fort Worth, Texas a $104 million modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract for the second low-rate initial production (LRIP) lot of H-1 upgraded helicopters. Work on the four UH-1Y and three AH-1Z aircraft will begin immediately at Fort Worth and the new Bell plant in Amarillo, Texas, according to Naval Air Systems Command. The finished aircraft are scheduled for delivery in 2007.
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency's Sea-Based X-Band (SBX) radar program has mounted a Raytheon-built radar on a converted oil rig, MDA announced April 4. A Boeing-led team integrated the radar in Corpus Christi, Texas. The mating will be followed by several months of sea trials. SBX is designed to track long-range ballistic missiles and distinguish between warheads and decoys. Photo courtesy the Boeing Co.
NASA has approved up to 18 more months of operation for its twin Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, which have been studying rocks on the red planet since January 2004. Originally designed for 90-day baseline missions, the rovers have spent the past 11 months doing extended exploration. "We now have to make long-term plans for the vehicles because they may be around for quite a while," Rover Project Manager Jim Erickson said in a statement. The rovers now are approved to operate through September 2006.
U.S. Navy officials believe they are building a consensus in Congress to speed construction of the LHA Replacement (LHA(R)) program, possibly winning funds and authority to start ship construction in the fiscal 2006 budget, Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Robert Magnus told reporters April 6. "We're ready to start building more ships" in U.S. shipyards, Magnus, deputy commandant for programs and resources, told lawmakers and reporters on Capitol Hill. He spoke at a briefing for a shipbuilding caucus advocating greater naval fleet size and new ship construction.
An article in the April 1 issue of The DAILY headlined "Advanced SEAL Delivery System production decision delayed: GAO," misstated the timing of a program delay. According to Naval Sea Systems Command, the program has not been delayed again since the postponement of Milestone C was reported in May 2004, and the program still is on track with the plan laid out at that time.
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Australia and Indonesia have signed a partnership agreement intended to lead to a new defense and security pact. Australian Prime Minister John Howard and Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono signed the framework agreement in Canberra. Indonesia scrapped an earlier defense treaty, expressing its dissatisfaction over Australia's participation in a military force against pro-Jakarta militias in the former Indonesian province of East Timor after its violent split with Indonesia in 1999. New Zealand
PRAGUE - Europe's efforts to develop the Galileo global satellite navigation system took another step forward this week as the European Commission said it is seeking to open negotiations with Argentina on future cooperation. The Commission announced April 4 that it is seeking approval for the move from Europe's Council of Ministers following interest expressed by Argentine officials.
Lawmakers are taking a greater interest in the issue of weapons in space, setting the stage for a heated policy debate to begin in earnest this year, analysts said during a panel discussion in Washington April 6. "I think both sides now are engaged," said Randall Correll, a senior scientist at Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC), during a panel discussion sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations.
The Defense Department's tactical aviation modernization faces three related challenges - relevance, balance and budget - while development issues are raising questions about whether the military can reduce the age and ownership costs of its aircraft while maintaining its force structure, congressional investigators said April 6.
Lockheed Martin's Suffolk, Va.-based Center for Innovation, which became operational late last year, is focused on net centric integration, Doug Marr, vice president for the center, told The DAILY. Unlike the company's Coast Guard Deepwater technology lab in Moorestown, N.J., which focuses on a specific program, this lab's mission is to prototype system-of-systems integration, he said.
Soldiers in Iraq say the Stryker combat vehicle is "better than good" despite an Army report detailing numerous shortcomings, Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said April 6.
