U.S. Air Force leaders are close to a decision on a sweeping, short-term upgrade to the smart bomb inventory that would equip the weapons with simple data links to allow them to track moving targets. Northrop Grumman's Affordable Moving Surface Target Engagement (AMSTE) effort, a nearly $50 million program led by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) in Rome, N.Y., is nearing the end of a three-year demonstration phase.
The U.S. Air Force and Boeing have rescheduled the next launch attempt of the final Defense Satellite Communications System (DSCS) spacecraft for Aug. 28 from Cape Canaveral, Fla., according to Boeing. The Delta IV flight will be the second mission in the Air Force's Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program. The launch team will consider earlier opportunities in the month should the range become available, according to Boeing.
As the U.S. Air Force nears a decision on the Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) competition, Lockheed Martin on Aug. 12 disclosed details of the latest test of its design. SDB is the Air Force's first 250-pound-class smart weapon and is designed to multiply the number of targets each warplane can engage. The F/A-22's internal weapons bay, for example, can store either two 2,000-pound bombs or eight SDBs.
A technical problem with the Indian Space Research Organization's (ISRO) INSAT-3E communications satellite has caused the next flight of the Ariane 5 rocket to be pushed back several days to Sept. 3. INSAT-3E will be the fourth satellite to launch in the INSAT-3 series, following INSAT-3A, 3B and 3C. INSAT-3D is scheduled for launch in 2004-2005. A spokeswoman for Arianespace told The DAILY that technicians are fixing the problem.
The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory is taking the Lego toy concept to orbit, asking industry to explore the idea of using a relatively small family of building blocks to quickly construct nearly any kind of complex structure in space.
NEW DELHI - U.S. officials have "no objection" to Israel's sale of the Phalcon airborne early warning system to India, State Department deputy spokesman Philip T. Reeker said Aug. 11. "... We have been discussing this potential sale with Israel for several years," he said at a Washington briefing. "And in the past, we have expressed concern that heightened tensions between India and Pakistan made the transfer inadvisable. It was really an issue of timing. But we feel that recent developments in the South Asia region have eased some of those concerns.
The U.S. Department of Defense should take several steps to collect and update information needed for the review process for releasing advanced weapons and technologies to foreign countries, the General Accounting Office (GAO) says in a new report. The reviews are complex and each military department has its own process for reviewing transfer requests from other governments, the report says (see chart).
The Japan Defense Agency (JDA) has picked GE Aircraft Engines' CF6-80C2 engine for its next-generation military cargo aircraft, the C-X, GEAE said Aug. 12. The defense agency is scheduled to take delivery of the first engine in 2006. The contract could be worth $1 billion over the program's 30-year life, GEAE said. The engine already has been picked for Japan's E-767 AWACS early warning aircraft, the KC-767 tanker/transport and the B-747 executive transport.
DEMONSTRATOR: United Defense Industries has built a concept demonstrator for the U.S. Army's Non-Line-of-Sight Cannon (NLOS-C) and will begin firing assessments of it at Yuma Proving Ground, Ariz., late this month. The self-propelled, 155mm howitzer demonstrator is to serve as a testbed for the Army and its industry partners as they develop a technical approach for NLOS-C, the company said. The demonstrator is a modified BAE XM777 towed howitzer mounted on a platform developed by the company's Ground Systems Division, of San Jose, Calif.
On Aug. 11, NASA dedicated its new unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) applications center at NASA Research Park next to the agency's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif. A collaborative venture of NASA, Clark University of Worcester, Mass., and the Girvan Institute of Technology, the center will work to enhance the scientific and commercial use of UAVs for high-resolution imaging in the national airspace (DAILY, May 31, 2002).
Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) of El Segundo, Calif., has conducted a successful test firing of its Falcon rocket's upper stage engine, the Kestrel, the company said Aug. 11. The liquid oxygen and rocket-grade kerosene engine achieved reliable ignition and stable combustion, the company said. The fuel-efficient, lightweight Kestrel is capable of multiple restarts for precise placement of one or more satellites, the company said.
The development of a family of software-defined radios costing billions of dollars is slowed, funding commitments by services are withdrawn and some technologies are rushed into production before they're ready: That's a worst-case scenario portrayed by a General Accounting Office (GAO) study issued Aug. 11. The study described the effects of what the GAO called a "fragmented" management structure in place for the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS), one of the keys to the Pentagon's transformation effort.
Not all of the "Buy American" provisions in the House 2004 defense authorization bill are opposed by aerospace and defense trade industry groups. The Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) supports some Buy American provisions regarding the amount of U.S. titanium in weapons and aircraft. Those provisions relate to the "Specialty Metals Clause" of the Berry Amendment, a pre-World War II amendment to Title 10 of the United States Code.
Four or five unmanned aerial vehicle companies will be asked to demonstrate their UAVs in coming weeks to the Department of Homeland Security's Bureau of Customs and Border Protection, a Customs official said Aug. 11.
VERIDIAN: General Dynamics completed its $1.5 billion acquisition of information technology provider Veridian Corp., the company said Aug. 11. Veridian's four divisions will become part of two businesses within General Dynamics Information Systems and Technology group. The buy will give the company a "stronger base" in network security, information systems and other areas, General Dynamics said.
SCISAT: The Canadian Space Agency's Scientific Satellite Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment (SCISAT-1) is scheduled to launch Aug. 12 at approximately 10:11 p.m. EDT, NASA confirmed Aug. 11. An L-1011 jet aircraft departing from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., will carry the Pegasus XL launch vehicle that will deploy the spacecraft. SCISAT-1 will help a team of international scientists improve their understanding of the depletion of Earth's ozone layer.
Lockheed Martin recently took its new Marine Corps Aviation Simulator Master Plan F/A-18D simulator on a "first flight," the company said Aug. 11. The simulator uses a PC-driven image generator and has distributed mission training capability and networked systems to allow pilots to "see" and react to other simulators, Lockheed Martin said. It has an open architecture to allow for easy upgrades.
The first test trials of the M777E1 155mm lightweight howitzer using the Global Positioning System-guided XM 982 Excalibur projectile have been completed, BAE Systems said. The test trials, at the Yuma Proving Grounds near Yuma, Ariz., involved the firing of seven XM 982 instrumented test projectiles under three temperatures using the Modular Artillery Charge System (MACS). MACS is a new, solid-propellant charge designed to replace the currently fielded M3A1 (green bag), M4A2 (white bag), M119A2 (red bag) and M203A1 charges.
Boosting the V-22 Osprey's interoperability emerged as a key theme of a Defense Acquisition Board (DAB) review two weeks ago, a Pentagon memo released Aug. 11 shows. On July 31, the DAB pushed interoperability into the V-22 program's short- and long-term planning. The DAB was led by Michael W. Wynne, acting undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics.
