NOT SO HOT: The Vandenberg AFB, Calif., launch pad used in first National Missile Defense program intercept test earlier this month didn't sustain as much damage as expected and will be ready for another test in six to eight weeks, according to U.S. Air Force range officials. Meanwhile, another pad at Vandenberg is being brought out of mothballs, so two complexes will be available for NMD and other programs. In the Oct. 2 test, a modified Minuteman II carried a target out over the Pacific Ocean from Vandenberg.
Last week's successful National Missile Defense program intercept test went ahead despite the risk of failure due to a software glitch found in the target before launch, a U.S. Air Force official said. In the Oct. 2 test, a kill vehicle launched from Kwajalein Missile Range in the mid-Pacific Ocean struck a target launched from Vandenberg AFB, Calif. It was the NMD program's first attempt at an intercept, and officials were happy with the outcome (DAILY, Oct. 5).
ECHOSTAR V, a direct broadcast satellite launched last month aboard an Atlas IIAS rocket, has reached its operational orbit at 110 degrees West longitude, EchoStar Communications Corp. reported. From its final location, the Space Systems/Loral-built spacecraft will enable EchoStar to add 150 more audio and video channels to the 350 already available on its DISH Network satellite television service. Launch of EchoStar V marked the return to flight of the Pratt&Whitney RL-10 cryogenic upper stage engine after the failure of a Delta III rocket last spring (DAILY, Sept.
Chinese officials are considering construction of a new space launch facility on Hainan Island, off the coast of China in the South China Sea, the official China Daily reported yesterday. Long Lehao, deputy director of the China Satellite Transport Research Academy, told the newspaper Hainan would be "an ideal launch location" because of its southern position and relatively sparse population.
House Appropriations defense subcommittee chairman Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.) said yesterday that the panel expects to set the size for the U.S. Air Force's F-22 fighter program and the multi-service Joint Strike Fighter programs in "the next two-three years."
A Boeing Delta II launched another Global Positioning System satellite yesterday, resuming GPS launches halted after a heavy downpour at Cape Canaveral Air Station, Fla., soaked another of the navigation spacecraft to the extent that it had to be sent back to the factory for inspection and repair.
FAA yesterday proposed overhauling its regulations governing inspections of turbofan engines on U.S. transport aircraft, imposing new inspection procedures and adding to the number of parts to be checked. The new procedures also will require more frequent inspection of rotating engine parts.
The U.S. Atlantic Command was replaced yesterday by the new U.S. Joint Forces Command (JFCOM) which will assume the warfighting responsibilities of Atlantic Command and oversee joint experimentation and doctrine development for the entire Dept. of Defense. The change is part of the Unified Command Plan signed last year by President Clinton.
NASA has validated a 41-foot test fixture for its SR-71 Blackbird flying testbed, paving the way for high-Mach flight tests of such advanced propulsion concepts as the proposed Pulse Detonation Engine, the agency's Dryden Flight Research Center reported.
Directors of EchoStar Communications Co. have approved a two-for-one split of its common stock, effective Oct. 18, the Littleton, Colo.-based direct-broadcast satellite company announced yesterday. Under the board of directors' action, stockholders of record at the close of business on Oct. 18 will receive an additional share of common stock for each share they own, with the new shares to be issued on or about Oct. 25. The change in the company's NASDAQ stock price will be reflected on or about Oct. 26, the company stated.
APPROPRIATIONS CONFEREES were headed toward passage of a $13.653 billion NASA spending bill late yesterday, with apparent agreement between the House and Senate to set the space agency's fiscal 2000 funding level $75 million higher than the Clinton Administration requested. The full House voted in July to cut $900 million from the request (DAILY, Aug. 3), but this week reversed itself in a vote to instruct its conferees to accept the higher Senate numbers.
The European Union is nearly ready to start talks with the U.S. and Russia to push through an independent global navigation satellite system called Galileo and put an end to European dependence on U.S. and Russian systems. EU transport ministers on Wednesday put the European Commission in charge of negotiating with U.S. and Russia. Formal talks, however, will start only when the EC has completed yet another lengthy legal procedure.
Thomson multimedia will become an equity partner and supply ground terminals for the planned SkyBridge broadband satellite network under a partnership agreement announced this week. As a partner, Thomson multimedia will participate in the design and development of the terminals as well as in their production. SkyBridge plans to offer both professional and residential terminals to communicate with its planned constellation of 80 low Earth orbit satellites.
NASA headquarters has named Arthur G. Stephenson, director of Marshall Space Flight Center, to head its failure investigation board probing the loss of the Mars Climate Orbiter as it arrived at the planet last month. Administrator Daniel S. Goldin directed Stephenson to produce a preliminary report by Nov. 3, focusing on "implications of the loss of the Mars Climate Orbiter as it relates to all NASA missions."
The European Union is considering postponing for a second time its ban on hushkitted aircraft, European officials revealed Wednesday. "The European Commission has undertaken to come forward with a proposal by the end of October that would postpone the entry into force of the hushkit regulation," an EU official said in Luxembourg at a meeting of EU transport ministers. The first element of the ban is slated to go into effect in May 2000. Beginning in 2002, no hushkitted aircraft would be allowed in the EU, including those registered in other countries.
American pilots are using concrete-filled bombs and missiles during combat missions against Iraqi air defense sites, a European Command spokesman confirmed. The inert munitions have been used since Operation Desert Fox last December in an effort to limit the amount of collateral damage. "Saddam [Hussein] puts a lot of [air defense] weapons near churches, schools, hospitals, houses - all areas where people can be hurt by the explosion of the bomb ..." a military spokesman said.
The German-Swedish Taurus standoff missile for the Tornado and Eurofighter aircraft completed its first successful free flight test Monday at Sweden's Vidsel test range, a development that DaimlerChrysler Aerospace and Bofors said puts it ahead of French and British competitors. The first free flight was initially planned over the sea, but the pace of the program allowed this relatively easy step to be skipped for the more challenging flight over hilly terrain, DASA said.
The Bell Boeing MV-22 Osprey has concluded sea trials for the engineering and manufacturing and development (EMD) phase of the program aboard two amphibious ships, the USS Saipan and the USS Tortuga.
NATO's Kosovo campaign vindicated the overall analysis and recommendations of the U.K.'s Strategic Defense Review, according to George Robertson, the U.K. secretary of defense who yesterday became secretary general of NATO. Robertson, who succeeds Javier Solana in the NATO post, said in a paper he wrote as U.K. defense chief that while full implementation of the Review's recommendations has not been completed, the requirements on deployability, mobility and sustainability were firmly underlined by U.K. performance in the 78-day campaign.
RAYTHEON WON a $25.9 million contract extension for logistics support on the Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar system (Joint STARS) program. The Aircraft Integration Systems unit of Raytheon System Co. will handle the work at Robins AFB, Ga., providing logistics and maintenance support for the four operational E-8C Joint STARS and one training aircraft.
AIR CHIEF MARSHAL Sir Peter Squire will become Royal Air Force Chief of the Air Staff on April 21, 2000, succeeding Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Johns. Squire currently is the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of RAF Strike Command.
Britain's new tri-service Joint Helicopter Command (JHC), in which some 350 attack, transport and support rotorcraft will be operated by 12,000 army, navy and RAF personnel, was officially inaugurated Tuesday at U.K. Land Command's Wilton HQ, in Wiltshire. As one of the key initiatives proposed in last year's Strategic Defense Review (SDR), the new command was put together in 16 months. It has an annual budget of 300 million pounds ($495 million), and assets totaling 1.4 billion pounds ($2.3 billion).
Handheld and fixed telephones for the Globalstar "Big LEO" satellite communications network have won regulatory approval from authorities in North America and Europe, as well as from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), paving the way for a "progressive, regional rollout" of the service beginning next week.
Air Methods Corp.'s Products Div., Denver, received a contract for six UH-60Q Multi-Mission Medevac Systems, with an option for five more systems, from Sikorsky Aircraft Co. Total value of the contract with options is over $5 million, $3 million of which will be recognized over the next ten months. If the option is exercised, $2 million will be recognized in FY 2000-'01. The U.S. Army intends to field about 357 units over the next 10-20 years, potentially yielding revenue for Air Methods in excess of $150 million, the company said.
