Ending a string of losses, commercial space company Spacehab Inc. reported a net profit of $658,000 for the second quarter of fiscal year 2002, which ended Dec. 31, 2001. The profit, reported Feb. 6, compares with a net loss of $2.7 million the company reported for the second quarter of FY '01.
NASA announced Feb. 7 that it has awarded a $936 million modification to Boeing's prime contract for the International Space Station (ISS), extending the company's integration and operations (I&O) work another year. The modification is a "formality," according to NASA Spokesman Kyle Herring, and represents funds that were already contained in budget runouts through 2003. "It's work that was [already] planned, but the contract ran through Dec. 31 of '02, and this basically extends that work out through the end of '03," Herring said.
As several countries near crucial decisions on whether to join the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program, the Department of Defense is working to complete a study on the financial impact of foreign companies' participation in what is slated to the largest-ever defense procurement program.
NEW SHIP: The Air Force, which rarely buys ships, is asking for $51 million in its fiscal year 2003 budget request for replacement of the ship that carries the Cobra Judy radar system, says an Air Force spokesperson. The shipboard AN/SPQ-11 Cobra Judy Radar System provides missile threat data on foreign ballistic missile launches and currently is housed on the U.S.N.S. Observation Island.
AWACS UPGRADE: The Boeing Co. will upgrade the radar system of France's fleet of four E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft under a $133 million contract, the company said Feb. 8. It will be the most significant upgrade to that fleet since it was delivered in the early 1990s, according to Boeing.
President Bush has nominated Adm. Thomas H. Collins to be the 22nd commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, the White House announced Feb. 6. Collins has served as vice commandant of the Coast Guard since June 2000. Before that, he served for two years as the commander of the Pacific Area and commander of the Eleventh Coast Guard District in Alameda, Calif.
The chairman of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee said Feb. 8 that he plans to keep a close eye on a potential Air Force lease for Boeing 767 tankers to ensure the cost "doesn't break the bank."
SLOWPOKE SLI: The pace of NASA's Space Launch Initiative (SLI), which is scheduled to deliver a more economical replacement for the space shuttle by 2012, may be too slow for the U.S. to regain market share in world launch contracts, according to Rick Baldwin, site manager for the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority at Wallops Island, Va. "It is important that the U.S.
The Navy's decision to stop funding the Fire Scout program following its low-rate initial production phase doesn't mean the technology will go away, according to the Navy and Northrop Grumman. Fire Scout has demonstrated all the necessary technical requirements for the Navy in its bid to develop a family of unmanned aerial vehicles, they said.
F-X REQUESTS: South Korea's continued request for "best and final offer" bids to build its next-generation F-X fighter spells trouble for the program and for the Boeing Co., says aircraft analyst Richard Aboulafia of the Teal Group. Boeing's F-15K is still considered to be in the lead for the competition, but South Korea's refusal in January to accept any of the four submitted bids may indicate the country can't afford the program.
OLD WEAPONS: The U.S. military's aging fleet of weapon systems "is taking its toll in increased operational costs and reduced equipment availability rates," according to Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "For example, between [fiscal 1995] and FY '01, the Air Force's F-15C/D aircraft, at an average age of 17 1/2 years, have experienced an 83 percent increase in cost per flying hour (constant FY '00 dollars) and a decrease from 81 percent to 77 percent in [their] mission capable rate," Myers says in recent written testimony to Congress.
NEW ARROW: Israel's Arrow missile defense system is not capable of defeating the Shahab III missile, Iran's most advanced long-range missile, says Amos Yaron, the director general of Israel's Ministry of Defense. The threat of the Shahab III, which has an estimated range of 1,300 kilometers, is being addressed by the Arrow System Improved Program, he says. "This will give the right answer for the Shahab III," he says, adding that the newer system should be ready within a few years.
Israel will continue to seek U.S. support for a new Israeli system that could be used to attack missiles in their boost phase, according to a senior Israeli defense official. Israel has been lobbying U.S. defense officials and lawmakers for several years to gain U.S. funding for a missile defense system based on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Those talks will continue, according to Amos Yaron, the director general of Israel's Ministry of Defense. "I think there is a common operational requirement," Yaron said.
Department of Defense FY 2003 Research, Development, Test&Evaluation Program Summary ($ in thousands) APPROPRIATION FY 2001 FY 2002 FY 2003 RDT&E, Army 6,263,162 7,052,669 6,918,494 RDT&E, Navy 9,596,201 11,389,440 12,501,630 RDT&E, Air Force 14,313,436 14,547,677 17,601,233 RDT&E, DOD wide 11,315,775 15,284,596 16,613,551 Developmental
Ongoing operations in Afghanistan underscore the U.S. military's need for the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft, according to Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) commander Lt. Gen. Paul Hester. "Once again, basing restrictions [and] terrain elevations [have highlighted] our need for the capability of an aircraft like the CV-22," Hester said, speaking at the National Defense Industrial Association's 13th annual Special Operations/Low-Intensity Conflict symposium in Crystal City, VA. Feb. 7. "We need the technology that this platform offers."
THE AEROSPACE INDUSTRIES ASSOCIATION and the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF ROCKETRY are sponsoring the "Team America Rocketry Challenge," a rocket design and launch contest for U.S. high school students. Students are to design, build and fly a multistage model rocket, carrying two raw eggs and an electronic altimeter, to as close to 1,500 feet as possible. The fly-off competition is scheduled for April 2003 in northern Virginia.
The V-22 tiltrotor aircraft and an airplane combining the functions of AWACS and Joint STARS surveillance aircraft could be useful for the kinds of missions that American military forces have been conducting in the war on terrorism, according to Army Gen. Tommy Franks, the head of U.S. Central Command who is overseeing the campaign in Afghanistan.
ALCATEL SPACE and THALES COMMUNICATIONS will provide satellite communications equipment and research work under two contracts from Delegation Generale pour l'Armament (DGA), the French defense procurement agency. The first contract calls for the development and production of a secure, high-speed modem for the Syracuse III military satellite communications system. The modem, called Modem XXI, will complement the anti-jamming functions of the active antennas carried by the Syracuse III satellites. Alcatel Space is in charge of validating the complete system.
SPACE IMAGING has opened a regional services office in Orlando, Fla. The company creates mapping products from satellite and aerial platforms and also provides information services to the remote sensing market. The Orlando office will offer products to the southeast region of the U.S. Other regional offices are located in Emeryville, Sacramento and Vallejo, Calif.; Salt Lake City; Portland, Ore.; Ann Arbor, Mich.; and Fort Collins and Denver, Colo. Space Imaging uses data from its IKONOS satellite, launched in 1999, and from Indian remote sensing satellites, the U.S.
The Air Force plans to accelerate the development of some of the alternative technologies that could be used for the Space Based Radar program with its fiscal year 2003 budget, according to Air Force officials. As part of the Bush Administration's FY '03 defense budget request, the Space Based Radar program would receive about $91 million in funding, including $43 million added under an emergency funding account during December (DAILY, Feb. 7).
JSF AGREEMENT: Canada has joined the Joint Strike Fighter System Development and Demonstration (SDD) phase under a 10-year memorandum of understanding signed Feb. 7 by the acquisition chiefs of the U.S. and Canada. Canada will contribute $150 million to Lockheed Martin's fighter program, according to the memorandum.
THURAYA SATELLITE TELECOMMUNICATIONS CO. of United Arab Emirates has assumed control of a satellite mobile communications system designed and built by Boeing Space and Communications. The system uses the Boeing-built Thuraya-1 satellite launched in October 2000. The ground system and user handsets were provided by Hughes Network Systems, a unit of Hughes Electronics Corp., under a subcontract.
A House of Lords inquiry committee unanimously concluded Feb. 5 there was no justification for a 1995 accident investigation's ruling that pilot error contributed to the 1994 crash of a Boeing Chinook HC.2 helicopter.
BAE SYSTEMS and DIGITALGLOBE INC. have formed a software partnership to bring QuickBird satellite imagery to the precision geospatial and imagery market, the companies announced. DigitalGlobe will share its QuickBird data with BAE Systems, for incorporation into the SOCET SET software product suite. Customers can use SOCET SET to obtain and use 61-centimeter panchromatic and 2.5 meter multispectral imagery from the QuickBird satellite, which was launched in October (DAILY, Oct. 19, 2001).
The Navy and Raytheon Co. have conducted the second free-flight demonstration of the Unitary variant of the Joint Standoff Weapon System (JSOW). The first test was conducted in December. In the latest test, conducted Feb. 4 at Naval Air Systems Command's western test range complex, the weapon used waypoint navigation and autonomous target acquisition (ATA) capability after launch from an F/A-18C/D, and then struck its target, according to Navair and Raytheon.
