The U.S. Air Force's F/A-22 Raptor returned to the air Jan. 6, ending a "stand-down" imposed on the fleet after one of the stealthy jets crashed on takeoff in December and was destroyed. The Air Force had suspended flying all 28 of its remaining F/A-22s after the Dec. 20 accident, in which the pilot ejected safely as his Lockheed Martin-built jet was leaving the runway at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev. (DAILY, Dec. 22, Dec. 23).
The U.S. Defense Department has ordered a study on whether requirements for part of the Space Based Infrared System-High (SBIRS-High) system should be reduced to avoid more cost and schedule overruns in the program. The Air Force is to conduct the review with the Joint Staff and U.S. Strategic Command and give the results to the Joint Requirements Oversight Council (JROC) and the undersecretaries of defense for intelligence and acquisition by March 31. The review is to focus on the program's geosynchronous orbit (GEO) satellites.
AMMO CONTRACT: General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems of St. Petersburg, Fla., has been awarded a $54 million contract modification to produce 120mm M831A1 and M865 tank training ammunition for the U.S. Army, the company said Jan. 6. The contract was awarded by the U.S. Army Field Support Command at Rock Island, Ill. The rounds are fired from M1A1/A2 tanks. The work is expected to be finished by September 2008.
Oman's military has agreed to buy about 100 Javelin Anti-Tank Weapon Systems from the U.S. government through a joint venture of Raytheon Co. and Lockheed Martin, the companies said Jan. 6. Financial terms were not disclosed. Oman's military will receive about 100 Javelin missiles and command launch units, along with training and support packages, the companies said.
Two Army program executive offices have signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) aimed at boosting collaboration on simulation programs to help prepare soldiers for the war on terrorism. James Blake, program executive officer (PEO) for Army Simulation, Training and Instrumentation, and Paul Bogosian, PEO for Army Aviation, signed the MOA on Jan. 6 calling for further collaborate on managing, planning and executing aviation simulation programs. The MOA was announced at the Association of the U.S. Army's aviation symposium and exhibition in Arlington, Va.
MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates (MDA) of Canada has received a $154 million contract from NASA to develop the grappling arm and two-armed robot required for an autonomous servicing of the Hubble Space Telescope, the company announced Jan. 5.
EADS Space Transportation has been awarded a 10-year contract worth more than 3 billion euros ($3.95 billion) to provide the French navy with M51 ballistic missiles that carry nuclear warheads, EADS said Jan. 5. The number of missiles was not disclosed. The contract was awarded by the French arms procurement agency DGA. Four French submarines will be equipped with M51s beginning in 2010. The sub Le Terrible will be the first to be retrofitted, followed by Le Vigilant, Le Triomphant and Le Temeraire.
Canada's military is buying up to 130 high-capacity, line-of-sight radios from Ultra Electronics Tactical Communications Systems of Montreal for Cdn$12.7 million ($10.2 million), the Canadian defense department said Jan. 5. "These new line-of-sight radios will greatly improve our ability to provide situational awareness for commanders and troops in the field," Gen. Ray Henault, chief of the defense staff, said in a statement. "The new radios will also support interoperability with our allies."
The U.S. Army is planning to award a contract for the Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH) at the end of June, said Lt. Col. Neil Thurgood, ARH program manager, Army Aviation Program Executive Office. The accelerated program is on track for Milestone B in June 2005 with Milestone C, or low-rate initial production (LRIP), to follow in July 2006, said Thurgood, who spoke Jan. 6 at the Association of the U.S. Army's aviation symposium and exhibition in Arlington, Va.
While NASA is not rushing the space shuttle's return to flight, regaining its cargo capability will be crucial to ensuring that the International Space Station (ISS) won't have to be evacuated, according to Michael Kostelnik, deputy associate administrator for the shuttle and ISS.
NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft is scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral, Fla., atop a Boeing Delta II rocket on Jan. 12 at about 1:48 p.m. EST, NASA said Jan. 5. Originally scheduled for Dec. 30, the launch was pushed back because of technical concerns over the rocket. After rendezvousing with comet Tempel 1 this coming July, the Deep Impact spacecraft is scheduled to deploy a penetrator to strike the comet's surface and expose its interior, which is thought to contain material virtually unchanged since the formation of the solar system.
A new bipartisan group of legislators is forming on Capitol Hill to try to shield U.S. Navy aircraft carriers and new shipbuilding from potential Defense Department budget cuts beginning in fiscal 2006. The effort - spurred by reductions outlined in DOD's Program Budget Decision (PBD) No. 753 (DAILY, Jan. 4) - already counts at least 18 members in its first week.
The U.S. Air Force is seeking to include 15 Predator A unmanned aerial vehicles in the Bush Administration's upcoming fiscal 2005 supplemental appropriations request, according to a congressional source. It is unclear whether the Air Force proposal will be approved by the Administration, which is expected to send its supplemental request to Capitol Hill in February or March (DAILY, Jan. 6). The funding package is designed mainly to sustain military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.
First flight of the Air Force Subscale Target (AFSAT) took place last month, according to Athena Technologies Inc., which makes the navigation suite for the vehicle. The flight took place Dec. 8 at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., Athena said in a Jan. 6 announcement. Composite Engineering Inc. (CEI) of Sacramento, Calif., the AFSAT prime contractor, chose Athena to supply the vehicle's integrated Inertial Navigation System/Global Positioning System and air data sensor suite.
EXTERNAL TANK: The first redesigned space shuttle external tank arrived at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida via barge on Jan. 5 in anticipation of the shuttle's scheduled return to flight later this year. The tank traveled from Lockheed Martin's Michoud facility in New Orleans. Design changes made in the wake of the Columbia accident include the installation of heaters at the bipod ramp area, which does away with the need to insulate the ramp with the kind of foam that broke loose and doomed Columbia. The tank will roll off the barge Jan.
Spacehab Inc. filed an appeal Dec. 29 with the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals in Falls Church, Va., protesting NASA's "limited" response to its claim for the loss of the company's Research Double Module (RDM), the company announced Jan. 5.
RECOVERY VEHICLES: York, Pa.-based United Defense Industries Inc. has won an $8.8 million contract modification to provide manufacturing technical assistance for the co-production of 21 M88A2 Hercules recovery vehicles in Egypt, the company said Jan. 4. The contract was awarded by the U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command. The work will be done mostly at the Egyptian Tank Plant in Cairo from January through December 2006.
Amy Donahue, assistant professor of public administration at the University of Connecticut Institute of Public Affairs, will join the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel.
The U.S. Defense Department's industrial policy (IP) office is urging DOD leaders to consider adding a second supplier for its Active Denial System (ADS) on the grounds that demand for the nonlethal, directed energy weapon could eventually surge. ADS, which is designed to repel adversaries, uses an energy beam to heat water under the skin, causing pain but no damage. It is being developed for warfighters but could ultimately be useful for military peacekeepers and law enforcement agencies as well, the IP office wrote in a new report.
