NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin Friday reassigned Wesley L. Harris, formerly associate administrator for aeronautics, to the new position of deputy chief engineer (aeronautics) in the administrator's office.
The U.S. Air Force's Phillips Laboratory, temporary heir to the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization's DC-X Delta Clipper single- stage-to-orbit project, plans to start flying the subscale prototype built by McDonnell Douglas again May 16. Damaged by a hydrogen explosion on its last flight (DAILY, July 22, 1994, page 122), the vertical takeoff and landing rocket will complete its flight test program to demonstrate the "pitch-over" maneuver that would be necessary for reentry and landing.
The disagreement between Hughes and China could flare up this month. That's because Hughes is wrapping up its investigation into the January explosion of a Chinese Long March rocket and its payload, a Hughes-built HS-601 communications satellite. Hughes intends to make its findings public-and they'll likely counter claims in the Chinese press that the satellite was at fault. The last time a Long March and Hughes satellite were involved in an accident, China and Hughes issued a joint statement in which they absolved each other.
Loral Corp. has received nearly $1 billion in contracts from the Federal Aviation Administration for new air traffic controller workstations. Under contract modifications worked out by the company and the agency, Loral will supply the workstations instead of the Initial Sector Suite System (ISSS) which had troubled FAA's relations with the former IBM Federal Systems Co. before Loral acquired it.
Plans by Director of Central Intelligence-designate John Deutch to consolidate all intelligence and defense imagery functions are fueling new debate on the merits of placing all imagery activities under the control of single, powerful agency. Deutch hasn't gone public with a specific plan, but he's clearly headed in the direction of a establishing a "National Imagery Agency," Capitol Hill sources say.
The Navy's cooperative engagement concept (CEC), which ties together fire control data among platforms at sea, should be applied to ballistic missile defense (BMD), says Adm. William A. Owens, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Linking data from platforms such as the Navy's E-2C, the Army's Patriot PAC-3 and Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, and the Air Force's AWACS, "could be enormously important," he tells a Defense Budget Conference symposium in Washington.
Defense Secretary William J. Perry knocked down reports that the outside study on whether more heavy bombers are needed will make a number of options, saying the study will offer "an unambiguous recommendation." "We will not waffle on that report," Perry told the House Budget Committee Thursday in response to suggestions that the Institute for Defense Analyses study will offer a number of different options rather than reach a conclusion. Perry said he has "made some changes" to the bomber report.
Yuri Semyenov, head of Russian space giant RSC Energia, is keeping the enterprise's huge Energia booster program alive against the chance it will be used for an international moon mission once the International Space Station is built. Jeff Manber, Energia's U.S. representative, says personnel involved in maintaining the huge rocket at the Baikonur Cosmodrome are paid as though they were involved in a moneymaking international venture, and Semyenov keeps trying to interest NASA in the idea of using the booster to return to the moon.
Acting U.S. Air Force acquisition director Darleen Druyun will soon be named permanently to her post, sources say. They add that Druyun doesn't plan on replacing outgoing James Mattice, deputy assistant secretary for research and engineering, at the current SES position. Whoever becomes the next Air Force science and technology chief will find themselves in a demoted slot, sources say.
White House National Security Adviser Anthony Lake is expected to sign off soon on a comprehensive interagency review of U.S. space policy. The Clinton Administration has modified U.S. policy on access to space and other areas piecemeal, but has never taken a broad brush look at the issue and is likely to do so soon. Presidential Science Adviser Jack Gibbons has already endorsed the review, which could be announced as early as this week.
Defense Secretary William J. Perry tells the House Budget Committee that a thin national missile defense, which he favors, is "quite within our capability....All we have to do is decide to do it." Perry says the thin system would be able to defend against a limited attack of 10 to 20 missiles.
Lynn says he's excited to return to ARPA as the permanent director, where he once served as deputy director. In addition to its usual responsibilities of pursuing high-risk, high-cost and/or long-term technology development, ARPA has taken on the role of finding "innovative ways" of buying things, such as the Tier II Plus and Tier III Minus high- altitude endurance drones with $10 million apiece cost caps, Lynn says.
Defense Dept. attempts to increase the efficiency of international weapons development are likely to be pitched only to U.S. suppliers, according to Klaus Spiegel, president of Daimler-Benz Aerospace's Washington operations. Pentagon teams being set up to ensure that contractors and government program officials work more closely together are looking only at U.S. companies, he says at the CSIS session. He worries that "if this happens over the next two to three years...we [the Europeans] are out" of the market.
Lockheed Martin has delivered the 3,500th production F-16 fighter at its Fort Worth, Tex., tactical aircraft facility. The plane was a single- seat Block 50D model. "The F-16 is a remarkable program, and it's still growing," Dain M. Hancock, head of the Fort Worth operations said Thursday during the delivery ceremony. "New upgrades, new derivatives and new customers mean there are a lot more F-16s still to come in the future," he said.
The U.S. Defense Dept. must have more prepositioned equipment and airlift in order to adequately fight two simultaneous major regional contingencies or a single conflict in Southwest Asia, according to the Pentagon's most recent mobility review.
Science and technology is on the losing end of an R&D vs. procurement funding debate at the Pentagon, says Larry Lynn, under secretary of advanced technology and acting Advanced Research Projects Agency director. "I think [S&T will get] less," Lynn told a group of test pilots last week in Arlington, Va. "The question is how much less. So all is not rosy in keeping up with the enemy." Other sources confirm Lynn's prediction, saying that early FY '97 Program Objective Memoranda guidance calls for keeping only 6.1, or basic research, funding at a specified level.
Adapting advanced technology to military systems and practices is something the U.S. is forced to do, Owens says. It might be difficult, but "if we model it and simulate it and test it and red team it...we can make this work," Owens says. "We don't have any other choice" because other countries will also try to develop advanced systems. "We must get on with it."
While the Pratt&Whitney-powered Boeing 777 now has joint FAA and JAA certification, it's still not clear to what extent the aircraft will get the okay for extended twin operations, or ETOPS, a top P&W executive said last week. The PW4084 engine itself won its type and production certificate roughly a year ago, but the April 19 action by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and Europe's Joint Airworthiness Authorities clears the way for the P&W-powered 777 to enter revenue service in June with launch customer United Airlines.
Director of Central Intelligence-designate John Deutch says he sees no harm in revealing the top line intelligence budget, but his position really doesn't appear all that different from that of former DCI R. James Woolsey, who was adamantly opposed to such a move. Woolsey felt that officially disclosing the aggregate budget-currently $28 billion and one of Washington's worst kept secrets-would open a can of worms that would lead to pressure to reveal specific items in the intelligence budget.
The U.S. Air Force's Phillips Laboratory is readying a request for proposals on the second phase of its planned Mightysat program, a low-cost orbiting testbed for experiments and spacecraft components to be launched on upcoming Space Shuttle missions. According to a notice in Friday's Commerce Business Daily, the lab's Space Experiments Directorate is posting a draft RFP on the lab's electronic bulletin board for comment prior to formal release on or about June 5.
The rising cost of military systems is "coming to a stage where [even] flagship programs are becoming too expensive," says Dan Goure of the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. Making such high-profile items affordable will be a driving force in promoting international cooperation, he tells a CSIS working group on transatlantic cooperation.
As deputy defense secretary, John Deutch has been active in trying to break down the organization barriers between "black" space programs and overt ones to eliminate costly overlapping functions. Expect him to blaze ahead full speed with those efforts when he moves into his new office in Langley, Va.
The U.S. Air Force and Pratt&Whitney next month will start testing an F119 turbine modification designed to improve the Advanced Tactical Fighter turbofan's durability and thrust specific fuel consumption, according to AF Lt. Col. Chris Seat, the F-22 program office's deputy test director. The redesign was needed for the powerplant "to come up on specifications it was having trouble meeting," Seat told The DAILY yesterday. Testing will take place at Arnold Engineering Development Center in Tennessee.
The Navy has approved the use of night vision goggles for F-14 Tomcat pilots, concluding after flight tests that the fighter can fly safely and effectively in all lighting conditions at or above 3,000 feet above ground level with the system, naval test officers said.
The Securities and Exchange Commission is continuing its investigation of insider trading in connection with the Lockheed-Martin Marietta merger following the SEC's filing Wednesday of an illegal insider trading complaint in California against a Lockheed attorney. SEC sources acknowledged that additional option trades were being investigated in connection with the merger. There was heavy option activity in the four trading days preceding the merger announcement.
