The Global Positioning System (GPS) is scheduled to reach a historic high of 30 operational satellites following the checkout of GPS IIR-13, which was launched successfully from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Nov. 6. Checkout is expected to take two weeks. When GPS IIR-13 comes online, the overall constellation will consist of 18 Block II and IIA spacecraft and 12 new-generation Block IIR spacecraft. GPS requires a minimum of 24 satellites.
SWIFT SCHEDULED: NASA has scheduled its Swift observatory to launch from Cape Canaveral on Nov. 17 aboard a Boeing Delta II rocket, the agency announced Nov. 8. The one-hour launch window opens at 12:09 p.m. eastern time. Swift's primary mission is to observe gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), the most powerful explosions observed in the universe. Within roughly a minute of a detected GRB, the entire Swift spacecraft will rotate autonomously so its onboard X-ray and optical telescopes can view the burst.
Diversified Global Resources of Silver Spring, Md., will help NASA solicit and select research investigations for funding under a five-year contract, NASA said last week. The company also will provide logistical support to workshops and conferences for sponsored research and education and maintain an Internet site and electronic database for submission and storage of proposals and their documentation. The contract has a minimum value of $15 million and a maximum value of $130 million, NASA said.
The U.S. Army recently awarded qualification to the T700-GE-701D turboshaft engine being produced by Lynn, Mass.-based GE Aircraft Engines, the company said Nov. 4. The T700-GE-701D is the latest generation of T700s powering the Army's Apache and Black Hawk helicopters. The Army plans to convert its entire fleet of Black Hawks and Apaches to the T700-GE-701D, the company said.
EUROPEAN CUTS: Defense budget cuts are being enacted across most of Europe, but "we believe the current projections are safe in the U.S. for several years," says Credit Suisse First Boston's European Aerospace and Defense Equity Research Team. "Record returns/growth are priced in for the U.S. sector and for the defense contractors, but declining returns for the European sector," CFSB says. However, even in the United States, "operational commitments could put pressure on procurement and we see risk of program deferrals in the fiscal 2006 U.S.
Raytheon Co. is ahead of schedule in delivering its family of thermal weapon sights (TWS) to the Army, Jon Piatt, manager of Raytheon Soldier Weapon Sensor Systems, told The DAILY. The TWS are used for surveillance, detection and targeting in degraded battlefield conditions. In response to an Army request 11 months ago for Raytheon Systems Co.'s Network Centric Systems to more than double its TWS production from 400 to more than 1,000 systems per month, Raytheon today is producing more than 1,200 systems a month, Piatt said.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Adm. Timothy J. Keating, who assumed command of NORAD and U.S. Northern Command on Nov. 5, said terrorists might think they have the best chance of successfully attacking Canada and the U.S. from the sea, but the vulnerability is not as great as some have said. Gen. Ralph E. "Ed" Eberhart, who passed the commands to Keating in a ceremony at Peterson Air Force Base here, said recently that he believes "terrorists are looking at that avenue of attack. Our maritime domain awareness is not as secure as our monitoring of our airspace."
SUB CONVERSION: The USS Ohio, the first of four Trident ballistic missile submarines being converted to carry Raytheon-built Tomahawk cruise missiles, is on track to achieve an initial operational capability (IOC) in May 2007, says U.S. Navy Capt. Willy Hilarides, the project's overseer. The USS Ohio is being modified at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Wash., and is about two-thirds of the way through its conversion.
Nov. 11 - 13 -- Pacific Marine Expo, The West Coast Commercial Marine Marketplace," Washington State Convention & Trade Center, Seattle, Wash. For more information go to www.pacificmarineexpo.com. Nov. 15 - 16 -- ISR Integration 2004, "Enabling Precision Strike," Crystal Gateway Marriott, Arlington, Va. For more information go to www.defensenews.com/conferences/isr.
NASA's Centennial Challenges program on Nov. 5 issued two requests for information (RFI) seeking information on potential support contracts for future prizes and one announcement of partnership opportunity looking for organizations wishing to contribute funding or services to the program.
If upcoming U.S. Air Force experiments are successful, free-floating "near space" surveillance balloons could be deployed to the field by late next year, according to Maj. Robert Blackington of the Air Force Space Battlelab. Blackington is the program manager for the Near Space Maneuvering Vehicle (NSMV), a high-altitude airship that is one of several technologies being developed by the battlelab to exploit near-space altitudes (DAILY, Nov. 5). Near space is roughly defined as 66,000-300,000 feet.
Thales U.K., Boeing and QinetiQ will fly Boeing's ScanEagle unmanned aerial vehicle to identify the joint service operational requirements for future maritime UAVs, Thales said Nov. 4. The contract, with the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence, is for the maritime UAV part of the Joint UAV Experimentation Program (JUEP). The JUEP is intended to show how UAV systems could contribute to a future networked maritime intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance (ISTAR) capability, Thales said.
Lockheed Martin and DRS Technologies Inc. have delivered to the U.S. Navy the 4,000th AN/UYQ-70 (Q-70) Enhanced Control Display Work Station (ECDWS), Lockheed Martin said Nov. 5. ECDWS provides submarine crews with real-time, enhanced processing, secure analysis and target detection capabilities and situation analysis and target motion on one console, Lockheed Martin said.
The U.S. Army Aviation Missile Command has awarded McLean, Va.-based Innovative Concepts a five-year production contract to produce 682 IDM V304 data modem units, the company said Nov. 4. Financial terms were not disclosed. The IDM V304 is a six-channel tactical modem/router that connects ground and airborne platforms using existing radios and crypto equipment. It also provides the data-link required between ground and Army aviation units and air-to-air transmission of target data between IDM V304-equipped attack aircraft.
The U.S. Air Force plans to ask companies to refine some of their concepts for improving the service's long-range strike capabilities, an official said Nov. 5. In a recent request for information (RFI), the Air Force solicited ideas for interim steps the service could take to enhance its global strike capabilities until a next-generation platform becomes available. The Air Force received more than 20 responses and is evaluating them (DAILY, June 23).
The U.S. Air Force is seeking to have the Government Accountability Office (GAO) take over a review of protests by companies contending that the Boeing Co. received preferential treatment in contract competitions handled by now-former Air Force acquisition official Darleen Druyun, a service spokesman said Nov. 5. Because Air Force decisions on the protests likely would cause the losing companies to appeal to the GAO anyway, the Air Force believes it makes sense to "cut to the chase" by having the GAO involved at the beginning.
NO PROBLEM: The "Law of the Sea" treaty doesn't prohibit or restrict submarine-based intelligence activities, says Secretary of the Navy Gordon England. "The Sea Convention repeats the rule from the 1958 Convention (to which the United States is already a party) that submarines are to navigate on the surface in foreign territorial seas in order to enjoy the right of innocent passage," he says in a letter to The DAILY, responding to a story in which critics of the treaty said it would make it hard to collect intelligence in territorial waters (DAILY, Oct. 19).
Citic Offshore Helicopter Co. Ltd. (COHC) of Shenzhen, China, has signed a contract with Europe-based Eurocopter to buy two AS 332 L1 Super Puma helicopters for 24.7 million euros ($31.9 million), Eurocopter said Nov. 5. The contract includes an option to buy one EC 155 B1 and one EC 225 helicopter, the company said. COHC already operates a Eurocopter fleet of seven AS 332 L1 Super Pumas, five AS 365 N Dauphins, three EC 155 Bs and one EC 135 P2, Eurocopter said.
SHUTTLE PROCESSING: Technicians at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida are performing power-up system testing of shuttle Discovery in preparation for rolling the orbiter to the Vehicle Assembly Building, where it will be mated to its solid rocket boosters and external tank. NASA is targeting a window of May 12 to June 2, 2005 for the launch. The redesigned external tank - one of the major challenges of NASA's return-to-flight effort - is expected to arrive at KSC in December.
GETTING READY: The European Space Agency, the French space agency CNES and Italian contractor Vitrociset have begun construction of a Kourou, French Guiana launch site for Vega, a small European launch vehicle due to start operations from there in 2007. The Vega is to launch from ELA1, the long-deactivated pad originally used for the Ariane 1 vehicle. Beginning in 2008, the Vega Launch Service is to be operated by Arianespace.
ONE STOP: The Department of Defense may deem one location accountable for joint command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C4ISR), says Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Lt. Gen. Robert Shea (USMC), director for command, control, communications and computer systems on the Joint Staff, is pushing the idea, Myers says. The assistant secretary of defense for networks and information integration most likely would be the one-stop entity in charge of C4ISR, an Army spokesperson tells The DAILY.
DRS Technologies posted a 53 percent jump in its fiscal second quarter profits on Nov. 5 thanks to record revenues, and the company reported that its backlog is at an all-time high. Revenues in the quarter grew 59 percent to $328 million, thanks to strong organic growth and the addition of sales from the company's acquisition of Integrated Defense Technologies Inc. As a result, DRS posted a $34.5 million operating profit, which was 62 percent higher than the same period last year.
