The time when the U.S. will be able to adequately protect its space assets is "very far away," according to Brig. Gen. Douglas J. Richardson, commander of Air Force Space Command's Space Warfare Center at Schriever AFB, Colo. Richardson, speaking at a conference here last week, didn't give a time frame, but he did say that low-orbit satellites cannot now be quickly maneuvered to avoid attacks by lasers or other weapons, and that few systems are available today to clearly say that an attack is even in progress.
PRATT&WHITNEY, the Propulsion Development Systems Office at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, and the Arnold Engineering Development Center recently completed what the company called the most demanding accelerated mission test ever conducted on any engine in the Air Force inventory. The "Robust AMT" tested an improved Pratt&Whitney F100-PW-229 engine to the most demanding mission conditions currently encountered by the AF, the company announced May 25.
Delivery of the Joint Airlock to the International Space Station Alpha has been bumped by a few days to allow workers to finish drying the heat tiles on the Shuttle Atlantis. The delivery now won't occur until June 20 at the earliest, NASA announced May 25. When Atlantis does take off, it will be the first shuttle to go into orbit with a new main engine. The new engine, called the Block II configuration, is intended to give the crew a safer ride to orbit because it has a new, high-pressure turbopump (DAILY, April 27).
The Department of Justice is taking a closer look at the proposed merger of defense contractor General Dynamics and shipbuilder Newport News Shipbuilding. The companies announced May 25 they will comply with a Justice Department request for additional information about their proposed merger, first announced April 25. General Dynamics began a cash tender offer for all outstanding shares of common Newport News stock on May 4.
MILITARY CONFLICT: Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld will likely get an earful from two opposing segments in the military about future U.S. defense spending and strategy, according Michele Flournoy, senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. One side will support spending to transform the U.S. military for future threats and challenges. The other side will support spending to correct current capability and readiness shortfalls often reported to Congress.
PERSPECTIVE: Gen. Ralph E. Eberhart, commander in chief of U.S. Space Command, takes the long view of the issue of space control. "The first ships to set sail were not navies," he says. "They set sail for exploration and trade. Why did navies go to sea? To protect them. I would offer to you that that's exactly what's going to happen in space." Eberhart adds that "We have to be more bold and we have to take more risks in our space programs."
SPACE FOR THE NAVY: The Air Force should not have exclusive responsibility for U.S. military space programs, according to the Navy League, a sea service advocacy group. The League's recently released "Maritime Policy 2001" report says "space programs should not be the exclusive responsibility of a single service.
ALLIANT TECHSYSTEMS' ATK Missile Products Co. received an Excellence Award from the U.S. Navy for its contributions to the Navy's Standard Missile Program, ATK announced May 25. The company's Elkton Operations facility in Elkton, Md., developed the third stage rocket motor for the Standard Missile-3. The SM-3 had a successful flight test at the Pacific Missile Range facility in Kauai, Hawaii, in January.
SPACEPORT BONDS: Rep. Dave Weldon (R-Fla.) is trying again this year to pass a bill that would allow state and local governments to issue tax-exempt bonds for spaceport construction. The proposed Spaceport Equality Act, which has at least a dozen co-sponsors, is intended to give spaceports the same benefit enjoyed by airports. Although the legislation failed to win congressional approval last year, Weldon believes one of the many tax bills under consideration in the House this year could serve as a vehicle for his proposal.
NASA's Glenn Research Center has awarded contracts to 11 companies to perform research aimed at more efficient, safe, and environmentally friendly propulsion systems for future aircraft and space vehicles. Awarded in support of the Ultra Efficient Engine Technology (UEET) Program, Propulsion and Power Program, and Advanced Space Transportation Program, the contracts for this five-year procurement effort are indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-incentive-fee contracts with a possible total value of $197 million.
AEROSPACE COMMISSION: Former Air Force Secretary F. Whitten Peters, former Rep. Tillie Fowler (R-Fla.) and R. Thomas Buffenbarger, president of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, will serve on the new Commission on the Future of the U.S. Aerospace Industry. House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) recently appointed Peters and Fowler, while House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt (D-Mo.) chose Buffenbarger. Three other commissioners received their appointments earlier this year.
The U.S. Air Force performed the first successful laser-based jamming of live-fired, surface-to-air heat-seeking missiles, Lockheed Martin announced last week. The missiles were jammed using the Laser Infrared countermeasure Flyout Experiment (LIFE) testbed, developed by program prime contractor Lockheed Martin Naval Electronics and Surveillance Systems of Akron, Ohio. The firings were held at the U.S. Army's White Sands Missile Range Aerial Cable Range, N.M.
Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), who expects to become the head of the Senate panel that oversees ballistic missile defenses, said May 25 that the U.S. should push to deploy theater missile defenses (TMD) but move more cautiously on national missile defense (NMD).
President Bush intends to nominate four executives for defense posts, the White House announced last week: -- Albert E. Smith to be under secretary of the Air Force -- Michael Montelongo to be assistant secretary of the Air Force for financial management -- Steven John Morello Sr. to be general counsel of the Department of the Army -- Thomas P. Christie, to be assistant secretary of defense for operational test&evaluation.
T-39 REPLACEMENT: The U.S. Navy is looking to replace its aging T-39 trainers with 30 new production planes. The T-39 is a version of Rockwell International's Sabreliner business jet, and the replacement would also be a bizjet derivative. Naval Air Systems Command wants suggestions from industry by June 22. "We're right at the beginning of this," a NAVAIR spokesman says. "All we're doing is ... [seeing] what's out there in the commercial world that can meet these specifications.... Show us what you've got." The Navy operates 25 T-39s - 17 N models and 8 G models.
The May 24 edition of The DAILY incorrectly identified Joel Strickland, the newly elected president of MEADS International, as the head of Lockheed Martin's Missiles and Fire Control division. Strickland is an engineer with Missiles and Fire Control, not its president.
As leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) met May 25 in Armenia to discuss military integration and other security matters, they could refer to one example of military cooperation among the former Soviet states that is widely considered effective: the 11-year-old CIS joint air defense system. On February 10, 1995, 10 CIS countries signed an agreement establishing the Joint Air Defense System of the States - CIS Members (OS PVO). Later, Georgia left the agreement.
The Senate May 24 confirmed Northrop Grumman executive and Navy veteran James Roche as Air Force secretary and Ret. Army Brig. Gen. Thomas White as Army secretary. The Bush Administration's choice to head the Navy, former General Dynamics executive Gordon England, has already been confirmed (DAILY, May 24).
DO I HEAR $5,000?': While the government would like to get the cost of launching payloads into space down from $10,000 per pound to $1,000 per pound, industry is coming up with proposals for more modest reductions, says Vice Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff USAF Gen. Richard B. Myers. "... We'd like to get to down to $1,000 per pound. I think there will still be a quest for that," he says. However, Myers says the true question the government has to ask is, "do we want to make that leap? That order of magnitude leap?
The Federal Aviation Administration said yesterday it plans to award a contract to Lockheed Martin to replace the air traffic control automation systems at air route traffic control centers at Anchorage, New York and Oakland. These three ARTCCs handle air traffic in international airspace over the Pacific and Atlantic oceans where there is no radar tracking of aircraft and no direct radio communications, Aerospace Daily affiliate Aviation Daily reported.
The Boeing Co. has successfully demonstrated a new technology it says could increase the safety of rockets as well as future hydrogen-fueled automobiles. Working with researchers from Intelligent Optical Systems, of Torrance, Calif., Boeing scientists tested a fiber-optic hydrogen leak detection system in a real-world environment, Boeing announced May 24.
FUTURE FORCE: Get ready for a more mobile, swifter military, according to President Bush. He told a class at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., that he is committed to building "a future force that is defined less by size and more by mobility and swiftness, one that is easier to deploy and sustain, one that relies more heavily on stealth, precision weaponry and information technologies." He said future presidents may speak to future graduating classes and "of Aegis destroyers protecting entire continents from the threat of ballistic missile attack.
The end of the Cold War, potential threats from North Korea and Iraq, and a string of diplomatic conflicts with China have posed new national security challenges that could lead U.S policy makers to a greater focus on Asia, according to defense analysts. Instead of preparing to fight a war with the Soviet Union, as it had for 50 years, the U.S. may have to prepare itself for a conflict involving China.
Alliant Techsystems (ATK) said its ATK Thiokol Propulsion Co., of Brigham City, Utah, successfully conducted a static test firing for NASA of a full-scale space shuttle Reusable Solid Rocket Motor (RSRM) on May 24. The test was partly aimed at qualifying a new insulation design on the motor's nozzle-to-case joint, which NASA said would improve flight safety and help reduce the cost of flying the motor.
RUSSIA TALKS: Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.), a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, is urging President Bush to begin high-level talks with Russia on missile defense cooperation. In a May 21 letter co-signed by Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), Weldon contends that Russia may have "much to offer" the U.S. due to its experience with missile defense technology, and that increased cooperation could help repair strained relations between the two countries.
