The Missile Defense Agency's latest plan for developing a low-orbit satellite system to detect and track ballistic missiles is risky and ignores lessons gained from earlier failures, a new General Accounting Office (GAO) report warns. The $3.1 billion Satellite Tracking and Surveillance System (STSS) is the latest name for a proposed constellation of 21 to 28 satellites that can detect missile launches, track ballistic missile trajectories and cue targeting systems from a low-earth orbit.
The U.S. Army's Urban Reconnaissance advanced concept technology demonstration (ACTD) is combining airborne and ground-based 3-D laser scanning to add a new dimension to situational awareness in urban terrain, according to a scientist working on the program.
Although the future EA-18G electronic attack aircraft will look and fly much like the F/A-18F Super Hornet strike fighter, differences inside the airframe are emerging as a final design takes shape, U.S. Navy and industry officials said May 27. As a Milestone B decision awaits the program in October, proposals to alter the basic hardware and components are raising questions about how to balance developing the unique capabilities of each aircraft and harnessing the efficiencies of a common production line.
ENGINE WORK: Pratt & Whitney will integrate performance and efficiency technologies into a technology demonstrator engine under a $12.7 million, 39-month contract from the U.S. Naval Air Systems Command, the company said May 27. The technologies, which include lightweight component materials, could be used in new classes of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), the company said.
The commitment by seven European nations to buy the Airbus A400M military transport could have a long-term negative impact on the market for U.S.-built C-17 Globemaster and C-130J Hercules transports, analysts say. "The impact is likely to be greater on [C-17 maker] Boeing than [C-130J maker] Lockheed Martin," senior military aircraft analyst Richard Aboulafia of the Teal Group said. "As a strategic airplane, it comes close to the C-17."
A400M APPROVAL: The German Bundestag's budget committee has agreed to buy 60 Airbus A400M military transport aircraft, a key decision for the multinational program. The aircraft will help Germany meet its obligations to NATO and the European Union, the Bundestag said. The aircraft are scheduled to be delivered to Germany between 2010 and 2016.
RIDGE & UAVs: The Department of Homeland Security is looking "very seriously" at using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to patrol America's borders and plans to have a pilot program in place by the end of the year, according to Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge. "Where you've got wide open spaces, it's a lot easier for us to take a look at some of the [UAV] technologies presently employed by the Department of Defense," Ridge says.
NEW DIRECTOR: David A. King has been named the new director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., replacing Arthur G. Stephenson, who will step down June 15. King has been deputy director of the center since November 2002 and has played a key role in NASA's shuttle recovery operations in Texas following the Feb. 1 loss of the shuttle Columbia, NASA said May 23. King, who has worked at NASA since 1983, was director of shuttle processing at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., before becoming deputy director of the Marshall center.
PRAGUE - Sweden would be interested in taking part in any new tender for supersonic aircraft for the Czech Republic, Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson told journalists here May 22 after meeting with his Czech counterpart, Vladimir Spidla.
NEW DELHI - India has decided to use an indigenously developed cryogenic engine for the next Geosynchronous Launch Vehicle (GSLV) flight, according to an official with the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). The first two flights of the GSLV used Russian-built cryogenic engines. The next GLSV demonstration vehicle, GSLV D3, is slated to launch in October.
INTEL BILL: The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence tentatively plans to meet in closed-door session June 12 to consider its version of the fiscal 2004 intelligence authorization bill. The Senate version of the bill already has been approved by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (DAILY, May 13) and is pending before the full Senate.
TETHERS: A momentum-exchange space tether system, which would spin payloads like a yo-yo at the end of a string before releasing them, could provide 90 percent of the speed necessary to send a spacecraft to another planet, according to Paul Wercinski, program executive for the In-Space Propulsion (ISP) program at NASA's Office of Space Science. NASA envisions momentum-exchange tethers and electrodynamic tethers one day working together to send payloads out of Earth orbit, he says.
On the day of his retirement, the Pentagon's top acquisition official, E.C. "Pete" Aldridge Jr., said it could be possible to increase the V-22 Osprey's production rate in fiscal 2005, but he still would not describe himself as a "convert" to the program. Still, Aldridge's comments could further lift a mood of doubt in the industry about the program's future, as they came three days after the V-22's progress in flight tests was endorsed by the Defense Acquisition Board.
Naval Air Systems Command's (NAVAIR) Multi-Mission Helicopter Program Office (PMA-299) recently sent the last of six SH-60B Seahawk helicopters to Spain, NAVAIR announced May 22. The helicopter left Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., on April 25, according to a spokeswoman for NAVAIR. Spain purchased its first batch of six SH-60Bs from the Navy in 1990, then ordered six more armed with Hellfire missiles in 1998 while asking the Navy to upgrade the original six to the same configuration.
DEFENSE BILLS: Although the fiscal 2004 defense authorization bill heads to a House-Senate conference committee when Congress returns from its week-long Memorial Day recess, the FY '04 defense appropriations bill has yet to leave the starting gate. The House and Senate Appropriations defense subcommittees have not even announced dates to consider their appropriations bills.
The House has approved legislation that could pave the way for a U.S.-based event rivaling the Paris Air Show. Before passing its version of the fiscal 2004 defense authorization bill late May 22, the House approved an amendment by Reps. Michael Turner (R-Ohio) and Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) that would direct the defense secretary to fund a study on the feasibility of establishing a biennial international air show in Dayton, Ohio.
STRYKER BENEFITS: The range of options for deploying forces in Operation Iraqi Freedom would have increased substantially had the Army's Stryker family of combat vehicles been available, according to an Army program official. "It enables us to have more options on entering Iraq," says Col. William Grisoli, deputy director of Army Transformation.
The Department of Homeland Security says it will not be able to fund a revival of the FIRESAT program until 2005 or 2006, according to Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.), who considers that timeframe "unacceptable" and is vowing to try to accelerate it.
In its latest report on the Army's RAH-66 Comanche reconnaissance/attack helicopter program, the Defense Department's Inspector General (IG) gives the program a clean audit, while emphasizing that program managers must remain mindful of possible technical issues as production ramps up.
LONDON - An SEK450 million ($57.6 million) contract announced May 23 by Saab Systems Pty Ltd Australia (SSA) for new army short-range air defense systems (SHORADS) extends an earlier acquisition of man-portable Saab Bofors Dynamics RBS 70 surface-to-air missiles, with additional equipment.
A $16 billion U.S. Air Force plan to lease 100 Boeing KC-767 tankers for six years gained support May 23 from the Defense Department and the White House, and now heads to Congress for a brief review process. After nearly 14 months of negotiations that cut $2 billion from the Boeing Co.'s original asking price, the Pentagon's Lease Review Panel approved the lease at a rate of $138 million per aircraft, which includes a $7 million financing charge.
DON'T THINK SO: Pentagon procurement czar E.C. "Pete" Aldridge Jr., who retired May 23, may have sent a message to Airbus as it seeks to break into the U.S. aerospace market: don't bother. On his last day in office, Aldridge invoked Airbus as he announced the Pentagon's long-awaited approval of a $16 billion proposal to lease 100 Boeing KC-767s tankers. The plan allows Boeing to sustain the 767 production line in a depressed commercial aircraft market, he said. Besides, "what else are we going to do?" Aldridge added. "Go to Airbus?
