SOFIA STARGAZES: Scientists have for the first time looked at the stars through NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), according to the agency. During an "on-sky test" conducted in August with the aircraft parked on the ground, the telescope imaged the star Polaris and demonstrated that its basic optical, mechanical and software systems are working properly, according to NASA. When it begins making observations at 40,000 feet altitude with its 2.5-meter telescope next year, SOFIA will be the largest airborne observatory in the world.
House and Senate negotiators are nearing the endgame over compromise language for the fiscal year 2005 defense authorization legislation, according to a Senate staffer who did not want to be identified. The chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate armed services committees are hashing out the final details, although a number of sticking points remain, he said. The Senate approved a $442 billion defense authorization bill in late June; the House approved its version, authorizing a similar amount, in May.
Canada is seeking TOW anti-armor and "bunker buster" missiles, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) notified Congress Sept. 30. Canada has requested 2,000 Radio Frequency (RF) TOW-2A and 600 RF TOW-2B anti-armor guided missiles, as well as 400 RF Bunker Buster Missiles, spare parts and other related items, DSCA said. The total value of the sale could be $136 million, DSCA said. The sale would improve Canada's military capabilities and "further weapon system standardization and interoperability with U.S. forces," DSCA said.
NASA has tapped Lockheed Martin Space Systems to build the unmanned spacecraft that will service the Hubble Space Telescope in orbit after launching in December 2007. According to the terms of the $330.58 million award, Lockheed Martin must deliver the Hubble Robotic Vehicle Deorbit Module (HRVDM) within about 30 months, according to a NASA spokesman. The contract covers work approximately through April 2008, with initial money being reprogrammed from FY '04 funds.
The cost of Bell Helicopter Textron's V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft will drop from its current price of about $70 million to about $50 million within the next five years because of lean manufacturing, according to the head of Osprey program partner Bell Helicopter. The V-22 currently costs $73 million per aircraft. The Navy's target cost for the aircraft is $58 million by fiscal 2010, a Naval Air Systems Command representative told The DAILY.
A suborbital rocket emulating an undisclosed "emerging threat" was launched by the United States in a Sept. 29 test in the Pacific, Defense Department officials said Oct. 5. The missile, which lifted off from Wake Island and flew about 606 miles, contained a mock warhead, a sensor package and various missile defense-related experiments. Radar and optical data collected during the flight will be used to design and improve missile defense interceptors and sensors.
The first successful drops of GBU-38 bombs in combat were executed recently over central Iraq, the U.S. Air Force said Oct. 4. Two F-16 Fighting Falcons simultaneously released a pair of 500-pound GBU-38s on a two-story building during a nighttime mission. The weapons struck their target precisely with little collateral damage, the Air Force said. Alabama Air National Guardsmen and Wisconsin and Illinois airmen were involved in the effort.
Raytheon Co. says it expects to receive a contract by the first quarter of calendar 2005 to continue building a new radar for the U.S. Navy's newest fighter aircraft. The contract, slated to be for 22 systems, will be Raytheon's third low-rate initial production (LRIP) contract for the APG-79 Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar, company spokeswoman Sabrina Steele said Oct. 5 in a written response to questions.
Forrest Sherman (DDG 98), the newest Arleigh Burke class guided-missile destroyer, was christened Oct. 2 during a ceremony at Northrop Grumman Ship Systems in Pascagoula, Miss., the U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command said. Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) delivered the principal address. Ann Sherman Fitzpatrick broke a bottle of champagne across the bow to formally christen Forrest Sherman, which is named after her father.
PEO SUPPORT: Anteon International Corp., a Fairfax, Va.-based technology and systems engineering and integration company, announced Oct. 4 that it was awarded a five-year contract by the Naval Sea Systems Command to support the Program Executive Office (PEO) for Integrated Warfare Systems. The estimated value of the contract, if all options are exercised, is $120 million.
AM General Corp. of South Bend, Ind., won a $1.2 million modification to a firm-fixed-price contract for 1,408 M1114 chassis for the High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (Humvee), the company said Oct. 1. The U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) awarded the contract. Work under the sole-source contract is expected to be completed by Dec. 21, 2007.
London-based BAE Systems has been awarded a one-year, $8.6 million contract extension by the Canadian Department of National Defence (DND) to provide supply management and in-country engineering for the Victoria-class submarines, BAE Systems said Oct. 5. A team of 55 Canadian nationals based in Victoria, British Columbia, Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Ottawa, Ontario, are managing the support. They work for BAE Systems' Canadian subsidiary of its Customer Solutions and Support business, the company said.
Oshkosh Truck Co. of Oshkosh, Wis., has awarded Armor Holdings Inc. of Jacksonville, Fla., a $115 million contract to support the U.S. Marine Corps Medium Tactical Truck Vehicle Replacement program (MTVR), Armor Holdings said Oct. 5.
RUAG Aerospace of Bern, Switzerland, is upgrading F/A-18 combat aircraft and the Cougar TH-98 transport helicopter fleet for the Swiss air force, the company said Sept. 30. An active combat identification system is being installed on F/A-18s along with other upgrades. The air force has received the first series aircraft fitted with the new equipment, the company said. ISSYS integrated self-protection systems are being installed in the helicopters.
NASA has decided to delay the space shuttle's return to flight to no earlier than May 2005, citing the effects of four hurricanes that created damage and delays at various agency facilities over a six-week period.
DHS EC120s: American Eurocopter will provide more than 55 EC120 single-engined light helicopters to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency under a five-year contract that could be worth up to $75 million, the company said Oct. 4. The contract was awarded by the Department of Homeland Security.
The U.S. Coast Guard is expected to get its first re-engined HH-65 Dolphin helicopter later this month, according to government and industry sources. A Coast Guard spokeswoman told The DAILY Oct. 4 that the Coast Guard's aviation training center in Mobile, Ala., will receive the upgraded short-range recovery helicopter by the end of the week of Oct. 3-9. An industry source said Oct. 1 that the delivery would take place in the next two weeks or so.
American Pacific Corp. (AMPAC) has completed the acquisition of the former Atlantic Research Corp.'s in-space propulsion business (ISP) from Aerojet-General Corp., American Pacific said Oct. 1. The Delaware-based company announced April 26 it would acquire the ISP business for about $3.5 million in cash and the assumption of some liabilities (DAILY, April 29).
The prime contractor for the U.S. Air Force's C-5 Galaxy re-engining effort has taken delivery of the first aircraft that will go through the program, an Air Force official said Oct. 4. Lockheed Martin's Marietta, Ga., plant received the C-5B transport on Oct. 3, according to Col. Kevin Keck, who oversees C-5 acquisition programs at the Air Force Aeronautical Systems Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.
Scaled Composites' SpaceShipOne clinched the Ansari X Prize Oct. 4, completing its second qualification flight for the $10 million prize while reaching a record altitude above 360,000 feet. After takeoff from the Civilian Aerospace Test Center at Mojave Airport in California, SpaceShipOne was released by the White Knight carrier aircraft at 7:49 a.m. Pacific time. Pilot Brian Binnie then ignited the vehicle's hybrid rocket engine and soared into suborbital space, beating X-15 pilot Joseph Walker's 1963 aircraft altitude record of 354,200 feet.
With the Elektron oxygen generation system back online, the Expedition 9 astronauts onboard the International Space Station (ISS) are not concerned about running out of consumables, according to NASA ISS Science Officer Mike Fincke. "We've been well supplied with the Russian Progress cargo ships, and the Russian partners have done a great job at getting up the necessary food and water and air that we need onboard," Fincke said during a teleconference Oct. 4.
The Department of Defense's Global Information Grid Bandwidth Expansion (GIG-BE) program reached initial operational capability (IOC) Sept. 30 at the first six joint staff-approved locations, the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) said. The GIG-BE is scheduled to be fully operational by September 2005, with all 100 worldwide locations activated, DISA said.
Lockheed Martin's Maritime Systems & Sensors unit has received contracts worth $625 million as part of the work on the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS) program's design and development phase, the company said Oct. 4.
