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. - The Air Force is working to fix a serious navigation system flaw in the Wind Corrected Munitions Dispenser that was revealed during an otherwise successful combat debut in Afghanistan. Acting in a close air support role, B-52s dropped about 700 WCMDs from high altitude during Operation Enduring Freedom. The weapon's ability to accurately disperse 40 cluster bombs within a defined area won raves from the warfighting community, WCMD manager Col. James S. Knox said in an interview Feb. 11.
Reps. Elton Gallegly (R-Calif.) and Mac Collins (R-Ga.) have been appointed to fill vacancies on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) announced late Feb. 11. Hastert also said that Reps. Wayne Gilchrest (R-Md.) and Tom Feeney (R-Fla.) have picked up seats on the House Science Committee.
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.
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.
NASA will re-examine whether it should develop a crew escape system for the space shuttle in light of the loss of the Columbia orbiter, NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe said Feb. 12. Earlier reviews concluded that a crew escape system actually could worsen safety by increasing the weight of the orbiters, O'Keefe testified at the first congressional hearing on the shuttle disaster.
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.
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.
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).
CHANTILLY, Va. - The Defense Department needs a new, small expendable launch system that will be more "operationally responsive" than the current Delta IV and Atlas V Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles (EELVs), according to Air Force Undersecretary for Space Peter Teets. During a press briefing at National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) headquarters here Feb. 12, Teets praised the two EELVs, both of which had successful maiden launches last year, but said they still spend too much time on the pad in processing.
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.
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.
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.
PRAGUE - Discussions between Czech and Slovak defense officials over proposals to create a "Common Sky" program for air defense have intensified, The DAILY has learned. Senior ministry of defense officials said both sides are meeting on a weekly basis to iron out sovereignty and operational issues before Slovakia joins NATO next year.
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.
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.
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. - Boeing is a launching a two-year, roughly $37 million program to develop an anti-spoofing and anti-jamming capability for the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM), Air Force acquisition officials told The Daily Feb. 11.
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 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.).
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.
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 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.
