NEW DELHI - India has decided to use an indigenously developed cryogenic engine for the next Geosynchronous Launch Vehicle (GSLV) flight, according to an official with the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). The first two flights of the GSLV used Russian-built cryogenic engines. The next GLSV demonstration vehicle, GSLV D3, is slated to launch in October.
PRAGUE - Sweden would be interested in taking part in any new tender for supersonic aircraft for the Czech Republic, Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson told journalists here May 22 after meeting with his Czech counterpart, Vladimir Spidla.
Former astronaut Richard Covey, who piloted the first space shuttle mission following the Challenger disaster, will lead the independent assessment team that will review NASA's return-to-flight plans for the shuttle, according to NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe.
The Coast Guard acknowledged May 22 in congressional testimony that funding for the Deepwater modernization program is falling behind program objectives. In a hearing before the House Transportation Committee's Coast Guard subcommittee, Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Thomas Collins echoed an earlier report by the General Accounting Office (GAO), which said funding for the Deepwater program would fall short by about $200 million if the president's FY '04 budget is approved (DAILY, April 2).
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The strategic targets that normally are the focus of U.S. intelligence satellites took a back seat to tactical targets in Iraq when the shooting started, and officials are taking a closer look at how to divide the load in any future war, according to an official of the National Reconnaissance Office.
NASA's In-Space Propulsion (ISP) program, which announced a new round of contracts last week, is helping new propulsion technologies break out of the laboratory and into actual missions, according to Paul Wercinski, ISP program executive in NASA's Office of Space Science. Scientists often are reluctant to put high-risk in-space propulsion technologies into their mission proposals. However, those technologies will languish without a clearly defined mission need, a situation described by one NASA propulsion official as a "Catch 22" (DAILY, Nov. 19, 2001).
U.S. intelligence agencies need "more assets" to find and track weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and prevent them from spreading to other countries, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) said May 22. Although it has proven difficult to detect WMD inside a country, particularly when the weapons are underground, shipments across a nation's border are relatively easy to locate and stop because export facilities are "pretty obvious," Kyl said at a Capitol Hill breakfast seminar.
The Defense Department might have to modify or even terminate the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and other international cooperative programs if Congress approves a House proposal intended to shore up the U.S. defense industrial base, the White House said May 22.
NORTHROP GRUMMAN has delivered the second production RQ-8A Fire Scout vertical takeoff and landing unmanned aerial vehicle to the U.S. Navy, the company said. Northrop Grumman's Integrated Systems sector delivered the vehicle April 14 to the Navy's Webster Field UAV test facility, Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md.
NEW DELHI - Israel has approved the sale of Phalcon radar systems to India, for use on airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft. A defense ministry official said the U.S., which previously had expressed concerns about the sale, has attached no conditions to it. The official said the approval came during talks earlier this month between Brajesh Mishra, the Indian national security adviser, and Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage (DAILY, May 16).
The U.S. Air Force is adjusting the design criteria for the future E-10A Multi-sensor Command and Control aircraft's battle management subsystem, reconfiguring a long list of desired capabilities to reflect budget realities. One week before the planned release of a final request for proposals (RFP) for the Battle Management Command and Control (BMC2) system, it now appears clear to program officials and industry observers that some desired capabilities aren't affordable.
A review by the joint staff has postponed a request for proposals to design the Joint Common Missile (JCM) by 30 days, a U.S. Army spokesman said May 22. The Army's program office for JCM had planned to release the solicitation to potential bidders May 22, but delayed the release until the Joint Requirements Oversight Council (JROC), chaired by Joint Chiefs of Staff Vice Chairman Gen. Peter Pace, completes its review of the program's interoperability requirements.
FORT POLK, La. - The U.S. Army plans to modify its family of Stryker combat vehicles over the next several months before the start of operational testing, according to a program official. Modifications to several configurations of the Infantry Carrier Vehicle (ICV) variant already have been proposed based on the performance of the vehicles during recent exercises, Steven Campbell, Stryker system coordinator, said May 21.
The U.S. Defense Department's internal budgeting process is changing from an annual to a biennial system that uses off-years to focus more attention on how the money is being spent. Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz on May 22 signed the management proposal that alters the Planning, Programming, Budgeting and Execution (PPBE) process. The new procedure does not change the Pentagon's budget reporting requirements to Congress, Comptroller Dov Zakheim said in a statement.
FALCON UPGRADES: Northrop Grumman's California Microwave Systems unit delivered the last of 15 upgraded HU-25 Falcon airborne surveillance aircraft to the U.S. Coast Guard, the company said May 22. The delivery completes a $44 million contract awarded in 2000. The aircrafts' upgraded radar systems give the Coast Guard an "exponential" improvement in mission performance, the company said.
Newly satisfied by the V-22 Osprey's improved technical stability, Defense Department leaders are shifting their focus to reducing the aircraft's $68 million price tag and are considering increasing the production rate. The Defense Acquisition Board (DAB), chaired by E.C. "Pete" Aldridge Jr., the undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, signed a memorandum May 20 stating the V-22's progress during flight tests is "sufficient to consider" ramping up production.
Raytheon Missile Systems scored a competitive coup on May 20 in picking up a contract worth at least $88 million to develop the Miniature Air Launched Decoy (MALD), an expendable air launched vehicle first designed by Northrop Grumman. The Air Armament Center at Eglin Air (AAC) Force Base, Fla., selected the Tucson, Ariz.-based Raytheon unit for a five-year system design and demonstration phase.
The Bush Administration said late May 20 that it plans to review U.S. export controls and other rules to ensure they do not impede missile defense cooperation with other countries. "As part of our efforts to deepen missile defense cooperation with friends and allies, the United States will seek to eliminate impediments to such cooperation," the White House said in a "fact sheet" that largely restates the Administration's plans for developing and fielding ballistic missile defenses.
The Senate May 21 approved legislation aimed at integrating the Energy Department's new Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator (RNEP) program with the Defense Department's ongoing conventional penetrator programs. The legislation, passed as an amendment to the fiscal 2004 defense authorization bill, notes that DOE oversees an RNEP feasibility study but has no role in developing conventional weapons designed to destroy hard and deeply buried targets. DOD handles the conventional weapons.
100TH FLIGHT: The T-50 Golden Eagle, developed by Korea Aerospace Industries and Lockheed Martin, has completed its 100th test flight, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics said May 21. T-50 development is scheduled to continue through 2005. The advanced supersonic trainer is being developed for the Republic of Korea air force, but the companies also are marketing it internationally.
MOSCOW - The environmental inspector for Russia's Arkhangelsk region, Anatoly Minyaev, has agreed to allow preparations for a planned June 30 Rockot launch continue at Plesetsk Cosmodrome. On April 18, Minyaev halted Rockot operations due to an absence of a water treatment plant at the Rocket pad. Environmental activists have tried to halt Rockot launches for years, saying they are environmentally damaging.
