SPACE BASED RADAR: The Pentagon, which has been studying whether the Air Force's Space Based Radar (SBR) program will be affordable, hopes to complete its assessment in the spring, according to Stephen Cambone, undersecretary of defense for intelligence. That is about the time the Air Force hopes to pick one or two prime contractors to begin work on the SBR spacecraft (DAILY, Oct. 9).
(The following is excerpted from the written responses by Michael W. Wynne, who has been nominated to be undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, to written questions from the Senate Armed Services Committee. Wynne testified Nov. 18.)
NEW DELHI - India and the United States have reached an agreement that would allow New Delhi to obtain dual-use technology from U.S. companies for aerospace and defense use. Indian officials said the decision came at the third Indo-U.S. High Technology Cooperation Group meeting, held here Nov. 20 and co-chaired by Indian foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal and Kenneth Juster, U.S. undersecretary of commerce for industry and security.
SHIELD WORK: The homeland security market is a "growing opportunity for Thales" that has led it to create a "security board" to coordinate activities across its defense, aerospace and commercial information technology business areas, a company official says. Tim Robinson, senior vice president of Thales' Secure Operations Business Group, says Thales is proposing the Strategic Homeland Intelligence and Electronic Deterrence (SHIELD) system, which he says is broader and more complete than systems offered by competitors (DAILY, Nov. 20).
Northrop Grumman's Ship Systems sector (NGSS) is joining the industry team led by Raytheon to compete for the contract to design the U.S. Navy's Littoral Combat Ship (LCS). Northrop Grumman was eliminated from the design competition in July when officials with the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) chose teams led by General Dynamics, Raytheon and Lockheed Martin to submit final designs (July 21). Navy officials expect to make a decision on the final design or designs next year.
Spacehab Inc. said Nov. 20 that it has been awarded a new mission under the Research and Logistics Mission Support (ReALMS) contract to provide NASA with cargo services to the International Space Station. The contract has been modified to add the use of Spacehab's Integrated Cargo Carrier (ICC) to shuttle mission STS-121, scheduled to launch in November 2004.
PRAGUE, Czech Republic - The Czech ministry of defense is to start work on an installation for a $19 million Fixed Air Defense Radar (FADR) system in eastern Bohemia within the next two weeks, according to the ministry. NATO is paying for the RAT 31DL 3D long-range FADR system under its security investment program. The system was to have been the second of two installed, but it was moved to the head of the line after plans to build a FADR system at Slavkov, south Moravia, were halted by objections from local villages.
ON THE FLY: In addition to transforming the military, the Pentagon should transform its acquisition processes to allow for more innovation, according to Ashton Carter, former assistant secretary of defense for International Security Policy. "In addition to 'big T' transformation, there needs to be a 'little t' transformation that works inside cycle times and gives people the latitude and resources ... to do innovation on the fly as the need requires," he says. As it is now, service members in the theater almost have to innovate covertly, according to Carter.
Japanese companies will build 35 percent of the structure of Boeing's new 7E7 passenger aircraft, the company said Nov. 20 in announcing major workshare agreements. The announcement follows the selection of major partners to help build the aircraft earlier this year. The partners include Fuji Heavy Industries (FHI), Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), as well as Alenia Aeronautica of Italy and Vought Aircraft Industries of the United States.
PRAGUE, Czech Republic - Slovakia's defense ministry has yet to complete its long-term plan for acquiring supersonic aircraft, but it has virtually ruled out the "zero option" of not protecting its airspace, according to Juraj Liska, the new Slovak defense minister. Liska, who replaced Ivan Simco in September, told journalists at a press conference in Bratislava earlier this week that it is "99 percent certain" that leaving the country's airspace unprotected is not an option.
PALM SPRINGS, Calif. - Technology to construct an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that can be transported in a five-inch diameter canister has been transferred from the University of Florida to the U.S. Air Force at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.
Despite the talk about designing systems for network-centric warfare, Defense Department officials do not clearly understand how a distributed common network would operate on the battlefield, according to an executive with a Newport, R.I.-based technology consulting firm. Jeffrey Cares, president of Alidade Consulting, said DOD officials have been assuming advancements in information technology inevitably would result in a new system of warfare.
A House-Senate conference committee has approved provisions aimed at improving the nation's measurement and signatures intelligence (MASINT). The fiscal 2004 intelligence authorization conference report, unveiled Nov. 20, directs the secretary of defense and the director of central intelligence to create a joint program to ensure that the results of basic research on sensors are incorporated into MASINT systems. MASINT is an emerging field that collects intelligence by observing the scientific features of targets.
Two U.S. Navy S-3B Viking squadrons will be disestablished in the spring, starting the process of retiring the aging carrier-based aircraft, according to a service official. The Navy plans to retire all 103 of its S-3Bs by 2009, said Capt. Steve Eastburg, manager of maritime patrol aircraft at Naval Air Systems Command, who spoke Nov. 18 at the Defense News Media Group's ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) Integration 2003 conference.
PALM SPRINGS, Calif. - The U.S. Air Force has successfully demonstrated that unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can be used to extend the range of unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs), according to Maj. Timothy Schulteis, technical director of the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory's Robotics Research Group. Schulteis said UAVs can deliver UGVs to an area of interest and then serve as a relay to the operator control unit (OCU), expanding UGV ranges from the current one to two kilometers (.6 to 1.2 miles).
A House-Senate conference committee has agreed to cut $200 million from the Bush Administration's $1.7 billion fiscal 2004 budget request for the International Space Station (ISS), according to congressional sources.
Within the past several months, input from the astronaut corps has significantly reshaped the requirements for NASA's Orbital Space Plane (OSP), according to Mike Coats, vice president of advanced space transportation for Lockheed Martin. "The requirements have evolved rapidly here in the last two or three months as the crew's gotten involved," Coats said Nov. 20 at a briefing at Lockheed Martin's new OSP Demonstration Center in Arlington, Va.
PRAGUE, Czech Republic - The JAS-39 Gripen will act as a test platform for the Meteor Beyond Visual Range Air-to-Air Missile (BVRAAM), according to Saab Aerosystems. The Swedish company announced Nov. 20 that it has been commissioned by the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) to integrate the Meteor into a Gripen in a contract worth $57.5 million. A Gripen is scheduled to fire the Meteor for the first time in 2005. The United Kingdom is leading the project with the industrial collaboration of Germany, Sweden, France, Italy and Spain.
UPGRADED P-3C: Lockheed Martin has delivered the first of 10 upgraded P-3C aircraft to the Royal Netherlands navy as part of the Capabilities Upkeep Program, the company said. The aircraft will be used for maritime patrol, overland surveillance and coast guard operations.
The Army announced Nov. 20 that it plans to deploy its Rapid Aerostat Initial Deployment (RAID) system in Iraq to improve the situational awareness of U.S. troops. RAID, which consists of towers and 15-meter (49-foot) aerostats, already has been used in Afghanistan to conduct surveillance for small arms, mortar and rocket attacks. The Iraq deployment will be funded by the recently enacted $87.5 billion supplemental appropriations act.
The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) Versatile Affordable Advanced Turbine Engine (VAATE) initiative is striving to stay ahead of future aircraft turbine engine requirements while keeping costs low.
