The U.S. Air Force armaments community is diverting funds from legacy bomb and missile programs based on a new ranking system that elevates a new breed of capabilities, including autonomous attack systems. The shift in resources was highlighted during the fifth annual Air Armament Summit held last week at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., Col. Pamela Arias said in a March 17 interview.
The General Accounting Office has taken its second shot at the U.S. Air Force F/A-22 Raptor program in as many weeks, saying in a report released March 17 that the Defense Department should consider scaling back a planned increase in the aircraft's procurement rate. However, the Pentagon, which disputed the earlier criticism, also has rejected the GAO's latest conclusions.
NEW DELHI - The Indian government has approved the design and development of a naval version of the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), according to a defense ministry official. The approval comes as development of the standard version of the LCA is nearing completion. The aircraft is scheduled to enter Indian air force use in 2006-2008. Although the naval and standard version will share a common engine and armament, a Russian 23mm cannon, the official said the naval version will have some unique features, including being more salt resistant.
A re-entry debris expert testifying before the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) March 17 painted a picture of debris field analysis as a highly complex jigsaw puzzle that resists simple solutions. For example, any attempts to "reverse track" a debris object from its impact point on the ground to its separation point in the atmosphere is complicated by a variety of factors, according to William Ailor, director of the Center for Orbital and Reentry Debris Studies at The Aerospace Corporation.
An ambitious plan to improve the surveillance of North American airspace now is focusing on taking smaller steps to maintain and enhance the existing system in the next couple of years, an FAA official said. Six months ago, said James Washington, director of air traffic system requirements, the emphasis was on ultimate implementation of a $3 billion plan to improve surveillance of U.S. and Canadian airspace to help blunt another 9/11-type attack (DAILY, Sept. 20, 2002).
NASA CONTRACT: Wyle Laboratories Inc. of El Segundo, Calif., will be the prime contractor for a new NASA contract for astronaut-related medical support and operations, flight hardware development and research services, the company said. The five-year, $474 million contract consolidates existing contracts held by Wyle, Lockheed Martin Space Operations and other subcontractors. Including options, it could reach nearly $1 billion.
The Office of the Secretary of Defense's (OSD) new roadmap for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) predicts that the Department of Defense will spend more than $10 billion on UAVs in the first decade of this century, triple the amount spent during the 1990s. Between 1990 and 1999, DOD spent more than $3 billion on UAV development, procurement, and operations, according to the roadmap. The current spending plan for FY '02-FY '07 contains a total UAV budget of $7.1 billion dollars, it says.
The new chairman of the House Intelligence technical subcommittee says he expects to spend much of his time scrutinizing the National Reconnaissance Office's troubled Future Imagery Architecture (FIA) program. "This will be one of the key areas that we focus on," said Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.), who took the panel's helm in January and spoke with The DAILY last week.
Raytheon Co. has won a contract for continued production of the Joint Stand-Off Weapon (JSOW). The latest award, for $80.8 million, was announced by the Pentagon March 14. The contract, from Naval Air Systems Command, calls for the company's Missile Systems business at Tucson, Ariz., to produce 337 JSOW-As, 313 for the Navy and 24 for the Air Force, by February 2005.
Lockheed Martin is launching a 20-month effort to plot the spiral upgrade plan for the F/A-22, which focuses on improving the aircraft's air-to-ground strike capability. The upgrade planning has been in the works for almost a year, but a contract was awarded by the Air Force last week. The Raptor Enhancement, Development and Integration (REDI) contract funds the initial study effort with task orders worth $63 million.
BANDWIDTH SUPPLY: Civilian satellite operators once again will play a major role in military operations if the U.S. goes to war against Iraq, a senior Air Force space official says. The Pentagon's ability to meet demands on its bandwidth capacity during war operations is about the same as it was during Operation Allied Force in 1999, says Maj. Gen. Judd Blaisdell, the director of Space Operations and Integration. "Within Kosovo, I believe approximately 50 to 60 percent of our broadband capability was off commercial transponders that we leased," Blaisdell says.
Despite recent warnings from large defense contractors about pension shortfalls, most of those costs will be recovered at the beginning of the next fiscal year, two aerospace industry analysts said. Several companies, including Goodrich and Raytheon, have warned of higher pension costs because their pension accounts have performed poorly in today's market. Companies issue such warnings after analyzing their current pension costs and projecting what those costs might be 20-30 years in the future.
The Bush Administration is considering including about $90 million in a fiscal 2003 supplemental appropriations proposal to help keep the Coast Guard's Eagle Eye vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) unmanned aerial vehicle (VUAV) on track, according to industry sources.
As NASA awaits the results of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB), the agency is forming a team to begin planning for the space shuttle's return to flight. Working toward a notional schedule of launching as early as September, the team will examine issues regarding Columbia's flight, including foam insulation on the external tank, policies concerning photographic and radar coverage of shuttle flights, and the possibility of on-orbit tile repair.
SPENDING GROWTH: Large defense spending increases probably are a thing of the past, according to Steven Grundman, director of aerospace and defense consulting for Charles River Associates. DOD spending authorization for operations and maintenance, procurement, and research and development rose $60 billion between 1996 and 2003. From 2003 to 2013, that increase is expected to total just $17 billion. "This high period of growth in the budget authority is behind us now," he says.
FLAME: An unusual-looking flame seen apparently clinging to the bottom of Boeing's Delta IV rocket during its ascent from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on March 10 was an expected and "well understood" phenomenon resulting from the burning of hydrogen exhaust off of the rocket's thermal shield, according to Boeing. "The thermal shield shroud protecting the RS-68 engine and other vehicle components from the heat and flame performed as designed," the company says in a statement.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has selected Space Launch Corp. of Irvine, Calif., to move into the 18-month second phase of the Responsive Access Small Cargo Affordable Launch (RASCAL) program, DARPA announced. Intended to provide a rapid-response launch capability for small military payloads, RASCAL would consist of two main elements - a first-stage reusable launch vehicle (RLV) employing mass-injection pre-compressor cooled (MIPCC) turbojet engine technology, and a low-cost upper expendable rocket vehicle (ERV).
NEW DELHI - Czech aerospace company Aero Vodochody has sweetened its offer to sell its L-159B advanced jet trainer (AJT) to India by saying India could co-produce the aircraft for export.
