AEGIS TESTING: Lockheed Martin has completed equipment testing of the seventh generation of its Aegis Weapon System, the company announced March 22. The latest upgrade, called Baseline 7.1, contains a new radar and the first complete commercial-off-the-shelf Aegis computing architecture. The system will be installed on the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer Pinckney in November. Sea trials for Pinckney are slated to start in August 2003.
ACC AND HOMELAND DEFENSE: Air Combat Command's new Homeland Security Division will provide forces on standby to several new task forces under Joint Forces Command. The purpose of Joint Task Force Civil Support, Joint Task Force Consequence Management, and Joint Task Force Consequence Management-East is to help offset the effects of a terrorist attack by weapons of mass destruction. The task forces would concentrate on cities other than New York and Washington.
BMD FUNDING: The House Armed Services Committee is unlikely to make major changes to the Bush Administration's $7.8 billion fiscal 2003 budget request for missile defense, according to Rep. John Hostettler (R-Ind.), a member of the panel. That's because "a lot of the changes that many [on the committee] were hoping to take place, especially with regard to an aggressive, robust testing regimen, [are] in the works with the Administration," Hostettler says.
CREW RETURN: NASA's X-38 experimental vehicle, once intended to lead to the development of the Crew Return Vehicle for the International Space Station, could be taken off life support, says station program manager Tommy Holloway. "There are some limited funds in this budget to allow the orderly continuation of the X-38 at this point, and, in a sense, the orderly termination if that turns out to be the direction that the agency chooses to go," Holloway says.
The Defense Department's adoption of performance-based contracting in recent years is requiring defense contractors and suppliers to change their approach to supply chain management, according to a retired Air Force general. Five or six years ago, most of the contracts awarded by the DOD to defense contractors in the post-production phase of a weapon program were task oriented, said George Babbitt, now director of aerospace and defense operations for KPMG Consulting Inc.
RESTRUCTURING: The U.S. Air Force announced March 22 its new structure for its active duty, reserve and guard forces for fiscal 2003. Among the more significant changes, Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona will lose six EC-130E Airborne Battlefield Command&Control Center aircraft. A full list of the force structure changes can be found at: http://www.defenselink.mil/ news/Mar2002/b03222002_bt 143-02.html.
The prospect of severe cuts to the Navy and Marine Corps procurement of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) would not have any impact on the current development program, according to Pentagon acquisition czar E.C. "Pete" Aldridge, Jr.
SPACE SPLIT: Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) will formally split off from U.S. Space Command (USSPACECOM) and the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) on April 19, according to Air Force Gen. Ralph "Ed" Eberhart. Eberhart has been in charge of all three commands, which are based at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo., but he is giving up the AFSPC post to Air Force Gen. Lance Lord. The congressionally mandated Space Commission recommended giving AFSPC its own leader to ease the demands on the commander in chief of USSPACECOM and NORAD (DAILY, Jan. 12, 2001).
The Bush Administration announced late March 21 it is asking Congress to approve a $14 billion fiscal 2002 defense supplemental appropriations measure that includes about $500 million to buy precision guided munitions, unmanned aerial vehicles and "unique special operations weapons."
LOCKHEED MARTIN'S CONSOLIDATED SPACE OPERATIONS CONTRACT (CSOC) has subcontracted with Arcata Associates Ltd. of Nevada to provide teleconferencing capabilities to NASA. Arcata is one of CSOC's small or disadvantaged businesses (SDBs) that participates in NASA's Mentor-ProtEgE program, which fosters the development of SDBs qualified to participate as subcontractors or suppliers for major space contracts. The subcontract is worth up to $55 million over seven years, and is expected to save NASA about $1.8 million a year, according to CSOC.
LOCKHEED MARTIN COMMERCIAL SPACE SYSTEM'S NSS-7 telecommunications satellite, built for New Skies Satellites N.V., has been shipped from production facilities in Sunnyvale, Calif., to Kourou, French Guiana, where it will be prepared for its scheduled mid-April launch. NSS-7 is a hybrid Ku-band and C-band satellite which can provide video distribution, Internet access, telephony and data services. It has 72 transponders and will operate at 338.5 east longitude over the Atlantic Ocean, to provide coverage to Europe, Africa and the Americas.
NATO Secretary General George Robertson has launched a stinging attack on NATO member governments for not spending enough on defense. During a brief visit to Prague March 21 ahead of the alliance's November summit, he warned that more has to be done to modernize Europe's armed forces. "Too many NATO governments spend too little on defense. And too many governments waste what they do spend on capabilities that contribute nothing to their own security, the security of Europe or our wider collective interests," he said.
The president of Boeing's Czech operation, Tom Stringer, is set to continue the company's offensive against media reports attacking Boeing Ceska's record as a shareholder of Aero Vodochody. Hours after releasing a statement condemning recent news stories questioning its performance, Boeing Ceska announced Stringer would answer questions at a press conference March 25.
Plans to move U.S. Navy surface combatants to the western Pacific, as recommended by last year's Quadrennial Defense Review, are in flux because of the cancellation of the Navy Area missile defense program, Adm. Dennis Blair, commander-in-chief of the U.S. Pacific Command, said March 20.
ALLIANT TECHSYSTEMS (ATK) provided a composite structure that serves as a high-precision truss for the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) that was recently installed on the Hubble Space Telescope (DAILY, March 8). More than 600 components were fabricated and bonded to form the composite bench for the ACS. The bench is about seven feet long, three feet wide and three feet high. The work was done by ATK Aerospace Composite Structure's Space Structures Division for Hubble contractor Ball Aerospace.
MACDONALD, DETTWILER AND ASSOCIATES's Information Systems Group will provide an interface that will allow the International Space Station's robotic arm to assist in berthing the Japanese Transfer Vehicle (HTV) to the station. The work will be done under a contract to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of Japan. The HTV is being developed by the National Space Development Agency of Japan as one of that nation's contributions to the station.
The development of an Internet portal site was essential for Raytheon Co. to communicate its processes, best practices and policies to its own employees and suppliers, a senior Raytheon official in the company's C3I division said March 21.
The FAA's Operational Evolution Plan (OEP) to increase air traffic capacity in the U.S. doesn't go far enough, according to the Commission on the Future of the U.S. Aerospace Industry. Recent studies have documented the annual loss associated with flight delays at over $8 billion, according to the Commission's latest interim report (DAILY, March 21).
The latest operational test of the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missile defense system resulted in the successful destruction of both targets over White Sands Missile Range, N.M., March 21. The test involved two PAC-3 missiles fired against a Hera missile target, as well as the "shoot-look-shoot" intercept of an MQM-107 subscale drone aircraft using PAC-2 missiles. Shoot-look-shoot involves firing one missile, then firing another if the first doesn't hit its target.
The U.S. should "resurrect" efforts to develop the Space Based Laser missile defense system, which had its funding slashed late last year by Congress, according to the head of U.S. Space Command. Air Force Gen. Ralph "Ed" Eberhart testified before the Senate Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee March 20 that he is "very disappointed" with what has happened to the program, which offers the potential of a global defense against ballistic missiles. He said the funding cut will "set back the space capability for quite some time."
MORE SHADOWS: AAI Corp. has received $22.3 million to build five more Shadow Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (TUAVs) for the Army, the company announced March 21. The award brings the total value of the TUAV program to $135 million.
GLOBALSTAR and AEROASTRO are developing a new, low-cost simplex data modem to allow remote sensing and asset tracking using satellites. The companies plan an initial demonstration of the capability this summer. The modems will be part of a system combining Globalstar's satellite communications network with AeroAstro's Sensor Enabled Notification System (SENS) technology, which allows sensing or tracking data to be sent from remote locations via satellite and the Internet.
Long-awaited changes to the list of defense items subject to export controls should be announced within a few weeks, according to a senior Pentagon official. Some items will be removed from the list of controlled exports, but there also could be new restrictions in light of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The Defense Department has completed its assessment of several categories of the U.S. Munitions List, said the senior official, who was involved in the interagency review process.
NASA virtual reality technology, developed to help plan Mars explorations, is being used by a petrochemical company to build and plan operations for a complex industrial facility. The Mars Map software, developed by NASA's Ames Research Center in California, helped plan the 1997 Mars Pathfinder mission. NASA granted Reality Capture Technologies of San Jose, Calif., a license to further develop the platform (DAILY, Nov. 2, 2001), and RCT is now using the tool at a Shell Chemicals plant under construction in Geismar, La. "What makes this software ...
A Kolibri 2000 microsatellite was deployed from a Progress M1-7 spacecraft on March 19, marking the possible beginning of a series of space experiments sponsored by university and high school student reseachers. The Kolibri (hummingbird) was built by the Tarusa Special Design Bureau for a research team that included Russian and Australian high school groups.
