THE EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY plans to demonstrate the Automated Transfer Vehicle, a multifunctional spacecraft to supply the International Space Station, next month at ESA's Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in Noordwijk, the Netherlands. The spacecraft is intended to deliver equipment, fuel, spare parts, food, air and water to the station. The first operational flight of the ATV is scheduled for 2004. ESA plans to build eight or more ATVs, which involves 30 companies from 10 European countries under EADS Launch Vehicles of France, the prime contractor.
Boeing and Dassault are the last competitors in what had been a four-way competition for South Korea's multi-billion dollar fighter modernization competition. South Korea announced earlier this week its fighter modernization program has entered its second phase, indicating that at least two of the offers received were scored within three percentage points of each other based on technical and cost estimates.
Northrop Grumman Corp. is getting closer to first flight of its X-47A Pegasus unmanned aerial vehicle, a company-funded project. The flight was to have taken place last year, but the first flight is now slated for later this year. "It will fly when it's ready," a company spokeswoman said.
The Air Force Research Laboratory hopes to resume demonstrations of space-based relay mirror technology that have been on hold since the era of the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI). Orbiting relay mirrors could one day be used to redirect and refocus the beams from airborne or ground-based laser systems, greatly extending their range and power.
NASA has confirmed April 4 as the launch date for shuttle mission STS-110, an International Space Station construction flight. The shuttle Atlantis is slated to deliver the Boeing Human Space Flight&Exploration-built starboard zero (S0) truss, one of five truss segments that eventually will span more than 300 feet to carry data, power and environmental services for the station.
V-22 Osprey program officials say they are confident that a comprehensive test program set to begin next month will remove any doubts about tiltrotor technology and safety. E.C. "Pete" Aldridge Jr., the undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, has allowed the V-22 to return to flight testing, but he testified earlier this month before Congress that the Pentagon is considering alternatives should the test program fail.
NASA announced that a miniature pump that helps hearts beat has won its Commercial Invention of the Year award, and a device that protects the International Space Station and its crew from electrical charges has won the Government Invention of the Year. The commercial award went to a miniature ventricular-assist device (VAD), based in part on technology used in space shuttle fuel pumps. The VAD is intended as a bridge to a heart transplant, or as a device to help regulate a patient's heart over the long term.
ALCOA BUY: Alcoa Inc. has completed its acquisition of the aluminum extrusion assets of Dooray Air Metal Co. Ltd. of Changwon, Korea, the company announced March 28. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The Changwon facility produces hard alloy extrusions for defense, aerospace, industrial and transportation markets.
A Navy plan to integrate its land and sea networks and link them to those of other services soon will be evident in Navy planning and in its budgets, a Navy official said March 27. Doing that will require the development of a common information architecture, called FORCEnet, which will link all of the Navy's land and sea forces as well as link the Navy with other services, said Vice Adm. Richard Mayo, director of space, information warfare, and command-and-control for N6.
Japan's Self-Defense Agency discloses FY 2002 aircraft buys Japan's Self-Defense Agency plans to buy 46 aircraft in fiscal 2002, which begins April 1. The agency requested 49 aircraft (DAILY, Sept. 19, 2001), which was reduced by three. The service has disclosed the costs of the aircraft, as shown in this chart:
Talks on the Boeing Co.'s potential role in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program have not produced an agreement, and time is running out for Boeing to become a major participant, according to an official for Lockheed Martin Corp., the aircraft's lead developer.
An early version of the Navy's helicopter-mounted laser mine detection system will begin flying in exercises this summer, according to manufacturer Northrop Grumman. The hardware will be a prototype of the Airborne Laser Mine Detection System (ALMDS). Northrop Grumman spent several million dollars of its own resources to develop the prototype last year.
BOEING TEAM: Boeing has formed an industry team made up of ViaSat, Hughes Network Systems, TRW Inc., Harris Corp. and Science Applications International Corp. to compete for the Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) contract. MUOS will provide global communications to all U.S. forces, including those deployed in jungles, mountainous terrain or at sea.
The Navy plans to test the two Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle systems it requested in the fiscal 2003 budget in a broad area maritime surveillance (BAMS) role, according to Global Hawk manufacturer Northrop Grumman. BAMS began as a subset of the Navy's Multi-mission Maritime Aircraft (MMA), according to Ernest Snowden, director of system requirements for Northrop Grumman's Airborne Early Warning and Electronic Warfare Division.
Chris Hernandez, formerly vice president for the multi-platform technology insertion program (MP-RTIP), will lead the company's new air force surveillance and battle management mission area IPT.
ENVISAT IMAGES: The European Space Agency will unveil the first images from Europe's new global monitoring satellite Envisat on March 28, at its research facility in Frascati, Italy and on its website. Researchers from across Europe have been working at the Frascati facility to generate the first images.
John Young, the assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition, said March 26 that the DD(X) program will spawn a new class of ships, not just serve as a testbed for new technologies. "Make no mistake about it, we are building the first ship in its class," Young said of funds requested for the first DD(X). The Navy has made it clear to Pentagon acquisition chief E.C. "Pete" Aldridge Jr. that the Navy "cannot spend $2 billion on a prototypical vehicle," he said at the Navy's Sea-Air-Space Exposition in Washington.
GOODRICH BUSINESS: Goodrich Corp. has won contracts worth about $40 million over the next two years for F-16 wheels, brakes and spare parts, the company announced March 27. The orders include a consolidated order to provide advanced wheels and carbon brakes to retrofit international military F-16 fleets. Wheels and brakes have been purchased for use on F-16s in Belgium, Egypt, Israel, Italy, Jordan, the Netherlands, Portugal, Taiwan and Thailand through the U.S. Air Force Foreign Military Sales program.
