COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - U.S. Northern Command, officially established here Oct. 1, will be successful if it can deter, prevent or defeat any attack on the United States, according to Gen. Ralph E. Eberhart, the NORTHCOM commander. The plan echoes the pre-emptive approach laid out in President Bush's National Security Strategy, issued last month.
The Army Aviation and Missile Command awarded Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. a $1.5 billion multiyear contract last week to build 80 UH-60L Black Hawk helicopters for the Army and 82 MH-60S helicopters for the Navy. If all options are exercised, the program could be worth $6 billion for 600 helicopters, mission kits and related support between 2002 and 2006, Sikorsky officials said in a Sept. 26 statement.
In the wake of Operation Enduring Freedom, the U.S. government's right to exercise "shutter control" over commercial remote sensing satellites may not be as important an issue as many expected, according to one of the authors of a 2001 Rand Corp. report on the industry.
LONDON - Flight development of the first Royal Air Force Harrier GR.7 fitted with an uprated Rolls-Royce Pegasus Mk 107 turbofan began earlier this month at Warton, in the hands of Harrier-builder BAE Systems' test pilot Mark Bowman. Bowman conducted a successful 45-minute sortie of the vertical/standard takeoff and landing (V/STOL) ground-attack fighter.
The Boeing Co. has dropped an informal effort to sell the U.S. Air Force's retired B-1Bs to foreign militaries after being rebuffed by Australia and the United Kingdom, according to a Boeing manager. "We are not approaching any other countries at this time," Rich Parke, manager of Boeing's B-1B advanced program and business development office, wrote in an email to The DAILY Sept. 30.
The Defense Department will move ahead with plans to collect the $2.3 billion it says is owed by General Dynamics and the Boeing Co. for failing to deliver the A-12 Avenger II aircraft 11 years ago, despite the case still being under appeal. "The Department of Defense's point of view is that we've reached a point where we believe the money is owed to us and we think payment should be made," DOD spokesman Army Maj. Ted Wadsworth told The DAILY Sept. 30.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - There should be little concern that space power won't receive the attention it deserves in the new U.S. Strategic Command, officially established Oct. 1 at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb., said Rear Adm. James D. McArthur, director of operations for the new command. McArthur, speaking with reporters at Peterson Air Force Base here on Sept. 30, was responding to a question about an op-ed article in the Sept. 29 Colorado Springs Gazette by Sen. Wayne Allard (R-Colo.).
The U.S. could save billions of dollars and meet its goals for nuclear arms reductions by retiring more delivery systems than planned, the Congressional Budget Office says in a new report.
V-22 Osprey tiltrotor contractors Bell Helicopter Textron and Boeing are both working on reconfigurable blade concepts that could yield a 15-20 percent increase in speed and range, according to Marine Corps Col. Dan Schultz, the program manager. The blades on the V-22 must function both as helicopter blades and as turboprop blades, and thus aren't fully optimized for either function, according to Schultz.
Prosecuting a war on Iraq will cost billions of dollars less if the U.S. relies heavily on air power over ground forces, the Congressional Budget Office estimates. Deploying a "heavy air" force to the Persian Gulf would cost $9 billion, while moving a "heavy ground" force to the region would cost $13 billion, the CBO wrote in a new report.
NEW DELHI - Ten long-awaited Sukhoi Su-30MKI aircraft were inducted into the Indian air force on Sept. 27 at a ceremony in Pune headed by George Fernandes, India's defense minister. The delivery marks the first of 32 advanced Su-30MKIs ordered by India in 1998 to join its fleet. Another 18 aircraft bought under the same deal are unmodified Su-30s, which the Russians already delivered. The last 22 Su-30MKIs are scheduled to be delivered by the end of 2003.
LONDON - In the first of two long-awaited decisions that will shape Britain's planned carrier task force, the United Kingdom (U.K.) opted Sept. 30 to buy 150 F-35Bs, the short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) version of Lockheed Martin's Joint Strike Fighter. The F-35Bs are intended to replace BAE Systems Harrier FA.2s and GR.7/9s as two new CVF aircraft carriers enter service in 2012.
STUDIES: NASA has awarded four contracts for research it says could help prevent airliner fuel tank fires or explosions, the aerospace agency said Sept. 30. The contracts, totaling $400,000, went to Creare Engineering Inc., of Hanover, N.H.; Essex Cryogenics Inc. of St. Louis; Honeywell Environmental Controls Systems of Torrance, Calif.; and Valcor Engineering of Springfield, N.J.
The House Science Committee's space subcommittee plans to hold a hearing Oct. 3 to examine the threat posed by asteroids, comets and other near-Earth objects (NEOs). The panel also will look at what is being done to address the NEO threat. Witnesses scheduled to testify include Edward Weiler, associate administrator for space science at NASA, and Air Force Brig. Gen. Simon "Pete" Worden, deputy director for operations at U.S. Space Command.
RESEARCH: The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) will conduct research and development and specialized engineering for the U.S. Navy under a five-year contract with a $1.75 billion ceiling, APL said Sept. 27. The contract, awarded by the Naval Sea Systems Command of Washington, has an option for a five-year extension, APL said.
Sept. 29 - Oct. 1 -- Strategic Research Institute presents the fourth annual Defense and Aerospace Investor, Customer and Supplier Conference, Coronado Island Marriott Resort, San Diego, Calif. To register call 1-888-666-8514 or go to www.srinstitute.com/cx359. Sept. 30 - Oct. 3 -- Arinc's Eight Annual Flight Simulator Engineering & Maintenance Conference. Hyatt Regency, Tampa, Fla. For more information call (410) 266-2915.
MISSILES: Iraq has deployed 20 400-mile-range al-Hussein missiles that were illegally retained after the 1998 ejection of United Nations arms inspectors, according to a report on Iraqi capabilities released by the British government. The report also says Iraq has deployed liquid-fueled al-Samoud missiles, and is seeking to extend their range from 93 miles to at least 125 miles. Other surface-to-surface missiles listed as being in Iraqi service include the Ababil 100 rocket, with a range of 62 miles, and the Al Abbas, with a range of 560 miles. U.N.
SAFETY STUDY: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has directed subordinates to study whether the Defense Department should do more to reduce the accident rate for military aircraft. His order, in a memorandum to David Chu, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, came in response to a Sept. 20 story in The DAILY that said the Congressional Research Service concluded DOD has made virtually no progress in recent years in reducing the accident rate (DAILY, Sept. 20). Rumsfeld is expected to get a report from his staff the week of Oct. 14.
General Dynamics' win of a $443 million contract to begin an effort to convert four Trident ballistic missile submarines to subs able to launch cruise missiles and support special forces is the first step in a program that ultimately will cost several billion dollars.
HPM ON UAVs: High-power microwave (HPM) weapons are ideal for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), not just because of the difficulties of protecting manned aircraft from HPM side effects, but also because of the predetermined nature of most envisioned HPM missions, according to Lockheed Martin. HPM is a short-range form of directed energy capable of disrupting electronic systems. "If HPM works on unmanned vehicles, then ...
