The U.S. Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) has established a space training and education organization that will help create a new generation of space professionals, the Air Force said Oct. 18.
Paris-based Thales Avionics has won the flight management system (FMS) contract for Airbus Military's new A400M military transport, the company said Oct. 19. Terms of the contract were not disclosed. The FMS handles aircraft flight control during tactical missions and flight operations, particularly at low altitudes, and is the core of the avionics suite, Thales said. Thales will develop the FMS400 using an innovative software architecture and a platform derived from integrated modular avionics, the company said.
Saab will develop and produce a tactical support and training system for the Gripen fighter aircraft under a 500 million Swedish krona ($70 million) contract with the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration. The system, called planning, evaluation, training, rehearsal and analysis (PETRA), could be used for planning and evaluating missions, basic training, mission rehearsal and tactical scenario analysis, Saab said Oct. 18. PETRA will be delivered to Sweden, Hungary and the Czech Republic between 2004 and 2007.
Pratt & Whitney, which is developing the F135 engine for the U.S. Defense Department's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, plans to start incorporating a significant new component into its propulsion system in December, according to a company spokesman.
The first delivery of a mine-protected 4x4 Cougar Hardened Engineer Vehicle (HEV) produced by Ladson, S.C.-based Force Protection Inc. has been made to U.S. Marines in Iraq, the company said Oct. 18. Thirteen more Cougars are set to be shipped before the end of this year. The Cougar can be used for reconnaissance, command and control, explosive ordnance disposal, as a lead convoy vehicle and for troop transport, the company said.
NEAR SPACE: The Air Force Space Battlelab has tentatively scheduled the first flight of the Near Space Maneuvering Vehicle (NSMV), or "V-Airship," for Oct. 29 from Tillamook, Ore. A 175-foot long, helium-filled balloon, the v-shaped NSMV was built by JP Aerospace of California. The flight will carry a small communications payload to an altitude of 100,000 feet. The first flight of the NSMV had been set for February, but was scrubbed due to bad weather.
The Defense Department is forming a Joint Rapid Action Cell (JRAC) to speed the fielding of materials urgently needed by warfighters. In a Sept. 3 memorandum, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz directed acting Pentagon acquisition chief Michael Wynne and DOD Comptroller Tina Jonas to set up the JRAC to "to break through the institutional barriers" that prevent DOD from "providing timely, effective support" to troops deployed in Afghanistan, Iraq and the global war on terrorism.
Arotech Corp.'s vehicle-armoring subsidiary, MDT Armor, will launch its new ultralight armored combat vehicle at the 2004 Association of the U.S. Army's annual meeting and exposition in Washington next week, the company said Oct. 18.
Smiths Group is acquiring Integrated Aerospace Inc., a privately owned, California-based supplier of specialist landing gear systems, for $110 million, subsidiary Smiths Aerospace said Oct. 19. The acquisition is expected to be completed in November, subject to regulatory approval.
NASA's Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technology (DART) spacecraft is scheduled to launch Oct. 26 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., NASA said Oct. 18. DART is to demonstrate technologies for spacecraft to rendezvous with other spacecraft without human intervention, and is scheduled to rendezvous with a target satellite during the mission. DART is the first demonstration program selected by NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate to develop technologies for the new space exploration mission.
GENERATORS: The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is sponsoring the development of new, compact electrical generators for aircraft, with an eye toward powering future directed energy weapons. Working under a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II grant, Electrodynamics Associates Inc. of Oviedo, Fla., is developing two types of generators - a 2.5-megawatt generator weighing 327 pounds and a 100-200 kilowatt generator.
The U.S. Air Force has formed a task force that plans to deliver a road map for directed energy weapons by early next year, according to Harry Disbrow, deputy director for operational capability requirements at Air Force headquarters.
The U.S. Air Force has awarded ITT Industries Inc. of White Plains, N.Y., a $40 million firm fixed price contract to provide AN/AVS-9 night vision goggles for rotary wing and fixed aircraft crews, the company said Oct. 18. Pilots, co-pilots and other crewmembers using the goggles include those on C-17 and C-130 transport aircraft, KC-10 and KC-135 tankers, and H-60 helicopters, the company said. ITT's Night Vision division, based in Roanoke, Va., will do the work. It is set to be complete by July 2007.
NASA has picked four teams to research critical issues in electric propulsion to support the new space exploration plan, the aerospace agency announced late Oct. 18. The work is part of NASA's Project Prometheus, which is aimed at advancing in-space nuclear power and propulsion (DAILY, Aug. 11). The total value of the work over three years is about $6 million, NASA said. The teams are:
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - U.S. efforts to strengthen its global command and control (C2) systems will benefit from efforts to field a national missile defense system, according to Gen. James E. Cartwright, commander of U.S. Strategic Command. "Part of what we're talking about" in the current "shakedown" phase of the missile defense system, he said, is trying to understand a range of broad issues that affect global C2.
Lockheed Martin's Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) team is moving toward final critical design review (CDR) in December, the company said Oct. 18. The company's LCS team completed the initial critical design review in September (DAILY, Sept. 23). The initial critical design review included customer approval of final design elements, including general arrangements, drawings and initial manning concepts, the company said.
HERCULES ORDER: Lockheed Martin will deliver an additional C-130J Super Hercules aircraft to Denmark, the company said Oct. 19. Denmark's air force exercised an option for the aircraft under the original order for three C-130Js that was placed in December 2000.
The U.S. Navy is stepping up its efforts to develop directed energy weapons and has made significant strides in recent months, according to Rear Adm. Brad Hicks, commander of the Naval Surface Warfare Center. "As fiscal constraints allow ... the Navy is increasing its efforts in directed energy," Hicks said during a presentation at the Directed Energy Professional Society's seventh annual symposium in Rockville, Md., on Oct. 19. "We continue to set world records in [Free Electron Laser] performance. ..."
Lockheed Martin Maritime Systems and Sensors will provide Virginia-class submarine long-lead material under a $41.9 million contract modification, the U.S. Department of Defense said Oct. 15. The work will be done under the Acoustic Rapid Commercial off-the-shelf Insertion (A-RCI) program, DOD said. A-RCI is a sonar system upgrade installed on several submarines, including the Virginia (SSN 774). It integrates and improves towed array, hull array, sphere array and other ship sensor processing, DOD said.
The Carlyle Group, a Washington, D.C. private investment firm, completed a tender offer for a majority of Stellex Aerostructures Inc.'s stock, both companies said Oct. 15. As a result, a Carlyle affiliate owns a controlling stake in Stellex Aerostructures, a New Jersey supplier of integrated assemblies and precision parts for commercial and military aviation, private and business aviation and space. Stellex will continue to operate as a privately held company and the existing management team will remain in place, the companies said.
New observations from the Spitzer Space Telescope have revealed that planets are formed over a long period by massive collisions between rocky bodies the size of mountain ranges, NASA announced Oct. 18. According to previous theory, rocky planets form like snowballs out of planetary discs of dust, slowly accreting until they become mountain-sized bodies. These planetesimals collide further to create terrestrial planets like the Earth, slowly depleting the disc.
Pentagon acquisition officials are seeking more information about the Air Force's Space Based Infrared System-High (SBIRS-High) after conducting a high-level review of the program. In an "acquisition decision information paper" released Oct. 18, the Defense Department said that acting Pentagon acquisition chief Michael Wynne has asked the Air Force to provide a "status update" on the second of two infrared sensors that are to be placed on classified satellites in highly elliptical orbit (HEO).
In the wake of a mishap investigation board's (MIB) preliminary finding that the Genesis spacecraft's parachute failed due to a design error dating to 1999, NASA is placing extra scrutiny on other upcoming space science missions to try to ensure their success.
UAV WORKSHOP: The Commerce Department/NOAA Forecast Systems Laboratory, NASA, and the Energy Department's Office of Science are sponsoring the second workshop on the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for climate change research on Dec. 7-8 at the David Skaggs Research Center in Boulder, Colo. Participants will discuss the UAV technologies needed for next-generation Earth observation capabilities that will support the nation's weather research and climate change study goals.
