BOEING ELECTRON DYNAMIC DEVICES of Torrance, Calif., has received its first contract for linearized traveling wave tube amplifiers (LTWTAs) from Orbital Sciences Corp., which placed an order for 32 C-band LTWTAs as part of a contract initially worth $5 million. The total value could grow to $16 million, according to Boeing. The LTWTAs will be used on a C-band commercial geosynchronous satellite that Orbital Sciences is building for PanAmSat Corp.
SPACEHAB, INC., announced that its Astrotech Space Operations subsidiary has completed a $20 million financing of its satellite processing facility expansion project in Titusville, Fla. The expanded facility, scheduled to be completed in October, will accommodate larger satellites for launch on Lockheed Martin's Atlas V and Boeing's Delta IV. SouthTrust Bank, headquartered in Birmingham, Ala., is providing the financing.
Preparations are on track for the Sept. 25 launch of the Atlantic Bird 2 satellite on Sept. 25, according to Arianespace. Atlantic Bird 2, built by Alcatel Space for Eutelsat, will expand Eutelsat's orbital relay capacity over the Atlantic Ocean for TV, data and high-speed Internet services. The 26-transponder satellite is designed to provide high-power, "single hop" communications from the Americas to Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, according to Arianespace.
COMMAND AND CONTROL TECHNOLOGIES CORP. of Titusville, Fla., won a NASA contract to establish a computer test facility for experimenting with new techniques for operating space missions. The facility, known as the "Launch and Range Operations Testbed," will provide computer simulations of space launches for research into human performance models and new operations concepts. NASA's Intelligent Systems program, managed by the Ames Research Center, Calif., is funding the project.
Japan's Self-Defense Agency plans to buy 49 new aircraft under a fiscal year 2002 budget request it has presented to the Ministry of Finance. The unit cost of the airplanes has not been released, and neither has the total cost. The request includes three new aircraft types - the Boeing AH-64D Apache helicopter for the ground forces, Sikorsky/Mitsubishi SH-60K helicopter for the maritime forces and a tanker-transport for the air forces. About 60 AH-64Ds would be bought in total, and would be built by Fuji under license.
United Kingdom forces now taking part in a joint training exercise with Oman may be available to be diverted for anti-terrorist roles, if required. A large-scale deployment of British forces - about 21,000 troops, over 40 combat and support aircraft, at least 14 helicopters, and a naval carrier task force - began on Sept. 15. The long-planned Exercise "Saif Sareea" (Swift Sword) II, is intended to provide realistic training for joint British and Omani forces in a desert environment until the end of October.
Although most major U.S. launch ranges remain at a level of heightened security following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C., launch activities are continuing. Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, home of the Air Force's 30th Space Wing, remains at Force Protection Condition Charlie - the next-to-highest security posture below Condition Delta. Security directives for the launch site come from Air Force Space Command in Colorado Springs, Colo.
NASA plans to launch its latest ozone-monitoring instrument, the Quick Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (QuikTOMS) on Sept. 21. QuikTOMS, built in two years rather than the usual three to five, will take over for the aging TOMS instrument now on orbit. It will monitor global ozone levels, sulfur dioxide, ash, smoke from fires and ultraviolet radiation reaching the Earth's surface.
NASA's veteran Deep Space 1 probe will attempt to fly through gas and dust near the nucleus of comet Borrelly on Sept. 22, a risky finale for a spacecraft that has already been in space nearly three times longer than its expected lifetime. Deep Space 1, launched in 1999, has already fulfilled its primary mission, of demonstrating an ion propulsion engine and other advanced technologies. NASA extended the mission to try to send the spacecraft near Borrelly.
Many of the military transformation ideas being considered over the past few months are still highly relevant after last week's terrorist attacks, and the need to respond to terrorism will likely assist the military transformation process, according to retired Air Force Gen. James McCarthy.
F-22 PAPERWORK: The Pentagon has now signed off on two crucial documents needed to proceed with initial production of the F-22 Raptor - a certification letter sent to Congress and an Acquisition Decision Memorandum. A contract for lot one production could be issued as early as Sept. 19.
The U.S. Air Force's Air Mobility Command on Sept. 17 awarded three fixed-price contracts worth more than $618 million to three groups of air cargo companies to support AMC with international airlift needs. Companies receiving the contracts participate in the Air Force's Civil Reserve Air Fleet program, which is designed to support Defense Department airlift requirements in emergencies such as the Gulf War or Kosovo, when the need for airlift exceeds the capability of military aircraft.
A relatively easy stance by the U.S. in recent years on the export of technology for unmanned aerial vehicles may come back as a terrorist threat, according to an industry specialist who asked not to be identified. Rules covering the export of technology for UAVs have been lax to help support the U.S. UAV industry, and it has worked. General Atomics' Predator UAV, for instance, which has shown its ability in U.S. military service, is being sold to Italy.
The U.S. Navy submarine USS Connecticut (SSN-22) launched its first Tomahawk cruise missile Sept. 18 during a demonstration at the Navy's Atlantic sea ranges east of Jacksonville, Fla. At 9:46 a.m. EDT, crewmembers in the submerged vessel launched the Tomahawk from a torpedo tube on an east-to-west land attack trajectory. The missile immediately transitioned to cruise flight and flew a fully guided 520-mile course using Global Positioning System (GPS) and Digital Scene Matching Area Correlation (DSMAC) navigation.
A controversial Senate proposal to restrict missile defense activities that violate the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty may be considered as separate legislation instead of as part of the fiscal 2002 defense authorization bill, a spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) said Sept. 18. The bill as approved by the Senate Armed Services Committee Sept. 7 (DAILY, Sept. 10) would require Congress to approve funding for any missile defense activities that violate the ABM Treaty.
The Senate version of the fiscal 2002 intelligence authorization bill tries to begin to remedy an imbalance between collection systems, which are "becoming more and more capable," and the nation's investment in analysis, which has "continued to decline," according to the unclassified version of the newly written legislation. If not corrected, the disparity could "overwhelm our ability to analyze and use the information collected," the legislation warns.
Taiwan awarded the Communication Systems division of General Dynamics Corp. a $390 million fixed-price contract for improvements to the tactical communications system of Taiwan's military forces. Planned additions to the program, called the Improved Mobile Subscriber Equipment system (IMSE), will likely increase the contract's value to $400 million, according to General Dynamics. The contract is for the second phase of a three-phased program.
As the United States prepares for a war that is expected to include bomber attacks, the Air Force said in response to a question that it will go forward with its plans to cut its fleet of B-1B Lancer bombers from 93 to 60.
TERRORISM LAWMAKER: House Intelligence terrorism and homeland security subcommittee Chairman Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) has been chosen by House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) to lead the chamber's efforts to examine "all facets" of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and recommend "new countermeasures," according to a statement from Chambliss' office.
MYERS CONFIRMED: The Senate Sept. 14 confirmed Air Force Gen. Richard Myers to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The vote came less than a month after President George W. Bush tapped Myers for the post (DAILY, Aug. 27), reflecting widespread support for the nomination.
Northrop Grumman Corp. recently took delivery of the first engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) RQ-8A Fire Scout Vertical Takeoff and Landing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle from Schweizer Aircraft Corp., which produced the airframe.
Although unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have long been predicted to be a booming industry, the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington will likely accelerate their development and acceptance in a variety of missions, according to some analysts. "Even without this event, the prospects of the UAV industry getting more and more involved in military operations has been growing rapidly," Daryl Davidson, executive director of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI), told The DAILY.
