NEW DELHI - Last-minute technical problems with the long-range Agni-3 ballistic missile have been corrected and the missile will be test-fired within the next three months, according to a Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) source. No details on the technical problems were available. The Agni-3, with a range of up to 4,000 kilometers (2,485 miles), was to have been tested before the end of 2003.
CORRECTION: A story in the Jan. 6 issue of The DAILY incorrectly reported the teams competing for the the Navy's Littoral Combat Ship program. They are headed by Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and General Dynamics' Bath Iron Works.
The Defense Department said Jan. 6 it plans to delay the purchase of some F-35 Joint Strike Fighters to ensure the program has enough time to resolve the aircraft's weight problems. The decision means that some JSFs DOD intended to buy in the current future years defense program (FYDP), which runs through fiscal 2009, will instead be purchased in FY '10 or later. DOD did not specify how many aircraft would be delayed, but the vast majority already had been slated for procurement after FY '09.
The Department of Homeland Security has picked teams led by BAE Systems, Northrop Grumman and United Airlines for negotiations to develop systems to protect airliners from missile attack by terrorists. "The [teams] will be expected to develop a plan and test prototypes to help determine whether a viable technology exists that could be deployed to address the potential threat that Man-Portable Air Defense Systems (MANPADS) pose to commercial aircraft," DHS said Jan. 6.
Lockheed Martin Canada has asked for a review its disqualification from the competition for Canada's $2.5 billion Maritime Helicopter Program but is undecided about where to go from there, a company spokesman said Jan. 5. "We have requested a review by the department of Public Works and Goverment Services," said Michael Barton. "We haven't ruled out the possiblity of pursuing a CITT [Canadian International Trade Tribunal] challenge."
Although supporters and critics of the Missile Defense Agency's Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system continue to disagree over GMD's technical maturity, both camps have little doubt that the Bush Administration will meet its goal of fielding the anti-missile system by October. President Bush announced in late 2002 that his Administration would begin to deploy GMD in 2004. Continued U.S. tension with North Korea and the approaching November presidential election are fueling the drive to meet that objective.
The U.S. Defense Department's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the Air Force's F/A-22 Raptor and several other major manned military airplanes will undergo key reviews in 2004. "It should be an interesting year" for military aircraft, said Paul Nisbet, an aerospace analyst at JSA Research. JSF, whose prime contractor is Lockheed Martin Corp., is scheduled to have its first critical design review in April. The F-35 has been exceeding its weight targets, but Nisbet predicted the problem of extra pounds eventually will be solved.
This year will be a significant one for the U.S. Navy's Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) program, with a contract award expected before summer. Preliminary design proposals from three teams - Lockheed Martin/Bath Ironworks, Raytheon, and General Dynamics - are due Jan. 30. In May, the Naval Sea Systems Command will award a final design and construction contract to one or two of the industry groups.
NASA plans to deliver the redesigned external tank for the shuttle's return-to-flight mission, STS-114, to the Kennedy Space Center in May, according to Michael Greenfield, the associate deputy administrator for technical programs. Several elements of the shuttle's external tank are being redesigned to eliminate sources of foam debris. Among them is the bipod ramp that attaches the orbiter to the tank, which was the source of the foam fragment that doomed Columbia.
ROVER SUCCESS: NASA's Spirit rover successfully landed on Mars on Jan. 3 and began sending back pictures, including a panoramic view of its landing site that was posted Jan. 5 on the Jet Propulsion Laboratory web site. That picture can be viewed at http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html.
MOSCOW - Late in 2003, Russia launched two important telecommunications satellites from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. On Dec. 28, a Soyuz-FG/Fregat booster carried the 3,600-pound Amos-2 satellite to orbit. The Amos-2, owned by Spacecom Satellite Communications of Israel, carries 14 Ku-band transponders and will provide broadcasting and communications services to the Middle East, Central Europe and the Northeast coast of the United States.
GPS III: The Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp. were each awarded $20.1 million contracts for Phase A of the GPS III program, the Department of Defense announced Jan. 5. A competition for a single developmental contract is expected to follow a meeting of the Defense Space Acquisition Board (DSAB) in the third quarter of fiscal 2005 (DAILY, June 6, 2003).
EUROPEAN UCAV: Sweden's Saab and France's Dassault Aviation have signed a memorandum of understanding to define a program to develop an unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) demonstrator, the company said Dec. 22. Dassault will manage the program, with Saab as a principal partner. "This is an extremely important step for the development of Swedish UAV technology," Lennart Sindahl, senior vice president and general manager at Saab Aerosystems, said in a statement.
The Department of Homeland Security expects to award contracts in early January for the first phase of a program to develop systems to protect airliners from shoulder-fired missiles. "We will plan to do something the week of Jan. 5," Michelle Petrovich, a spokeswoman for DHS's Science and Technology Division, said Dec. 22. Some had expected the step to be taken late last week (DAILY, Dec. 19).
PROWLER RESTART: Northrop Grumman has restarted the production line for outer wing panels for the EA-6B Prowler, the company said Dec. 22. The large number of Prowler missions flown in recent conflicts means the aircraft must be overhauled sooner than planned. The line had been shut since 1987.
A recently concluded review of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter shows the aircraft continues to be heavier than hoped, according to prime contractor Lockheed Martin Corp. Bottom Up Weight (BUW) No. 4, the latest in a series of weight reviews, found that the Lockheed Martin-led team "did not achieve the objectives we expected for the structural weight of the airplane at this point in the program," the company said in a statement.
