More than 900 firefighters are battling a 7,335-acre fire at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. The fire, at South Vandenberg, is about 50 percent contained, the base said June 18. Fixed wing aircraft, helicopters, bulldozers and an Incident Management Team are helping firefighters extinguish the blaze. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
THE DEWEY ELECTRONICS CORP., Oakland, Calif. Frances D. Dewey has been elected chairperson of the board following the sudden death of its founder, president and chairman Gordon C. Dewey. ENGENUITY TECHNOLOGIES, INC., Montreal Philippe Collard, president and CEO, has resigned from all positions held with the company. EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY, Paris Per Tegnér, current director general of the Swedish National Space Board, has been appointed the new chairman for the next two years. NASA
NEW DELHI - India's defense ministry and the Russian arms export agency, Rosoboronexport, signed an agreement June 18 to establish a Sukhoi Su-30 MKI aircraft maintenance facility center at Nasik, near Mumbai, at a cost of $50 million. A senior Indian defense ministry official told The DAILY that a memorandum of understanding was signed a year ago but the agreement was not completed until June 18. The Su-30 MKI maintenance facility will be set up by India's state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL).
The U.S. withdrawal from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty will make it easier for the Missile Defense Agency to move ahead with some of its programs, agency director Lt. Gen. Ronald Kadish said June 19. "We kind of self-selected out some things that were prohibited by the treaty that could have helped us move farther ahead from a technical point of view," he said at a breakfast in Washington sponsored by the National Defense University Foundation. "We're re-looking at a lot of those issues, but it's taking more time than I would like."
Senate leaders have re-established the bipartisan Senate NATO Observer Group (SNOG) to monitor the process for admitting additional countries to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), who revived the group with Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.), said on the Senate floor June 17 that the SNOG was useful in keeping the Senate informed in the months leading up to NATO's July 1997 decision to allow the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland to join the military alliance.
AAI Corp. has received a U.S. Army letter indicating its Shadow Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (TUAV) system has successfully completed initial operational test & evaluation (IOT&E), setting the stage for a full-rate production decision this fall.
The Senate June 19 approved an amendment to the fiscal 2003 defense authorization that would bar the Defense Department from spending the Crusader artillery system's funds on alternative systems until the Army finishes an assessment of its indirect fire support needs.
The sale of TRW Inc.'s Aeronautical Systems unit to Goodrich Corp. is unlikely to dampen Northrop Grumman's interest in acquiring TRW, according to Rich Pettibone, senior aerospace and defense analyst with Forecast International/DMS, and a company official. TRW Inc. announced June 19 the sale of its Aeronautical Systems unit to Goodrich Corp. for $1.5 billion cash. Company officials said they expect the sale of the business, formerly known as Lucas Aerospace, to be completed in the fourth quarter of this fiscal year.
NASA is negotiating with the European Space Agency (ESA) about the possibility of combining the two agencies' parallel efforts to take humanity's first direct pictures of extrasolar planets. NASA's Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF) program, scheduled to launch in the middle of the next decade, is mulling over two technical approaches for blocking the light from distant stars in order to glimpse planets in orbit around them - a visible light coronagraph, or an infrared interferometer (DAILY, June 18).
NEW DELHI - Pakistan is acquiring a Turkish satellite for military and commercial use for about $15 million, to ensure it doesn't lose an orbital slot at 38 degrees East. The satellite's coverage footprint would include Europe, the Middle East and South Asia. Funds have been made available for the satellite under the project designated PAKSAT.
The Aerospace Industries Association is pleased that President Bush has signed into law a bill rechartering the U.S. Export-Import Bank for several more years, according to Christopher Lombardi, manager of international affairs for AIA. Ex-Im Bank needed the reauthorization to continue operating. U.S. aerospace firms, including the Boeing Co.'s Renton, Wash.-based Commercial Airplanes unit, rely on the bank's export financing to compete against foreign companies backed by their own countries' export credit agencies, Lombardi said June 18.
A Department of Defense acquisition official presented the David Packard Excellence in Acquisition Award to six DOD teams at a Pentagon ceremony June 18. E.C. "Pete" Aldridge, the undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, presented the awards, given to organizations, groups or teams that made significant contributions or demonstrated innovations and best practices in the defense acquisition process. The Packard awards went to:
A Private Finance Initiative (PFI) service contract for the United Kingdom's Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft (FSTA) program will be delayed a year, the U.K. Ministry of Defence said June 17. FSTA is intended to replace the MOD's fleet of aging BAE Systems VC10 and Lockheed TriStar fleets with new tankers.
A newly formed group of unmanned aerial vehicle makers wants NASA to join its initiative to clear the way for the use of UAVs in U.S. airspace. The group, called UAV National Industry Team Endeavor, or UNITE, was formed June 14. Its membership roster includes Boeing, General Atomics, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman.
PRAGUE - Czech aircraft manufacturer Aero Vodochody has launched preliminary talks with Indonesian officials on the possible export of L-159 fighters to that country, the company confirmed Tuesday. The talks took place during a three-day official state visit to the Czech Republic by Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri, who arrived in Prague on June 17. A delegation of Indonesian military officials also visited Aero's production facility just outside Prague.
Lockheed Martin is seeking bridge funding that would allow its new armored reconnaissance vehicle to be developed further and possibly incorporated into the Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS). Through the joint venture SIKA International, Lockheed Martin and BAE Systems have spent the past three and a half years developing the Tactical Reconnaissance Armored Combat Equipment Requirement/Future Scout and Cavalry System (TRACER/FSCS) - a manned, C-130 deployable vehicle for providing all-weather reconnaissance and attack.
The Commission on the Future of the U.S. Aerospace Industry is preparing to issue its third and probably final interim report within the next few weeks, based on the results of its last public meeting in May. The third meeting was held in Washington May 14, and featured testimony and deliberations on space policy, industrial base and workforce issues (DAILY, May 15). Based on that meeting, the commission is recommending:
SES AMERICOM has signed a contract with International Launch Services (ILS) for the launch of two cable television satellites in 2004. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Under the contract, ILS will launch the AMC-19 and AMC-11 satellites in the first half of 2004. ILS' Atlas IIAS will be the primary launch vehicle, with the Proton M as a backup. AMC-10 and AMC-11 are A2100 model satellites built by Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems, and will replace satellites that are nearing the end of their service lives.
Northrop Grumman Corp. has received the final $106.9 million increment of a $221.8 million full-production contract for the 16th E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (Joint STARS) aircraft, the company announced June 18. The aircraft is scheduled to be delivered to the Air Force by March 2004. The contract also includes several system upgrades, including an Improved Data Modem for real-time targeting connectivity with the U.S. Army's AH-64 Apache helicopter.
Senate critics of the Crusader artillery system have drafted a proposed amendment to the fiscal 2003 defense authorization bill that would uphold the Bush Administration's decision to cancel the Army program and transfer its funds to precisions munitions and rocket systems.
ANOTHER DELAY: NASA bumped the landing of shuttle Endeavour to June 19 due to inclement weather on June 18. The forecast for Wednesday is better - NASA said there are five landing opportunities, two in Florida and three at the backup site at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.
