New warfighting roles for the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet are emerging as U.S. Navy operators and Boeing engineers begin experiments on the next generation of cockpit upgrades. Boeing has delivered the first F/A-18E/F with a redesigned forward fuselage that can store and cool the Block II sensor configuration. That configuration includes the more powerful Advanced Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar, tactical data link and the Advanced Crew Station (ACS), a dual-mission attack system designed for the two-seater F model.
COMANCHE TRAINING: EDO Corp. of New York will continue developing multimedia training courseware for the RAH-66 Comanche helicopter under a $7 million purchase agreement from Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., EDO said Sept. 4. The former Advanced Engineering and Research Associates, which EDO acquired in February and incorporated into its Professional Services Division, has been providing training and related services for the Comanche program since 2001.
A 190-foot surveillance airship being tested by the U.S. Navy is making its debut in San Diego before an audience of potential customers in the homeland security market. A commercial Skyship 600B airship, equipped with the Littoral Airborne Sensor Hyperspectral (LASH) system, began a three-month test and demonstration period in Southern California Aug. 29, the Office of Naval Research (ONR) said Sept. 5.
Mobile and stationary test vehicles equipped with an active protection system developed by a United Defense Industries-led team have successfully defeated a variety of attacks with live anti-tank missiles, company officials said Sept. 8. The 20-ton vehicles avoided the attacks by using the Integrated Army Active Protection System (IAAPS), which consists of a "hard-kill" active protection system and a "soft-kill" electronic jamming system.
The Advanced Discriminating Ladar Technology (ADLT) system, which the U.S. Army and Missile Defense Agency are developing to improve the ability of interceptor missiles to hit their targets, has successfully completed its first major demonstration, prime contractor Raytheon Co. announced Sept. 8.
A U.S. Air Force official said Sept. 8 that he plans to respond by early next week to a suggestion by two key senators that the service consider revamping its proposal to lease 100 Boeing KC-767A tankers. But while the Air Force is still formulating its response, it appears to have already concluded that the congressional idea has serious shortcomings.
U.S. Army logisticians won't be able to rely on terrestrial communications systems on future "non-linear" battlefields, according to Gen. Paul Kern, commander of the Army Materiel Command. The limitations of such systems became apparent during the war in Iraq, Kern said Sept. 8 at the Association of the United States Army's Acquisition Symposium in Falls Church, Va. Line-of sight communication systems could not keep up with the distance and pace of operations in Iraq, Kern said.
NEW DELHI - A team of U.S. Defense Department and Navy officials have arrived here to discuss India's planned buy of eight P-3 Orion maritime surveillance aircraft. The team's visit coincides with the arrival of Israeli Prime Minister Arial Sharon, and sources said the U.S. team also will discuss Tel Aviv's planned sale of Phalcon radars to India, which the U.S. approved last month (DAILY, Aug. 13).
MESA RADARS: Northrop Grumman Corp. will deliver four Multi-role Electronically Scanned Array (MESA) radar systems to Boeing for Turkey's "Peace Eagle" airborne early warning and control system, the company said Sept. 8. The work will be done under a $160 million contract and deliveries are scheduled to be completed by June 2007.
NASA officials presented a "playbook" on Sept. 8 for returning the shuttle fleet to flight, although they stressed that the plan's March 11, 2004 target date is just a placeholder. A window between March 11 and April 6 is the first chance NASA could fly a shuttle to stay within new safety requirements, set by the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB), which call for daylight launches and external tank separations.
The $2.5 billion Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) contract awarded to Boeing Aug. 29 paves the way for the development of a unique fuze technology for weapons. SDB introduces a 250-pound precision weapon into the U.S. munitions inventory, which is half the size of the smallest existing weapon, the 500-pound MK-82 bomb. The reduced scale allows the Air Force to attack more targets on a single sortie and limit the risk of collateral damage in populated areas.
TIGER BUY: Spain's defense ministry was authorized Sept. 5 to order 24 Eurocopter Tiger attack helicopters, according to the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. Financial details were not disclosed, but the agreement is expected to include helicopter assembly operations in Spain. "The Tiger is the best attack helicopter for the Spanish army and means good business for Spain," said Francisco Fernandez-Sainz, Chairman of EADS Casa.
After years of serving the commercial aerospace sector with information technology products, Enigma Inc., is getting into the military market. Enigma, based in Burlington, Mass., already provides the Navy with IT supply-chain products for its Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) vessel. Now the Marine Corps has awarded the company a multi-year contract in the "high-six figures" to install its 3C Platforms containing Class 4 Interactive Electronic Technical Manuals (IETMs) aboard the Marine Corps' fleet of 770 Light Armored Vehicles (LAVs).
The Senate Appropriations Committee late Sept. 4 approved a fiscal 2004 NASA appropriations bill that trims the agency's budget request for the Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter (JIMO) program but adds tens of millions of dollars for aeronautics research. Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond (R-Mo.), chairman of the committee's NASA panel, said the bill adds $50 million to NASA's $959 million request for aeronautics research to counter growing foreign competition in aviation.
OLD DATA: A February 2001 Air Force report saying the KC-135 tanker fleet is structurally viable until 2040 was based on faulty data, according to Air Force Secretary James Roche. "As we look back at that report, we would not have submitted it. We used old data, and it just compared the rising costs to maintain [the aircraft] compared to the budget allocation for maintenance," Roche says. "When we took a look at that in 2003, the costs assumed to have been in place in 2003 in fact were much higher.
FIRE RUMSFELD?: Rep. David Obey (D-Wisc.), ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, says in a Sept. 5 letter to President Bush that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz should be replaced because of their "repeated and serious miscalculations" in handling Iraq and the war on terrorism. The White House and Pentagon had no immediate reaction to the letter.
TRANSITION NOD: The American Astronomical Society (AAS) says NASA should heed the recommendation of a panel of astronomers, who said the aerospace agency should consider two shuttle servicing missions to extend the life of the Hubble Space Telescope. The panel said last month that two such missions would maximize the science that Hubble can perform before NASA transitions to the follow-on James Webb Space Telescope (DAILY, Aug. 18). It also said NASA should consider new science programs for the Hubble, possibly including new scientific instruments.
FOREIGN SALES: Javelin missiles for Canada, new UH-60L Black Hawks and F-16A upgrades for Jordan, plus AH-64 Apache upgrades for the Netherlands highlight Foreign Military Sales proposals the U.S. Defense Department submitted to Congress Sept. 3 (see related story on Page 3). Jordan is the biggest potential customer, seeking to spend $220 million for the cargo helicopter fleet and up to $370 million for F-16 structural and engine improvements.
Four Middle East countries would outfit their VIP transport planes with anti-missile infrared countermeasures sets supplied by the U.S., Congress has been told by the Department of Defense. Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar and Saudi Arabia would buy AN/AAQ-24(V) Directed Infrared Countermeasures (DIRCM) systems, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) said in announcements dated Sept. 3.
NASA gave Congress a return to flight plan for the space shuttle Sept. 5, and Capitol Hill sources said it will take them some time to assess the highly technical document. The plan, which does not contain cost estimates, is intended to explain how NASA will implement the findings of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB), which investigated the Feb. 1 Columbia shuttle disaster. The CAIB, which released its final report Aug. 26, made 29 recommendations and said 15 should be implemented before the shuttle begins flying again.
The U.S. Air Force has been directed to do a "quick study" on a congressional request that the Defense Department consider leasing 25 Boeing KC-767A tankers and buying another 75 instead of leasing all 100 as the Air Force has proposed, a Pentagon official said Sept. 5.
