Lockheed Martin and Israel's Rafael are close to finalizing an agreement on working together in the air-to-air missile market, primarily with the Python 4 short-range missile, following several months of negotiations.
About 1,400 paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Div. will jump at Duke Field, Fla., around midnight, Sept. 14, to kick off the U.S. Air Force's Expeditionary Air Force Experiment (EFX '98). The 82nd's job will be to simulate securing of an airfield to allow other forces to arrive. EFX '98 will run through Sept. 26.
North Korea claimed Friday it had launched a domestic satellite earlier in the week aboard the first Taepo Dong I missile, a two-stage vehicle that drew sharp protests from Tokyo and elsewhere after it overflew Japanese territory. The official Korean Central News Agency said the Aug. 31 launch placed a satellite that was "a product of 100% local technology" in orbit four minutes and 53 seconds after liftoff.
OFFICIALS SCRUBBED Friday's planned launch of a Boeing Delta II rocket with five Iridium replenishment satellites aboard. The final countdown had begun at Vandenberg AFB, Calif., when a lightning strike at NAS Point Mugu, Calif., took down the range. A new launch attempt is set for today at 5:13 p.m. EDT. The launch was delayed after failure of the new Delta III launch vehicle last month to give engineers time to ensure the failure was not caused by a Delta II system.
After several years of running Advanced Concept Technology Demonstrations, the Pentagon should stop assuming they won't work, says Pentagon acquisition chief Jacques Gansler. Results of ACTDs have been generally positive and therefore, he says, "we need to start making the assumption they will work." In fact, Gansler is rather enamored with the fast pace of these demonstrations, saying that "If I had my way, I'd say, 'use the ACTD model for all our weapons.'"
NASA has picked five space launch companies to conduct space transportation architecture studies that address how the U.S. space agency will place humans and their cargo in space after the Space Shuttle era ends in 2010.
The U.S. Defense Dept. is developing an architecture for Measurement and Signature Intelligence (MASINT) as part of a larger effort started after the Persian Gulf war to more efficiently manage the collection of sensitive information. MASINT data are gathered by a variety of platforms to give insight into threats, signature and countermeasure requirements, and thereby to support military operations and development and modernization programs, and to help monitor proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, arms control efforts and treaties.
BOEING BUSINESS JET made its first flight Sept. 4 BOEING BUSINESS JET made its first flight Sept. 4, taking off from Renton Municipal Airport, Wash. The aircraft, designed for corporate and VIP applications, is a joint venture with General Electric. It combines the size of the 737-700 fuselage with the strengthened wings and landing gear of the larger and heavier 737-800.
The agreement signed Sept. 2 between President Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin for Russia to share U.S. early warning data on missile launches can be put into place very quickly - perhaps in a year - and at relatively low cost, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
The General Accounting Office has concluded that the Pentagon may be several years away from achieving its goal of establishing information superiority because of the pace of progress being made to establish a command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) architecture.
At the same time, the Army's vision of itself in coming years is already pretty defined because little of its projected new force, called Army After Next, will actually be new. Hoeper says about 70% of the systems that will be part of AAN already exist, or will be fielded in the near future.
The U.S. Army has completed a test firing of two Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) Block 2 missiles, each carrying 13 Brilliant Anti-Armor (BAT) submunitions. In the Aug. 29 test at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., all submunitions were delivered to their intended target areas, according to ATACMS prime contractor Lockheed Martin. Three of the submunitions carried live warheads. The Block II missile has a range of more than 80 miles. A longer ranger version with fewer submunitions is also planned.
The U.S. Air Force today plans to launch four B-2 bombers to Andersen AFB, Guam, for 30 days of "training operations" to demonstrate the plane's rapid response capability. The stealthy aircraft will take off from Whiteman AFB, Mo. One will serve as the usual airborne spare and turn back, Brig. Gen. Leroy Barnidge, commander of the 509th Bomb Wing told The DAILY yesterday. The Block 30 aircraft are the Spirits of Arizona, Missouri and South Carolina. The Spirit of California will fly as the backup.
The first stage of North Korea's Taepo Dong 1 test missile landed in the Sea of Japan, not the entire missile, as reported in a story in The DAILY of Sept. 1. The lead story on that page correctly reports that the missile overflew Japan.
LOCKHEED MARTIN and its joint venture partner Rafael have been awarded a $67.8 million U.S. Air Force contract for 90 AGM-142 missiles, two datalink pods, three captive carry training missiles and support. The datalink pods will go to Australia for its AGM-142s, which are carried by the Royal Australian Air Force's F-111s. Israel will receive 39 missiles. Lockheed Martin and Rafael cooperatively market and sell the AGM-142 under the PGSUS Limited Liability Co. joint venture.
FEDERATION OF AMERICAN SCIENTISTS filed suit to force the Central Intelligence Agency to disclose the amount of the budget request for U.S. intelligence activities in fiscal year 1999. A suit by the Washington-based group last year led to the disclosure of the total intelligence appropriation for FY '97 ($26.6 billion) and FY '98 ($26.7 billion).
The International Joint Venture Co. received a contract from the Project Horizon Joint Project Office for further project definition work on the Anglo-French-Italian Common New Generation Frigate (CNGF), according to the U.K. Ministry of Defense. The contract covers the outline design of the ship, the design of the combat system, the selection of all major combat system equipment and sub- systems, and the selection of marine engineering.
Shaded areas at the moon's north and south poles contain much more water than estimated after an initial reading of data from NASA's Lunar Prospector probe earlier this year, a more detailed analysis of the data has revealed.
Formally confirming the name "Typhoon" for the Eurofighter 2000 (DAILY, Sept. 1), Eurofighter managing director Brian Phillipson said it would be applied only to the planned export version, for which active marketing has now started.
Elmendorf AFB, Alaska, has received its first Milstar ground terminal, which will provide the 11th Air Force and 3rd Wing access to the highly secure satellite communication constellation. The AF said the ground terminal was installed at Elmendorf in July. The system is slated to become operational Oct. 1. Additional users of the Elmendorf terminal will include the Alaskan Command, the Alaskan North American Aerospace Defense Region, and the 611th Intelligence Flight, the AF said.
The Russian government has authorized the Khrunichev State Space Science and Production Center to boost production of Proton launchers by one third, which will enable the company to increase the supply of launch services to foreign commercial customers from eight to 12 launches per year.
An ADS-B (Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast) system is being flight tested on a United Parcel Service 727 in the dense airspace around Los Angeles this week by II Morrow and FAA Technical Center specialists.
A team will attempt to recover the voice and data recorder from a Swissair MD-11 that crashed Wednesday night at about 9:20 p.m. EDT off Nova Scotia, Canada, killing all 229 aboard. Smoke in cockpit forced the Geneva-
The U.K. will participate in the U.S. development program for the XM177 Lightweight 155mm artillery gun, the U.K. Ministry of Defense reported Tuesday.
