SATELLITE PDR: AeroAstro Inc. recently completed a successful preliminary design review of the STPSat-1, which it is building for the Air Force under a $12 million contract awarded in 2001. The PDR included reviews of the space vehicle system-level architecture, subsystem-level engineering and mission operations. STPSat-1, based on a low-risk design and existing components, is slated for launch in 2006 on a Delta IV booster.
Boosted by sales from its recently acquired Newport News Shipbuilding unit, Northrop Grumman Corp. reported a 20 percent increase in sales revenue for the second quarter.
ANNIVERSARY: NASA and the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum will partner with the U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission to plan activities for the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers' flight next year. Congress created the commission to expand interest in commemorating 100 years of powered flight.
BALTIMORE, Md. - Northrop Grumman Corp. is pushing to accelerate its Space-Based Radar (SBR) program so it would be fully operational by 2010, several years sooner than currently planned. The Bush Administration's fiscal 2003 budget contains $91 million for SBR, with the goal of launching the first satellites by 2010 in anticipation of an initial operational capability (IOC) by 2012-2013. The first milestone program review is scheduled for September.
The Navy's future littoral ships could have information warfare capabilities designed specifically to disrupt the computer networks of a potential enemy, according to a senior Navy official. "We're focusing very heavily on networks in the development of our ships in the future," Vice Adm. Timothy LaFleur, commander of the Naval Surface Force U.S. Pacific Fleet, told reporters in Washington July 16. "If our networks can outperform the other guys' networks, we can win the battle without ever firing a shot."
Army Space and Missile Defense Command wants a system to collect telemetry from missile tests that will be conducted over wide swaths of the Pacific Ocean. Such a system "is needed to meet a critical requirement for" testing by the Missile Defense Agency (MDA), the command says. MDA plans, it says, "call for integrated extended range missile tests over large portions of the Pacific Ocean." But "there is no system or set of systems that will collect telemetry and provide flight termination safety over the complete trajectories envisioned."
The European Space Agency's science program committee agreed to start work on Venus Express, a spacecraft that would reuse the design of the Mars Express spacecraft and should be ready for launch in 2005, ESA said. However, the mission's green light isn't final because Italy still has to confirm it will participate in the program. ESA has given Italy until Oct. 15 to confirm its participation, ESA said.
With the shuttle fleet grounded until September at the earliest because of cracks discovered on the hydrogen flow liners of all four orbiters, NASA is expected to make a decision within the next two weeks as to which mission will fly next - a pure research mission, or a space station assembly flight.
The Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee approved a fiscal 2003 defense spending bill July 16 that adds four Boeing F/A-18E/F fighters and three Boeing C-17 transports to the Bush Administration's budget request and would create a loan guarantee program to spur private firms to build unmanned reusable vehicles that can fix satellites in space.
House and Senate lawmakers on July 16 repeated calls for the Administration and Congress to include additional funding in the fiscal year 2003 defense budget for naval shipbuilding. The rate of funding for shipbuilding proposed in the FY '03 defense budget, about $6.1 billion, represents half that needed to maintain a 300-ship navy, trade experts and lawmakers said at a forum on American Power in the 21st Century, which was sponsored by the American Shipbuilding Association.
CONTROL: Operational control of NOAA-17, the nation's newest polar-orbiting environmental satellite, has been turned over to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. NASA said the satellite, launched June 24, is functioning normally, although on-orbit verification tests will continue for two more weeks.
NEW DELHI - The Indian air force plans to induct the updated Russian-built Sukhoi Su-30 MKI multirole fighter this month. The assembly of four Su-30 MKIs is complete, according to a senior Indian air force official. Six more Su-30 MKI aircraft are expected to be delivered from Russia in the next two months.
NASA has extended its contract with the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Mass., to August 2003 to provide science and operational support for the Chandra X-ray Observatory. The 11-month extension is worth about $50.8 million, bringing the observatory's total contract value to $298.2 million. According to NASA, the extension was caused by the delay of Chandra's launch from August 1998 to July 1999 (DAILY, July 26, 1999).
The first AH-1Z Super Cobra prototype passed the 300-hour flight test mark on July 2 during a routine envelope expansion flight at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., Naval Air Systems Command said. The milestone came during an effort to finalize aircraft configuration and establish an envelope for all three test AH-1Z aircraft.
The U.S. should continue restricting commercial satellite shipments to China until Beijing honors its commitments to strengthen its export control system, according to the first report by the congressionally mandated U.S.-China Security Review Commission.
Although the Defense Department intends to have an emergency missile defense capability ready as early as fall of 2004, the Missile Defense Agency is not planning to conduct a number of advanced tests until after that date, according to the head of the agency.
L-3 Communications Corp. reported a 70 percent jump in revenues for the second quarter, driven mainly by strong sales of its explosive detection systems. Revenue for the second quarter totaled $955.2 million, compared with $561.6 million for the same period a year ago, the company reported July 16.
Air Force Space Command is planning an "industry day" in late July or early August on a space-based surveillance system, or SBSS, a constellation of satellites that would keep an eye out for satellites or space events of interest. The industry day - the date hasn't been announced - will help Air Force Space Command's Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) in Los Angeles with preliminary research on companies available to study and develop such a system.
European companies may have a slight edge in the Polish government's plans to purchase up to 48 multirole fighters as part of its effort to bring its combat aircraft up to NATO standards, according to an industry analyst. Poland on July 8 issued its final request for proposals to the French, British, Swedish and U.S. governments for the purchase of up to 48 multirole aircraft, including 12 training aircraft. The contract is worth an estimated $3.5 billion (DAILY, July 10).
Northrop Grumman Corp. has received an Air Force contract for work on the MEDUSA project, intended to negate optical- and infrared-based air defense systems (see contract listing on Page 8). BAE Systems and Lockheed Martin also have won contracts for such work (DAILY, July 12). BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman each got $35 million from the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. Additional contracts may be forthcoming.
AEHF CONTRACT: BAE Systems will develop and build radiation-hardened electronics for the U.S. Air Force's Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AHEF) military communications satellite system, the company said. The contract, from TRW Inc., is worth $55 million, according to BAE Systems.
The U.S. government should form a senior-level interagency working group to develop an "integrated" approach for protecting the planet from asteroids and comets, according to a new paper by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. AIAA wrote that the working group is needed to advise the government on creating or designating an office that would: coordinate near-Earth-object (NEO) detection activities; act as a single point of contact for international activities; and assess U.S. planetary defense research and development options.
BAE SYSTEMS NORTH AMERICA will sell its Electronic Warfare Passive Expendables Division to Esterline Technologies for $67.5 million in cash, the company announced July 15. The division consists of two business lines, chaff and flares, according to BAE Systems. The businesses are located at Lillington, N.C., and East Camden, Ark. In Lillington, about 65 employees produce radar countermeasures chaff to help protect aircraft against radar-guided missiles. At East Camden, about 235 employees build aircraft-dispensable flares to protect against infrared-guided missiles.
