The Department of Defense should take a "holistic approach" to the task of maturing the conceptual thinking and capabilities related to homeland security, according to the Defense Science Board. "Developing an effective capability to protect the homeland is a top national priority," DSB co-chairmen Donald Latham and Adm. Donald Pilling (USN-Ret.) said in a memorandum accompanying the study.
SpaceDev of Poway, Calif., has assembled and shipped the hybrid rocket motors that will be used during SpaceShipOne's upcoming first qualification flight to win the $10 million Ansari X Prize, the company announced Sept. 13. The X Prize will be awarded to the first private team to conduct two manned flights into space within a span of two weeks using the same vehicle. SpaceShipOne's first qualification flight is scheduled for Sept. 29, and its second for Oct. 4 (DAILY, July 28).
Lockheed Martin is developing a downlink capability to allow fighter aircraft to send real-time video from their targeting pods to ground forces, company officials said Sept. 13. Peter Fox, a Lockheed Martin business development manager, said creating the downlink, which includes adding an antenna to the targeting pods, will increase the situational awareness of ground troops. "What the ground crew sees is what the air crew sees," Fox said at a press briefing at the Air Force Association's Air & Space Conference in Washington.
United Defense Industries, Inc. of Minneapolis has successfully fired a 120mm Electrothermal Chemical (ETC) gun from a hybrid electric drive combat vehicle, the company said Sept. 13. The U.S. Army's Armament Research Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC) staged the tests through a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement and used a fully integrated 100kJ pulse power system.
The U.S. Army has awarded General Dynamics C4 Systems of Scottsdale, Ariz. a five-year, $30 million contract to provide protective clothing and advanced electronics to Army helicopter aircrew members, the company said Sept. 13. The Air Warrior Block 3 system includes an enhanced voice/data communication capability, upgraded microclimate cooling unit, and an integrated aviator helmet system, the company said.
JCM ANTENNAS: EMS Technologies' Space & Technology/Atlanta division will develop antennas for the Joint Common Missile (JCM) under a $5 million contract from JCM prime contractor Lockheed Martin, the company said Sept. 13. The company could also be awarded follow-on production contracts, EMS Technologies said.
Operational readiness for the U.S. Air Force's KC-135 aerial tanker fleet has been reasonably steady and corrosion has not been a major contributor in cases where adverse trends have been observed, according to a review by the Center for Naval Analysis (CNA). The findings were part of a summary analysis of the material condition of the KC-135 aerial tankers, which is part of the debate on whether they should be replaced with new Boeing-built tankers or other aircraft.
TRANSFORMATION MEANS CHANGE: Military transformation means a willingness to change acquisition plans as needed, says Douglas Feith, undersecretary of defense for policy. "For example, making some products operational, to some extent, even before they've been fully developed and tested. That's what's been done with some unmanned aerial vehicles and with our missile defenses," he says.
The Jan. 1, 2005 deadline for compliance with the Department of Defense's (DOD) new Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) regulation has been relaxed under an Aug. 30 Defense Logistics Board Meeting memorandum, according to an Army logistics official.
Northrop Grumman has prevailed over Boeing and Lockheed Martin in the competition to develop the Battle Management Command and Control (BMC2) system for the U.S. Air Force's E-10A Multi-sensor Command and Control Aircraft (MC2A), the Defense Department announced Sept. 10. Northrop Grumman said it expects the BMC2 development effort to be worth more than $300 million, including an initial increment of at least $50 million.
TARGETING POD REVIEW: A panel of experts is scheduled to tell U.S. Navy acquisition chief John Young Sept. 23 what it learned from reviewing the military's targeting pod acquisition plans, sources say.
DISTRIBUTION: Raytheon Intelligence and Information Systems of Reston, Va., will build two Army Internet Protocol Theater Satellite Broadcast Manager terminals for the Global Broadcast Service program under a $6.5 million contract modification, the Department of Defense said Sept. 10. The program is a satellite-based system for distributing video, imagery and other data files for users around the world, DOD said.
SAVING GENESIS: After taking preliminary peeks into NASA's Genesis sample return canister, scientists are increasingly optimistic that the Sept. 8 crash will not ruin the mission's science yield. "Things are looking much better today than they felt on Wednesday," said Don Sevilla, Genesis payload recovery lead engineer, during a teleconference Sept. 10. One of the major experiments onboard - the solar wind concentrator - appears to be intact, according to NASA.
NAC RESTRUCTURING: The NASA Advisory Council (NAC) is being restructured to better support the agency's vision for space exploration. "The current advisory committee structure, established to meet the requirements of the agency's former internal organization, is outdated," NASA said in a response to query (RTQ) document. A planned quarterly meeting of the advisory panel scheduled for Sept.
Sept. 13 - 15 - The Air Force Association presents Air & Space Conference and Technology Exposition 2004, Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, Washington. Go to www.afa.org for more information. Sept. 13 - 16 -- 10 Annual Flight Simulator Engineering & Maintenance Conference (FSEMC), Adam's Mark, Tulsa, Okla. Contact Roger S. Goldberg at (410) 266-2915, email [email protected] or go to www.arinc.com/fsemc.
ADDING COMPANIES: Team US101 is adding 11 more companies in Ohio and West Virginia to supply components for its medium-lift helicopter that is competing for the next-generation presidential helicopter program. The Ohio companies are DuPont Vespel Parts & Shapes; Auxitrol Aerospace Business Group; Unison Industries; Enginetics Aerospace Corp.; Fluid Regulators Corp.; Honeywell Lighting & Electronics; Pako; Thermagon; Tyco Electronics; and Voss Industries. The West Virginia company is Star Technologies.
BUYING: Koor Industries Ltd., an Israeli investment holding company involved in diversified fields, including defense electronics, says it has signed an agreement to acquire 32.5 percent of military communications manufacturer Tadiran Communications Ltd. for about $141 million. Koor is acquiring the shares from Trefoil Israel Partner II LP, of the Shamrock group, and from FIMI Israel Mezzanine Fund LP.
DELIVERED: Lockheed Martin delivered its third C-130J Super Hercules airlifter to the 146th Airlift Wing at Channel Islands Air National Guard Station, Calif., on Sept. 8, the company said. Eventually, the wing will receive a total of eight C-130Js to replace the current fleet of Vietnam-era C-130Es. The C-130Js are expected to be used for airlift and aerial firefighting.
The U.S. Navy has awarded Lockheed Martin a $14.8 million advanced acquisition contract to begin systems integration of eight new MH-60R multi-mission helicopters. The helicopters are the third stage of low-rate initial production (LRIP III). As the MH-60R systems integrator, Lockheed Martin Systems Integration-Owego will equip each aircraft with a cockpit and mission systems to enable them to conduct anti-surface and undersea warfare.
NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center is planning to develop four new classes of high-altitude/long-endurance (HALE) unmanned aerial vehicles for research missions over the next 14 years, according to John Del Frate, Dryden's project manager for HALE UAV technology development. Dryden's UAV technology work is moving away from the Joint Sponsored Research Agreement model, on which the center's Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology (ERAST) UAV program was based, toward a more traditional competitive approach.
The U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command has awarded a $23.5 million contract to American Overseas Marine Corp. (AMSEA), based in Quincy, Mass., for the operation and maintenance of nine of MSC's 19 large, medium-speed, roll-on/roll-off (LMSR) ships.
Investigators have concluded that the Joint Air to Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) failed a recent flight test because a "foreign object" in the weapon caused the missile to lose power seconds before it was to hit its target, the U.S. Air Force said Sept. 10. An Air Force failure review board found that the foreign object damaged the missile's warhead fuze, creating the electrical malfunction, the Air Force said in a written response to questions. Air Force officials did not describe the unwelcome object or say how it managed to reach the fuze.
AIRBUS ADVANTAGE: Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) plans to make the termination of the 1992 agreement with Europe over aircraft subsidies a "high priority" in the next session of Congress. "We have got to make sure the American people understand that Airbus has been given advantages through this agreement that are simply unfair in this world competitive market that we're in," Dicks says. The agreement allows for direct subsidies of aircraft development up to 33 percent, but doesn't require the repayment of loans until a project reaches 40 percent of its projected sales.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The amount of uncontrolled airspace over the United States is going to change, according to Gen. Ralph E. "Ed" Eberhart, commander of U.S. North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and U.S. Northern Command. "The amount of uncontrolled airspace over this nation, where you don't have to be squawking [transmitting a transponder code] and talking [to a ground control facility] ... is going to change over time," Eberhart said Sept. 8.
