A freshly installed network originally designed to beam F/A-22 Raptor test data from White Sands, N.M., to Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., in real time is gaining widespread interest across the U.S. Air Force procurement community, according to a senior testing official. Program managers for the Airborne Laser and the bomber fleet are considering the potential of the $4.5 million network designed in-house by engineers at the Air Force Flight Test Center (AFFTC), said Steven Cronk, the center's operations chief.
LONDON - Upgrading the early warning radar at Royal Air Force Base Fylingdales for use in a missile defense system, as the U.S. has proposed, would be "a key building block in the extension of missile defense to Europe, should we and other European allies so desire," Geoff Hoon, the United Kingdom secretary of state for defense, said in a statement Dec. 17.
JOINT DEVELOPMENT: Honeywell International and Cypress Semiconductor Corp. have signed an agreement to jointly develop new technology for integrated circuits for satellites, strategic missiles and other space vehicles, Honeywell said Dec. 17. The chips, expected to be ready by 2005, will hold nearly four times as many transistors as today's chips, and will be able to withstand the harsh environment of space.
General Dynamics Corp. said Dec. 17 it has been awarded two contracts that together are worth more than $128 million for the conversion of four nuclear ballistic missile submarines to attack submarines. Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) awarded company subsidiary Electric Boat a $38.3 million contract modification on Dec. 13 to buy and manufacture long-lead time items needed to convert the Ohio-class Trident submarines to guided missile attack submarines.
The Bush Administration will ask Congress for a total of $1.5 billion more in 2004 and 2005 to upgrade the Pacific Missile Defense Testbed to provide a "modest" operational capability against all enemy missile threats, officials said Dec. 17. Pentagon officials, including Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, said the nearly 10 percent budget hike would complete the fielding of an early missile defense system by 2005. Meanwhile, work would continue on developing the Administration's full, layered defense strategy.
MOSCOW - Russia will provide International Space Station (ISS) crew rescue capability until 2010, Yuri Koptev, the head of the Russian Aviation and Space Agency, Rosaviakosmos, pledged after a recent Tokyo summit of station partners. Russia's obligations will include the annual supply of three Progress tanker spacecraft through 2010, as well as the supply of Soyuz crew rescue vehicles, he said.
The National Imagery and Mapping Agency has postponed awarding contracts for geospatial and imagery intelligence services until January because of auditing-related delays, according to an agency spokesman. Government auditors fell behind in reviewing proposed contractor payment rates for the Global Geospatial Intelligence (GGI) program because data was inadvertently sent to the wrong auditor location, the spokesman said in written responses to recent questions from The DAILY. NIMA cannot award the contracts until the rates have been audited.
PRAGUE - Czech aircraft producer Aero Vodochody expects to secure its first international customer by signing a contract with Kenya for eight L-159s in the first quarter of 2003, the company said Dec. 17. Aero president Antoni Jakubse told journalists that negotiations will be completed before the end of March, "unless something really unpredicted happens."
PRAGUE - Construction work on a $20 million aircraft maintenance plant at the Ostrava-Mosnov airport in the Czech Republic has been suspended after just two weeks. The Czech based company behind the project, European Central Aviation (ECA), said the suspension partly was due to concerns that expected state incentives for the development may not materialize.
OPEVAL: The onboard portion of the Integrated Defensive Electronic Countermeasure System (IDECM) Radio Frequency Countermeasures (RFCM) has entered operational evaluation, BAE Systems said Dec. 17. Upon successful completion of OPEVAL, the AN/ALQ-214(V), developed by BAE Systems partner ITT Industries, would enter full-rate production and be deployed on U.S. Navy F/A-18E/F Super Hornet aircraft, the company said. BAE Systems is developing the IDECM RFCM system, which includes the AN/ALQ-214(V), for the U.S. Navy and Air Force.
The four finalist teams in NASA's Mars Scout competition met with officials at NASA headquarters in Washington Dec. 17 to kick off the beginning of a rigorous competition that will see one winner launch to the Red Planet in 2007. NASA chose the finalists from among 25 proposals submitted to the agency in August. Each finalist is receiving about half a million dollars to conduct a six-month feasibility study to better define their mission and its scientific benefits. The finalists must submit detailed mission-concept studies to NASA by July 2003.
The credit quality of most defense companies should benefit from the rise in fiscal year 2003 defense budget appropriations, according to a ratings report from Standard & Poor's. The report, released Dec. 16, says the total budget appropriations for procurement and research, development, technology and evaluation (RDT&E) will rise from $110 billion in fiscal year 2002 to $131 billion.
NEW DELHI - India has completed development of a supercomputer, PARAM-Padma, capable of performing one trillion calculations per second, said R.K. Arora, director of the Bangalore-based Center for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC). The supercomputer will be used to develop technologies for aerospace and military programs, including advanced materials and laser technology, Arora said Dec. 16. India currently has only one indigenous supercomputer, PARAM 10000. The new supercomputer is 10 times more powerful, Arora said.
U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) says it wants to replace the AN/ALQ-157 infrared countermeasures system on its MH-53 helicopters, whose service life is being extended to 2014, and is set to brief industry on its plans next month. The replacement system ultimately would be installed in the MH-53's successor, the tiltrotor CV-22, according to the command.
Boeing is in the final stages of preparing to dual-launch NASA's ICESat and CHIPSat scientific satellites aboard a Delta II launch vehicle from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., on Dec. 19.
President Bush's plan to begin deploying several missile defense systems in 2004 is drawing a mixed reaction on Capitol Hill, with some Republicans praising it, some Democrats criticizing it and some people in both parties raised questions or concerns.
The long-awaited request for proposals (RFP) for the U.S. Air Force's potential Miniature Air Launched Decoy (MALD) program should be released "towards the end of January," an Air Force acquisition official said Dec. 17. MALD began life as an advanced concept technology demonstration (ACTD) in 1996, but was canceled in 2000 after an increase in requirements ballooned costs from $30,000 per unit to as much as $200,000 per unit.
JASSM ON TRACK: The Air Force-Lockheed Martin effort to speed the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile back into testing remains on track for a February flight test, followed by operational test recertification in March, the Air Force said Dec. 17. The program was decertified after the JASSM posted two free-flight failures in October, and one failure was linked to a faulty part on one of the missile's three control surfaces.
The Air Force is seeking to boost competitive sourcing and privatization as it prepares to take on new missions and roles, the service told The DAILY Dec. 17. Two "specific dynamics" are affecting its efforts to reshape its civilian workforce, the service said in a statement. First, it wants to boost "competitive sourcing and privatization, reduce management headquarters, and maintain FY '02 end strength levels." Its goal is to "free up end strength and dollars for higher mission priorities ... without increasing military manpower."
The Air Force is devising a new concept of operations (CONOPS) for lethal unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in which they would be released into a theater and loiter until they are tasked by a larger network, according to Maj. Gen. Robert Chedister.
SIMULA SALE: Simula Inc., which builds products for military aviation safety and other markets, is considering a company sale or merger, selling its assets or refinancing, the Tempe, Ariz.-based company said Dec. 16. The company has hired Relational Advisors and Libra Securities to evaluate its alternatives.
NEW DELHI - Antrix Corp. Ltd. (ACL), the marking arm of the state-owned Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), has launched a marketing drive to export small remote-sensing satellites worldwide and forge links with aerospace and communications companies for hardware and other backup support.
NEW DELHI - Forty-one flight tests of India's Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) have successfully been conducted using two technology demonstrator aircraft, Indian Defence Minister George Fernandes said Dec. 16. Fernandes said the lifting of U.S. sanctions on equipment used in the aircraft is helping move the program along, and he is hopeful the Indian air force will accept the LCA by 2006.
The Air Force is slated to announce cuts in manpower across its major commands on Dec. 17, a spokesman for the service said. "All the different commands ... are getting some sort of adjustment," said Capt. Peter Kerr of Air Force Headquarters at the Pentagon. "As far as I know, it is reductions," he said. The numbers will be detailed in an announcement slated for Tuesday afternoon, he said.
