The National Reconnaissance Office plans to release its annual Director's Innovative Initiative (DII) solicitation on June 3, with proposals due by July 17, the NRO announced. Proposals selected for funding will be announced by Sept. 30. The DII program, which began in 1998, solicits research and development proposals focusing on new sensors, processing methods, business practices and sources, the NRO said. Previous solicitations occurred in October, but the timetable has been moved up this year to allow work on the proposals to begin sooner.
SPOT LAUNCH: The Spot 5 remote sensing satellite has been installed on its Ariane 4 booster, one of the last steps leading to its May 3 launch, according to Arianespace. Flight 151 will carry a pair of French amateur radio mini-satellites in addition to Spot 5.
SPOT LAUNCH: The Spot 5 remote sensing satellite has been installed on its Ariane 4 booster, one of the last steps leading to its May 3 launch, according to Arianespace. Flight 151 will carry a pair of French amateur radio mini-satellites in addition to Spot 5.
TOKYO - Space Systems/Loral likely will cancel a contract that calls for launching eight of its communications satellites on H-IIA boosters, the president of Rocket Systems Corp. (RSC) said. RSC markets launches on Japan's new H-IIA booster, but its president, Yoshihisa Tsuda, told Japan's Space Activities Commission that high launch costs likely will kill the Loral deal. That would leave RSC with only one launch contract, for the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's MTSAT-1.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is funding six teams in a drive to develop a partially reusable launch system capable of placing small payloads into low-earth orbit within 24 hours of payload delivery. Under the Responsive Access, Small Cargo and Affordable Launch (RASCAL) Demonstration Program, each of the six teams is receiving between $1 million and $2 million for a nine-month phase one study. Total funding for the project could reach as high as $88 million over five years, according to DARPA.
April 25, 2002 TRW Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) Systems, Clearfield, Utah, is being awarded a $15,476,809 (estimated) cost-plus-award-fee contract modification to provide for the Global Positions System Metric Tracking Program on the ICBM Prime Integration contract. At this time, $2,031,216 of the funds has been obligated. This work will be completed in September 2006. The Ogden Air Logistics Center, Hill Air Force Base, Utah, is the contracting activity (F42610-98-C-0001).
Members of the International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers Local 709 voted April 28 to ratify a three-year contract with Lockheed Martin Corp., ending a 44-day strike at Lockheed's Marietta, Ga., plant where workers assemble the F-22 Raptor fighter and the C-130J Hercules transport.
Northrop Grumman Corp.'s X-47A Pegasus prototype has performed a successful autonomous start and shutdown of its Pratt & Whitney JT15D engine, the company announced April 29. During an April 18 test at Northrop Grumman facilities in El Segundo, Calif., the X-47A autonomously sequenced through its engine start series and came to idle. After subsystems and engine performance were checked out, the vehicle was allowed to perform an autonomous engine shutdown. This sequence was repeated several times.
Northrop Grumman Corp.'s X-47A Pegasus prototype has performed a successful autonomous start and shutdown of its Pratt&Whitney JT15D engine, the company announced April 29. During an April 18 test at Northrop Grumman facilities in El Segundo, Calif., the X-47A autonomously sequenced through its engine start series and came to idle. After subsystems and engine performance were checked out, the vehicle was allowed to perform an autonomous engine shutdown. This sequence was repeated several times.
The supersonic cruise missile BrahMos will be test-fired from a ship in the next six months after a successful second test held April 28. The 26-foot-long missile was launched vertically from a container at a missile test range at Balasore in eastern India. It next will be fired from a ship, said a senior scientist with India's Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO), and serial production likely will begin next year. The BrahMos was first tested in June 2001.
The European Aeronautic and Defence and Space Co. (EADS), stung by the U.S. Air Force's decision last month to explore tanker leasing options with Boeing instead of Airbus, is pressing ahead with development of an advanced refueling boom it says will be available beginning in 2005.
(Editor's note: The following is excerpted from the written responses by Pacific Fleet commander Adm. Thomas B. Fargo, who is nominated to be commander-in-chief, U.S. Pacific Command, to written questions from the Senate Armed Services Committee. Fargo testified April 26.) Q: In your view, what are the major challenges that will confront the next commander-in-chief, United States Pacific Command?
NEW DELHI - The supersonic cruise missile BrahMos will be test-fired from a ship in the next six months after a successful second test held April 28. The 26-foot-long missile was launched vertically from a container at a missile test range at Balasore in eastern India. It next will be fired from a ship, said a senior scientist with India's Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO), and serial production likely will begin next year. The BrahMos was first tested in June 2001.
TRW Inc. said "several interested parties" have signed confidentiality agreements and soon would begin reviewing non-public information about the company as part of the due diligence process. The announcement followed a series of exchanges last week between the company and Northrop Grumman Corp., which has offered to exchange each share of TRW stock for Northrop Grumman stock at $53.
Members of the International Association of Machinists&Aerospace Workers Local 709 voted April 28 to ratify a three-year contract with Lockheed Martin Corp., ending a 44-day strike at Lockheed's Marietta, Ga., plant where workers assemble the F-22 Raptor fighter and the C-130J Hercules transport.
The European Aeronautic and Defence and Space Co. (EADS), stung by the U.S. Air Force's decision last month to explore tanker leasing options with Boeing instead of Airbus, is pressing ahead with development of an advanced refueling boom it says will be available beginning in 2005.
Democrats on the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) may challenge several aspects of the Bush Administration's missile defense plans during the panel's consideration of the fiscal 2003 defense authorization bill this week. Rep. John Spratt (D-S.C.), a senior member of the committee, plans to propose an amendment aimed at increasing oversight of the Missile Defense Agency, House aides said. Democrats have complained that MDA's recent restructuring eliminated many of the traditional mechanisms for overseeing the agency.
PROPHET TEAM: Titan Systems Corp. of San Diego and Thales Defence Ltd. of the United Kingdom are teaming to pursue Block II/III upgrades to the U.S. Army's Prophet Ground System. The Prophet, or AN/MLQ-40, is a signals intelligence service mounted on a ground vehicle, which can be used to help create electronic maps of battlefields.
The winner of the DD(X) competition will control construction of surface combatants for the U.S. Navy for the next 20 years, according to naval analysts.
(Editor's note: The following is excerpted from the written responses by Pacific Fleet commander Adm. Thomas B. Fargo, who is nominated to be commander-in-chief, U.S. Pacific Command, to written questions from the Senate Armed Services Committee. Fargo testified April 26.) Q: In your view, what are the major challenges that will confront the next commander-in-chief, United States Pacific Command?
AIRPORT STUDY: Boeing Air Traffic Management (ATM) will conduct a six-month study of the Beijing Capital International Airport's maneuvering area and ground operations under a contract with Beijing Capital International Airport Company Limited, Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). Air traffic levels at the airport are expected to double over the next eight years, according to Boeing, and a third runway will be added by 2004.
