TEL AVIV — The U.S.-Russian initiative to disarm Syria of its chemical weapons will be an enormous challenge, and the prospects for accomplishing it are doubtful, experts contend. Each step of the process, from finding all of the weapons to transporting them and then eventual disposal, will be fraught with risk.
As the U.S. government resigns itself to the prospect of long-term sequestration budget cuts, the Defense Department could consider lifting its ban on prime U.S. contractors acquiring each other, according to Exelis CEO David Melcher. “I don’t see the department … standing in the way of consolidation,” Melcher said Oct. 2 at an Atlantic Council lecture on the defense business in an age of austerity.
At NASA, which celebrated its 55th anniversary by furloughing 97% of its workforce, concern is centered on two programs trying to stay on schedule for their launch windows.
The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) Aviation unit failed to obtain best value when it purchased sole-source spare parts from Boeing, the Pentagon Inspector General (IG) says in a recently released report.
The U.S. Navy successfully completed nine guided flight tests for the Long Range Land Attack Projectile (Lrlap) 155mm rocket-assisted guided projectile system, Naval Sea Systems Command (Navsea) announced late last month. All nine tests were accurately guided to their targets about 45 nm from the launch site, Navsea says. Lrlap functionality was proven through gun launch, rocket motor ignition, guidance acquisition, navigation to target and warhead detonation.
STILL SPENDING: A U.S. government shutdown and debt ceiling fight on Capitol Hill notwithstanding, nominal federal spending plans for fiscal 2014 and beyond entail $117 billion in defense information technology (IT) contracting opportunities, according to federal IT consulting company Deltek. Another $38 billion will come from civilian agencies like NASA, FAA and others. Furthermore, despite a common industry complaint that budget caps in recent years have essentially derailed new-start programs, that is not the case. Deltek said in a webinar to clients Oct.
BEIJING — With the success of its high-resolution Pleiades optical imaging satellites, French space agency CNES is preparing a demonstration of a potential follow-on system that would launch in the early 2020s, most likely on a European Vega rocket from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou. The OTOS technology demo, formerly known as CXCI, is the precursor to a dual system designed to capture up to 750 images per day per satellite at 20- to 30-cm ground resolution and a swath width of 15-20 km in panchromatic mode.
Karem Aircraft is to design a tiltrotor to meet U.S. Army future utility-rotorcraft requirements under one of four contracts awarded for Phase 1 of the Joint Multi Role technology demonstration (JMR TD). JMR is a precursor to the Army’s planned Future Vertical Lift (FVL) Medium program to replace first the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk utility helicopter and later the Boeing AH-64 Apache attack helicopter, beginning in the mid-2030s.
PARIS — Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) says a new version of its Falcon 9 launch vehicle aborted a planned restart of its upper stage engine during an otherwise successful Sept. 29 debut of the upgraded rocket.
HOUSTON—The shutdown of the U.S. government that began Oct. 1 may have stalled NASA’s Asteroid Initiative Idea Synthesis Workshop, but not the determination of two dozen of the 140 participants to collaborate independently on how to address the near-Earth object collision threat. The three-day, NASA-sponsored, invitation-only workshop was shuttered after the Sept. 30 half-day opening session. The agency expects to reconvene the final two days of the dual-track program via webcast, though the details are yet to be formulated
As the U.S. kicked off a set of regional joint maritime exercises this month with the South Korean navy, U.S. military officials there warned of the need to develop and hone ballistic missile defense, asymmetric tactics and other military capabilities in the wake of continuing escalation by North Korea.
The current acquisition strategy for the U.S. Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (Uclass) program is too risky, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). In fiscal year 2014, the Navy plans to commit to investing an estimated $3.7 billion to develop, build, and field from six to 24 aircraft as an initial increment for Uclass, one of its most important aviation programs.
NEW DELHI — India on Oct. 2 moved its Mars Orbiter to the launch pad at Sriharikota range for its scheduled launch to the red planet on Oct. 28. After a series of tests, scientists at the India Space Research Organization (ISRO) gave the green light to transport the 1,340-kg orbiter to the launch pad for integration with the 350-ton rocket, which is an extended version of the space agency’s workhorse launcher, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-XL), an ISRO scientist says.
NEW DELHI — India has agreed to remove all hurdles to expanded weapons sales from the U.S., with plans to expedite licensing and approvals for what has become a nearly $9 billion defense trade between the two countries.
Current spending plans for the U.S. Army’s Stryker vehicle have increased five times from what the Pentagon had estimated just a year ago. The 2014 budget request for the Stryker family of vehicles is $374 million, nearly three times what the 2013 plan estimated. Total estimated spending for the outyears (2015-2017) is now $1 billion, five times what planners estimated in 2013 for the same period. (See charts pp. 6-9.)
BEIJING — Chinese engineers are proposing a Moon rocket more powerful than the Saturn V of the Apollo missions and matching the payload of NASA’s planned Space Launch System (SLS) Block 2, the unfunded launcher that would put the U.S. back into super-heavy space lift.
I.T. SPENDING: Despite a decline in annual spending between now and fiscal 2018, U.S. government spending on outsourced information technology should be relatively stable, according to Deltek analysts. The relatively optimistic outlook comes as agencies look to benefit from cost savings on cloud computing, automation and data center consolidation, while having to continue to pursue new capabilities in cyberspace and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.
While the U.S. Navy’s CH-53K development has gone reasonably well thus far, delayed testing of the helicopter program has made the effort riskier, a Pentagon Inspector General (IG) report says. “CH-53K program officials generally managed and developed the CH-53K program in accordance with defense acquisition guidelines while preparing for the low-rate initial production decision,” the IG says in its report, “CH-53K Program Management Is Satisfactory, but Risks Remain.”
Although growing Chinese naval forces have thus far refrained from any major military engagements, the fleet is starting to be viewed as a significant political tool. “In the absence of conflict, China’s military forces, including in particular its naval forces, will be used on a day-to-day basis to promote China’s political position in the Pacific,” says a Congressional Research Service (CRS) report, “China Naval Modernization: Implications for U.S. Navy Capabilities — Background and Issues for Congress,” released earlier this month.
SEVILLE, Spain — EADS CEO Tom Enders has urged European governments not to repeat the errors made during the procurement process of the A400M airlifter. Speaking at a ceremony marking the handover of the first A400M to the French air force in Seville, Spain, on Sept. 30, Enders told attendees that Europe urgently needs a joint military certification organization, like the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), rather than separate agencies in each country working to achieve their own certification.
