Although the Pentagon's fiscal 1999 budget request has been largely drafted, Phil Odeen, chairman of the National Defense Panel, would like to see some money added to it before it's finalized by Congress next year. On Monday, the NDP said the Pentagon should spend $5 billion to $10 billion a year to be ready to carry out the new kinds of military operations it thinks will be required around 2020 (DAILY, Dec. 2).
Turkey will name a foreign company next week to upgrade its fleet of aging F-5 fighters, according to wire service reports from Anakara. China's Xinhua news agency said Turkey's Defense Industry Executive Board is slated to meet Dec. 9 to make the decision.
A joint NASA/National Science Foundation panel studying global satellite communications issues has concluded the future is "rosy" for U.S. satellite manufacturers, with the market poised to jump into the $75 billion range in less than a decade and U.S. companies well-positioned to take advantage of it. But at the same time that past U.S. government investment in communications satellite research and development has laid a "golden egg" for the domestic industry, a lack of funding for future research threatens to kill the goose, the panel found.
U.S. Navy program officials believe they will be able to curb a wing drop problem on the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet without having to redesign the wing, an option that was being considered as the most extreme measure in case other fixes didn't have the desired effect. "We're not talking about a redesign of the wing," Navy Capt. J.B. Godwin, the F/A-18 program manager told reporters yesterday during a briefing here. "I'm confident we're going to solve the problem" with other fixes, he said.
Poor test results have forced the U.S. Army to slow development of the Airborne Standoff Mine Detection System (ASTAMIDS) and continue technology work instead of proceeding as planned with engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) later this year. ASTAMIDS candidates "did not meet exit criteria to enter EMD," Lawrence Nee, the Army program manager, said in a telephone interview.
The Outrider unmanned aerial vehicle made its first autopilot flight Dec. 1, Alliant Techsystems said yesterday. Alliant, the UAV's prime contractor, said the 25-minute flight from its test facility at Hondo, Tex., began with pilot control and stability augmentation system engaged. Two minutes after takeoff, the autopilot was turned on. Alliant said the UAV "demonstrated excellent navigation accuracy," flying at 1,500 feet to four pre-programmed way points over a 20-minute period. Landing was accomplished under pilot control.
The Pentagon should spend between $5 billion and $10 billion per year to transform itself to carry out the kinds of military operations that will be likely around the year 2020, the National Defense Panel says in its newly released report "Transforming Defense: National Security in the 21st Century."
TRW, Space and Electronics Group, Redondo Beach, Calif., is being awarded a $6,500,000 increment of a $10,495,786 modification to a $90,437,385 cost- plus-fixed-fee contract for a research and development effort for the Battlefield Combat Identification System (BCIS) Initial Operational Test (IOT) Program, an 18 month new/additional work effort. Work will be performed in Redondo Beach, Calif. (TRW 66%); and Fort Wayne, Ind. (Hughes 34%), and is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, 1999. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
Iraq has been able to assemble a robust air defense network despite U.S. military action as recently as last year, according to Gen. Anthony Zinni, commander U.S. Central Command. He told reporters at the Pentagon last week that Iraq has a "robust" integrated air defense system (IADS) with redundant capabilities to remain operational even when parts are destroyed. The system is not as good as before Desert Storm, but it is near that capability, Zinni said during a Pentagon press conference.
Boeing North American, Inc., Anaheim, California, is being awarded a $10,000,000 cost plus incentive fee/award fee contract for critical lead time materials and support for Low Rate Initial Production of the Guidance Replacement Program in support of the Minuteman III missile. Contract is expected to be completed in May 1999. Ogden Air Logistics Center, Hill Air Force Base, Utah, is the contracting activity (F04704-93-C-0020 P00068).
NASA'S Jet Propulsion Laboratory picked Orbital Sciences Corp. to build its Active Cavity Radiometer Irradiance Monitor Satellite (ACRIMSAT) under an $8.3 million contract that could lead to a separate deal to launch the small solar observation platform on an Orbital Pegasus rocket. The Dulles, Va.-based company said it will integrate an instrument supplied by JPL into its MiniStar satellite bus and supply a ground station to JPL. ACRIMSAT is slated for launch in October 1999.
Boeing Co., St. Louis, Mo., is being awarded a $57,964,260 firm-fixed-price contract to definitize Organization and Intermediate Level Support Equipment for the F-15I aircraft. At this time, $10,208,648 of the contract funds have been obligated. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This effort supports foreign military sales to Israel. Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, is the contracting activity (F33657-94/C-2195, P00012).
Kollsman, Inc., Merrimack, N.H., is being awarded a $43,206,520 modification to previously awarded contract N00019-95-C-0211 for the procurement of 26 night targeting systems for integration into the Taiwanese Army AH-1W helicopter under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) Program. Work will be performed in Nashua, N.H., and is expected to be completed in January 2001. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity.
NASA managers meeting late yesterday were leaning toward authorizing a second spacewalk on the STS-87 Space Shuttle mission so astronauts can check out techniques they will use to build the International Space Station, but they decided not to try again with the balky free-flyer that took the spacewalkers' first sortie to get it restowed in Columbia's cargo bay.
The U.S. Air Force this month plans to release the draft request for proposal for full production the Joint Programmable Fuze that will be used on the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM). The AF said that the FMU-152/B JPF is reaching the end of its low-rate initial production phase, and that it plans a full and open competition for the production phase. The contract will include production options for fiscal 1999 through FY 2003, for between 3,600 and 5,000 fuzes each year.
Japan's National Space Development Agency (NASDA) launched a NASA-built environmental-monitoring spacecraft and the latest in the Engineering Test Satellite series (ETS-7) Nov. 28 in the first flight of the H-II rocket from the Tanegashima space center since local fishermen approved more extensive launch activities there.
The Senate Armed Services Committee plans to hold hearings starting Jan. 28 on the report of the National Defense Panel, which was established by Congress to examine the Pentagon's Quadrennial Defense Review, a SASC spokesman said yesterday. The hearings will get underway two days after the Senate returns to start the new congressional session.
Indostar-1, the first geostationary satellite built by Orbital Sciences Corp., has achieved several of its final operational milestones as it is readied to give commercial broadcast services to Indonesia, the company reported. The satellite is being moved to its assigned position at 107.7 degrees East longitude over Indonesia at its final geostationary altitude of 22,300 miles, Orbital Sciences reported Nov. 26.
Europe's launch services consortium has ordered another 20 Ariane 4 launch vehicles, at a cost of about $2 billion, to smooth the transition to the new Ariane 5 vehicle.
Raytheon Co. named David W. Welp senior vice president and president of Raytheon TI Systems, and Francis S. Marchilena vice president and assistant general manager of Raytheon Electronic Systems. Welp will continue to oversee operations of the Dallas-based Raytheon TI Systems, Raytheon said. He has been president of Raytheon TI Systems, formerly the Defense Systems&Electronics unit of Texas Instruments, since September 1996. Raytheon TI Systems was acquired by Raytheon in July.
ECC INTERNATIONAL CORP., Wayne, Pa., won a $6.6 million subcontract from Lockheed Martin for Close Combat Tactical Trainer (CCTT) simulators. The contract is expected to be completed in fiscal 1998.
Three essentially different versions of a bill relaxing export controls on encryption technology are heading for a House Rules Committee showdown early next year. One, backed by the computer industry, would allow the export of more powerful encryption products. Introduced by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), it has cleared the House Commerce, Judiciary and International Relations Committees.
