Following the analysis of its first failed flight attempt last June, NASA's Hyper-X program is planning a different trajectory for its second launch attempt next year that should make conditions less harsh for its modified Pegasus booster vehicle. The 12-foot long X-43A hypersonic demonstrator is a scramjet-powered test aircraft designed for launch from the nose of a modified Pegasus rocket, which boosts it after being released from the wing of a B-52.
SEA-BASED TERMINAL: Although the fiscal 2003 defense appropriations conference report denies the Missile Defense Agency's $90 million request for a new sea-based terminal missile defense system - a program lawmakers say was not well defined - development of a sea-based terminal capability still could be aided by two upcoming flight tests for the Sea-based Midcourse Defense (SMD) program, according to a Defense Department official.
YESTERDAY'S DARPA: Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) head Tony Tether says he's making progress in returning his agency to its roots in high-risk, "far side" technologies. As defense science and technology (S&T) budgets declined during the 1990s, "DARPA was being pressured more and more to fill the gap in what I would call the product improvement S&T area," Tether says.
ICBM WORK: TRW ICBM Systems, of Clearfield, Utah, was awarded a $233.4 million contract modification to perform the second year of work on refurbishing propulsion systems on all three stages of the Minuteman III, the Defense Department announced Oct. 11. The deal exercises an option for the second full rate year of production on the Minuteman III Propulsion Replacement Program.
The Department of Defense should report to Congress how many "nontraditional" defense contractors are participating in Section 845 agreements, which DOD uses to attract such contractors, the General Accounting Office said in a report. The agreements generally are not subject to procurement contract regulations. In addition to attracting companies that aren't traditional defense contractors, DOD also views the agreements as "a way to test creative procurement strategies" such as using teaming arrangements and consortia, according to the GAO.
Australia's defense minister on Oct. 10 publicly tested the military capabilities of a small, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) originally conceived as a weather observer. Robert Hill remotely piloted one of three Aerosonde UAVs, which are lightweight drones with nearly 9-foot wingspans. Each long-distance aircraft contained either a video camera, a radio frequency repeater or a radar-jamming device to prove its military capabilities.
JOINT TESTING: Lockheed Martin, the U.S. Air Force and the Italian air force have conducted joint C-130J tests as part of the U.S. Air Force's C-130J defensive systems upgrade program, Lockheed Martin said Oct. 10. The Air Force is installing radar warning receivers (RWRs) on its C-130Js, and conducted trials to ensure the aircrafts' upgraded software works with the RWRs. Italian air force C-130Js already have radar warning receivers, so Italy provided an aircraft for the joint testing program, which was funded by the U.S. Air Force.
European Space Agency officials have approved assessment studies for four robotic missions that are part of its Aurora space exploration program, ESA said Oct. 10.
BOEING SPACE AND COMMUNICATIONS GROUP will perform payload engineering integration, mission integration and payload operations work for the International Space Station under a $201.5 million contract from NASA, the aerospace agency said. The work will be done under the new ISS Payload Integration Contract (IPIC), which consolidates station payload work under a single contract. Boeing previously performed the work under two contracts. The work will be performed at NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston, and Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
The Missile Defense Agency's plans to build a sea-based X-band radar for the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system have hit a snag on Capitol Hill, where key lawmakers say they have not yet been persuaded that a sea-based radar is better than a land-based one.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Army Space Command will gain as yet unassigned new missions as part of its reorganization into the freshly-minted U.S. Strategic Command, Lt. Gen. Joseph M. Cosumano Jr. said Oct. 9.
The House Appropriations Committee wants NASA to reconsider its plans to stop servicing the Hubble Space Telescope during its final years in orbit. Hubble, which was launched in 1990, is scheduled to return to Earth in 2010 and be replaced by the Webb Space Telescope, formerly the Next Generation Space Telescope. To save money, NASA does not plan to service Hubble after 2004.
A Boeing/Science Applications International Corp. team welcomed the military's decision to keep them as the industry lead for the DARPA/Army Future Combat Systems program. "The concept of an industry lead systems integrator was so revolutionary that [DARPA} and the Army wanted the opportunity to reaffirm their choice of the LSI early in this phase of the program," Jerry McElwee, Boeing vice president and program manager for FCS, said in a statement released Oct. 10.
PACT: L-3 Communications' Link Simulation and Training division will build a P-3C Partial Aircrew Coordination Trainer (PACT) under a $6.6 million U.S. Navy contract, the company said Oct. 10. The PACT will be used to hone the skills of the aircraft's intelligence gathering crews, the company said. Commander Patrol Reconnaissance Forces Pacific P-3C crews, which patrol the western Pacific Ocean, will train on the system when it is delivered to the Naval Air Station Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, in 19 months, the company said.
The Army's RAH-66 Comanche program passed its make-or-break Defense Acquisition Board (DAB) review earlier this week, a source told The DAILY. The DAB review was held to approve the Army's restructuring plan for the Boeing-Sikorsky helicopter program - the sixth so far in its troubled history. Apparently satisfied, Pentagon Acquisition Chief E.C. "Pete" Aldridge Jr. has signed the Acquisition Decision Memorandum (ADM) formally approving the new plan, the source said.
The Federal Communications Commission on Oct. 10 blocked the proposed $16.2 billion acquisition of Hughes Electronics Corp. by EchoStar Communications Corp., citing concerns about the effects of diminished competition in the video programming subscriber market. In an Oct. 10 statement, FCC officials said the possibility that the merger would reduce competition in the multi-channel video program distribution (MVPD) market outweighed any public interest benefits caused by the merger of the satellite TV providers.
Speaking deep in his rival's territory, the co-CEO of Europe's largest aerospace company appealed for greater access to the U.S. defense market and linked better transatlantic partnership to world security. Phillipe Camus, co-CEO of European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. (EADS), said the sophistication of modern defense programs demands greater collaboration between U.S. and foreign companies.
SPACEWALK: Mission Specialists David Wolf and Piers Sellers wrapped up the first spacewalk of the shuttle Atlantis' mission to the International Space Station on Oct. 10. They began activating and outfitting the station's new Starboard 1 truss, which was attached to the station earlier in the day by the station's robotic arm.
Two Raytheon Co. businesses will develop anti-jamming technology for the Global Positioning System (GPS), the company said Oct. 10. The Precision Guidance Systems (PGS) unit of Raytheon's Space and Airborne Systems division was awarded a contract option worth $1.9 million by the Navy's Space & Naval Warfare Systems Center as part of Raytheon's work on the Digital Antenna Electronics (DAE) program. Under the option, PGS will develop, produce and test DAE prototypes that are compatible with standard aircraft anti-jam antenna systems.
E-4B WORK: DRS Technologies will supply the primary workstations that control multiple communications links for the Air Force's E-4B Advanced Airborne Command Post, the company announced Oct. 10. The deal could be worth up to $1 million and calls for the installation of the Enhanced Command Consoles on the E-4B, a modified Boeing 747-200 that serves as an airborne operations center during national emergencies. Boeing awarded the contract to DRS.
As an extension of ongoing cooperative research with the FAA, NASA is putting together a major initiative in aviation security and safety that should have a high profile in the agency's fiscal year 2004 budget request, according to Administrator Sean O'Keefe. A major thrust of this initiative will be the modernization of the country's overburdened air traffic management system. This effort "is really going to be the answer for so many of the commercial industry's woes right now," O'Keefe said during a press breakfast in Falls Church, Va., Oct. 10.
BAE Systems will guarantee the availability of the United Kingdom's 21 Nimrod maritime reconnaissance aircraft under a 75 million pound (nearly $117 million) maintenance contract announced Oct. 9. The pay-for-performance deal should cut the Royal Air Force's (RAF) support costs by 20 percent, and covers Nimrod maintenance during the transition to the new Nimrod MRA.4s.
House and Senate negotiators tentatively have approved a final fiscal 2003 defense appropriations bill that funds more F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, C-17 Globemaster III transports and UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters than the Bush Administration requested, but kills the Army's Brilliant Anti-Armor (BAT) submunition program and slashes the budget for the Air Force Multi-sensor Command and Control Aircraft (MC2A), sources said Oct. 9.
