Resolutions coming from the recent NATO Summit in Prague have laid the groundwork for the European countries to begin addressing new security threats, according to a senior NATO official. "Prague recalibrated NATO's agenda in line with the security environment post-9/11 and therefore, also in line with the two dominant U.S. concerns: terrorism and weapons of mass destruction," Michael Ruhle, head of NATO policy planning said.
A U.S. proposal that NATO members play a military support role in a possible war against Iraq is "not unreasonable," a NATO policy planning official said Dec. 5. Accepting such a role would require "countries like Germany, for example, to either opt out, in the sense of 'constructive abstention' ... or they redefine what they mean by military involvement," the official, Michael Ruhle said in an interview before addressing a meeting held by the European Institute in Washington.
An Atlas IIA rocket successfully launched NASA's Tracking and Data Relay System-J (TDRS-J) satellite from Cape Canaveral, Fla., Dec. 5. Liftoff from pad 36A took place at 9:42 p.m. EST. TDRS-J separated from the rocket 30 minutes later, and an hour after launch NASA's Deep Space Network ground station in Australia received the first signals from the spacecraft. For the next two weeks, transfer orbit operations will boost the 7,039-pound (3,196-kilogram) satellite into a geosynchronous orbit 22,300 miles above the equator.
An X-band radar being developed for the Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system will be used during flight testing of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system for the first time later this month, a spokesman for the Missile Defense Agency said Dec. 5.
A critical hub of the future battlefield's command and control architecture - the standing joint force headquarters (SJFHQ) - is rapidly taking its final shape, a U.S. Joint Forces (JFCOM) official said Dec. 5. Three months after the futuristic command post passed its sharpest test to date, joint planners are compiling a list of needed changes to the concept, said Chris Shepherd, JFCOM's deputy director for implementing the new design. The command post reduces a deployed, theater-level headquarters staff from about 600 to less than 60.
LONDON - The Royal Navy will continue to evaluate the U.S. Navy's Cooperative Engagement Capability for enhanced air defense under an 11 million pound ($17.3 million) Ministry of Defence contract awarded Dec. 5 to Lockheed Martin U.K. Integrated Systems. The MOD already is studying the integration of CEC into the Royal Navy's next-generation Type 45 air defense destroyers, under a contract awarded earlier to BAE Systems.
A new Frost & Sullivan report predicts that the world unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) market will swell from $1.1 billion to $1.8 billion between now and 2007, with the U.S. accounting for roughly half of the total throughout the forecast period.
Northrop Grumman Corp. and TRW Inc. said Dec. 5 they hope to reach an agreement with the Justice Department about their proposed merger by Dec. 11, the day shareholders will vote on the merger. If an agreement cannot be reached by Dec. 9, the companies agreed not to close the transaction before a deal is reached with regulators or until Dec. 16, whichever comes first, Northrop Grumman officials said in a statement.
VORTICES: The U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded a $1.1 million contract to continue development of a program to provide warnings of air disturbances at airports, such as wake vortices, Lockheed Martin said Dec. 5. The program, Project Socrates (Sensors for Characterizing Ring-eddy Atmospheric Turbulence Emanating Sound), is a collaboration between Lockheed Martin and Flight Safety Technologies. The program aims to develop a laser listening device to "hear" the sound generated by hazardous atmospheric conditions.
NEW DELHI - Russia has offered to sell India multirole MiG-29Ms to replace its aging MiG-21s, MiG-23s and MiG-25s, according to an official with Rosobronexport, Russia's arms export agency. The MiG-29M has a larger fuel tank than the MiG-29, giving it a range of up to 3,000 kilometers (1,864 miles). The MiG-29M has a more rugged airframe and is capable of carrying a six-ton weapons payload, instead of the four-ton capability of the Indian air force's current MiG-29s. It also has new Zhuk radar and weapon control system.
The newly developed air-to-air refueling capability for Hawk 127 advanced jet trainers is under scrutiny this month during a two-week series of flight trials performed by BAE Systems and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). The trials are the last step in the RAAF's plan - Project Air 5367 - to field a fleet of upgraded lead-in jet trainers for fighter pilots picked to fly F/A-18 Hornets. The RAAF's 33 Hawk aircraft are customized with Hornet-type cockpit layouts.
MILESTONE: Rolls-Royce has shipped the 100th AE 1107C turboshaft engine for the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft, the company said Dec. 4. The company is scheduled to deliver 22 AE 1107C engines in 2003 to support the Osprey's low-rate initial production, the company said. The engines are provided to the U.S. military under a commercial procurement agreement.
LAUNCH: The Coriolis spacecraft, built by Spectrum Astro for the Department of Defense, has moved to the SLC-4W launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., in preparation for its planned Dec. 15 launch. The spacecraft carries an instrument to measure ocean wind speed and direction and one to study coronal mass ejections on the sun.
EXPO: India has invited delegations from 45 countries to the International Aerospace Exposition-Aero India 2003, which will be held in Bangalore from Feb. 5-9. A senior defense ministry official said leading defense companies from the U.S., the United Kingdom, Israel, France, the Netherlands, Russia, Poland, Italy, Brazil, Belgium, the Czech Republic, South Africa and Ukraine have confirmed they will participate. Seventeen countries participated in the third Aero India exhibition, held in 2001, which included the first display of India's Light Combat Aircraft.
A.I. SOLUTIONS, Lanham, Md. Marisa L. Achee has joined the company as director of Florida operations. Hal Altan has joined the company as director of Maryland operations. ITT INDUSTRIES, Clifton, N.J. Christopher C. Bernhardt has been appointed president and general manager of ITT Industries, Avionics Division. L-3 COMMUNICATIONS, New York
Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), the incoming chairman of the Senate Appropriations transportation subcommittee, plans to explore whether countermeasures used on military aircraft should be installed on commercial aircraft to protect them from surface-to-air missiles (SAMs). "That is one of the issues we will study next year as the subcommittee holds hearings on aviation safety," Shelby said through a spokeswoman late Dec. 3.
NEW DELHI - Pakistan's first geostationary satellite, Paksat 1, began to move Dec. 3 from its current location at 50 degrees East to 38 degrees East, a relocation expected to be completed by Dec. 23. The Hughes Global Services satellite launched in 1996 as Palapa C1 for Indonesia, but Hughes took title to the satellite after a problem with its power pack prevented it from providing energy to its payload when it is eclipsed by Earth's shadow (DAILY, July 12). The satellite also has been leased to Turkey as the Anatolia 1.
PRAGUE - Czech aircraft producer Aero Vodochody is likely to see a downturn next year but the company's future is not in jeopardy, Industry and Trade Minister Jiri Rusnok told journalists. Aero Vodochody's sales are expected to drop from last year's $385 million to less than $230 million for 2002, as it nears completion of a Czech military order for 72 L-159 subsonic fighters. In the first half of 2003, it will deliver the last batch of 14 aircraft and has yet to secure its first international order for the aircraft.
The U.S. military's first fully networked, deployable headquarters for a theater-level commander is now assembled and running for a U.S. Central Command exercise in Qatar, making its debut in an operational setting, according to military officials. The mobile command post, a cluster of trailers containing staff workstations and communications and data links to the U.S. and the region's allied forces, is the centerpiece of Operation Internal Look. It offers a first glimpse of the mobile future for regional command and control stations.
