NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has focused on careful control of the processes that go into making its "product" - state- of-the-art scientific space probes - as it struggles to adapt to the "faster-better-cheaper" approach to space exploration.
RD-180 TEST: A Russian RD-180 rocket engine will soon be on its way to Denver for integration into an Atlas IIIA first stage, following a successful 200-second test at NPO Energomash in Khimky, near Moscow. The flight hardware duration test brings the new RD-180 - essentially half of a four-bell RD-170 - to some 10,000 seconds of hot-fire tests with the flight engine and nine test engines. "It's a hardware-rich environment," says a spokesman for Lockheed Martin, which is building the Russian-powered Atlas III (DAILY, April 9).
Boeing, in its winning proposal to be the lead system integrator (LSI) for national missile defense (NMD), outlined a method for selecting the exoatmospheric kill vehicle (EKV) for the program that would avoid conflict of interest, Ballistic Missile Defense Organization Director Lt. Gen. Lester Lyles told reporters here last week. Boeing beat United Missile Defense Co., a joint venture of Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and TRW for the LSI contract (DAILY, May 1).
ROCKET REVIEW: The Pentagon's Treaty Compliance Review Board is reviewing whether modified Minuteman III ICBMs or revamped commercial satellite launchers should be used as ground-based interceptors for national missile defense, says Ballistic Missile Defense Organization Director Lt. Gen. Lester Lyles. Boeing, the newly named lead system integrator (LSI) for NMD, will find out in less than 90 days which of the two options to pursue. Several senior military officials acknowledge touchy arms control issues that could prevent use of Minuteman III.
Swedish investment group Investor AB will offer shareholders purchase rights equal to 44.8% of share capital and 29% of the voting rights in Saab AB, Investor announced Friday. Trading in purchasing rights will begin on May 26, with Saab be listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange beginning June 18.
CHANGING TIMES: Rep. Duncan Hunter's report language on a follow-on bomber failed to arouse dissent in the House National Security Committee's closed markup of the procurement portion of the fiscal 1999 defense authorization, House sources say. The reasons, they say, are that no funding was involved and some of the key players have changed. Former ranking Democrat Ronald Dellums (D-Calif.) has retired, and the new ranking Democrat is Rep. Ike Skelton, who is from Missouri where the B-2 bomber is based. Dellums and Rep.
EG&G Inc., Wellesley, Mass., won a contract from the U.S. Navy to provide support services for electronic projects managed by the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane, Ind. If all options are exercised, the contract would be worth $113 million.
The National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) has been providing conflicting budgetary data on major programs and is losing credibility with members of Congress, according to the House Intelligence Committee. The committee, in the report accompanying its fiscal year 1999 intelligence authorization bill, said it is very concerned about instances over the past few months in which NIMA has been unable to reconcile differences in budget numbers and explain basic budgetary questions. The House passed its FY '99 intelligence authorization bill on Thursday.
Orbital Sciences Corp. has entered a partnership with CCI International N.V. to invest in and build the proposed ECCO equatorial low- Earth orbit communications satellite system. Under the plan, Orbital will invest $150 million in the scheme, and will build the 12 ECCO satellites under a prime contract valued at roughly $450 million. The ECCO system will provide mobile and fixed telephone service to the world's equatorial nations, which the company says are home to more than 1.5 billion people. Service is set to begin in 2001.
U.S. ARMY has completed the third test firing of an Enhanced Fiber Optic Guided Missile. Prime contractor Raytheon said the test included the first firing of the sustainer motor. Earlier tests only used EFOGM's booster motor. The test, at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., last Thursday, included several pitch, roll, and yaw maneuvers.
A gateway station for the Iridium satellite communication system was inaugurated here on May 6 on the grounds of Khrunichev State Space Science and Production Center, which is a shareholder in Iridium LLC.
The U.S. Navy is planning to upgrade its E-6B command and control aircraft with enhanced communications systems, the Naval Air Systems Command said in a May 7 Commerce Business Daily announcement. The Cryptographic Improvement Program will integrate cryptographic equipment of two Advanced Narrowband Digital Voice Terminals into the mission avionics suite to address mission requirements, the Navy said. The work will be performed by Raytheon E-Systems, which did the E-6B mission package integration work.
Hughes Space and Communications will build a satellite-based mobile telephone system for an Asian partnership under a contract announced Friday. Asia Pacific Mobile Telecommunications Satellite Pte. Ltd. (APMT), a Singapore partnership that includes both investors in both China and Singapore, selected Hughes to supply a turnkey system of one satellite and a spare; five gateways; a network operations center, and a first buy of 70,000 user terminals.
TEN-YEAR GAP: Retirement of the SR-71 reconnaissance aircraft puts pressure on the DarkStar unmanned aerial vehicle. If DarkStar fails, the Defense Dept. faces a likely 10-year shortfall in aircraft capable of safely penetrating high threat areas, says Maj. Gen. Kenneth Israel, director of the Defense Airborne Reconnaissance Office. DarkStar crashed on its second flight two years ago, and testing is expected to resume in coming weeks.
JOINT EXPERIMENT: The National Defense Panel's recommendation to establish a joint forces experimentation command may be getting congressional support. Phil Odeen, who chaired the panel, says he expects legislation supporting the Joint Forces Command concept. The command would be similar to the existing Atlantic Command, expect that it wouldn't have a warfighting role.
Senate Armed Services Committee actions on selected programs in the Pentagon's fiscal year 1999 budget request are listed in the following table, released by the committee Friday. Dollar figures are in millions. Committee FY 99 Request Change Recommendation Qty Cost Qty Cost Qty Cost Procurement ($M)
HUGHES SPACE AND COMMUNICATIONS has ordered nine satellite test systems from Aeroflex Inc., of Plainview, N.Y., to speed satellite test and integration. Aeroflex said Hughes will pay about $10 million for the systems. The contract calls for delivery over the next 18 months.
SPEAK ARMY: The U.S. Army is considering installing the Improved Data Modem on the Comanche. The helicopter is already getting advanced communications systems to include a Link-16 capability, but the rest of Army aviation is going to IDM. Bergantz says "We're looking at using the semi-module they are developing and applying to Comanche." The goal is to ensure Comanche is compatible with all of Army aviation.
OUT THE WINDOW: Jointness at the Pentagon appears to last only as long as all the services get their way. At the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, that is becoming apparent as efforts are made to put together the best investment strategy for missile defense. Lt. Gen. Lester Lyles tells the AIAA "Global Air and Space" symposium that making trades throughout the program is being hampered by parochialism. BMDO projects a $4.5 billion funding shortfall between 2000 and 2005.
Spacehab Inc., which operates the pressurized cargo bay modules NASA uses to supplement its Space Shuttle capacity for experiments and space station logistics, has acquired the rights to market the Shuttle-borne Wake Shield Facility for high-vacuum materials work in orbit. Under a deal with the University of Houston's Space Vacuum Epitaxy Center, Spacehab will pay $1 million plus future royalties for the right to market time on the Wake Shield both for epitaxial thin film growth and for other research that requires a robotic free-flyer in orbit.
The U.S. Defense Dept. should consolidate some of its intelligence gathering aircraft and reconnaissance pod programs as it readies for the future, the Defense Airborne Reconnaissance Office says in a new architecture study. "A central theme of this report is that platforms operating in the same place with the same general operating characteristics are logical choices for consolidation onto one type of platform," says an unclassified overview of the classified "Airborne Reconnaissance Architecture." The report was delivered to Congress late last week.
HELO PROTECTION: The Pentagon's Joint Staff is sponsoring a Rand Corp. study into self-protection requirements for attack helicopters in the period of about 2014, says Brig. Gen. Joseph Bergantz, the Army's RAH-66 Comanche program manager. Comanche is configured to use advanced infrared and radio-frequency countermeasures, but not active self-protection systems in the baseline configuration based on the assumption that its stealth will provide enough protection, at least initially. But the study could lead to changes in Comanche's EW configuration, Bergantz says.
AlliedSignal Inc. and GKN plc agreed that AlliedSignal will increase its current 48% interest in Normalair-Garrett Ltd (NGL) to 52% and also acquire 100% of Hermetic Aircraft International Corp. from GKN, the companies announced Friday. NGL, which makes environmental control systems for the aerospace industry, will become part of AlliedSignal's Aerospace Equipment Systems business. Hermetic is a Holtsville, N.Y., repair and overhaul facility.
