NASA's Propulsive Small Expendable Deployer System (ProSEDS) experiment will launch no earlier than mid-September, according to Principal Investigator Les Johnson. ProSEDS, which will attempt to demonstrate in-space propulsion using an electrodynamic tether (EDT), is scheduled to fly as a secondary payload on a Delta II rocket carrying a Block II replacement Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite. That launch originally was to take place in June.
JSF PARTNER: Norway will sign an official memorandum of understanding (MOU) June 20 to join the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) Program, followed by Italy on June 24, according to Kathy Crawford, a spokeswoman for the program. The Netherlands will have a JSF "document exchange" ceremony June 17, although the Dutch government already has signed onto the program, Crawford said.
As part of a new "statement of capabilities" released following the NATO defense ministers meeting last week, the member states proposed several joint initiatives to beef up the alliance's defense against weapons of mass destruction. NATO member states suggested creating a prototype deployable nuclear-biological-chemical (NBC) analytical laboratory; a prototype NBC Event Response Team; a virtual "center of excellence" for NBC weapons defense; a NATO biological and chemical defense stockpile; and a disease surveillance system.
Air Force Space Command is proposing disseminating information from its space surveillance network through a Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC) rather than through NASA, according to a letter from the General Accounting Office (GAO). The space surveillance network comprises 40 optical and radar sensors located around the globe that track objects in space. U.S. Space Command maintains and operates the network at an annual cost of roughly $60 million.
The Army has confirmed a plan to proceed with procurement of the CH-47F helicopter, a modernized version of the current CH-47D Chinook helicopter, and the MH-47G Chinook for Special Operations units. The service's Aviation and Missile Command said in a June 5 notice to industry that it is planning for low-rate initial production of the Boeing helicopters, and that it wants a total of 30 in Lots 1 and 2. "This is for a long-lead contract to initiate modernization of [the] CH-47F/G," Boeing spokesman Jack Satterfield said June 10.
TRW INTEREST: BAE Systems has confirmed it may be interested in acquiring TRW Inc. "This situation may offer an opportunity to extend further BAE Systems defense activities in North America," the company said in a June 10 statement. "The company has therefore established a dialogue with TRW."
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said June 10 that he hopes to delay the proposed cancellation of the Crusader artillery system at least until the Army completes a study of alternative systems. Levin accused the Defense Department of acting "precipitously" by trying to kill the Crusader before the Army could finish assessing the cost and performance of alternatives. The Army has supported the Crusader.
Thirty-one House members plan to file a lawsuit June 11 to try to block President Bush's move to pull out of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. The lawmakers, led by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), plan to ask a federal court for a temporary restraining order to stop the withdrawal, which is scheduled to take effect June 13. The suit also will ask the court to decide whether the president can pull out of the treaty without congressional consent.
MOLSHEIM, France - Officials with Messier Bugatti said June 10 they expect to have the certification process for the company's wheel and brake system for the C-17 Globemaster completed by the end of this month. Boeing awarded Messier Bugatti the contract for the aircraft's wheel and carbon disc brake system in 2000. At least 120 Air Force C-17s will be retrofitted with the brake system once the certification process is completed.
MOSCOW - A list of new space companies to be formed by 2006 as part of an ongoing government restructuring of the military and space industry here has been released. Although the federal consolidation program for 2002-2006 is still considered classified, the list shows several new space-related concerns the government intends to create. According to the list, the Khrunichev Center will become State Corporation Khrunichev, and will include eight companies.
The Pentagon's National Communications System (NCS) office is the only Defense Department function to be transferred to the newly created Department of Homeland Security, according to a Defense Department spokesperson.
The Pentagon notified Congress June 7 that Switzerland has requested a possible foreign military sale of 222 AIM-C Sidewinder Tactical Missiles and associated equipment, according to the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA).
The House Appropriations VA-HUD-NASA subcommittee should "look seriously at what can be done to ensure the International Space Station lives up to its mission with a full crew complement," the House Aerospace Caucus wrote in a June 7 letter to leaders of the subcommittee. The subcommittee's examination should look at the possibility of adding modules and a "robust crew return system" to the station, according to the letter, signed by 19 lawmakers, including caucus co-chairs Dave Weldon (R-Fla.) and Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio).
A Missile Defense Agency team charged with recommending ways to defeat countermeasures on hostile missiles has been told by another MDA team, led by Retired Air Force Gen. Larry Welch, to redo some its proposals, Welch said June 7. MDA has formed a red team to develop countermeasures and a blue team to propose ways to overcome those countermeasures. A third, or white team, chaired by Welch, acts as a referee, judging the realism of the red team's ideas and the viability of the blue team's suggestions.
SINGLE ASOC: The United States is hoping to convince Russia to cooperate on developing a single air sovereignty operations center (ASOC), according to a senior defense official. "I know we have been looking at and pushing [for] the development of an air sovereignty operations center for the entire European and Russian area of operations," the official told reporters.
TRW will upgrade the launch command centers that control Minuteman III missiles under a $65 million contract from the U.S. Air Force. The company will begin the system design and development phase of the ICBM Rapid Execution and Combat Targeting Service Life Extension Program (REACT SLEP), which will upgrade command and control hardware, software and support equipment.
Negotiations between Koor Industries Ltd. and Elbit Systems over Koor's proposed sale of a minority stake in Elisra Electronic Systems have fallen through, the Israeli companies reported June 7. Koor Industries of Tel Aviv, a holding company that owns controlling stakes in Israel's major defense electronics companies through the Elisra Group, had negotiated to sell Elbit Systems 24-30 percent of Elisra Electronic Systems. The companies announced the talks in April, but the exclusivity period between them expired May 17, according to Koor.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Creation of the new Department of Homeland Security won't change the way North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Space Command operate, nor is it likely to affect operation of the new Northern Command when it is established on Oct. 1, a spokesman for NORAD and the Space Command said June 7. "The basic answer is that the Department of Defense essentially remains unchanged," said Maj. Barry Venable. "We work for the Secretary of Defense - in NORAD's case, Canada and the United States."
UAV EXPORTS: Key Senate and House lawmakers say they would support the sale of General Atomics Predator and Northrop Grumman Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicles to Australia, Japan, New Zealand and NATO members. In a June 5 letter, they tell Secretary of State Colin Powell they would support the sales as long as those countries have a clear national security requirement for the UAVs, won't arm the aircraft or re-export them without U.S. approval, and will adhere to the international Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR).
SUPPLEMENTAL CONFERENCE: The Senate early June 7 approved its version of the fiscal 2002 supplemental appropriations bill, clearing the way for a conference with the House. The conference committee could meet as early as the week of June 10-14. Both versions of the bill provide the $14 billion that the Bush Administration requested for defense, including $377 million to speed up production of Boeing Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs).
GROUNDED: The Navy's 156 F-14 Tomcats have been grounded until a problem with the aircraft's nose wheel assembly is checked out, according to Naval Air Systems (NAVAIR) Command. Corrosion in a component of an F-14's nose landing gear has been faulted for the March 2 crash of an F-14 in the Mediterranean. The F-14's pilot was killed in the accident. "An engineering investigation of the mishap discovered corrosion on the outer cylinder at the site where the failure occurred," NAVAIR says.
