LONDON - MATRA BAE Dynamics' Advanced Short-Range Air-to-Air Missile (ASRAAM) entered service with the Royal Air Force this month, following the settlement of a contractual dispute between the manufacturers and the United Kingdom Ministry of Defense. ASRAAM was scheduled to enter RAF service in April 2001, but was not accepted by the MOD on the grounds that some performance standards had not been achieved (DAILY, April 11, 2001).
SPACE STUDY: Japan's National Space Development Agency plans to form a study group to consider domestic development of next-generation communications satellites. About 20 companies and organizations are expected to participate, including Mitsubishi Electric, Hitachi Corp., NTT, NEC and Toshiba Corp. The current plan calls for launching three advanced communications satellites within eight years at a cost of about $758 million. Foreign companies may also join the study group.
China's military is trying to develop small boosters that can launch satellites "at a moment's notice in a contingency," according to Lisa Bronson, the U.S. deputy undersecretary of defense for technology security policy and counterproliferation.
SAN DIEGO - The war on terrorism, operational demands, budget cuts and other factors are straining the Navy and Marine Corps today and could reduce their ability to meet future threats, a panel of Navy and Marine flag officers said at a conference here. Replacing ships and aircraft to sustain the existing force is a key concern, the officials said at the Armed Forces Communications & Electronics Association & Naval Institute West 2002 conference.
Japan's Self-Defense Force has selected the Boeing 767 as a tanker/transport platform for the Air Self-Defense Force, which plans to import four of the aircraft. The first of these will be bought in fiscal 2002. The total cost of the four aircraft is estimated at $738 million. The air force estimates the tanker/transport fleet operations will cost about $417 million over 30 years.
Engineers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., are preparing to take the next step toward satellite formation flight with the upcoming Space Technology 5 (ST-5) mission, scheduled for launch in 2004. Dubbed the "Nanosat Constellation Trailblazer," the mission will consist of three small satellites flying in formation in a highly elliptical earth orbit.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The U.S. military services, along with the National Reconnaissance Office, NASA and industry, are embarking on a major transformation of the U.S. military communications satellite network. The objective is to make the system far more responsive to the highly mobile combined-force coalition warfare - undertaken in Afghanistan and planned for other locations - in response to the Sept. 11 attacks. Military lessons from Kosovo are another key impetus.
Signals intelligence (SIGINT) is one of key areas in which Northrop Grumman Corp. hopes to expand its presence, according to Robert Iorizzo, president of the company's Electronic Systems sector. "We want to grow the business [in SIGINT]," Iorizzo said, speaking at a press briefing in Washington Jan. 17. "We don't do a lot of SIGINT business now. We think we have some great technologies and we're trying to link [into] some SIGINT development programs."
HURRY UP, UAVs: Although few doubt the ultimate potential of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), "UAVs have been the next big market for a very long time," says Richard Aboulafia, analyst for The Teal Group. "When I started reading about this field as a hobbyist in the 1970s, UAVs were the next huge thing. And it was inconceivable to me [back then] that we would be where we are today.
Although U.S.-imposed sanctions prevented cooperation with India on the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) for several years, both sides are now hopeful U.S. assistance with the program may be resumed. The LCA, India's premier single-engine tactical fighter, was supposed to be a hallmark of U.S.-Indian cooperation. After India's 1998 nuclear tests, U.S. sanctions ended cooperation and deprived the Indian program of critical software support, aircraft components, and General Electric 404 engines that were to be installed on the aircraft.
The U.S. Air Force has begun an Analysis of Alternatives (AOA) to help guide development of the Space Based Radar (SBR), according to Air Force Space Command. The study "will examine different SBR concepts and provide the necessary data to support a future SBR acquisition decision," Air Force Space Command said in a statement. Work on the AOA began in Oct. 2001. Completion of the study is expected in September 2003.
HELIOS AND HAWAII: The mayor of Hawaii county, Harry Kim, is impressed by the solar-powered Helios aircraft, which set an altitude record of 96,863 feet in a flight last August from Kauai. Kim, who has a background in the field of disaster management, thinks the unmanned aerial vehicle would be ideal for such work. He tells NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe in a Jan. 7 letter that a Helios operations center should be set up on the Big Island.
FIRESCOUT AND GLOBAL HAWK: A move by the U.S. Navy away from the tactical Firescout unmanned aerial vehicle and toward the more strategic Global Hawk may be good news for Northrop Grumman, which makes both UAVs, because there's more money in Global Hawk. But, observers say, it also takes a U.S. player out of the tactical, shipborne, vertical takeoff and landing UAV market and makes that market more open to foreign competitors. Most of the potential Firescout market is overseas, and foreign makers will now have what one source sees as "a gigantic opportunity."
BUDGET START: With the ink barely dry on the fiscal 2002 defense appropriations act, lawmakers are scheduled to end their month-long vacation Jan. 23 so they can begin work on the FY '03 budget. The process will formally kick off when Bush gives his State of the Union address on Capitol Hill Jan. 29 and the Admin-istration sends its budget documents to Congress Feb. 4.
Although aerospace and defense companies are studying whether any of their products have homeland defense applications, many are still uncertain about where those applications will fit, according to industry officials. For many companies, it remains unclear who the customer for homeland defense products will be, what the requirements will be and what resources will be available for purchasing such products.
Signals intelligence (SIGINT) is one of key areas in which Northrop Grumman Corp. hopes to expand its presence, according to Robert Iorizzo, president of the company's Electronic Systems sector. "We want to grow the business [in SIGINT]," Iorizzo said, speaking at a press briefing in Washington Jan. 17. "We don't do a lot of SIGINT business now. We think we have some great technologies and we're trying to link [into] some SIGINT development programs."
BUGS?: U.S. aerospace industry sources say Chinese military officials are alleging that they found at least three electronic bugs on China's "Air Force One" -- a new Boeing 767-300ER airliner that was outfitted by U.S. firms and delivered to the president of China last summer. An aerospace official said two monitoring devices allegedly were found in the aircraft's presidential suite and a third in a Rockwell Collins Sat 906 satellite communications device.
Although few doubt the ultimate potential of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), "UAVs have been the next big market for a very long time," says Richard Aboulafia, analyst for The Teal Group. "When I started reading about this field as a hobbyist in the 1970s, UAVs were the next huge thing. And it was inconceivable to me [back then] that we would be where we are today.
A move by the U.S. Navy away from the tactical Firescout unmanned aerial vehicle and toward the more strategic Global Hawk may be good news for Northrop Grumman, which makes both UAVs, because there's more money in Global Hawk. But, observers say, it also takes a U.S. player out of the tactical, shipborne, vertical takeoff and landing UAV market and makes that market more open to foreign competitors. Most of the potential Firescout market is overseas, and foreign makers will now have what one source sees as "a gigantic opportunity."
INDIA WANTS ENGINES: Although U.S.-imposed sanctions prevented cooperation with India on the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) for several years, both sides are now hopeful U.S. assistance with the program may be resumed. The LCA, India's premier single-engine tactical fighter, was supposed to be a hallmark of U.S.-Indian cooperation. After India's 1998 nuclear tests, U.S. sanctions ended cooperation and deprived the Indian program of critical software support, aircraft components, and General Electric 404 engines that were to be installed on the aircraft.
Although aerospace and defense companies are studying whether any of their products have homeland defense applications, many are still uncertain about where those applications will fit, according to industry officials. For many companies, it remains unclear who the customer for homeland defense products will be, what the requirements will be and what resources will be available for purchasing such products.
A NATIONAL BORDER AGENCY?: Officials from the Department of Defense and the Office of Homeland Security have been discussing a number of options for reorganizing agencies that protect U.S. borders. One of those options, says a DOD source familiar with the discussions, is a National Border Agency that would combine functions from the INS, the Border Patrol, the Coast Guard and Customs. "It wouldn't be an entire merger of these organizations, but just functions pertaining to the border," the source says.
Officials from the Department of Defense and the Office of Homeland Security have been discussing a number of options for reorganizing agencies that protect U.S. borders. One of those options, says a DOD source familiar with the discussions, is a National Border Agency that would combine functions from the INS, the Border Patrol, the Coast Guard and Customs. "It wouldn't be an entire merger of these organizations, but just functions pertaining to the border," the source says.
