Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) have announced plans to introduce legislation to require anti-missile technology on commercial aircraft. In a Jan. 17 letter to James Loy, the head of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), Boxer said she is "extremely concerned" about the threat shoulder-fired missiles pose to U.S. commercial aircraft. In November, terrorists tried to shoot down an Israeli airliner over Kenya using an SA-7 shoulder-fired missile.
CONGRESSIONAL CLOUT: The recent decision by the House Armed Services Committee to make its subcommittee structure similar to that of the Senate Armed Services Committee (DAILY, Jan. 10) could boost the clout of both defense authorization committees, analysts say. The different subcommittee structures often have prevented the House-Senate defense authorization conference from finishing its annual funding recommendations in time to influence authors of the annual defense appropriations bill.
EXPERTISE: The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DRTA) is seeking industry's help for a number of sensitive areas, including weapons and target technologies, hazard assessment technology and systems engineering, says a contract notice posted last week. DTRA plans to award multiple indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contracts for such expertise. The notice calls for contractors to conduct, implement and sustain DTRA's capabilities in those areas.
AIRLAND CHAIR: Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) is the frontrunner to become chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee's airland subcommittee in the new Congress, while Sen. James Talent (R-Mo.) is the leading candidate to head the seapower subcommittee, congressional sources say. A decision on the chairmanships is expected within the next week or so. The Senate Armed Services Committee is getting new subcommittee chairmen as part of the Republican takeover of the Senate.
PRAGUE - NATO has agreed to provide more than $6 million for the construction of two huge aircraft fuel tanks at a storage facility at a Czech air force base in Hermanuv Mestec, east Bohemia. The money is part of a $1.5 billion fund set aside by NATO for its three 1999 entrants, the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary, to standardize equipment and systems and enhance interoperability.
Jan. 23 -- Precision Strike Association presents Winter Roundtable 2003 - Global Strategy for Joint Precision Strike. Crystal Gateway Marriott, Salon A, 1700 Jefferson Davis Highway, Arlington, Va. For more information call Leslie Mueller at (301) 475-6513 or email [email protected]. Jan. 26 - 28 -- National Defense Industrial Association presents 2003 Tactical Wheeled Vehicles Conference. The DoubleTree Hotel & Monterey Conference Center. For more information contact Angie De Kleine at (703) 247-2599 or email [email protected].
COUNTDOWN: China's Shenzhou V launch vehicle is undergoing final assembly, according to sources with the Shanghai Aerospace Bureau, and the first Chinese manned space flight is likely to be set for this fall. China announced it plans to conduct a human space flight after several successful launches of unmanned vehicles, including the Shenzhou III and Shenzhou IV (DAILY, June 12, 2002, Jan. 7). China plans nearly 10 launches this year, including the Shenzhou V. Long-term space plans include a space station, according to Chinese officials.
SUBMARINE WORK: Naval Sea Systems Command awarded General Dynamics subsidiary Electric Boat a $51 million contract modification last week for nuclear submarine work. The modification is to a $197 million contract awarded in 1999. Electric Boat will provide design, engineering, material and logistics support for the U.S. Trident submarine program, the two operational Seawolf-class submarines, the NR-1 deep submergence submarine, the Los Angeles-class submarines and the United Kingdom's Trident submarine program.
Two commercial satellite imaging companies have won Pentagon contracts totaling more than $200 million in a program that could be worth $1 billion over the next several years, and which changes the way the military does business with such companies.
COMING BACK: The EP-3E reconnaissance aircraft that made a forced landing on China's Hainan Island in 2001 after colliding with a Chinese fighter should be back in service early next year, a Navy spokesman says. The crew returned to the U.S. after being detained for 11 days. Several months later, their $80 million plane was partially disassembled and flown to the U.S. in a Russian An-24 cargo plane. Since then, Lockheed Martin has done $16 million worth of work on the EP-3E.
BIDDING OPENS: The Army plans to launch the bidding process for the Precision Guided Mortar Munition (PGMM) "on or about" Jan. 31, says a recent acquisition notice. A Request for Proposals (RFP) will seek bids for development and low-rate initial production for the mortar round, the notice says. The RFP will be issued by the Army's Office of the Product Manager for Mortar Systems and bids will close on March 17. PGMM is a round equipped with sensors and guidance systems that can be fired from the Army's legacy 120mm mortar launcher.
PRAGUE - Czech police have shelved an investigation into alleged corruption surrounding the planned state purchase of Gripen Jas-39 fighters from the BAE Systems/Saab consortium. The police's anti-corruption squad launched inquiries late last year at the behest of the head of the senate's defense committee, Michael Zantovsky (DAILY, Nov. 12, 2002). Police interviewed a number of senators, but declined to detail the nature of the inquiries other than to say they were investigating whether the tender was in accordance with valid legal regulations.
With an eye toward supporting its Transformational Communication System (TCS) effort, the Department of Defense is interested in a proposed laser communication system being developed for use on the International Space Station (ISS). TCS is designed to dramatically increase the bandwidth available to the military by linking ground-based fiber optic cables to space using lasers to transmit data to and from the ground, and between satellites (DAILY, Sept. 4, 2002).
AEGIS SUPPORT: BAE Systems will continue to provide support for the U.S. Navy's Aegis Combat System under a $298 million contract, the company said Jan. 16. The company will provide systems engineering, test and evaluation, integrated logistics and program management to the Aegis Technical Representative. Work is to be completed by November 2012, and will be performed by BAE Systems and five subcontractors.
In March or April, NASA plans to resume flight tests of automated systems that could allow unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to autonomously detect and avoid other aircraft. The flight tests will use Scaled Composites' manned Proteus aircraft as a UAV stand-in, along with a variety of manned aircraft, including NASA-owned F-18s, flying simulated collision courses. The flights will take place at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, Calif.
SHUTTLE LAUNCH: Space Shuttle Columbia launched Jan. 16, carrying the first Israeli astronaut and six crewmates on a mission devoted to round-the-clock science. The astronauts plan to conduct more than 80 experiments by working in 12-hour shifts. The shuttle is due to return to Earth on Feb. 1.
ENVIRONMENTAL TECTONICS CORP. of Southampton, Pa., will provide its advanced spatial disorientation trainer, the GYRO Integrated Physiological Trainer, Generation II (GYRO-IPT-II) to the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). The GYRO-IPT-II, to be delivered in June, will be used to train RAAF pilots and aircrew to deal with spatial disorientation and to conduct high-risk flight maneuvers.
Senior Navy officials said Jan. 16 that the number of Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) the Navy will buy depends on the ship's capabilities and design features. "The number is probably more than 30 and less than 1,000," Rear Adm. Mark Edwards said during a panel discussion at the Surface Navy Association Symposium in Crystal City, Va. "But until we get it out there and know what it can and can't do, I think it would be premature to comment on that."
Averting a crunch on a bandwidth supply used to channel the military's communications and control signals requires more than adding satellite capacity, Air Force Space Command [AFSPC] chief Gen. Lance W. Lord said Jan. 16.
Navy and Marine Corps leaders for the first time have unveiled details of a cost-saving plan to reduce its warplane fleet by integrating their tactical aircraft squadrons. An outline of the plan was announced last summer, but the services officially disclosed the framework of the effort this month in a command message to Navy and Marine squadrons obtained by The DAILY.
