PRAGUE - About $12 million will be spent this year in modernizing the Czech air force base at Namest nad Oslavou in south Moravia, according to the base commander. The modernization program is part of a 10-year plan to bring the base up to NATO standards, at an overall cost of some $270 million.
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. - After test failures in October, the Air Force has scrapped an embryonic effort to study the use of the AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) against storage sites for chemical and biological weapons. The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) is searching for answers to the problem of destroying storage sites for weapons of mass destruction. Such targets are difficult to destroy with conventional weapons, as blast detonations can release the agents into the air.
NASA renamed its orbiting Microwave Anisotropy Probe in honor of David T. Wilkinson, a physics and cosmology pioneer who died in September, the aerospace agency said. The newly named Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe, launched in June 2001, observes the cosmic microwave background, the oldest light in the universe. The spacecraft returned an image of the early universe so detailed that it could be one of the most important scientific results in recent years, NASA said Feb. 11.
Senior Army officials said Feb. 12 that the Army's fiscal year 2004 budget request shows the need to make short-term sacrifices in procurement for long-term gains in transformation. In its FY '04 budget request, the Army cut procurement spending by $2.3 billion while increasing spending for research, development, testing and evaluation (RDT&E) by about $2 billion. Much of the spending on RDT&E is related to programs that make up the Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS).
NEW DELHI - Russia has offered to sell the Indian air force advanced MiG-29 S simulators, which also can be used for other MiG fighters. A senior official with the Indian air force said the simulators would be a big help until the country buys advanced jet trainers (AJTs). India has been seeking AJTs for years, although negotiations with BAE Systems for its Hawk 100 have been bogged down over cost. A new tender for AJTs is expected soon (DAILY, Feb. 6).
WEDGETAIL: Northrop Grumman has started a 14-month structural testing program of the antenna for its Multirole Electronically Scanned Array (MESA) radar, the company said Feb. 11. The company is building the radar under contract to the Boeing Co., for the Australian Defence Force's Wedgetail airborne early warning and control aircraft.
SDB FLIGHT: Lockheed Martin reported the first flight tests in the Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) competition on Feb. 12. The company's SDB also has penetrated a hardened target and Lockheed Martin has conducted fit checks on all seven aircraft now expected to carry the munition. The Air Force plans to downselect to either Lockheed Martin or rival Boeing for the system development and demonstration phase of the program later this fall.
AWARD: Aerospace engineer and inventor Paul MacCready has won this year's $250,000 Heinz Award for Technology, the Economy and Employment, the Heinz Family Foundation said. MacCready, the founder of UAV maker AeroVironment, also built the Gossamer Condor, the first vehicle to make a sustained, controlled flight powered only by the pilot's muscles. He also has worked on solar-powered ground vehicles and small robotic devices.
The House-Senate conference committee for the fiscal 2003 NASA appropriations bill tentatively has endorsed development of the Orbital Space Plane (OSP) and revival of the Pluto-Kuiper Belt (PKB) mission, congressional sources said Feb. 12. The legislation also would add $50 million to the agency's $3.2 billion request for the space shuttle so NASA can investigate the Feb. 1 loss of orbiter Columbia and make any necessary near-term safety improvements to the remaining orbiters.
Germany may soon come around to the American position regarding war with Iraq and other national security matters, according the to the chairman of the Defense Policy Board, but France may continue to pose a challenge for the U.S. on Iraq and other matters. "By the time the Secretary [of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld] left Munich, there was a vigorous debate among the Germans about the wisdom of the course Germany has followed," said Richard Perle, referring to Rumsfeld's Feb. 8 meeting with senior German government officials.
NEW DELHI - In a major boost to India's indigenously developed Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH), the state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. has signed a strategic partnership with Turbomeca and Israel Aircraft Industries to jointly market the ALH internationally. HAL Chairman N.R. Mohanty told The DAILY that under the agreement, Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) will incorporate its integrated avionics into the ALH.
The Army plans to deploy a prototype Mobile Detection Assessment and Response System (MDARS) robot to demonstrate autonomous security operations at Hawthorne Army Depot in Nevada next year. MDARS is a joint Army-Navy effort intended to provide an automated intrusion detection and inventory assessment capability for use in military warehouses and storage sites. In addition to sensing anomalies during routine patrols, the robots will determine the status of inventoried items through the use of specialized radio frequency transponder tags.
Raytheon Co. announced Feb. 11 it is teaming with Lockheed Martin Corp. to compete for a contract to upgrade the Air Force's ground stations that process intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) data into a common network. Called the Distributed Common Ground System (DCGS), the contract could be worth $161 million.
The Federal Aviation Administration is taking another step to address industry concerns about a proposed safety rule for commercial launches of expendable space vehicles, FAA officials said Feb. 11.
The radio communication bands allocated by the Army for the control of unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) aren't suitable for the entire range of UGV operations, according to the chief of the robotics division at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. The approved frequency ranges for UGVs are 4,400-5,850 MHz or 14,250-15,350 MHz, David Knichel said Feb. 11 at the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International's (AUVSI) Unmanned Systems Program Review 2003 in Washington. The 138-144 MHz band is approved for command and control of the vehicles, he said.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - One challenge facing the board investigating the breakup of the space shuttle Columbia is deciding how to handle potentially sensitive information from a variety of government sensors that monitored the orbiter in its final minutes. Any data gathered by ground-based missile defense radars, for instance, "could be and probably is classified if it would reveal ... operational capabilities," said Lt. Col. Andy Roake, a spokesman for Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) at Peterson Air Force Base here.
The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee announced Feb. 11 that he will begin a review to see if money can be freed up for equipment modernization by scaling back U.S. forces in Europe or moving them to other European countries. Although the U.S. has reduced its military presence in Europe by about two-thirds since the end of the Cold War, more cuts may be warranted, Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) said at a press conference. In addition, the U.S. has several new European allies that may be able to host American troops at less cost.
UAV TEAM: Boeing Australia and Israel Aircraft Industries signed a memorandum of agreement to jointly offer unmanned aerial vehicles to the Australian military, Boeing said Feb. 11. Boeing will offer command and control systems and support for IAI's UAV platforms, the companies said at the 2003 Australian International Air Show.
The Boeing Co. said it has completed the acquisition of Conquest Inc., which it said will expand its service to the intelligence community. The Annapolis Junction, Md.-based company provides systems engineering and software to the intelligence community. It has been renamed Boeing Advanced Information Systems-Maryland Operations, a department of Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems, the company's center for intelligence programs.
The U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) plans to hold an unclassified industry day on Feb. 20 on the preliminary design competition for the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) program, according to a presolicitation notice released Feb. 10.
The Senate Armed Services Committee has announced the following subcommittee assignments for the new 108th Congress: Airland: Chairman Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), ranking Democrat Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) and Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), Jim Talent (R-Mo.), Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.), Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii), Mark Dayton (D-Minn.), Evan Bayh (D-Ind.), Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Mark Pryor (D-Ark.).
Senior Army and industry officials said Feb. 11 they will work to ensure that competition occurs at all system and subsystem levels of the Future Combat Systems (FCS). "We intend, through competition, to get the best of industry, and we're trying very hard to do that," Maj. Gen. Joseph Yakovac, the program executive officer for Ground Combat Systems, told industry officials at an FCS industry day briefing in Arlington, Va.
