The U.S. Air Force has exercised its first order for a Minotaur space launch vehicle from Orbital Sciences Corp. under the Orbital/Suborbital Program-2 (OSP-2) contract the company was awarded earlier this year. The OSP-2 contract is worth up to $475 million over 10 years (DAILY, Feb. 3). The order is for the launch of a classified payload scheduled to launch in 2005, Orbital Sciences said Oct. 2.
RAPTOR EQUIPMENT: REMEC Inc. of Del Mar, Calif., will supply 49 types of filters and modular integrated microwave assemblies for the F/A-22 Raptor's AN/APG-77 Fire Control Radar System, the company said Oct. 2. The work, for the F/A-22 radar low-rate initial production program, is being done under a $4.7 million contract from Northrop Grumman Corp. The company is scheduled to begin shipments in 2004 and complete deliveries in 2005. The work will be performed by REMEC's Defense & Space Group, based in San Diego.
House and Senate negotiators have reached agreement on legislation renewing the Defense Production Act (DPA) for one year. The Senate approved the reauthorization bill late Sept. 30, and leaders of the Senate Banking Committee expressed hope that the House would pass the measure soon.
SPACEHAB is closing its corporate office in Washington and consolidating those operations into its Houston headquarters, the company said. The move is part of the struggling company's effort to reduce operating expenses and improve profitability. The company owns and operates habitat and laboratory modules for use in the space shuttle, and has been hurt financially by the grounding of the shuttle fleet and the loss of one of the modules on the shuttle Columbia (DAILY, Aug. 29). The company expects to complete the Washington office transition by Dec. 31.
The European Space Agency has selected several teams for design work on two key programs in its Aurora solar system exploration program. Italy's Alenia Spazio and France's Alcatel Space and EADS Astrium head three industrial teams conducting studies of the ExoMars mission, scheduled to launch in 2009. The mission includes an orbiter and a rover that will search for signs of life on Mars.
TV SATS: Space Systems/Loral has been given the green light to design and build two satellites for broadcast company DIRCTV Inc. The revenue for the two satellites will be more than $220 million, the company said Oct. 1. Loral said this will help as it reorganizes under Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which it filed earlier this year due to the weak commercial satellite market.
In a strategic move to ensure future U.S. dominance in commercial remote sensing, the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) has awarded DigitalGlobe of Longmont, Colo., the $500 million NextView contract to help fund and shape the next generation of high-resolution U.S. commercial imagery satellites.
OVERSIGHT: Rep. Ralph M. Hall (D-Texas), the top Democrat on the House Science Committee, introduced legislation Oct. 1 authorizing the National Academies of Science and Engineering to establish an independent committee to oversee NASA's implementation of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board. An external task force already is in place to oversee NASA's return to flight, but Hall said long-term oversight is needed. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), chairman of the committee's space subcommittee, and Rep.
AAI Corp., maker of the Shadow family of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), plans to focus more attention in coming years on UAV systems integration, according Chairman and CEO Frederick Strader. AAI built the Shadow UAV family to meet U.S. Army requirements, but the real growth opportunities exist in integrating the payloads, sensors, ground control centers, and vehicle airframes, he said.
A B-2 Spirit stealth bomber releases 80 500-pound Joint Direct Attack Munitions against 80 targets in a Sept. 10 test, demonstrating the aircraft's new smart bomb rack assembly and capping a six-month effort to introduce the 500-pound JDAM into the U.S. Air Force inventory (DAILY, Sept. 18). Photo courtesy Northrop Grumman.
The U.S. Navy needs more investment in technology and training to effectively counter the threat from diesel-electric submarines, the commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet said Oct. 1. ASW [anti-submarine warfare] is both an art and a science," Adm. Walter Doran said. "It has to do with investments in technology and it also has to do with the art part, the operational art." After the Soviet Union collapsed, the Navy's focus turned toward improving strike warfare with the Aegis Weapon System and the Tomahawk cruise missile, he said.
PRAGUE - A former Czech defense minister has resigned from the board of aircraft producer Aero Vodochody only weeks after his controversial appointment.
President Bush has signed the fiscal 2004 defense and homeland security appropriations bills into law, providing $368 billion for the Defense Department and $31 billion for the Department of Homeland Security. The defense bill, which Bush quietly signed Sept. 30, provides $4.3 billion to continue developing the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and $9.1 billion to keep pursuing ballistic missile defenses. It also funds the purchase of 22 F/A-22 Raptors for the Air Force and 42 F/A-18E/F Super Hornets for the Navy.
EVANS & SUTHERLAND COMPUTER CORP., Salt Lake City David Rushton has been appointed managing director of Evans & Sutherland Computer U.K. Ltd. and general manager for the company's Commercial Simulation Division, replacing Richard Flitton, who has left the company. GOODRICH, Charlotte, N.C.
ThalesRaytheonSystems has been chosen by the French government to develop a demonstrator of a new generation of land-based air defense radar. Fabrication of the demonstrator, being carried out under a $78 million contract awarded recently by France's Delegation Generale pour l'Armement (DGA), will mark the first phase in the development of a new generation of mobile, multi-function, modular radars, the company said.
Japan on Oct. 1 merged three agencies to form the new Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). JAXA absorbed the Institute of Space and Aeronautical Science (ISAS), which conducted space and planetary research; the National Aerospace Laboratory (NAL), which conducted aviation research and development; and the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA), which developed the H-IIA launcher, satellites and was responsible for Japan's share of the International Space Station.
Lockheed Martin and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Md., have successfully concluded the last of three demonstrations to show that satellites can significantly extend the range of the Navy's Cooperative Engagement Capability (CEC) system for anti-aircraft warfare and missile defense.
Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman are joining forces to compete against Boeing to build NASA's Orbital Space Plane (OSP), while current Northrop Grumman OSP partner Orbital Sciences Corporation is negotiating with Lockheed Martin and Boeing for a role on both teams.
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency's High Altitude Airship (HAA) program hopes to demonstrate a prototype flight vehicle in mid-2006, officials at prime contractor Lockheed Martin Corp. said late Sept. 29.
