Members of a House-Senate conference committee unveiled a compromise fiscal 2003 defense authorization bill Nov. 13 that aims to speed up the fielding of new technology and would create new intelligence and homeland security positions. The committee finished the legislation late Nov. 12 after resolving a dispute over disability and retirement pay. The full House approved the bill that evening, and the Senate was expected to pass it late Nov. 13.
The Missile Defense Agency has asked Congress to support its proposal to build a sea-based X-band radar for the Pacific test bed, saying a sea-based platform would cost less and have greater mobility than a land-based system, a Defense Department official said Nov. 12.
Raytheon Co. was selected over Lockheed Martin to win two competitive contracts worth a total of $16.6 million to supply Canada with additional Paveway II laser-guided bomb components. Raytheon said it won an $11.7 million contract Oct. 29 to manufacture and deliver more than 1,000 Paveway II Computer Control Groups (CCGs) and to field test equipment and load-crew training units for the Canadian National Defence Forces. On June 7, the company won a $4.9 million contract for the corresponding Paveway II Airfoil Groups.
SPOT IMAGE is opening Tokyo Spot Image, a joint venture of Spot Image France, which will own 51 percent, and ImagONE Co., a Japanese company that will own 49 percent. Tokyo Spot Image will distribute the full range of Spot satellite imaging products, including for the Japanese fishing industry and mineral and oil exploration. ImageONE recently acquired a receiving station, including a Spot 5 terminal, which Spot said would be a key asset for delivering its data in Japan.
Northrop Grumman Ship Systems sector said late Nov. 11 that its proposed magazine protection system for the DD(X) destroyer program was tested successfully at Aberdeen, Md. The system, called the Peripheral Vertical Launch System, was proposed as an alternative to the traditional vertical-launch system configurations involving centralized missile magazines, the company said in a statement.
Northrop Grumman's Unmanned Combat Armed Rotorcraft (UCAR) team will meet with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) next week to winnow the team's list of configuration choices from seven to three. UCAR will be a highly autonomous unmanned helicopter designed for low-altitude combat operations and capable of collaborating with manned and unmanned Army systems (DAILY, May 29).
An oxygen leak inside the shuttle Endeavour has forced NASA managers to delay the launch of mission STS-113 until Nov. 18 at the earliest. The leak is in a system that supplies oxygen to the shuttle crew just before launch, and to the crew cabin while the shuttle is in orbit.
The House Government Reform national security subcommittee has asked the General Accounting Office to assess the effectiveness of U.S. and international efforts to limit the proliferation of cruise missile and unmanned aerial vehicle technology, documents show.
Having resolved a hardware glitch that once halted the program, BAE Systems is now positioning a new electronic countermeasure system for expansion on more U.S. Air Force aircraft types, ranging from intelligence planes to cargo-lifters, a company executive said Nov. 12. The AN/ALE-55 Fiber Optic Towed Decoy (FOTD) has passed a series of flight tests on the B-1B Lancer since a brake problem appeared last spring, BAE Systems said.
WARHEAD TEST: BAE Systems' multistage warhead perforated a steel-reinforced concrete target during a sled test of Raytheon's Joint Standoff Weapon Unitary variant (JSOW-C), the company said Nov. 12. The test of the Broach warhead took place Oct. 23 at the Supersonic Naval Ordnance Research Tracks facility at China Lake, Calif. JSOW-C is slated to become operational in 2004.
NEW DELHI - The production schedule for Sukhoi Su-30 MKIs being produced in India under license has been advanced by four years, said Nalini Ranjan Mohanty, the chairman of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. Mohanty told The DAILY that aircraft production should be completed in 10 years instead of the earlier target of 14 years, to better meet the needs of the Indian air force.
NASA's amended fiscal year 2003 budget request puts development of a next-generation reusable launch vehicle (RLV) on hold at least until 2009, cutting a total of $2.325 billion from the Space Launch Initiative (SLI) to fund work on a new Orbital Space Plane (OSP) for ferrying crew to and from the International Space Station (ISS).
As the Nov. 12 deadline for tender offers in the Polish multirole fighter competition drew near, Lockheed Martin submitted a $5.5 billion offset package to Polish industry, up to $2 billion more than originally expected, according to the company. Lockheed Martin's proposed offset package, worth more than 150 percent of the competition's total value, is the latest push in an intense, yearlong effort by United States government and company officials to secure the Polish fighter deal, estimated to be worth $3.5 billion to $4 billion.
General Dynamics officials said Nov. 12 the company has completed its acquisition of privately held Command System Inc. (CSI), a manufacturer of command-and-control hardware and software for military customers. Terms of the acquisition, announced Aug. 27, were not disclosed (DAILY, Aug. 28).
A second T-50 Golden Eagle trainer completed its first flight, Lockheed Martin and Korea Aerospace Industries announced Nov. 12. The Nov. 8 flight demonstrated airworthiness, basic systems operation and the aircraft's handling qualities, the companies said. Assembly of the second aircraft was completed in May, and it has been undergoing ground checks since then. The first T-50 flew in August (DAILY, Aug. 21).
The House Government Reform Committee's national security subcommittee plans to continue scrutinizing the Air Force F/A-22 Raptor, according to a subcommittee aide. The subcommittee could make the Lockheed Martin aircraft the subject of another public hearing, but no decision has been made. The Air Force announced Nov. 7 that the F/A-22 has a potential cost overrun of up to $690 million in the engineering and manufacturing development phase (DAILY, Nov. 11).
The Office of Naval Research (ONR) is sponsoring a series of tests at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., in which a 200-foot airship equipped with hyperspectral cameras will be used to demonstrate a variety of homeland security applications. Under a $7 million ONR contract awarded last year, Honolulu-based Science and Technology International (STI) has integrated the company's Littoral Airborne Sensor - Hyperspectral (LASH) system onto a Skyship 600 airship leased from Airship Management Services (AMS) of Greenwich, Conn.
General Dynamics has received a $141 million contract from the Army to produce 100 hardware kits for the M1A1 Abrams main battle tank as part of co-production tank program with Egypt. Delivery of the kits to Cairo, where the tanks will be assembled, will be completed by November 2005, General Dynamics officials said in a statement. Each kit will consist of a turret structure and armor packs, the commander's weapons station and hatches, suspension components, electronic boxes, wiring harnesses and the gunner's primary sights.
RETURN: A Soyuz TM-34 spacecraft returning from a trip to the International Space Station landed Nov. 9 in Kazakhstan. The Soyuz crew left behind a new Soyuz TMA-1 to serve as an emergency return vehicle for the space station crew. During their visit, the Soyuz crew conducted experiments and conducted technical evaluations on the station's condition. "There still is a problem of increased noise in some of the modules," Yuri Lonchakov said at a post-flight news conference.
Two key members of Congress say they have questions about NASA's new space transportation plan and hope to get answers in the coming weeks. The new Integrated Space Transportation Plan (ISTP), which NASA announced Nov. 8, calls for the agency to develop an orbital space plane (OSP) by 2010 to return an International Space Station crew to Earth in an emergency (DAILY, Nov. 11). The plan also envisions that the OSP could transfer crews to the ISS by 2012.
A push to reform the Defense Department's Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program is poised to enter a new phase, shifting its focus from boosting financial returns to reinventing the technologies and business processes that run the system.
Lockheed Martin Missiles & Fire Control said Nov. 11 its Loitering Attack Missile (LAM) successfully completed its first major flight test last week at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. "It validated our approach in that it allows us to vertically launch the missile in flight, know the fins will pop out, the wings will pop out and it will fly off to its way point," Steve Altman, NetFires business development manager, said of the Nov. 8 test.
