COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - A lack of understanding of current technologies has kept U.S. forces in Afghanistan longer than necessary, according to Lt. Gen. Charles F. Wald, director of operations at Air Force headquarters in the Pentagon. "My contention is the first few weeks in Afghanistan, because of a lack of understanding of what we could do, we lost opportunities that have kept us in Afghanistan overtime, longer than we would have had to be," Wald said. "And that's a tragedy. I think some day that will all come out."
DENMARK JOINS: Denmark will join the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) F-35 program next week when it signs a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the United States to cooperate in the system development and demonstration phase of the program. A signing ceremony will take place Tuesday, May 28 at the Pentagon, the DOD announced May 23.
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., has selected Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corporation (BATC), Boulder, Colo., to build the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Preparatory Project (NPP) Spacecraft. The delivery order valued at $94 million, including spacecraft and all associated options, the agency said. BATC will design and build the NPP spacecraft bus, integrate the government-furnished instruments, satellite-level testing, and on-orbit satellite check-out.
After data gathered during the May 22 maiden flight of the Air Force's X-45A Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV) demonstrator is analyzed, the team hopes to fly the aircraft again before the end of June, according to the program manager, Col. Michael Leahy. Although the team's goal is to fly the aircraft every two to three weeks, a significant gap could occur between the second and third flight to accommodate a major revision in the UCAV's flight control software, Leahy said.
The Air Force on May 22 awarded Lockheed Martin Corp. a $498 million contract modification to continue development work on the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellite communications system. The original $2.69 billion firm fixed-price contract, awarded to Lockheed Martin and TRW on Nov. 16, 2001, calls for the production of two satellites as part of the AEHF program's system development and demonstration phase (DAILY, Nov. 20, 2001). The satellites are scheduled to be launched in June 2006 and June 2007
Though the deal between the Boeing Co. and South Korea for the purchase of F-15 Eagle fighters may not be unusual as far as today's offset agreements go, don't expect Boeing to offer similar deals to other potential buyers, analysts say. "South Korea is a very unique case," said Richard Aboulafia, senior aircraft analyst with the Teal Group of Fairfax, Va. "They're the last of the Japan wannabees," he said, referring to the government's financial support of the country's aerospace industry.
Although renewed tension on the Indian-Pakistan border have not prompted a new round of sanctions, a senior government official says that for the time being, no new defense exports will be processed until the situation calms down. The United States would like to "lower the temperature on that border about five hundred degrees before we get into talking arms exports," a senior official told The DAILY. The official confirmed that discussions had been underway with both India and Pakistan on a wide range of equipment, from spare parts to major hardware.
Reopening the production line for the U-2 Dragon Lady manned reconnaissance aircraft is a "fallback" if building unmanned aerial vehicles for reconnaissance missions gets too expensive, according to Air Force Secretary James Roche.
PRAGUE - The Czech and Swedish defense ministers signed a memorandum of understanding in Prague Wednesday that will enable closer cooperation between the two countries, particularly in the modernization of the Czech air force. The document, which includes a broad range of areas for cooperation, was signed as the Czech senate prepares to debate whether to purchase 24 Gripen fighters supplied by the British-Swedish consortium BAE Systems/Saab.
Congress could receive by June a final version of the deal between the Air Force and the Boeing Co. to lease 767 tankers, according to a senior Boeing official. Jerry Daniels, president and CEO of Boeing's Military Aircraft and Missile Systems division, said the terms of the deal are still being negotiated. But efforts are underway to draft an agreement that the Air Force could take to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in June, he said.
The Navy's Fire Scout Vertical Takeoff and Landing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (VTUAV) began its flight test program May 19 at the Western Test Range Complex in California, the service said. The UAV, built by Northrop Grumman Corp., is designed to provide situational awareness and precision targeting support for the Navy and Marine Corps.
Flying in a high threat environment with no self-protection equipment, the EC-130H Compass Call squadron relied on basic avoidance tactics to counter a possible attack from the ground, according to service officials.
PRAGUE -The management of Czech aircraft producer Aero Vodochody is holding talks here with an Indian delegation on the sale of L-159 fighters to India, the company told The Daily May 22. "We continue to have discussions and we hope that these will lead to a stronger position for AERO Vodochody and the L-159 aircraft on the Indian market," said spokeswoman Pavla Kolinova.
Congress should consider adding money to the Air Force's fiscal 2003 budget request for Boeing C-17 purchases to help the military reduce a "real shortfall" in transport aircraft, according to Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), a member of the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee.
UCAV FLIES: Boeing's X-45A Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle (UCAV) completed its first test flight May 22 at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. The flight lasted 14 minutes, Boeing said. Engineers with the company's Phantom Works division conducted the test to assess the aircraft's basic flight systems.
PORTSMOUTH, Va. - The Navy is considering several methods of deploying unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) from submarines, including torpedo tube launch, launch from a mast, and even launch from garbage tubes.
Alliant Techsystems (ATK) may encounter regulatory barriers in its bid to grow from a $2 billion company to a $4 billion company, according to company Chairman and CEO Adm. Paul David Miller (USN-Ret.).
BOEING CO., Seattle, Wash. Curt Nohavec has been named chief financial officer for Connexion by Boeing. Larry McCracken has been promoted to vice president of communications for Military Aircraft and Missile Systems, effective June 1. Tom Downey has been promoted to vice president of communications for commercial airplanes, effective June 1. Mary Foerster has been promoted to vice president of communications for space and communications, effective June 1.
LONDON - Thales Sensors says the delivery earlier this month of the first two of 13 upgraded Westland Sea King Mk 7 helicopters represents a quantum leap in airborne early warning and control capability for the Royal Navy.
NEW DELHI - The Indian Air Force has put back into operation its six squadrons of MiG-21 bis fighter aircraft. The 72 MiG-21 bis aircraft of Type 75 were grounded earlier this month in the wake of two accidents in a month involving the engine.
PORTSMOUTH, Va. - An experimental unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) designed to fit inside an artillery shell is set to undergo rail gun testing next week, according to Richard Martorana of the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory. Martorana is technical director for the Wide Area Surface Projectile (WASP), which Draper Lab has been developing with funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
The Senate Appropriations Committee May 22 approved the Bush Administration's $14 billion fiscal 2002 supplemental defense appropriations request, including $377 million to speed up production of Boeing Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs). The bill fully funds the request for $37 million to speed up production of the General Atomics Predator unmanned aerial vehicle and $35 million to replace a Northrop Grumman Global Hawk UAV lost in the war on terrorism.
The 2002 International Space Symposium will be held in Toulouse, France, the organizers announced May 21. The Space Foundation, in association with the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES), will host the event. Developed in coordination with a broad international coalition of space agencies and organization, the forum is designed to address business aspects of the $100 billion global space industry.
RLV PACT: U.S. Air Force and NASA officials have agreed to work together on an effort that could lead to a Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) demonstrator, the Air Force announced May 21. The agreement follows the recommendation of the 120-day Air Force-NASA study on RLV technology. The top recommendation of that study was for NASA and the Air Force to assess building an RLV demonstrator vehicle.
