Nearly a decade after the first C-17s entered service, the U.S. Air Force heavy airlifters have completed the first combat insertion of paratroopers in the aircraft program's history. A flight of 15 C-17s flying in formation inserted the 173rd Airborne Brigade, with nearly 1,000 paratroopers and their equipment, into the Kurdish-controlled area of northern Iraq on the night of March 26, opening up a small second front on the ground, Air Force officials said.
Three more people have been tapped to join a congressionally mandated commission charged with assessing the threat to satellites, aircraft and other systems from a high-altitude nuclear detonation. The appointees are: Air Force Gen. Richard Lawson (ret.), former deputy commander of U.S. European Command; Joan Woodard, executive vice president and deputy director of Sandia National Laboratories, and John Foster, former director of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
CLIPPER #7: The Boeing Company is expected to deliver its seventh C-40A Clipper aircraft to the U.S. Naval Reserve in late 2004 or early 2005. The C-40A is replacing the Naval Reserve's aging fleet of C-9B aircraft, which are used to transport cargo and passengers around the world. A military version of the 737-700, the C-40A is certified to operate in an all-passenger, all cargo, or "combi" configuration. Boeing delivered the first C-40A to the Naval Reserve in April 2001 and the sixth in October 2002.
SLAMRAAM PROPOSALS: The Army is targeting April 30 as the day to release a request for proposals for the surface-launched version of the Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM), according to the service. The Army previously had said it would issue the SLAMRAAM RFP sometime in April (DAILY, March 11). SLAMRAAM is intended for short-range air defense and will be launched from vehicles. It is designed to protect a wider area than the Stinger missile and address growing threats from cruise missiles, rockets and manned and unmanned aircraft.
HEROIC MISINVESTMENT: Despite its penchant for brilliant engineering, Japan continues to invest in military and commercial aircraft ventures of questionable value, says senior aircraft analyst Richard Aboulafia of the Teal Group. "Japan is a nation of brilliant engineering and chronic, almost heroic, misinvestment," he says. The F-2 fighter, formerly known as the FS-X fighter, is an example, he says. The composite wings of the fighter, developed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, "are ahead of anything the U.S.
NASA and the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) are working out the details of an agreement in which NIMA routinely will use its satellites to take pictures of the space shuttle in orbit without receiving a formal request from the aerospace agency. The new agreement is part of the fallout from NASA's decision not to ask NIMA to image the shuttle Columbia in orbit to look for signs of possible damage that may have resulted from a foam insulation impact shortly after launch on Jan. 16.
ESTOL IN APRIL: The X-31A flight test program expects to conduct the first automated, thrust-vectored extremely short takeoff and landing (ESTOL) maneuver on a real runway by the end of April, according to Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR). On March 22 the program completed the final flight of its "up-and-away" test phase, which was devoted to conducting ESTOL landings on a simulated runway at 5,000 feet altitude (DAILY, Nov. 21, 2002).
Congress should consider requiring the Bush Administration to put together a long-term plan for the acquisition of unmanned aerial vehicles by non-military agencies, according to Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.). The Defense Department recently released its own congressionally mandated roadmap on UAVs (DAILY, March 18), and Weldon said March 26 that a similar document for civilian UAVs may be useful. The DOD document is supposed to guide the military's development and use of UAVs and unmanned combat air vehicles (UCAVs) for the next 25 years.
MOSCOW - A Russian government commission is seeking a 20 percent cut in federal programs, including the space program, Vice Premier Alexey Kudrin said March 27. Kudrin said the Russian space agency Rosaviakosmos should present two or three plans for its programs based on reduced levels of funding by April 1. Kudrin said Russia can't spend more than 7 billion rubles (about $229.5 million) a year for its space program. Rosaviakosmos is seeking 11 billion rubles a year.
NATO EXPANSION: Seven former Warsaw Pact nations seeking to join NATO are staunch "Atlanticists" and are poised to make a small but strategically useful contributions to the alliance, says Douglas J. Feith, the Defense Department's undersecretary of defense for policy. NATO has invited Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia to join the alliance. The organization expects each to offer a niche military capability, particularly in airlift, chemical and biological detection and human intelligence, Feith says.
March 31 - April 2 -- Defense Supply Center Columbus 2003 Supplier Conference & Exhibition, "Transforming the DSCC/Supplier Relationship," the Greater Columbus Convention Center, Columbus, Ohio. Call Phyllis Edmonson at (703) 247-2588, email [email protected] or go to www.ndia.org. March 31 - April 3 -- Interoperability and Systems Integration Conference, Hilton Phoenix East/Mesa, Mesa, Ariz. Contact Dania Khan at (703) 247-2587 or go to www.ndia.org.
RC-135 WORK: Northrop Grumman's Navigations Systems Division will upgrade the navigation system on the U.S. Air Force's RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft fleet, the company said. The Air Force will test the software and prototype LN-120G navigation units in 2005, and production equipment is scheduled to be delivered beginning in 2006.
SDS INTERNATIONAL will help the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Warfighter Training Division in Mesa, Ariz., develop a satellite simulation training system, the company said. The work will be performed by SDS International's Advanced Technologies Division of Orlando, Fla., and will build on a previous company contract to develop the software for a prototype Satellite Operations Simulation System (SOpsSim). Under the new contract, the company will integrate the SOpsSim with existing Air Force software that can improve satellite and space operations training.
The Warner Robins Air Logistics Center is taking steps to eliminate record-keeping deficiencies that an Inspector General (IG) investigation said led to inventory errors worth $30.2 million. "Our center's comprehensive actions are specifically aimed at improving the accountability and control of materiel, and have been commended by the DOD Inspector General," Col. Larry Eriksen, deputy director of the Warner Robins Air Logistics Center Maintenance Directorate, said in a statement to The DAILY.
Raytheon Co. announced March 27 it has completed its acquisition of Solipsys Corp. Raytheon officials said the acquisition strengthens the company's portfolio of integrated technologies used across missile defense, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, precision engagement and homeland security programs. Solipsys, based in Laurel, Md., specializes in the production of software for data fusion, tracking and display. The company will become part of Raytheon's Integrated Defense Systems division.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - An Air Force Space Command study of ways to be more responsive to warfighters in launching satellites started this month and will lead to a briefing in May 2004 for Peter B. Teets, Air Force under secretary for space, the head of the study said March 27.
NEW DELHI - Russian officials have assured India that the planned upgrading of the Indian Navy's Ilyushin IL-38 anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft will begin in the next two months. Work on configuring the first of three IL-38s to the IL-38-SD configuration should be completed within six months, said an Indian navy official. Work on the two remaining IL-38s should be finished by next year.
NEW DELHI - India and Pakistan conducted tests of short-range missiles on March 26. India's Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) conducted the first test of a multifunctional warhead on a mobile surface-to-air Prithvi missile, which was followed the same day by a Pakistani test-launch of its nuclear-capable Abdali short-range missile.
The 100 contractors that received the largest dollar value of NASA direct awards to business firms during fiscal year 2002 are listed below. The awards to these contractors accounted for 88 percent of the direct awards to business firms during the year, according to NASA.
The Russian-American Observation Satellite (RAMOS) program is nearing a preliminary design review (PDR), but funding shortfalls and barriers to international travel could impede the program's progress, according to an industry source.
RAPTOR DAB: The Defense Acquisition Board met March 27 to consider Lot 3 production of the F/A-22 Raptor. The meeting follows recent General Accounting Office reports that say the program's cost is rising and DOD should scale back its acquisition plans (DAILY, March 13, 18). Results of the DAB meeting have not been released.
