Indian space scientists have received detailed terrain pictures of the Afghanistan cities of Kandahar and Kabul and images of U.S. attacks there from its latest Technology Experiment Satellite (TES) launched in October. A senior space research official said the pictures would not be revealed as the satellite was launched as an experiment. Only a very few scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) are believed to have seen the pictures.
Russia is continuing to replenish its ailing Glonass satellite navigation system, its version of the U.S. Global Positioning System. On Dec. 1, a Proton booster launched three 3,200 pound Uragan satellites from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan (DAILY, Nov. 28). Later that day, the satellites were inserted in their target 11,900-mile circular orbit, bringing the Glonass total to nine operational spacecraft.
The Air Force Space Battlelab is working on a number of ways to capitalize on emerging technologies to aid the warfighter, including an ultra-short pulse laser that can see through dense clouds or battlefield obscurants. The laser, to be demonstrated in January on a C-130, is "tactically significant" because it is small and lightweight, doesn't use much power and is relatively inexpensive, said Col. Ronald Oholendt of the Battlelab, located at Schriever Air Force Base, Colo.
The U.S. military has deployed Avenger air defense systems, an advanced air surveillance radar, Apache combat helicopters and F-15 and F-16 fighter aircraft around Cape Canaveral in Florida in recent weeks as NASA has prepared for its first launch of the space shuttle since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, according to Air Force officials. Space Shuttle Endeavour and a seven-person crew are set to lift off at Kennedy Space Center Dec. 4 for a trip to the International Space Station.
Later this decade, NASA plans to launch a Mars rover mission that will use a previously untried technique known as aeromaneuvering to provide guidance as the spacecraft enters the Martian atmosphere. The entry vehicle will build on designs dating back to the Viking lander missions of the 1970s, according to Richard Powell, senior research engineer at NASA Langley Research Center and head of NASA's Aero-Assist Working Group.
The Boeing Co. announced Dec. 3 it has entered into an agreement with Egypt to upgrade that country's 35 Apache AH-64A helicopters to the next-generation AH-64D model. Egypt announced its intention last year to upgrade its helicopter fleet. The U.S. Army, through the Foreign Military Sales program, authorized Boeing in March 2001 to begin procuring long-lead items for the upgrades. Deliveries of the helicopters are scheduled to begin in 2003.
The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Mo., is being awarded a $45,332,175 firm-fixed-price contract modification to provide for acquisition and assembly of 79 avionics upgrade kits applicable to the T-38 aircraft. At this time, the total amount of funds has been obligated. The contractor will perform this effort at its facility in Mesa, Ariz. The Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (F33657-95-C-0057, P00113).
LOCKHEED MARTIN has delivered the seventh and final KC-130J for this year to the U.S. Marine Corps, the company announced Dec. 3. The aircraft are stationed at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, N.C., and Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. The Marine Corps now has eight KC-130Js in inventory with three more on order. Money for four more KC-130Js is included in the fiscal year 2002 defense budget.
Lockheed Martin, Naval Electronics and Surveillance, Moorestown, N.J., is being awarded a $7,588,036 modification to previously awarded cost-plus-award-fee contract (N00024-00-C-5139) to exercise an option for the operation and maintenance of integrated lifetime support programs for the Aegis Weapon and Combat Systems, including Aegis depot operations. Services include providing material, equipment, supplies and technical engineering required for integrated program management, engineering and technical support, life-cycle engineering and logistic support.
Pratt&Whitney will keep four Connecticut plants open around the clock to maintain deliveries of military and commercial engines despite a machinist strike, a company spokesman said Dec. 3.
Lockheed Martin Logistics Management Inc., Greenville, S.C., is being awarded a $5,268,705 fixed-price-incentive-fee with award-fee contract to provide for aircraft maintenance services in support of the F-15 and F-22 aircraft (when it comes on-line during the second quarter of fiscal year 2003) for the 325th Fighter Wing, Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla. Aircraft maintenance includes all unit assigned aircraft and associated ground support equipment for the 325th Fighter Wing. At this time, the total amount of funds has been obligated.
The Senate has confirmed Ret. Navy Vice Adm. Conrad Lautenbacher as undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere, putting him in charge of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. NOAA manages the nation's operational weather and environmental satellites and a fleet of research ships and aircraft.
Bell-Boeing Joint Program Office, Patuxent River, Md., is being awarded a $56,283,781 modification to a previously awarded advance acquisition contract (N00019-00-C-0183) to provide additional funding to continue the manufacture of fiscal year 2002 aircraft for the Lot VI MV-22 effort. Work will be performed in Ridley Park, Pa. (50%); Fort Worth, Texas (35%); and Amarillo, Texas (15%), and is expected to be completed in August 2004. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
As the first Air Force program to contract out flight training, the Predator medium altitude endurance Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) system, currently being used in military operations over Afghanistan, is opening up new opportunities for contractors.
General Electric International Inc., Cincinnati, Ohio, is being awarded a $19,333,220 delivery-order fourth-year requirements of a performance-based logistics requirements contract for the repair of T-700 engine components used on H-60, AH-1W and SH-2G aircraft. In addition to engine component repair, the contract provides a three-year warranty and all of the following material management functions: receiving, warehousing, inventory management, packing, shipping and electronic data interchange reporting transactions of the T-700 Engine Component Repair Program.
McDonnell Douglas Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Boeing Co., St. Louis, Mo., is being awarded a $42,675,695 ceiling priced modification to a previously awarded fixed-price, incentive-fee contract (N00019-00-C-0307) to provide the initial low rate production activities to protect the delivery schedule for advanced mission computers and displays that will be integrated into the F/A-18 E/F Lot 25 aircraft. Work will be performed in Minneapolis, Minn. (62%); Albuquerque, N.M. (20%); and St. Louis, Mo. (18%), and is expected to be completed by September 2003.
Aerospace and defense analysts with Standard&Poor's affirmed the credit ratings for Honeywell International Inc. following an announcement by the company's European holding unit, Honeywell Holding B.V., that it plans to offer bond notes worth 250 million euros ($222 million). The notes, which come due in 2006, are guaranteed by Honeywell International and the proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes. Analysts assigned the notes an "A" rating.
As part of the ongoing National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation into American Airlines Flight 587, NASA Langley Research Center will be examining key portions of the tail section of the Airbus A300 aircraft, which crashed 103 seconds after takeoff. The tail parts are due to arrive at Langley in Hampton, Va. on Dec. 3. Flight 587 crashed in Belle Harbor, N.Y. Nov. 12, killing all 260 people onboard as well as five more on the ground.
Although solar sails show great promise for interplanetary exploration (DAILY, Nov. 27), they can't be used in a combined-cycle configuration with other propulsion systems such as nuclear or electric propulsion, according to Les Johnson, manager of in-space propulsion for NASA's Advanced Space Transportation Program. "The other propulsion systems would be just too heavy to put onboard," Johnson says.
Integrated Flight Test 7 of a key missile defense program was not intended to be "a pass-fail test," Ballistic Missile Defense Organization Director Maj. Gen. Ronald Kadish said Nov. 30. The test was scheduled for Dec. 1 between 9 p.m. and 1:00 a.m. EST (DAILY, Nov. 30). Before the test, Kadish told reporters BMDO is "testing to learn." The test was originally scheduled to take place Oct. 24, but BMDO delayed the test by several weeks to allow for additional preparations.
The Senate Commerce Committee will hold a hearing Dec. 7 on Sean O'Keefe's nomination to be NASA administrator. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), chairman of the science, technology and space subcommittee, will preside. O'Keefe, now deputy director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, is expected to face tough questions about his commitment to manned space flight, but will go into the hearing with certain political strengths. He won Senate confirmation to his current post earlier this year and is a former defense aide to Sen.
Officials with Northrop Grumman Corp. announced Nov. 30 the company has completed its cash and stock tender offer for all outstanding common stock shares of Newport News Shipbuilding Inc. The tender offer expired at midnight Nov. 29 and all validly tendered shares have been accepted for exchange, company officials said. "Northrop Grumman is now a world class, fully-capable shipbuilding company with expertise in every class of nuclear and non-nuclear vessel," Northrop Grumman CEO and Chairman Kent Kresa said.
NASA has selected a Pluto-Kuiper Belt mission to proceed to preliminary design studies, with the goal of a launch in 2006 - if Congress and the Bush Administration approve the budget.
NASA scientists are ready to demonstrate aerocapture - using a planet's atmosphere to slow a spacecraft and "capture" it into orbit - before the end of the decade. Aerospace agency scientists have been ready to try it for years, according to Richard Powell, senior research engineer at NASA Langley Research Center and head of NASA's Aero-Assist Working Group. "I think if you talk to anybody in the aerocapture community, they'll tell you all they really need is the chance," Powell told The DAILY.
Although much of the focus on homeland defense has been on securing the nation's airports and airways, the Department of Transportation will also take steps to secure the nation's ports, says Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta. Mineta told attendees at the Nov. 27 Homeland Security&Defense conference in Washington that more than 17 million cargo containers pass through America's 361 ports each year. "This raises a specific concern, because there are going to be times ... when a container unloaded at a port on one day ends up ...
