The Defense Department's Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) notified Congress July 26 of a possible sale to Pakistan of an Aerostat radar system. Pakistan has requested six Aerostat L-88 Radar Systems and associated equipment, according to DSCA. Lockheed Martin of Akron, Ohio, or TCOM of Columbia, Md., or both, would be the prime contractor for the sale, which would be worth about $155 million. The radars would be the first major foreign military sale to Pakistan since sanctions were lifted against the country last year.
Nicholas A. Sabatini, associate administrator for regulation and certification at the FAA, soon will be given a briefing on issues related to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVS), an FAA spokesman told The DAILY.
Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) and Lockheed Martin Aeronautics began durability testing on the T-50 Golden Eagle advanced jet trainer on July 22, Lockheed Martin announced July 30. However, technical difficulties, including software and wiring problems, have delayed the aircraft's first flight again. It is now slated for the end of next week at the earliest.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has asked Defense Secretary Donald Rumfeld to explain why the Air Force is proposing to lease four Boeing C-40 aircraft without soliciting bids from other companies. "Please explain why the Air Force did not compete this leasing proposal, given the many manufacturers, financing entities, airlines, or any other entities that could have offered competitive proposals," McCain wrote in a July 30 letter to Rumsfeld. McCain requested a response by Aug. 1. McCain also asked for more details on the lease terms.
HURRICANE VIEW: The European Space Agency's Envisat satellite has captured images of Hurricane Elida off the west coast of Mexico, ESA said July 30. The images were captured by Envisat's Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS), the first time the sensor has observed such an event.
Efforts to protect Global Positioning System satellite signals against jamming will suffer if Congress approves proposed funding cuts in the Air Force's fiscal 2003 budget request for GPS, according to the Department of Defense.
The lead systems integrator team for the Army's Future Combat Systems program, Boeing Co. and Science Applications International Corp., will issue a second round of broad industry announcements next week, a Boeing program spokesman said. The Aug. 6 announcement will seek industry proposals to refine some system and subsystem concepts, common interfaces and equipment specifications that were submitted in the first phase of broad industry announcements. The terms and conditions for submitting proposals will be issued next week.
The Boeing Co. and Germany's CargoLifter AG signed a contract to jointly explore stratospheric airship concepts, Boeing said July 30. The companies will undertake a detailed study of lighter-than-air stratospheric platforms, which Boeing said would allow them to coordinate efforts to bid as airship system suppliers for current and future programs.
With the Defense Department set to increase the pace of testing for some of its key missile defense programs, TRW Inc. hopes to capitalize on the growing need for missile targets, according to company officials. TRW earlier this year became the prime contractor for MDA's Liquid Booster Development Program, which is intended to provide sophisticated liquid-propellant targets capable of emulating a variety of ballistic missiles (DAILY, April 4).
This fall, NASA and Clark University will begin training university students in the planning and execution of missions using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to capture and relay high-resolution imagery. Future applications in this vein could include UAV missions to help firefighters, disaster relief workers, or farmers, according to NASA.
With nearly two months of back-to-flight testing completed, the Marine Corps says the V-22 Osprey is on track and ahead of schedule. "The flight test program has been going on with great satisfaction," Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Jones told reporters last week at the Farnborough International Air Show. The V-22 tiltrotor aircraft has "exceeded expectations," he said, and the test program is slightly ahead of schedule.
The maiden flight of the upgraded Soyuz TMA launch vehicle would not the best time for the Russians to send up pop star Lance Bass as their next space tourist, according to space analyst James Oberg. The first upgraded version of the vehicle in 15 years, the Soyuz TMA features bigger seats, replaced and rearranged displays, new flight computers, and new software. In a break with 35 years of tradition, the first mission of the vehicle will not be preceded by a test flight, according to Oberg (DAILY, July 30).
TRACKING TEST: AeroAstro and Globalstar have demonstrated a new, low-cost simplex modem that can be used for business applications that require remote sensing or tracking data to be sent from remote locations, the companies said July 29. The basic modem unit should be available by the fourth quarter.
The demand for consumer video services, Internet services and satellite radio is expected to generate 2002 revenues of nearly $101 billion for the worldwide satellite industry, according to a report from the Futron Corp. That compares with revenues of $85 billion in 2001, the start of the current downcycle in the global telecommunications market.
Boeing will develop and integrate new color displays for existing F/A-18A/B aircraft for the Canadian and Australian air forces under a $40 million contract funded by the Canadian government. The work will replace monochrome displays with full-color displays that offer greater capability for situational awareness, according to Boeing. The company said the display swap will solve maintenance and obsolescence problems with the current displays.
The European Space Agency (ESA) and Eurocontrol, the European air navigation safety organization, have signed a five-year agreement for cooperation on the use of space technology for civil aviation purposes. Space technology could be used for "areas of common interest" such as satellite navigation, telecommunications and the environment, according to a statement released by both organizations. The agreement was signed July 26 in Brussels by ESA Director General Antonio Rodota and Eurocontrol Director General Victor M. Aguado.
Harris Corp. has won a $43 million, one-year contract to provide mission communications, operations and maintenance (MCOM) services to Air Force Space Command's 50th Space Wing. The contract, covering functions for the Air Force Satellite Control Network (AFSCN) at Schriever Air Force Base, Colo., and Onizuka Air Force Station, Calif., has options that could increase the overall value for Harris to $355 million by 2009.
Enon Microwave Inc., a subsidiary of Micronetics Wireless Inc., will build high-power microwave switches for the U.S. Navy's F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, the company said July 29. The value of the three-year contract was not disclosed. Enon's role in the F/A-18E/F program was "a major reason we added them to our group," David Robbins, the senior vice president of Micronetics' Defense Electronics Group, said in a statement. The companies merged earlier this year.
MOSCOW - Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL) and the Russian arms export company Rosoboronexport signed an agreement July 24 to launch SSTL satellites using Cosmos launchers provided by Rosoboronexport.
A State Department official suggested July 29 that Israel will have a hard time winning U.S. approval to export the Arrow missile defense system to India, but a Department of Defense representative sounded more sympathetic to Israel's proposal. The U.S. and Israel jointly developed the Arrow system, and Administration officials have indicated they are reviewing Israel's proposal to sell the system to India (DAILY, July 29).
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-N (GOES-N) spacecraft has successfully completed dynamic interaction testing, satellite manufacturer Boeing announced July 29. GOES satellites provide weather tracking information to commercial, government and military users. On NOAA's behalf, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., awarded Boeing the contract to build GOES-N and GOES-O, with options for GOES-P and GOES-Q, based on the company's 601 series spacecraft bus.
