Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), who has proposed tax incentives to promote commercial investment in space, is trying to attach his legislation to the White House's broad tax cut package, which Congress soon will consider.
PRICE CUTS: The Air Force plans to ask F/A-22 communications contractor Northrop Grumman and engine supplier Pratt & Whitney to slash the cost of critical components for the aircraft, Air Force Secretary James Roche says. After acquiring TRW, Northrop Grumman now owns the F/A-22's communications suite, which includes an intra-flight datalink, Joint Tactical Information Distribution System link and an Identification Friend or Foe system. The Air Force is seeking broad cuts to squeeze more aircraft into a $43 billion budget cap.
BY ANY OTHER NAME: Despite its name, NASA's proposed Orbital Space Plane (OSP) won't necessarily be a winged vehicle that lands like an airplane, according to O'Keefe. The recently released level one requirements for the vehicle (DAILY, Feb. 20) don't specify a landing configuration for prospective OSP contractors. "You can meet [those requirements] with any exotic design you'd like," O'Keefe says.
NEW DELHI - The Indian government plans to use a single vendor, Israel Aircraft Industries, and a fixed-price policy for all future unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) acquisitions. Defense officials here say this will help the government escape rapid price escalation and get better service support from the company. However, other UAV suppliers, including Lockheed Martin of the U.S., Elbit Systems of Israel and Denel of South Africa, have asked the defense ministry to introduce an open, global tender for acquiring UAVs.
French defense companies Sagem and Dassault Aviation on Feb. 26 announced the founding of a new joint venture focused on Europe's emerging market for tactical unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The partnership - called Dassault Sagem Tactical UAV - blends Sagem's long experience in short-range reconnaissance UAVs and Dassault's tactical aircraft technology. Details of the finances for the partnership were not disclosed.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Results of a space wargame now underway here will influence Air Force space acquisition programs, according to Brig. Gen. Douglas M. Fraser, commander of the Space Warfare Center at Schriever Air Force Base.
The U.S. should consider funding technology demonstration projects to preserve the design and development capabilities of the three major prime contractors for fixed-wing military aircraft, the RAND Corp. wrote in a new report.
NEW DELHI - George Fernandes, the Indian defense minister, plans to fly to Uzbekistan on Feb. 28 to take delivery of the first of six Ilyushin IL-78 mid-air refuelers bought from that country. The aircraft will be presented at a ceremony in the Uzbek capital, Samarkand. An Indian air force crew will fly the IL-78 to India on March 2.
The scheduled March 14 launch of the Hellas-Sat satellite on an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral, Fla., has been postponed, International Launch Services (ILS) said Feb. 26. Atlas V manufacturer Lockheed Martin has identified an issue with some welds on the aft bulkhead of the Centaur upper stage currently stacked on the booster, according to ILS. The delay will allow time to replace the Centaur with another in the company's final assembly facility in Denver, Colo.
Air Force leaders expect a pending review of the C-5A will determine the aging airlifter fleet is too expensive to maintain and should be retired, Air Force Secretary James Roche said April 27. A newly minted inspection team called the Airworthiness Board will conduct the review. Details of the team's structure and role are being worked out now in meetings between Lt. Gen. Michael E. Zettler, deputy chief of staff for installations and logistics, and Gen. Lester L. Lyles, chief of Air Force Materiel Command.
NASA is studying the possibility of accelerating the development of the Orbital Space Plane (OSP), NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe told a House panel Feb. 27. Agency experts are examining the "permutations" required to speed up the space plane, and their recommendations should be available "in relatively short order," O'Keefe testified before the House Science Committee during a hearing on NASA's fiscal 2004 budget request.
DESIGNATION: The U.S. Air Force has designated the Multisensor Command and Control Aircraft (MC2A) as the E-10, according to Feb. 27 announcement by the Electronic Systems Center at Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass. The Air Force considered creating an "M" designation for the aircraft, denoting its multisensor capability, but scrubbed the idea.
The Coast Guard expects to decide soon which maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) it will buy as part of its Deepwater modernization program, a senior Coast Guard official said Feb. 27. The CN-235ER, built by the EADS-CASA division of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co., is thought to be the favorite.
Robert Walker, chairman of the Commission on the Future of the U.S. Aerospace Industry, told lawmakers Feb. 27 that aeronautics research by India and China has allowed those countries to established "aggressive space programs" that have achieved significant results. "China has moved to launch a manned moon mission in a few short years, and I believe their intentions are nothing but to arrive on the moon and stay there permanently," he said at a hearing of the Senate Committee on Science, Technology and Space.
NASA is leading a group of government agencies, private sector groups, and universities in a study exploring the potential negative effects of ultra-wideband (UWB) communications on low-power services such as the Global Positioning System (GPS). Developed by Time Domain Corp. of Huntsville, Ala., UWB spreads transmissions across the entire frequency band, sending very low-power radio signals in very short pulses that the company says are dismissed by other systems as noise.
In a memo sent earlier this week, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld questioned the Air Force's decision to delay the GPS III program, according to Owen Wormser, principal director for spectrum, space, sensors, and command, control, and communications (C3) at the Pentagon.
Actions taken by launch service providers to boost demand for service, such as reducing rates, are unlikely to significantly benefit the satellite industry, according to a panel of satellite executives and analysts. Instead, launch service providers need to focus on launch vehicle reliability and ensuring that their rates remain competitive, they said.
A two-year program to develop and test an upgraded version of the Air Force's BLU-113 penetrator warhead for the GBU-28 "Bunker Buster" bomb could be decided by which company's product blasts the biggest crater, according to a Request for Proposals (RFP) posted Feb. 24. A Pre-planned Product Improvement (P3I) program for the warhead is designed to improve the Air Force's weapon of choice for defeating hardened targets, such as bunkers buried deeply underground.
Reps. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.) and Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) are creating a House caucus to promote homeland security. The group, which Weldon and Dicks will co-chair, will organize briefings for lawmakers and seek to rally support for homeland security programs. A formal announcement of the group's formation is expected within a few weeks, Weldon told The DAILY late Feb. 25.
MTHEL TRANSFER: Army Space and Missile Defense Command (SMDC) announced Feb. 26 that it plans to hold a ceremony Feb. 28 to mark the transfer of the Mobile Tactical High Energy Laser (MTHEL) from SMDC's technical center to the Army program executive office for air and missile defense (PEO AMD). The ceremony will take place at Redstone Arsenal in Hunstville, Ala. The transfer is slated to be completed by Oct. 1.
ALLIANCE: Israel Military Industries (IMI) and Alliant Techsystems (ATK) of the U.S. have signed a strategic alliance to market IMI's self-destruct fuzes in the United States, IMI said Feb. 26. The company's Self-Destruct Fuze is NATO qualified and is being evaluated for use by the U.S. Army, IMI said.
PRAGUE - The Czech ministry of defense has grounded its fleet of 57 L-159 light combat aircraft for at least several weeks following a fatal crash in central Bohemia last week (DAILY, Feb. 24). The ministry said the aircraft, produced by Czech company Aero Vodochody, probably will remain grounded until the completion of an investigation into the incident, in which an experienced air force pilot died. The investigation, which is being carried out by a special commission appointed by the Czech army's chief of staff, is expected to take at least six weeks.
