A recent study by the Futron Corp. predicts the use of Ku-band satellite services will evolve into greater need for Ka-band services over the next few years as customers increasingly demand support for multimedia applications. Because Ka-band transponders offer a larger frequency spectrum than the other two satellite frequency bands, C-band and Ku-band, it can support multimedia services such as voice telephony and video telephony and interactive data that require a higher bandwidth.
Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) hopes to offer an amendment to the fiscal 2002 defense appropriations bill to add $20 billion for munitions, intelligence and other defense programs. His amendment would provide the money in broad categories: $8 billion for situational awareness and intelligence; $4 billion for munitions; $3 billion for force protection; $3 billion for worldwide posture, which generally covers operations; and $2 billion for command and control.
Boeing Co. is no longer participating in a $4 billion industry effort to build the next generation of military communications satellites. In a statement issued after a Nov. 16 Air Force award of $2.7 billion to remaining partners Lockheed Martin and TRW, Boeing said it is "very disappointed" to have quit the task of developing the Advanced Extremely High Frequency satellite system. But, the company said, "considering the direction the program has taken, we felt we could not continue in the revised program structure.
NUCLEAR THREAT: One reasons why President Bush "backs away" from cooperative nuclear threat reduction efforts with Russia might be because of the "criticism that I've heard, [which] has been that the Russians should be able to pay for their own security," says Bruce Blair, president of the Center for Defense Information. "That in fact it's not a poor country - its economy is growing at 5 percent, it's awash in new oil money, etc.
Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Pa.), who co-chairs the congressional Electronic Warfare Working Group, is urging lawmakers to support a 2003 military exercise testing NATO's electronic warfare capabilities. In an issue brief recently released by the working group, Pitts wrote that NATO deficiencies in EW interoperability, highlighted by the 1999 air war in Yugoslavia, persist due to a lack of realistic EW coalition training. A NATO exercise the U.S. will host in September 2003 is designed to address the problem, he said.
Both teams competing for the Air Force's Command and Control System-Consolidated (CCS-C) program have completed Phase 1 demonstration verifications at Schriever Air Force Base, Colo. Integral Systems and TRW are vying for an eight-year contract worth about $142.7 million that will call for replacement of the current Air Force Satellite Control Network's Command and Control segment supporting military satellite communications and advanced satellite programs.
The technological advances necessary for the Army to field its Objective Force by this decade's end are far from certain, according to a General Accounting Office report released Nov. 16. "The Army's plans are highly dependent on near-term technological advances that are uncertain and long-term funding commitments," says the report, which examines the Army's plan to manage the transformation.
NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft has now entered the main aerobraking phase of its mission, skimming into the upper reaches of the red planet's atmosphere on each orbit to lower its altitude. Since entering orbit around Mars Oct. 23, Odyssey has tightened its orbital period from 19 hours to roughly 15 hours, according to Odyssey Mission Manager David Spencer.
MONEY DEFERRED: European research ministers meeting in Scotland agreed to defer some European Space Agency money intended for future International Space Station (ISS) use, saying it was a way to "send a clear message" to the station partners that ESA will stick to its station obligations and expects NASA to do the same.
BILL VETO? Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says he will recommend that President Bush veto the fiscal 2002 defense authorization bill if it does not include a new round of base closures. In a Nov.
South Korean officials are providing no hint as to when their $3 billion fighter competition will be decided, or which aircraft will be selected, even after a series of high-level meetings with Pentagon officials as part of the 33rd Republic of Korea-U.S. Security Consultative Meeting. Asked at a Nov. 15 Pentagon press briefing about the competition, the Republic of Korea's minister of defense, Kim Dong-Shin, said the Korean delegation had discussed the issue with their Pentagon counterparts, but no decision has been made.
North American Aerospace Defense Command reacted "very quickly" to the crash of American Airlines Flight 587 in New York last week, fearing that it might have been another terrorist attack, NORAD's vice director of operations told The DAILY Nov. 16. "...We did move our fighters down in that area, Col. Marke Gibson said. "We looked to launch some additional fighters until it became more apparent that this was simply an accident, at which time we stood down our forces."
EXPORT REFORM: The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has approved a bill that would raise the threshold for congressional review of major defense equipment exports to close allies from $14 million to $25 million. The provision, contained in a broader security assistance bill, applies to NATO members, Australia, Japan and New Zealand. According to a committee summary of the bill, the threshold provision "is an effort to cut down on useless notifications of arms sales that are of no policy interest, of which there are many at present."
UNSETTLED ISSUES: Although the events of Sept. 11 have led to a deeper friendship between President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin, agreements on some long-disputed issues will have to be reached for Russia to become a full-fledged partner with the U.S. in its war on terrorism, according to a scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Celeste Wallander, director of the CSIS Russia and Eurasia Program, says "the Sept. 11 attacks have crystallized [into an] opportunity in U.S.
Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), a critic of the Bush Administration's missile defense plans, hopes to offer an amendment to the fiscal 2002 defense appropriations bill to deny the Defense Department's $786.5 million request for a new Pacific test bed for the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense Segment. Kucinich, who co-chairs the House Aerospace Caucus, questions whether the test bed is needed and is concerned that its construction could violate the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty because it could be deployed as a missile defense system in an emergency.
RELIEF: The aviation security bill passed by Congress Nov. 16 caps the liability of the Boeing Co. and its suppliers to the amount of insurance they had before the Sept. 11 attacks, the same lawsuit protection given to airlines. A Boeing spokesman says the cap "removes a cloud over our financial situation."
Aerospace and defense analysts with Standard&Poor's affirmed their ratings for Lockheed Martin Corp. Nov. 16 and changed the company's ratings outlook from stable to positive. Analysts cited improving profitability and substantial debt repayment in affirming the company's BBB- corporate credit rating and A-3 commercial paper rating. However, the company is still working through large marginal programs with the risk of special charges and write-downs, analysts said in the report.
NUCLEAR CATCH-22: The development of nuclear propulsion for interplanetary spacecraft is stuck in a catch-22, according to Les Johnson, manager of in-space propulsion for NASA's Advanced Space Transportation Program.
B-1 BOOSTER: The Air Force B-1B Lancer fleet is playing "a huge part" in the success of the U.S. bombing campaign in Afghanistan, according to Rep. John Thune (R-S.D.), whose state is home to B-1s at Ellsworth Air Force Base. The B-1 and two other Air Force bombers - the B-2 and B-52 - have dropped more than 80 percent of the tonnage expended in Afghanistan and have damaged or destroyed about three-quarters of all the targets in the operation, despite having flown only about 10 percent of the combat missions, Thune says. "We would not be where we are today ...
SU-25TM in 2003: The first export version of Sukhoi's Su-25TM Frogfoot aircraft will be ready for delivery in 2003, Russia's Interfax-Military News Agency reported Nov. 12. The Su-25TM is a variant of the single-seat Su-25, a heavily armored ground attack aircraft built in the late 1970s. According to military analysts, the Frogfoot variation builds on Russia's experience fighting in Afghanistan, incorporating rough-terrain takeoff and landing capabilities.
A long-awaited airline security law that initially federalizes airport screeners and adds a surcharge on air travel now goes to the White House after the House and Senate overwhelmingly passed a compromise bill on Friday. The bill may add $4-5 billion to the cost of air travel, including $1 billion to be paid by airlines, Aerospace Daily affiliate AviationNow.com reported. Passengers will account for some of the remaining costs through a $2.50-per-emplanment fee capped at $5.
The Air Force is considering ramping up production on the next C-17 multi-year contract from 15 aircraft per year to 18, and increasing the total buy from 60 to 102, according to an Air Force official. Congress has expressed support for the Defense Department's current plan to buy an additional 60 C-17s through a multi-year follow-on, and negotiations on the contract are ongoing. The Air Force has procured 120 C-17s to date, including 80 under the current multi-year contract.
UNITED AIRLINES will install Taser electronic stun guns in the cockpits of all its aircraft to defend against hijackings, the airline announced Nov. 15. The decision is subject to FAA approval. United said the Taser weapons will be kept in electronically coded lock boxes.
