LAUREL, Md. - United Kingdom defense contractor QinetiQ is developing dense metal penetrator (DMP) warheads that could more than double penetration performance over conventional warheads, according to QinetiQ researcher Cathy O'Carroll.
Launch of China's first manned spacecraft on Oct. 15 is expected to be followed in about six months by another manned mission, this one with a crew of at least two, one analyst said. Charles P. Vick of GlobalSecurity.org said China's manned space program has been funded at $2.2-2.3 billion since about 1993, and that the money will pay for the first docking of two manned Shenzou spacecraft, probably in late 2005.
The U.S. likely will have to involve its coalition allies in political decision-making if it wants their help in military operations, according to the head of NATO's Supreme Allied Command transformation. Rear Adm. Hans-Joachim Stricker, speaking at the Interoperability conference in Arlington, Va., organized by the Institute for Defense and Government Advancement, said post-Cold War military operations have been characterized by the complexity of their goals.
Raytheon Co. said it is working with Israel Aircraft Industries' Elta Systems in pursuit of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's program to equip commercial airliners with missile protection systems. Raytheon announced the joint effort as DHS officials were briefing industry representatives in Washington on the $100 million development program to defeat shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles, also known as man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS). DHS plans an "aggressive" system development and demonstration program (DAILY, Sept. 23).
HAWK TESTS: An RQ-4A Global Hawk equipped with an electronic intelligence sensor landed in Germany Oct. 15 to begin tests to demonstrate the technical feasibility of using unmanned aerial vehicles for high-altitude, long-endurance surveillance missions. The vehicle flew from Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.
MOSCOW - Russia plans to build two "universal" launch sites at the Plesetsk and Svobodnyi cosmodromes, which would be able to handle both Angara and Rus boosters, government officials said after a meeting about the country's space launch plans.
BAE SYSTEMS NORTH AMERICA, Nashua, N.H. Don Donovan was promoted from vice president to president of Information and Electronic Warfare Systems' electronic warfare/electronic protection line of business. Mike Heffron, formerly vice president of IEWS' electronic warfare-information warfare line of business, has been named president of that line. John Lydiard has been named president of IEWS' mission electronics line of business. BEARING INSPECTION INC., Los Alamitos, Calif.
Becoming interoperable with coalition allies will require more than fielding new communications technology, a U.S. Army official said Oct. 15. "I see us doing things from a technical side which are trying to solve problems that are policy related," said Maj. Gen. Emile Bataille, director of Combat Support for the U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM).
PRAGUE - Turkey has pulled out of the race to supply 14 used supersonic aircraft to the Czech Republic, leaving just seven countries in the competition. The decision follows a similar move last month by the United Kingdom, which said that it could not meet the requirements of the bidding process (DAILY, Sept. 12).
Orbital Sciences Corp. has joined the Lockheed Martin-Northrop Grumman team to compete for the contract to design and build NASA's Orbital Space Plane (OSP), company officials said Oct. 14. Orbital had been negotiating with both the Lockheed Martin team and the team led by the Boeing Co. (DAILY, Oct. 1). Northrop Grumman, which at one time led a team of its own, officially joined the Lockheed Martin team in early October. Orbital Sciences had been a member of the Northrop Grumman team.
Langley Air Force Base, Va., plans to announce later this week which of its fighter squadrons will be the first deployable unit in the Air Force to fly the F/A-22 Raptor. Three squadrons in Langley's 1st Fighter Wing are in the running - the 27th, 71st and 94th. The winning squadron is scheduled to get its first Lockheed Martin F/A-22 in November 2004 and achieve an initial operational capability (IOC) with 24 planes by December 2005.
NEW DELHI - Pakistan test-fired its third nuclear-capable missile in 11 days on Oct. 13, launching a Shaheen-1 medium-range missile, which is also known as the Hatf-IV. A Shaheen-1 also was tested last week, shortly after Pakistan tested a short-range Ghaznavi missile (DAILY, Oct. 10). "The test concludes, for now, the series of planned tests," a Pakistani diplomat said here. He said a longer-range version of the Hatf missile series will be tested in the future.
Completing work on the International Space Station will cost more and take longer due to the shuttle fleet's grounding, according to a General Accounting Office report. Cost increases could arise from the need to maintain and store ready-to-launch components built before the Columbia disaster in February, as well as the need to re-certify some components and extend some space station construction contracts, according to the report.
Northrop Grumman's Space Technology sector has begun integration and testing of an engineering model payload for the U.S. Defense Department's Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellite system, the company said Oct. 14. The company began the work after completing a new facility in Redondo Beach, Calif., for the integration and testing, which was certified by the DOD.
A new study of the use and coverage of satellite transponders shows that the trend toward Ku-band and away from C-band is continuing. Between 2000 and 2003, it says, the number of Ku-band transponders grew by 20 percent, or 642, while the number of C-band transponders was up only 9 percent, or 260. The study, by Futron Corp., a technology management consulting firm based in Bethesda, Md., also says:
Pratt & Whitney has begun testing the first production-configuration F135 engine for the Defense Department's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). The engine, designated the FX631, successfully ran for the first time at 1:53 p.m. on Oct. 11 at Pratt & Whitney facilities in West Palm Beach, Fla., company spokesman Dave Morgillo told The DAILY Oct. 14. The engine, which is mounted on a test stand, now has run for a total of two hours. Testing data show the engine "performed as expected," Pratt & Whitney said in a statement.
