Satellite positioning systems and terrain databases are creating the opportunity to take "another quantum step in safety," Boeing Chairman Philip Condit said last week. The marriage of these emerging capabilities puts the aviation industry "on the edge of being able" to know precisely the position of aircraft in relation to the ground and avoid controlled flight into terrain, the cause of most aviation accidents, Condit said. Satellites, like those in the U.S.
The Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) funding level provided by the congressional defense appropriations conferees allows the program to continue through April, but with less margin than the U.S. Air Force planned. In April, an analysis-of-alternatives (AOA) is supposed to be completed determining if JASSM is the correct approach to development of a future, highly survivable air-to-ground standoff missile. Lt. Col.
Industry has indicated willingness to foot some of the bill for use of the U.S. government's space launch infrastructure, says Lt. Gen. Roger DeKok, commander of the Air Force's Space and Missile Systems Center. The Pentagon is looking for some help from industry because of concern that the increasing number of commercial launches is straining facilities and driving up maintenance costs (DAILY, Feb. 18). DeKok says industry accepts the premise and has indicated to Gen. Howell Estes, head of Space Command, that it would come through for part of the tab.
The Space Shuttle Atlantis was launched at 10:34 p.m. EDT Thursday from Kennedy Space Center, Fla., on a mission to take Astronaut David Wolf to the Russian Space Station Mir and retrieve Astronaut Michael Foale. The mission received last-minute approval from NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin earlier that day (DAILY, Sept. 26). Atlantis was scheduled to rendezvous with Mir Saturday afternoon.
Congressional defense appropriation conferees agreed to add eight Lockheed Martin C-130J aircraft to the Administration's fiscal 1998 budget, and moved money for one Air Force C-130J to the Air National Guard for a total buy of nine aircraft. The AF in the budget request submitted early this year asked for about $50 million to buy one C-130J, but the funds were moved to the Air National Guard to buy one of the planes. Funds were also added for three C- 130Js for the Guard that weren't included in the request. The ANG is receving $226 million for its four C-130Js.
A series of decisions made on the ground, and not crew error, led to the June 25 collision of a Progress supply module and the Mir space station, a former astronaut said Thursday in Washington. The investigation has led to institution of a plan by the U.S. and Russian space agencies to keep such mistakes from happening in the future with both Mir and the International Space Station. A Russian space commission found that "beyond any doubt" cosmonauts Vasily Tsibilyev and Alexander Lazutkin caused the collision (DAILY, Sept. 3).
The Space Shuttle Atlantis landed safely to Kennedy Space Center yesterday, returning Astronaut Shannon Lucid to Earth after a U.S.-record 188 days in space, most of it aboard Russia's Mir space station. Atlantis touched down at 8:13 a.m. EDT after a reentry and approach unhampered by auxiliary power unit problems that earlier threatened to truncate the STS-79 mission (DAILY, Sept. 17).
The U.S. Air Force said Wednesday it has space on its new Global Positioning System Block IIF satellites for additional payloads. Satellite developer Rockwell International is providing an extra 240 pounds and 350 watts of power, according to the AF Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles AFB, Calif. AF program manager Lt. Col. Al Moseley said that "we will able to fly future supplement missions using the GPS IIF and avoid the cost of building and launching a completely new satellite."
Loral Space&Communications is well-positioned to compete in the developing satellite services markets, with its planned acquisition of AT&T's Skynet constellation a logical jumping off point on the way to global broadcast operations that will complement its Globalstar low Earth orbit constellation and Cyberstar broadband data link, says Loral chairman and chief executive Bernard L. Schwartz.
European space officials plan to launch the second Ariane 5 booster in mid-April 1997, following a recovery effort that includes rewriting software blamed for the big new rocket's June 4 failure on its first launch attempt, requalifying all flight software under more realistic conditions, and beefing up some systems in light of lessons from the first attempt.
Pentagon acquisition chief Paul Kaminski on Wednesday gave the green light to the Joint STARS program to enter full rate production despite criticism that operational test results don't warrant such a move. The decision was made last week at a Defense Acquisition Board readiness meeting (DAILY, Sept. 20), but the formal memorandum was held up by claims that Pentagon testers had found significant problems.
Key U.S. senators reacted cautiously to the joint announcement by the U.S. and Russia that agreement had been reached on first-stage theater missile defense systems covering "lower velocity" TMD systems. Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), while withholding criticism of the bilateral agreement on demarcation between theater and strategic missile defenses, pointedly noted Tuesday that it would have to be submitted to the Senate for approval. Kyl said he hadn't seen the agreement, but added that he wanted to be briefed by the State Dept. as soon as possible.
The U.S. government is expected to request bids by late October for a contract jointly funded by the FAA and the Defense Dept. to help five Central European countries update and harmonize their civil and military air traffic control systems. The unprecedented transaction will help each of the five nations - the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia - create a national Air Sovereignty Operations Center, or ASOC, and improve regional cooperation by enabling the centers to exchange radar information in real time.
The Defense Science Board says in a new report that the Pentagon should shift its focus on international programs from armaments to technologies supporting coalition security. The report, released this week, says that "despite the many benefits...international cooperation has proven to be of limited interest to the U.S. national security establishment over the past two decades."
The U.S. Navy's fiscal 1998 through 2003 program objective memorandum includes $26.8 billion for Marine Corps aviation programs, Maj. Gen. T.A. Braaten, Marine Corps assistant deputy chief of staff for programs and resources, said yesterday. Braaten said that about $11.7 billion of the amount will be for procurement, and that $3.9 billion is for research, development, test and evaluation.
The U.S. and Japan are jointly considering the idea of moving U.S. Marines on Okinawa to a floating base near the Pacific Ocean island, but have different views of what such a base would look like. Japanese defense minister Hideo Usui told reporters here that Japan envisions a steel structure in a fixed location supported by multiple pillars. The U.S., however, is eyeing a free-floating base equipped with a propulsion system.
The U.S. Air Force is considering extending the life of its A-10 and OA-10 aircraft by another 30 years, according to an AF official. "The Air Force is looking at options to keep the A-10, from what I've seen, as late as 2025," the official told The DAILY. He noted, however, that this is only a plan, and not set "in concrete." The planes in service now, whose primary mission is close air support and forward air control, were bought largely in the early 1980s and have logged 5,000 to 5,500 flight hours, the official said.
SAUDI ARABIA has asked the Pentagon to hold a competition for a $2.5 billion maintenance and training services support contract for its Peace Shield air defense and command, control, and communications system, the Pentagon said yesterday. The U.S. Air Force will oversee the competition and resulting contract that would run from June 1, 1997, to May 31, 2002. The contract will require the assignment of 25 U.S. government personnel and 300 contractor representatives during the five year program, the Pentagon said.
NK Engines of Samara has suggested use of its venerable NK- 33 rocket engine for additional modernization of the Soyuz launcher, a move that it says could boost its payload capacity from seven to 13 tons and eliminate the need for the Zenit launcher. Current Soyuz modernization plans in the Federal Space Program of Russia envision the gradual replacement of the four-chamber liquid rocket engines designated 11D511, 11D512 and 11D55 on the Soyuz core stage, boosters and third stage, respectively, with modernized 14D21, 14D22 and 14D23 engines.
GENERAL ATOMICS, San Diego, said an Altus unmanned aerial vehicle owned by the Naval Postgraduate School attained an altitude of 43,500 feet during demonstrations at Edwards AFB, Calif. It carried a simulated payload of 300 pounds and surpassed an earlier record of 41,600 feet. In a deployment for the Dept. of Energy in Blackwell, Okla., the UAV routinely flew above 35,000 feet. One flight lasted 26 hours. Payloads exceeded 370 pounds.
MICROWAVE POWER DEVICES INC., Hauppauge, N.Y., won a $12 million foreign military sales contract for amplifiers for use in a defense application, which it couldn't further identify. It said initial shipments are scheduled for the first quarter of 1999.
MiG MAPO has kept its promise to display an upgraded MiG-29 fighter at the Moscow Air Show, now underway, but its long-planned separate multi-function fighter remains temporarily grounded for lack of financing. The main direction of activity for MiG MAPO (Moscow Aviation Production Assn.) is increasing the operational performance and combat capabilities of the MiG-29, company officials said at the show. Starting in November 1996, the plane's radar was upgraded and the aircraft was given the capability to engage ground- and sea-based targets.
General Dynamics Corp., Falls Church, Va., has agreed to buy the Advanced Technology Systems (ATS) unit of Lucent Technologies for $284 million. ATS, which makes undersea surveillance systems, signal processing defense systems and other technologies for defense applications, employs about 1,200 people at facilities in Greensboro, N.C., Whippany, N.J. and Arlington, Va. The transaction, which the companies expect to close Oct. 1, has been approved by both boards of directors, General Dynamics said in making the announcement.
Hughes Aircraft Co., Fullerton, Calif., won a seven-month, $120 million contract extension from the U.S. Air Force Electronic Systems Center to continue support of the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) Peace Shield System, Hughes announced yesterday. Hughes delivered Peace Shield, which allows the RSAF to manage airborne and ground-based resources in its airspace, in 1995. The company has been supporting the system since delivery.
