A payload for the Air Force's Space Based Infrared System-High (SBIRS-High) program that has been delayed several months while engineers track down an electromagnetic interference problem now is scheduled to be delivered to its host satellite in mid May, according to Col. Mark Borkowski, system program director for SBIRS.
The Missile Defense Agency has tapped Raytheon Co. to develop and build a mobile, forward-deployed, land-based X-band radar to track enemy missiles early in their flight.
Germany's April 7 announcement that it has begun sea testing a new class of diesel-electric submarines probably will quicken the pace of research in sophisticated sensor technology, according to a leading naval analyst. However, the submarines cannot rival nuclear-powered submarines in capability or mobility, said naval analyst Stuart Slade of Forecast International/DMS. "The nukes still rule," Slade said in an April 7 interview with The DAILY.
NASA completed a second series of test flights on April 4 to evaluate detect, see, and avoid (DSA) systems designed to allow unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to fly safely with other air traffic. A previous series of test flights conducted at Las Cruces, N.M., last March evaluated a DSA system that de-conflicted flight paths with the help of transponders on the other aircraft (DAILY, March 18, 2002). The latest series of flights featured a "non-cooperative" DSA system, which didn't require such transponders.
April 7 - 10 -- 19th National Space Symposium, "Transforming the Future." The Broadmoor, Colorado Springs. Call (800) 691-4000 or go to www.spacesymposium.org. April 8 - 9 -- DOD Advance Planning Briefing for Industry, "Chemical Biological Defense Systems," Hunt Valley Marriott, Hunt Valley, Md. For more information email [email protected] or go to www.ndia.org.
BRADLEY SALES: The intention of some members of Congress to continue to fund some legacy military systems could be a good sign for the Bradley Fighting Vehicle program, according to senior aerospace and defense analyst Paul Nisbet of JSA Research. United Defense Industries, the maker of the Bradley, received a $197.2 million contract April 2 to remanufacture 138 Bradleys. That, combined with an existing backlog, could generate more than $800 million for UDI through 2005, Nisbet says.
The Defense Department plans to use money in the fiscal 2003 supplemental appropriations bill to replace General Atomics Predator unmanned aerial vehicles that the Air Force has lost in recent military operations, congressional and industry sources said April 4. Sources said the Bush Administration has indicated it intends to use more than $50 million to buy several Predator air vehicles and spare parts and obtain support services.
Aerospace Daily affiliate AviationNow.com has created a special website to provide coverage of the war with Iraq and informational links. For updated daily coverage from The DAILY and other Aviation Week publications, please visit http://www.AviationNow.com/gulfwar.
BYE BYE NANO: As nanotechnology becomes more firmly embedded in every technological discipline, it will cease to be spoken of as a separate field, according to Murray Hirschbein, senior advisor to the chief technologist at NASA. "Some time in the future ... nanotechnology will go away," Hirschbein says. "It'll be ingrained in the system deeply enough that nobody bothers to talk about it. Our materials will start at the atom level, our life science will start at the atom level, our sensors will start at the atom level.
POST-WAR COSTS: U.S. defense spending could jump 11-12 percent if additional U.S. ground forces are required after the Iraqi war to counter guerilla forces and their logistics support from Syria and Iran, according to senior aerospace and defense analyst Byron Callan of Merrill Lynch. If 200,000 peacekeepers are needed after the war, "then FY '04 and possibly FY '05 DOD [Department of Defense] spending could be 11-12 percent higher than budgets now planned," he says.
RAPTOR DELIVERIES: F/A-22 Raptor production rates are running at least six months behind schedule, but program officials say they are gaining ground. Two weeks ago, the most recent F/A-22 was delivered a week ahead of the most updated schedule, says Marvin Sambur, assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition. Manufacturing improvements inserted by Lockheed Martin's new leadership at the final assembly plant in Marietta, Ga., accounted for the early delivery, Sambur says.
NEW DELHI - The Indian air force has ordered an inquiry into the latest crash of one of its MiG aircraft, a MiG-23 that crashed April 4 near Ludhiana in the northern Punjab state. The pilot bailed out of the aircraft after reporting an engine fire. At least five civilians were killed in the crash, according to news reports. The crash marks the 56th loss of an Indian MiG-23 since the country bought them from the former Soviet Union in the 1980s.
TANKERS: Boeing and Japan's defense agency have signed the contract for the first 767 Tanker Transport for the Air Self Defense Force, Boeing said April 4. The first tanker is scheduled for delivery in 2007, the last in 2010. Japan announced in 2001 that it would buy four Boeing 767 tankers (DAILY, Dec. 17, 2001).
Faced with a growing stockpile of aged aircraft engines, the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) is pressing the military services to adopt long-term planning for repairs and multi-year contracts for spare parts. Those items top the business agenda for DLA's first Joint Services Engine Summit, taking place later this week in Jacksonville, Fla., said Dave Gay, who manages DLA's support for Air Force engines.
Another budget supplemental will be necessary this year if the U.S. Army is to pay for the increased operating tempo and activities connected with the war on terrorism, the Army's chief budget officer said April 4. The Army's $90.9 billion budget for fiscal year 2003 only reflects the costs of core program areas, according to Maj. Gen. Jerry Sinn.
STERIS CORP. of Mentor, Ohio said its Strategic Technology Enterprises subsidiary will certify a STERIS technology to sterilize robotic planetary spacecraft systems and subsystems. The work is being done under a contract from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which oversees robotic probe missions.
Russia and China could sign an agreement for a joint manned space exploration program this May, said Yuri Koptev, the head of Russia's aviation and space agency. The move could come as part of "significantly revived" cooperation between the two countries in this field since last year, Koptev said April 3. The two countries were not able to agree on China's possible participation in the Glonass program, although Koptev said joint experiments in satellite navigation also may be considered. - Dmitry Pieson ([email protected])
LONDON - As some observers had predicted, the British Royal Air Force's new MBDA Storm Shadow long-range cruise missile made its operational debut during sorties against Iraq, in advance of its official release to service later in the year. About a dozen Storm Shadows, fitted with a Broach tandem penetration warhead for use against hard targets, are believed to have been launched in the first week of Iraqi operations. RAF Tornado GR.4s can carry two Storm Shadows beneath the fuselage.
FUZE INDUSTRIAL BASE: The first details of a government plan for propping up the Defense Department's weapons fuze supplier base will be unveiled later this week in New Orleans. Although the DOD Fuze Roadmap still is being formulated, a Pentagon official will brief the industry's annual fuze conference on some of the findings confirmed so far. The roadmap was the brainchild of Anthony J. Melita, DOD's deputy director for Defense Systems, Land Warfare and Munitions.
WARHEAD DEVELOPMENT: The Air Force's Crash PAD (Prompt Agent Defeat) program, which seeks to demonstrate a blast-fragmentation warhead that can safety destroy biological and chemical weapons, is almost ready to transition from the munitions lab at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., to the acquisition phase, according to Gen. Lester Lyles, commander of Air Force Materiel Command. The warhead, which underwent flight testing in late February, is intended for soft and moderately hardened targets.
AEROSPACE BILL: Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee's science, technology and space panel, and Sen. Ernest "Fritz" Hollings (D-S.C.), ranking Democrat on the full committee, are proposing to create a national office to coordinate the federal government's aerospace research activities. Their newly unveiled bill also calls for NASA to develop a 10-year plan for aeronautics research. Brownback says the U.S. must take such steps to bolster its competitiveness in the face of growing aerospace competition from overseas.
APPROVAL: Boeing is talking with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and Europe's Joint Aviation Authorities about the regulatory certifications for its new 7E7 (DAILY, Feb. 7). "Manufacturers typically begin this process about five years before [the] anticipated certification date. We expect certification and entry into service in 2008, so now is the time to file our applications," says Mike Bair, Boeing's senior vice president for the program.
NEW DELHI - Indian military planners have recommended that the Indian air force put more emphasis on buying beyond-visual-range (BVR) technologies and training pilots to use them. An Indian Ministry of Defence official told The DAILY that military planners are taking seriously the results of last month's French-Indian joint air exercises, which showed that French Mirage 2000s with BVR technology were more capable than the non-BVR Mirage 2000s India operates.
