BOOST: Russia's Federal Space Agency has been promoted in the government hierarchy under a decree signed May 20 by President Vladimir Putin. Under earlier plans, the former Aviation and Space Agency, which was renamed in March (DAILY, March 10), would have reported to the energy and industry ministry. The new decree says instead that it will report to the prime minister, rather than to any "intermediate" command level.
STRONG ELECTRONICS: Defense electronics markets would remain strong even if spending on the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) budget slows in coming years, according to industry analysts who spoke at the Aerospace & Defense Finance Conference in New York last week. "The defense industry looks set to produce strong cash flows over the next few years, but there were [at the conference] varying degrees of concern on the rate of potential slowdown in the U.S. budget," says Steve East, a European aerospace and defense analyst for Credit Suisse/First Boston.
NASA has formally kicked off a joint industry-government effort to begin introducing high-altitude unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) into the national airspace, with the first goal of enabling routine, file-and-fly operations for UAVs cruising above 40,000 feet by fiscal year 2006. The major players are NASA, the FAA, the Department of Defense and the UNITE (UAV National Industry Team) industry group, which consists of Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, AeroVironment, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems and Aurora Flight Sciences.
BRAC DELAY: The House voted to delay the next base realignment and closing (BRAC) round until 2007 as it completed work on the fiscal 2005 defense authorization bill, but the Senate has not followed suit. Defense officials say they need to close underused facilities to save money, but lawmakers whose districts are home to those facilities are fighting to keep them operational.
The fiscal year 2005 defense authorization bill approved by the House would establish a commission to study the industrial base and ban fees associated with online bidding and actions on subcontracts. The bill would require the president to establish a commission to assess the future of national technology and the industrial base and study its relationship to national security.
PRAGUE, Czech Republic - The Czech cabinet has decided not to permit the planned sale of the Czech-produced advanced Vera radar system to China, after concluding that the deal is not in the foreign policy interests of the Czech Republic. The decision was taken at a closed meeting of the cabinet May 18, although Czech Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla later confirmed the move to journalists.
COLUMBIA DEBRIS: The Aerospace Corporation of El Segundo, Calif., is scheduled to receive eight pieces of debris from the shuttle Columbia this week, marking the first loan of Columbia debris to a non-governmental agency. The Aerospace Corporation will receive graphite/epoxy honeycomb skins from an Orbital Maneuvering System pod, helium tanks from the Main Propulsion System, a Reaction Control System Helium tank and a Power Reactant Storage Distribution system tank. The company will use the parts to study re-entry effects on composite materials.
The surface-to-air missile (SAM) market is expected to generate $22.6 billion in revenues over the next 10 years with the production of more than 88,000 SAMs, according to a May 20 report from Forecast International (FI).
CONCERNED: The Stafford-Covey Return to Flight Task Group is concerned that the space shuttle program could be losing too many personnel to other new organizations within NASA. "The various new organizations, from the NASA Engineering and Safety Center, to the Independent Technical Authority, to the Space Shuttle System Engineering and Integration Office all require talented staff drawn largely from the current NASA and contractor pool," the task group says in its latest interim report (DAILY, May 20).
Intelsat Ltd. has withdrawn its planned initial public offering and will "explore the potential of another party's investment in or acquisition of the company," it said May 21. The company is required to carry out an IPO as part of its 2001 conversion to a private company, but the deadline for that has been delayed several times (DAILY, Feb. 5, May 10). The deadline now is Dec. 31, 2005.
MOSCOW - High-ranking Russian and Kazakh delegations met last week to discuss planned commercial launches of Khrunichev Center's heavy-lift Angara vehicle from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Russian and Kazakh officials signed an agreement in January for the "Baiterek" joint project. On May 19th, Anatoly Perminov, the new head of Russia's revamped Federal Space Agency, met with Kazakh Prime Minister Danial Akhmetov. Akhmetov said Kazakhstan will commit as much as $200 million.
May 25 - 26 -- Institute for Defense and Government Advancement, Tactical Ground Vehicles, "Ensuring Warfighter Survivability by Utilizing Emerging Techniques," The Hilton Arlington and Towers Hotel, Arlington, Va. For information call (800) 882-8684, email [email protected] or go to www.idga.org. May 25 - 28 -- 20th Annual NDIA Homeland Security Symposium & Exhibition, "Safeguarding America: Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow," Hyatt Regency Crystal City, Arlington, Va. Contact Sue Ellen Donley, (703) 247-9467 or email [email protected].
Boeing and Northrop Grumman say they are looking at a wide range of concepts in response to the U.S. Air Force's request for ideas for improving its global strike capabilities. Boeing officials told The DAILY May 21 that they are considering submitting ideas for an "arsenal ship," a large, highly efficient aircraft that could carry a vast arsenal of missiles and loiter for long periods of time at standoff distances.
Rep. John Hostettler (R-Ind.) said he anticipates no major changes to missile defense funding in the fiscal 2005 defense authorization bill, which is now on the House floor. "We are not expecting significant threats to the missile defense funds, but you can never be sure until final passage," Hostettler said. Hostettler, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, spoke May 20 before a breakfast sponsored by the National Defense University Foundation and the National Defense Industrial Association.
The Land Warrior System (LW), part of the U.S. Army's Transformation Program, is intended to increase the lethality, survivability and command and control capabilities of small ground units, starting with the dismounted foot soldier. "For the first time, the soldier's equipment is being designed as if he is an individual, complete weapons platform," Lt. Col Dave Gallop, Land Warrior product manager, told The DAILY. "It will answer the questions: Where am I? Where are my buddies? Where is the enemy? What do my leaders want me to do?"
Metal Storm Ltd. said it has taken another step toward a demonstration of an unmanned aerial vehicle-mounted system that fires 40mm grenades. The company hopes to conduct the demonstration for U.S. officials in the next three months, Metal Storm said May 20.
TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. - Changes to improve the U.S. Air Force F/A-22 Raptor's ability to withstand severe weather are planned or under consideration, its developer said.
The House approved a $422 billion Department of Defense fiscal 2005 authorization bill May 20. The bill, approved by a 391-34 vote, would include more than $2 billion in funding for force protection for troops, and would give the DOD until next year to resolve contract negotiations for new aerial refueling tankers for the U.S. Air Force.
LAUNCHED: An Orbital Sciences Corp. Taurus rocket launched ROCSAT-2, Taiwan's remote sensing satellite, from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., on May 20, an OSC spokesman said. "Everything looks great," said Barry Beneski. "The launch was terrific, picture perfect, got it to the right orbit" of about 735 kilometers inclined at 99.1 degrees. "It went right at the opening of the window," 10:47 a.m. Pacific time, he said. Telemetry from the satellite was received by the McMurdo station at the South Pole.
Project Wedgetail, a program to develop a next-generation airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) system using a modified Boeing 737-700, conducted its first flight May 20 from Seattle, Wash. The jet, outfitted with a distinctive "Top Hat" radar antenna on its aft fuselage, took off from Boeing Field at 10:15 a.m. Pacific time (1:15 p.m. Eastern) and returned about two hours later, said a spokesman for Northrop Grumman, which is supplying the radar. The flight was "very exciting and an unqualified success," the spokesman told The DAILY.
PRAGUE, Czech Republic - Slovak defense officials have cleared BAE Systems to begin the second phase of a five-year program to install Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) systems in Slovak military hardware. The Slovak defense ministry said May 19 that BAE Systems had successfully completed phase one of the program after winning a tender last year. In 2003, BAE Systems installed the IFF system in an unspecified number of L-39 training aircraft, Mi-17 military transport helicopters and the Slovak army's RL MORAD radar system.
Thales Chairman and CEO Denis Ranque has named a new executive committee as part of a major reorganization of the company begun last December, the company announced last week.
AMC LAUNCH: International Launch Services sent the AMC-11 satellite into orbit on a Lockheed Martin Atlas IIAS rocket on May 19. The mission for SES Americom launched the A2100 satellite, also built by Lockheed Martin, from Cape Canaveral, Fla., Launch Complex 36B. The AMC-11 and the AMC-10, launched in February, form SES Americom's premier cable neighborhood and the platform of its HD-Prime service. ILS plans three more launches for Americom this year.
NEW YORK, N.Y. - Defense and aerospace contractors are beginning to reap the benefits of homeland security funding, according to company officials and industry analysts who spoke at the Aerospace and Defense Finance Conference here this week. "Defense companies are in the best position to take advantage of the homeland security market because they have the technical expertise, the clearances, and they are equipped [to cater to] the customer's mission," Dennis Kelly, senior vice president of corporate communications, Anteon International, told The DAILY.
