An Air Force effort to restart the Miniature Air Launched Decoy (MALD) program could lead to a contract as early as 2003, according to a senior Air Force official.
An article in The DAILY of April 22 on signals intelligence incorrectly stated the contractor for the now-terminated low-band portion of the Joint Signal Intelligence Avionics Family (JSAF) system. The contractor for the low-band portion was BAE Systems. TRW continues to lead the high-band portion of the system. The high-band system temporarily was suspended earlier this year after Congress reduced the Air Force's request for airborne signals intelligence, but the program has since resumed.
FIRST ER: The three major sections of the first 747-400ER (extended range) aircraft have been joined at Boeing's Everett, Wash., facility, the company said May 7. The airplane will roll out of the factory in June and is scheduled to have its first flight in July.
TOKYO - Japan's Space Activities Commission plans to call for the new H-IIA launcher to be the launch vehicle of choice for all government-funded payloads. Government payloads generally have been launched on indigenous launchers like the H-I, H-II and M-5, but this has not been a legal requirement.
Democrats on the Senate Armed Services Committee are proposing to cut the Bush Administration's $7.8 billion missile defense request for fiscal 2003 by roughly $800 million, according to sources. Much of the money would be transferred to shipbuilding, as committee members of both parties have complained the Administration's request does not fund enough new ships. However, the missile defense cut could be big enough to draw strong objections from Republicans on the Democrat-led committee.
The Raytheon Co. has identified solutions for all the technical problems affecting the Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) B variant, according to a statement released by the company. In addition, Raytheon anticipates "no significant increase" in the weapon's unit cost due to any of the technical problems, the statement says.
Boeing's airborne communications network, Connexion by Boeing, has been certified by the FAA, paving the way for commercial service introduction, the company announced May 7. "This demonstrates that we're on the right path ... that our system is viable, robust and does not interfere" with flight systems, said Terrance Scott, director of media relations for Connexion by Boeing.
Lufthansa has selected Rolls-Royce's Trent 900 engine to power its fleet of Airbus A380s, Rolls-Royce announced May 7. The contract, for 15 aircraft, is worth $750 million, according to the company. "This is a significant order from one of the world's most prestigious flag carriers, who have committed to Trent power for their future large aircraft fleets," Mike Terrett, president of Civil Aerospace for Rolls Royce, said in a statement.
After reporting multi-million dollar losses last year, Spacehab Inc. reported a small net profit for the third quarter of fiscal year 2002, company officials announced late May 6. The Houston-based commercial space services company reported a net profit of $66,000 for the quarter, compared with a $3 million net loss for the same period last year. The company's net loss for the nine-month period ending March 31 was $2.1 million, compared with $7.2 million for the same period a year ago.
NEW DELHI - India and Russia are considering having India's state-owned aeronautics company, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), and Russia's Irkutsk Aviation Industrial Association take equity stakes in each other. A senior Indian defense ministry official told The DAILY May 7 that the formal offer was made last week in New Delhi by a team of senior Irkutsk officials. He said the issue also was discussed during Indian Defense Minster George Fernandes' visit to Moscow in April. No details of the equity arrangement are available.
The Navy is exploring the use of a wallpaper-like applique that could serve as both a paint replacement and protection against lightning strikes for composite-based aircraft. As more aircraft transition to lightweight composite materials, the problem of lightning strike will become more acute, according to Terry Vargo, president of Integument Technologies, Inc. of Tonawanda, N.Y., which is developing the applique.
A liquid hydrogen-powered unmanned aerial vehicle that would be able to remain aloft five times longer than today's longest-flying UAV, the Global Hawk, is being eyed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. DARPA says liquid hydrogen's very high energy-to-weight ratio will make such an aircraft possible, and is the basis of an effort called Ultra Long Endurance Aircraft Program, or UltraLEAP.
The European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. (EADS) plans to take over Siemen's Oostkamp plant in Belgium, which supplies high-frequency modules for EADS radar and communication systems used in defense programs such as the Eurofighter.
The House Appropriations Committee plans to consider a fiscal 2002 supplemental appropriations bill that adds tens of millions of dollars to the Bush Administration's request to buy MH-47 helicopters and F-15 radios and develop a radar-based system to detect biological and chemical agents. The supplemental, which the committee is scheduled to take up May 8, provides an additional $93 million to procure three Boeing MH-47 Chinooks for U.S. Special Operations Command, replacing aircraft destroyed in the war on terrorism.
AQUA LAUNCH: NASA's Earth observing satellite, Aqua, was launched May 4 aboard a Boeing Delta II rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. Liftoff was at 2:55 a.m. PDT. Spacecraft separation occurred at 3:54 a.m., and Aqua was inserted into a 438-mile orbit, according to NASA. The satellite's primary goal is to gather information about the Earth's water cycle (DAILY, April 24). More information about the mission is available at http://aqua.nasa.gov.
Members of the Soyuz 4 "taxi flight" returned to Earth over the weekend, including South African Internet entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth, the second "space tourist" to visit the International Space Station. The crewmembers, who swapped out the Soyuz spacecraft used as a crew lifeboat on the station, undocked from the station and returned to Earth May 5, landing in Kazakhstan.
SDB CONTRACT: EDO Corp. of New York will develop a weapon carriage system for the component advanced development phase of Lockheed Martin's Small Diameter Bomb program, the company announced May 6. The system is intended to be capable of carrying and ejecting multiple weapons from various aircraft platforms at speeds up to supersonic, according to the company. Terms of the two-year contract were not disclosed. Lockheed Martin is competing with Boeing to build the SDB and its carriage system for the Air Force (DAILY, Oct. 4, 2001).
An Ariane 4 booster successfully launched the SPOT 5 Earth observation satellite from the Kourou launch site in French Guiana on May 4, according to the company. Another satellite launch, that of the DIRECTV 5, was scrubbed on May 5, according to International Launch Services, which is launching the broadcast satellite.
In October, the Navy will begin testing a new system designed to ensure proper seating of a carrier aircraft's launch bar before it is launched from its catapult. A successful carrier launch requires that an aircraft very rapidly be brought up to a speed of roughly 160 knots. If the launch bar isn't properly positioned on the catapult's spreader bar, the plane can be propelled too quickly to stop itself before it reaches the end of the deck, but not fast enough to become airborne.
The Air Force wants to drop its plans to buy the B variant of the Raytheon Joint Standoff Weapon, according to congressional documents and an official in the Navy-led program. The Air Force has proposed canceling its purchase of more than 3,000 JSOW-Bs due to technical problems and cost increases, according to a recently completed report accompanying the House Armed Services Committee's fiscal 2003 defense authorization bill.
May 6 - 10 -- National Defense Industrial Association presents Live Fire Test and Evaluation - Conference Announcement and Call for Papers. Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA. For more information contact Phyllis Edmonson at (703) 247-2588 or email [email protected]. May 12 - 15 -- Army Aviation Association presents Exhibitors Convention - Training Army Aviation's Soldiers and Leaders to meet the new Challenges - Nashville, TN. For more information contact Bob Lachowski at 9203) 268-2450 ext. 131.
Northrop Grumman officials have signed a confidentiality agreement with TRW Inc. that will allow the company to look at TRW's books, the companies announced May 6. Northrop Grumman officials said in a statement that the terms "are acceptable to both companies," but details were not disclosed.
NEW DELHI - The Indian government has grounded 72 MiG-21 aircraft used for training in the wake of the May 3 crash of an Indian air force MiG-21, which killed at least eight people. In the last decade, the Indian air force has lost over 200 of its MiG fighters, which it bought from the former Soviet Union in the 1960s and 1970s. In April, an Indian parliamentary committee advised the Indian ministry of defense to phase out the MiG-21, citing its failure record.
