The U.S. armed forces must learn to rely on the commercial satellite industry if they expect to preserve information superiority into the 21st century, a panel of military communications experts said yesterday in Washington, DC. "Connectivity will have to be ubiquitous," said Brigadier General Michael R. Mazzuchi, director of U.S. Army CECOM Systems Management Center. Any shortfalls must be filled by industry, he said.
The U.S. military continues to expand its development of directed energy technology, with the most recent examples being the Army and Dept. of Energy (DOE) signing a technology sharing agreement, and the continued progress of the Air Force's Airborne Laser (ABL) program. Last week, U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command (SMDC) and the DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration signed a memorandum of understanding that established a partnership to share technical resources and capabilities.
The head of U.S. Central Command urged Congress yesterday to support several efforts to improve intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities. Army Gen. Tommy Franks told the House Armed Services Committee that shortfalls in Central Command's theater airborne ISR assets "jeopardize our ability to obtain the warning necessary to execute our" operational plans.
The Defense Dept. is examining the possibility of speeding up purchases of the Global Hawk unmanned aerial reconnaissance system, DOD's director of strategic and tactical systems told the House Armed Services Committee yesterday during a hearing on military transformation.
U.S. military forces should consider moving to a new strategic strike capability, one that leans more heavily on conventional "smart" weapons and electronic warfare and de-emphasizes nuclear capability, a public policy group said yesterday. Robert C. Martinage, a senior defense analyst at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, said at a Capitol Hill briefing that conventional weaponry has matured to the point it can be nearly as effective as nuclear strikes against some targets.
EMS Technologies, Inc.'s SATCOM division won a $2.5 million contract from the Argentine Navy and Air Force for ground-based equipment to support search-and-rescue operations over the Cospas-Sarsat satellite system, the company announced yesterday. The U.S., Russia, Canada and France jointly operate the Cospas-Sarsat system, which provides distress alert and location data to assist search and rescue operations.
Congress should provide priority funding for programs that increase awareness of objects moving through space and why they are there, a space commission spokesman told a Senate panel yesterday. "We need to improve our space situational awareness," Gen. Ronald Fogleman (USAF-Ret.) testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee's strategic subcommittee. "That used to be called 'space surveillance.'" "This is a capability that is eroding every day" as more objects are launched into space, Fogleman said.
Technical problems involving a safety device caused a launch pad abort of an Indian satellite rocket yesterday, dashing India's hopes of joining the U.S., Russia, Japan, China and the European Space Agency in the world's elite satellite launch club. The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) said its Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) shut down on the launch pad after one of four strap-on liquid-fueled boosters failed to ignite properly, Aerospace Daily affiliate AviationNow.com reported.
Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control of Dallas has given Harris Corp., of Melbourne, Fla., $5 million in contracts for the retrofit of fire control system electronics supporting two mobile field artillery platforms. The retrofit will be for the Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) and the next-generation High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS). The Harris-made electronics increase the types of munitions the MLRS and HIMARS can fire, according to the company.
Commercial users will once again be able to make calls via Iridium satellites when Iridium Satellite LLC activates its Tempe, Ariz. gateway Friday, the company announced yesterday. "It's our first opportunity to turn our system on and enter the commercial world," said Chairman and CEO Dan Colussy. The company will also be providing data services starting June 1.
First flight of Boeing's X-32B Joint Strike Fighter short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) concept demonstrator is planned to take place today from Palmdale, Calif., weather permitting, The DAILY has learned. While the company had hoped to have first flight of the aircraft yesterday, high winds prevented takeoff and completion of the high-speed taxi test - a required precursor before the wheels leave the ground. Low and medium speed taxi tests of the X-32B were completed in January (DAILY, Jan. 11).
Aerospace Industries Association President John Douglass, in a letter to President Bush, expressed industry concerns over a recommendation by the Heritage Foundation to terminate NASA sponsored aeronautical research and development, Aerospace Daily affiliate Aviation Daily reported.
While the idea of a kinetic energy anti-satellite weapon continues to be studied, its use against enemy spacecraft might ultimately result in loss of friendly satellites, the head of U.S. Space Command said yesterday. Other options, such as destroying a hostile ground station, might be more attractive, Gen. Ralph E. Eberhart said. He said there would be many ways to negate an enemy satellite system during a conflict.
Alliant Techsystems (ATK) has entered into an agreement with Gesellschaft fur intelligente Wirksysteme GmbH (GIWS), of Nuremburg, Germany, under which ATK will manufacture and sell in the U.S. the SMArt 155, a sensor-fuzed munition developed by GIWS and the German government. SMArt 155 is a "fire and forget" smart artillery projectile that uses a millimeter wave radar and an infrared sensor to defeat artillery and armored targets in all weather and environmental conditions, according to the company, which announced the agreement yesterday.
A privately financed commercial module destined for the Russian side of the International Space Station Alpha could be modified to house additional crew members if NASA or its partners are interested in leasing it, according to company officials. The Enterprise module, a joint project between Spacehab of Houston, Texas, and Russian spacecraft builder RSC Energia, is scheduled to be launched to the Station in 2003 aboard a Russian Proton rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
The U.S. Navy has awarded Teledyne Technologies Inc. of Los Angeles a $17 million fixed-price contract to provide high-power traveling wave tubes (TWTs) for the EA-6B Prowler stand-off jamming aircraft, the company announced yesterday. The EA-6B Prowler provides an umbrella of protection over strike aircraft, ground troops and ships by jamming enemy radar and electronic communications. Teledyne said it expects the work to be completed by September 2004.
Brigadier General John M. Urias, currently deputy commanding general for Acquisition at U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command (USASMDC), today assumes command from current commander Lt. Gen. John Costello, who is retiring. USASMDC, located in Huntsville, Ala., is the Army proponent for National Missile Defense and Space. It is also the overarching integrator for Theater Missile Defense, and the lead for the Army's directed energy efforts.
Lockheed Martin is equipping its C-130J airlifter with a new software configuration that brings the aircraft's avionics system to full functionality, the company announced yesterday. The software, called Block 5.3, contains "substantial" upgrades and new capabilities and is now the baseline for all production C-130J aircraft, the company said.
NASA and the National Imagery and Mapping Agency plan to continue a joint review of the initial results of NIMA's search for the missing Mars Polar Lander, the space agency said Monday. Both agencies will continue examining NIMA images that could show the wreckage of the lander, lost in 1999. They will also examine additional images of the landing site that will be collected later this year.
A 230 million euro ($206 million) contract announced earlier this week by the Thales Group (formerly Thomson-CSF), is the second contract the French company received this year from the Saudi government for the support and upgrade of its air defense forces.
White Electronic Designs Corp. of Phoenix has been awarded a $2.7 million contract to supply memory modules for next-generation avionics integrated cockpit instrumentation for the NATO Eurofighter Typhoon Project, the company announced yesterday. The contract also calls for the company to manufacture additional components for the project. The orders are expected to be shipped by the end of calendar year 2001.
Excess payments - and underpayments - to contractors continue to be a problem at the Dept. of Defense, the General Accounting Office says in a new report. Defense contractors repaid the government $670 million in fiscal year 1999 and $901 million in fiscal year 2000 that they had been overpaid for contracts, according to the GAO report. The money wasn't always repaid quickly, however - at least 39 percent of the money owed wasn't repaid within 30 days, according to the GAO.
Telenor of Norway will acquire Lockheed Martin Global Telecommunications' COMSAT Mobile Communications operations for $116.5 million in cash, the two companies announced yesterday. The acquisition, which positions Telenor as a major global satellite mobile operator, is subject to regulatory approvals.
Raytheon said it was awarded an $8.3 million initial development task from NASA's Ames Research Center for the Airport Surface Management System. The system will be used to help air traffic controllers and air carriers manage the movement of aircraft on the airport. Raytheon said it will lead to improved capacity, efficiency, flexibility and safety, Aerospace Daily affilate Aviation Daily reported.
Lockheed Martin Millimeterwave Technologies Inc. (LMMTI) has given BAE Systems a contract for more than $30 million to manufacture millimeterwave transceivers for the Longbow Hellfire Missile System, BAE Systems announced Monday. The missiles will be deployed on U.S. Army AH-64D and United Kingdom Army WAH-64 Apache helicopters.
