TELESAT announced it has signed a 10-year contract with iDirect Inc., under which the Virginia-based company will use Telesat's new Anik F1 satellite to offer high-speed, two-way broadband Internet access to the growing South American market.
NOT SO FAST:While the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee approved Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's request to reprogram $674.5 million to keep the Lockheed Martin F-22 program intact (DAILY, Mar. 30), it won't be doled out in one lump sum. The Pentagon plans to release the funds incrementally over three-month periods, instead of all at once. Current funds expired on March 31, and the first lump sum is $288.8 million for April-June, for 10 Lot 1 aircraft.
Two different U.S. Air Force airlift aircraft are currently under restrictions for over-water flights until problems with inflatable rafts are resolved, The DAILY has learned. Restricted are the C-17, made by Boeing and designed to carry passengers and outsize cargo over intercontinental distances, and the new smaller Lockheed Martin C-130J, primarily intended to transport personnel and cargo within a theater of operations.
BAE SYSTEMS and Aerojet have been selected by NASA to build the Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS). ATMS, a satellite microwave instrument, will improve weather forecasting and assist in global climate research. BAE Systems Information&Electronic Warfare Systems (IEWS) of Nashua, N.H., and Aerojet of Azusa, Calif., were awarded the $206 million contract in December by NASA's Office of Earth Sciences. As a major partner and subcontractor, IEWS will help Aerojet develop the new system.
NO FREE LUNCH: The aircraft recapitalization needs of the USMC will only continue to get worse as they remain unfunded over time, says Commandant Gen. James L. Jones. In the past few years, Congress has asked the services to submit their unfunded priority requirements list, and if they had all been funded, the state of affairs with aging aircraft would not continue its downward spiral, he explains. Last year, all the USMC's unfunded priorities added up to $1.2 billion.
Defense electronics contractor Northrop Grumman Corp. of Los Angeles announced Friday it has received regulatory clearance from the Federal Trade Commission for its proposed acquisition of defense electronics and shipbuilder Litton Industries Inc. This means all U.S. and international governmental and regulatory reviews have been received for the deal, the company said.
LOCKHEED MARTIN and TRW have been chosen by NASA to perform its spacecraft accommodation study for the Gamma-Ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) Observatory. This space science experiment, scheduled for launch in 2006 into a low-Earth orbit, will bridge the fields of astronomy and physics in the study of black hole particle jets and other high-energy phenomena, according to NASA.
In an industry where too many rockets are chasing too few satellites, the key to making a profit is not by cutting launch costs but rather having a reliable rocket that minimizes the risk for the customer, the world's leading rocket companies agree. "The number one priority in this business is reliability," said Will Trafton, president and general manager of Sea Launch, which uses Russian-made Zenit rockets from a floating launch pad in the equatorial Pacific Ocean.
WHEN IT RAINS, IT POURS: Last week was a good week for the Air Force, which is steaming ahead with production of three of its weapons. The Pentagon gave final approval for the AF (and Navy) to buy Lot 5 of the Boeing Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) tail kits for 2,000-lb Mk-84 and BLU-109s (DAILY, Mar. 20, 27). The decision also paves the way for the Pentagon to buy 66,640 remaining kits for just over $1.46 billion through fiscal year 2008.
INTEL POST: President George W. Bush plans to nominate Carl Ford, former principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, to be assistant secretary of state for intelligence and research, the White House says. Bush also intends to nominate Senate Finance Committee aide Grant Aldonas to be undersecretary of commerce for international trade and former U.S. Civil Aeronautics Board Chairman John Robson to be president of the U.S. Export-Import Bank.
THE BOEING CO. has come to an agreement with PT Pasifik Satelit Nusantara (PSN) to launch PSN's M2A satellite on a Delta IV expendable launch vehicle in 2003. Both parties are in discussions on the terms and conditions, which are expected to conclude by midyear. The PSN M2A, a Loral-built FS1300 communications satellite, will be placed into a geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) by a Delta IV Medium+5,4 variant rocket to be launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.
Alliant Techsystems (ATK) announced the ATK/Thiokol Propulsion Consolidated Joint Venture has won two contracts with a combined value of $80 million from Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co. - Missiles&Space Operations. Under a $63 million contract, the two companies will continue production of the U.S. Navy's Trident II (D-5) Fleet Ballistic Missile's propulsion systems. A second $17 million contract calls for the requalification of production materials used in the propulsion systems.
Boeing Commercial CEO Alan Mulally yesterday confirmed the company will drop plans to develop the 747X in favor of producing a "sonic cruiser" by the end of the decade that will lop over three hours off a trip from the West Coast to Europe. Mulally said customers told Boeing the current 747 is in the "sweet spot" of bigger airplanes and that they would rather Boeing "pursue a smaller, faster airplane" holding between 175 to 250 passengers cruising at 41,000 feet at a speed of up to Mach .98, Aerospace Daily affiliate Aviation Daily reported.
Boeing's X-32B short takeoff vertical landing (STOVL) version of the Joint Strike Fighter had its maiden voyage yesterday in a 50-minute uneventful flight from Palmdale, Calif. to Edwards AFB, Calif., with the plane in conventional flight configuration, as first reported by The DAILY (DAILY, Mar. 29).
Aerojet recently conducted a successful static hot fire test of the first-stage booster attitude control system (ACS) thruster pack it is developing for Boeing and the national missile defense (NMD) program's interceptor vehicle, the company announced Wednesday. The March 8 hot fire test demonstrated an adequate performance margin for mission requirements and was the culmination of a 20-month development phase, the company said.
In a trans-atlantic merger of satellite operators, newly-formed SES Global S.A. has bought GE American Communications Inc. for $5 billion in cash and stock, Aerospace Daily affiliate AviationNow.com reported. Formerly known as SES Astra, the Luxembourg-based company now owns a "truly global" fleet of satellites with strong regional presence in both Europe and North America, SES Global says.
Advanced Engineering Environments (AEE) and simulation-based acquisition need to be embraced by government and industry if America's aerospace and defense industries are to remain competitive, according to George Muellner, Vice President and General Manager of Boeing's Phantom Works.
A competitive European aerospace industry, and an unfocused United States national security policy, are having profound impacts on the nation's aerospace industry, according to Aerospace Industries Association president John Douglass. "Our European allies have focused most of their technology on the commercial side of systems development. If you fly to someplace on a Boeing aircraft and back on an Airbus, it is very difficult to tell the technological difference between the two," Douglass said.
A little more than three months after unveiling plans for its biggest defense-spending hike in two decades, Australia's government is moving to make sure it gets everything it pays for by launching a formal score-card system to evaluate defense contractors. "Company ScoreCards will now be used for all tender evaluation and source-selection decisions for capital equipment acquisition and in-service support contracts exceeding A$10 million" (US$4.97 million), said Australian defense chief Peter Reith.
The National Imagery and Mapping Agency needs a funding boost of more than $1 billion in the coming years to upgrade its tasking, processing, exploitation and dissemination (TPED) capabilities, the head of U.S. European Command said yesterday. "You can probably work it over a period of time, but it is a significant shortfall," Air Force Gen. Joseph Ralston told the House Armed Services Committee in response to a question from Rep. Rob Andrews (D-N.J.).
Defense ministry contracts worth some $287 million will be placed in April with Thomson Marconi Sonar Ltd. (TMSL), following its selection as prime contractor for two new Royal Navy sonar systems. As a long-range anti-submarine system, Sonar 2087, under development for Britain's Type 23 frigates, is described by the MoD as the most advanced of its kind ever deployed by the RN.
NASA engineers are developing ways of using balloons as a cost-effective way of exploring the planets. The space agency is interested in using balloons as a means of lowering spacecraft to a planet's surface, delivering instruments to various altitudes and performing aerial photography and other sorts of remote-sensing science. Balloons can also potentially conduct explorations faster, and cover greater distances, than conventional ground-based planetary explorers, according to NASA.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced major changes in the country's military leadership Wednesday. Sergei Ivanov, the former secretary of the Council of Security, was named minister of defense, replacing Igor Sergeyev, who was assigned to be a Putin adviser on strategic stability issues.
New Skies Satellites N.V. has signed a contract with Boeing Satellite Systems, Inc. (BSS) to build its NSS-8 satellite to service the Americas, the companies announced Wednesday. The contract, reported to be worth up to $500 million, includes options for up to two follow-on spacecraft. New Skies already has five other satellites in geosynchronous orbit. Launch of NSS-8 is slated for the third quarter of 2003.
The House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee late Wednesday approved Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's request to reprogram $674.5 million in funding for the Lockheed Martin F-22 after receiving assurances that the U.S. Air Force is moving ahead with completing testing requirements.
