FINAL ASSEMBLY: The Boeing Co. has begun final assembly work on the first of 269 additional U.S. Army AH-64A Apaches scheduled to become AH-64D Apache Longbows, the company announced Jan. 10. Work on the first helicopter began Dec. 12 and it is slated to be delivered in March.
The U.S. plans to start delivering 25 Bell Huey II helicopters to Colombia later this month to help that country's war against drug trafficking, according to the U.S. State Department. The Huey IIs will join 16 Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawks and 33 Bell UH-1Ns that the U.S. has already sent to the South American country. All of the utility helicopters are funded by an aid package approved by Congress in 2000.
President Bush signed the fiscal 2002 defense appropriations bill at a Jan. 10 ceremony at the Pentagon. The $317.4 billion measure contains an increase of almost $30 billion over the FY '01 spending law and includes $1.5 billion for development of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and $7.8 billion for missile defense programs. It also contains $3.5 billion in supplemental defense spending to help pay for current military operations. Bush called the bill a "downpayment" in the war on terrorism.
As the Expedition Four crew onboard the International Space Station (ISS) enters its second month, crewmembers are in final preparations for their first extravehicular activity (EVA), scheduled for Monday, Jan. 14. Commander Yury Onufrienko and Flight Engineer Carl Walz will conduct the EVA. The crew may perform up to four spacewalks in support of station assembly during their time in orbit.
L-3 Communications Corp. has helped fuel its recent growth by buying other companies - its purchase of C4I systems manufacturer SY Technology Inc., announced Jan. 7, was its eighth announced acquisition in nearly 12 months. Acquiring other companies is nothing new for the New York City-based defense electronics firm, according to industry observers. Since 1998, L-3 has completed nearly 14 major acquisitions, according to Rich Pettibone, an analyst for Forecast International Inc.
The Department of Defense will maintain its "nuclear triad" even as it reduces its strategic arsenal, a Pentagon official said Jan. 9. The United States will reduce its strategic arsenal from the current level of about 6,000 warheads to between 1,700 and 2,000 weapons by 2012, said J. D. Crouch, the assistant secretary of defense for international security policy.
Commando Solo, the military's only airborne radio and television broadcast mission, is going digital, members of the Air National Guard's 193rd Special Operations Wing told The DAILY Jan. 10. Based in Harrisburg, Pa., Commando Solo is made up of six EC-130E aircraft equipped with broadcasting, jamming, and command and control capabilities. Commando Solo has been deployed to Haiti, Panama, Yugoslavia and Iraq and has been broadcasting over Afghanistan since Taliban air defenses were defeated in October.
The Department of Defense will maintain its "nuclear triad" even as it reduces its strategic arsenal, a Pentagon official said Jan. 9. The United States will reduce its strategic arsenal from the current level of about 6,000 warheads to between 1,700 and 2,000 weapons by 2012, said J. D. Crouch, the assistant secretary of defense for international security policy.
The latest intelligence community report on missile threats to the U.S. finds no major changes from earlier projections, but says the threat remains and continues to grow. It also reflects the events of Sept. 11 by noting that terrorist attacks are more likely than missile attacks.
Rep. Joseph Pitts (R-Pa.), co-chair of the congressional Electronic Warfare Working Group, is drafting a letter urging Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to request $40 million in fiscal 2002 supplemental funding to speed up wing improvements for the U.S. Navy's EA-6B Prowlers.
LOCKHEED MARTIN MISSILES AND FIRE CONTROL conducted an engineering development flight test of the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., on Jan. 9. It was the second consecutive successful test of the GMLRS, according to the company. GMLRS is the next step in the evolution of the Multiple Launch Rocket System family, offering advanced capabilities, improved logistics support and precision attack, Lockheed Martin said.
Loral Space and Communications Ltd. announced late Jan. 9 it had reached an agreement with the U.S. Justice Department over a case involving the company's investigation of a Chinese rocket launch failure in 1996. Under the terms of the agreement, Loral will pay a fine of $14 million to the State Department without admitting or denying the government's charges in the case. The company also agreed to strengthen its export compliance program, for which $6 million of the fine will be allocated.
Rep. Joseph Pitts (R-Pa.), co-chair of the congressional Electronic Warfare Working Group, is drafting a letter urging Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to request $40 million in fiscal 2002 supplemental funding to speed up wing improvements for the U.S. Navy's EA-6B Prowlers.
L-3 Communications Corp. has helped fuel its recent growth by buying other companies - its purchase of C4I systems manufacturer SY Technology Inc., announced Jan. 7, was its eighth announced acquisition in nearly 12 months. Acquiring other companies is nothing new for the New York City-based defense electronics firm, according to industry observers. Since 1998, L-3 has completed nearly 14 major acquisitions, according to Rich Pettibone, an analyst for Forecast International Inc.
The U.S. plans to start delivering 25 Bell Huey II helicopters to Colombia later this month to help that country's war against drug trafficking, according to the U.S. State Department. The Huey IIs will join 16 Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawks and 33 Bell UH-1Ns that the U.S. has already sent to the South American country. All of the utility helicopters are funded by an aid package approved by Congress in 2000.
Loral Space and Communications Ltd. announced late Jan. 9 it had reached an agreement with the U.S. Justice Department over a case involving the company's investigation of a Chinese rocket launch failure in 1996. Under the terms of the agreement, Loral will pay a fine of $14 million to the State Department without admitting or denying the government's charges in the case. The company also agreed to strengthen its export compliance program, for which $6 million of the fine will be allocated.
The latest intelligence community report on missile threats to the U.S. finds no major changes from earlier projections, but says the threat remains and continues to grow. It also reflects the events of Sept. 11 by noting that terrorist attacks are more likely than missile attacks.
As the Expedition Four crew onboard the International Space Station (ISS) enters its second month, crewmembers are in final preparations for their first extravehicular activity (EVA), scheduled for Monday, Jan. 14. Commander Yury Onufrienko and Flight Engineer Carl Walz will conduct the EVA. The crew may perform up to four spacewalks in support of station assembly during their time in orbit.
After breaking altitude records last year, NASA's Helios solar-powered unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is back in storage awaiting its chance to demonstrate the other goal of the program - endurance. During a 17-hour flight last August, Helios took off from the Hawaiian island of Kauai and climbed to 96,500 feet, making it the highest-flying non-rocket powered aircraft (DAILY, Aug. 15, 2001).
LOCKHEED MARTIN MISSILES AND FIRE CONTROL conducted an engineering development flight test of the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., on Jan. 9. It was the second consecutive successful test of the GMLRS, according to the company. GMLRS is the next step in the evolution of the Multiple Launch Rocket System family, offering advanced capabilities, improved logistics support and precision attack, Lockheed Martin said.
An article in The DAILY of Jan. 9 incorrectly stated the date of the first flight of Khrunichev's Proton-M with the Briz-M upper stage. It first launched April 7, 2001.
The cost, schedule and performance of the Airborne Laser (ABL) are "undergoing an assessment" following a congressional increase of tens of millions of dollars in the Bush Administration's fiscal 2002 budget for the program, according to a statement issued by the Missile Defense Agency (MDA), formerly the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization.
Although virtually all of the third-generation reusable launch vehicle (RLV) concepts currently being considered by NASA rely on some form of combined-cycle propulsion to get to orbit, the space agency is still not insisting on single-stage vehicles. NASA's last big push on single-stage-to-orbit space transportation was the X-33 program, which was abandoned last year due to cost overruns and schedule slips (DAILY, Mar. 2, 2001). NASA and partner Lockheed Martin Corp. spent five years and nearly $1 billion on the ill-fated project.
