MOSCOW - A Meteor-3M weather satellite launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on December 10 provides better data than similar U.S. satellites, Aleksander Uspenskiy, the chief researcher at Russia's Space Meteorology Research Center, said Jan. 29.
As Boeing Rocketdyne's RS-83 rocket engine approaches its system design review, project engineers continue to monitor the evolving designs for NASA's second-generation reusable launch vehicle (RLV), in a complex game of technical follow-the-leader.
Saab Group has submitted its response Jan. 29 to Australia's request for information on ways to restructure its armed forces in 2010 and beyond, company officials announced. The Australian program, dubbed Air 6000, is meant to examine future options for acquiring a modern aerospace combat capability to replace the air defense and strike capabilities currently provided by the F/A-18 and F-111 aircraft fleets. Companies were asked to submit proposals as part of the Air 6000's concept development phase.
Lower-than-expected pension fund income, combined with rising interest rates, drove down Northrop Grumman Corp.'s net fourth quarter earnings by nine percent, company officials said Jan. 30. Unlike most defense contractors, Northrop Grumman derives a significant portion of its income from pension fund investments.
Northrop Grumman Corp. has been awarded a $41.5 million Air Force contract for engineering and manufacturing development work on the Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle, the company announced Jan. 30. The contract includes flight test activity and logistics support. Work is expected to be finished by December 2003.
SPACE IMAGING EURASIA, in Ankara, Turkey, has started direct tasking and data collection of high-resolution imagery from the IKONOS satellite. The company is a regional affiliate of Space Imaging. The company collects imagery directly from the satellite as it passes over Ankara and sells it to commercial and government clients in the Eurasia region, and exclusively in Turkey.
Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control has received a Foreign Military Sales contract worth $30 million to deliver Multiple Launch Rocket System M270A1 launchers to the Republic of Korea, the company announced Jan. 29. This is the first foreign sale of the launchers.
If SkyTower, Inc.'s plans come to fruition, fleets of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) could one day loiter in the skies above major telecom markets around the world, bridging the "last mile" gap between communications backbones and their end users.
If SkyTower, Inc.'s plans come to fruition, fleets of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) could one day loiter in the skies above major telecom markets around the world, bridging the "last mile" gap between communications backbones and their end users.
Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond (R-Mo.), a member of the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee, introduced a bill Jan. 29 to create a new unified command to coordinate the U.S. military's homeland security efforts. Bond's bill calls for an active duty four-star general to head the command. It also calls for an Army National Guard or Air National Guard officer to be the deputy commander-in-chief to ensure the Guard is fully integrated into the new command.
SPACE IMAGING of Denver is offering one-meter resolution, stereo imagery from its IKONOS satellite to the commercial marketplace. This imagery was previously only offered to government customers, according to the company. Stereo products consist of two IKONOS satellite images of the same location on Earth, taken from two different perspectives during one orbital pass. One of the images is taken at a high elevation angle of greater than 72 degrees, which can be used to make an orthorectified image.
Seven more Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) civil support teams have been certified, the Department of Defense announced Jan. 28, leaving DOD just eight teams shy of the 32 authorized by Congress. DOD already certified all 10 teams authorized in the 1999 National Defense Appropriations Act. Another 17 teams were authorized in FY 2000. Including the eight certified teams announced Jan. 28, DOD has a total of 14 of the 17 authorized for FY 2000 and is organizing the five teams authorized in FY 2001.
TEXAS A&M'S DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGICAL AND AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING is working with NASA to devise ways to provide food and clean air to future astronauts by growing plants that can tolerate the low air pressures found on Mars, according to Texas A&M. "If we're going to Mars, we've got to be able to produce our own food and convert the carbon dioxide we exhale into oxygen that we can inhale. Plants are really good at doing all of these things," said Ron Lacey, a member of the department who is working on the program.
TEXAS A&M'S DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGICAL AND AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING is working with NASA to devise ways to provide food and clean air to future astronauts by growing plants that can tolerate the low air pressures found on Mars, according to Texas A&M. "If we're going to Mars, we've got to be able to produce our own food and convert the carbon dioxide we exhale into oxygen that we can inhale. Plants are really good at doing all of these things," said Ron Lacey, a member of the department who is working on the program.
Homeland defense needs may boost smaller companies, but they are unlikely to become a substantial part of the business of major aerospace and defense companies, according to Frank Lanza, chairman and CEO of L-3 Communications Corp. The reason, Lanza said in a Jan. 29 interview with the DAILY, is that the potential volume of sales generated by the production of such equipment pales in comparison with the revenue generated by existing programs featuring weapons platforms and subsystems.
The Department of Defense is seeking ways to eliminate statutory and regulatory limitation on the use of multiyear leasing, according to an internal DOD memo. In a memo dated Nov. 1, 2001, acquisition czar E.C. "Pete" Aldridge, Jr. and Pentagon Comptroller Dov Zakheim wrote, "Leasing has several potential benefits to the Department and provides greater flexibility in dealing with changing requirements." The Pentagon should consider using leases of capital assets "when it makes good business sense," says the memo.
Homeland defense needs may boost smaller companies, but they are unlikely to become a substantial part of the business of major aerospace and defense companies, according to Frank Lanza, chairman and CEO of L-3 Communications Corp. The reason, Lanza said in a Jan. 29 interview with the DAILY, is that the potential volume of sales generated by the production of such equipment pales in comparison with the revenue generated by existing programs featuring weapons platforms and subsystems.
Top officials of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. (EADS) have welcomed the decision by the German parliament confirming plans to acquire 73 Airbus A400M military transport aircraft for the German armed forces. EADS issued a statement from co-CEOs Philippe Camus and Rainer Hertrich that said, "We are pleased by the fact that there is broad consensus between the major German parties, and between government and opposition, on the necessity to acquire 73 military transport aircraft for Germany, and on the European A400M program in general."
NEW DELHI - Chief of Naval Staff Madhvendra Singh said the most pressing problem facing the Indian navy is replacing its aircraft carriers, the INS Vikrant and INS Viraat. The INS Vikrant has been decommissioned and turned into a floating museum anchored in Bombay's harbor. The Viraat has had recent upgrades, but has "only a limited amount of life left," Singh said during his first press conference, held earlier this month.
MLRS SALE: Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control has received a Foreign Military Sales contract worth $30 million to deliver Multiple Launch Rocket System M270A1 launchers to the Republic of Korea, the company announced Jan. 29. This is the first foreign sale of the launchers.
Japan's National Space Development Agency has confirmed it plans the second launch of the H-IIA for Feb. 3. The agency had previously said that would be the earliest launch date for the vehicle. The H-IIA was supposed to launch Jan. 31, but that was delayed to allow for replacement of a pressure-regulating valve in the booster's liquid oxygen tank.
BAE Systems delivered the first of 62 upgraded Jaguar GR.3A ground-attack fighters to the United Kingdom Defence Logistics Organization on Jan. 28. The company is installing Rolls-Royce Adour Mk 106 turbofan engines in the aircraft under a 1998 contract worth 105 million pounds ($147 million at current exchange rates). After completing extensive trials, the first upgraded GR.3A was flown from BAE Systems' factory airfield at Warton on Jan. 24 to the RAF's Jaguar operating base at Coltishall, in Norfolk, for the official delivery.
AEROJET of Sacramento, Calif. has delivered the Deorbit Propulsion Stage (DPS) for the X-38, NASA's full-scale prototype for the International Space Station's Crew Return Vehicle (CRV). The DPS has been delivered to Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston. JSC will conduct acceptance testing and system integration, combined structural testing and other testing leading to a possible flight test in late 2004 or early 2005.
LONDON - BAE Systems delivered the first of 62 upgraded Jaguar GR.3A ground-attack fighters to the United Kingdom Defence Logistics Organization on Jan. 28. The company is installing Rolls-Royce Adour Mk 106 turbofan engines in the aircraft under a 1998 contract worth 105 million pounds ($147 million at current exchange rates). After completing extensive trials, the first upgraded GR.3A was flown from BAE Systems' factory airfield at Warton on Jan. 24 to the RAF's Jaguar operating base at Coltishall, in Norfolk, for the official delivery.
Battered by the decrease in commercial aircraft orders following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Goodrich Corp. announced a loss of $54 million in net earnings for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2001. The company also announced that FY 2002 earnings might fall short of expectations due to decreased aircraft orders from the Boeing Co. and Airbus Industrie.
