The Marine Corps is going to consider acquiring AC-130s to bolster fire support, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Jones told a group of defense reporters Nov. 8. "I've recently asked Marine Corps aviation to look into acquiring AC-130s" to bolster fire support, which is a "significant weakness" for the Department of the Navy, he said. Jones said the recent use of AC-130s over Afghanistan gave him the idea, as well as his own experience in Vietnam, where the gunships entered combat.
Lawmakers have agreed to add $30 million to the Bush Administration's fiscal 2002 budget request to revive NASA's Pluto-Kuiper Belt (PKB) mission. The money is contained in the FY '02 VA-HUD-NASA appropriations bill, which a House-Senate conference committee approved Nov. 6 (DAILY, Nov. 7). The legislation was released Nov. 7, and the full House and Senate are expected to vote on it as early as Nov. 8.
The U.S. Army must transform its organizational structure and operational methods by the end of the decade or risk becoming technically and operationally obsolete, Secretary of the Army Thomas White told a gathering of the Association of the United States Army Nov. 8. To avoid that obsolescence, the Army will soon begin streamlining its overhead command offices, beginning with the offices of the Department of the Army, White said.
The Defense Department has adopted 10 initiatives designed by the Business Initiatives Council to reform military business practices, the Pentagon announced Nov. 7. The Business Initiatives Council (BIC) was created in June by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to recommend "good business practices" and to find cost savings that could be channeled into modernization and transformation.
Elbit Systems Ltd. of Haifa, Israel, will buy the assets of Elron Telesoft Ltd.'s Defense Systems Division for about $5.7 million in cash, the company announced Nov. 8. The Defense Systems Division of Elron Telesoft develops communications systems, information technology and image intelligence processing for defense and military applications and is based in Petach Tikva, Israel.
The Tactical Control System (TCS) conducted its first launch and recovery of a Shadow 600 unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) at Ft. Huachuca, Arizona Nov. 7, achieving what is known as level five flight control. TCS is designed to provide command and control for several types of UAVs and their sensor payloads from a single ground station. The intended UAVs include the Vertical Takeoff and Landing UAV (VTUAV), the Army Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (TUAV), and various Air Force medium-altitude UAV systems, including Predator.
Army undersecretary-nominee Les Brownlee opposes the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization's proposal to transfer the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS) program from BMDO to the Army, according to documents released at his Senate confirmation hearing Nov. 8.
NASA BILL: The House and Senate Nov. 8 approved the final version of the fiscal 2002 VA-HUD-NASA appropriations bill, clearing the way for President Bush's signature. The bill, approved in the House by a 401-18 vote and in the Senate by an 87-7 vote, provides $14.8 billion for NASA, a $500 million, or 3.5 percent, increase over FY '01 (DAILY, Nov. 7).
The remote sensing industry should play a key role in enabling first responders to coordinate their efforts in the event of another terrorist attack, according to a panel of industry leaders speaking at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington Nov. 8. The geospatial information industry stands ready to respond if it is called upon to more fully support the homeland defense effort, according to A. Clay Ancell, senior vice president for strategic corporate development at EarthData International.
India's Technology Experiment Satellite (TES), launched last week on a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) booster, is capable of sensitive defense surveillance applications, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) sources said. A panchromatic camera aboard the 1.1-ton TES provides India with satellite surveillance over large land areas, including those beyond Indian borders. A source said TES can be used for land observation operations, and "observing activities of hostile powers ... cannot be ruled out."
AIR TRAINING: Cubic Defense Systems Inc. will equip nine U.S. Air Force and Air National Guard facilities with "rangeless" air combat training capability under a $40 million contract, the company announced Nov. 8. Instrumentation pods and deployable ground stations used in the system allow air combat training missions to be conducted in any airspace, without relying on a fixed ground infrastructure.
A group of deputies in the lower chamber of Russia's Duma have introduced legislation to regulate military use of the country's space assets and define the licensing and certification of dual-use space technology and overseas launch facilities. The legislation was presented by 21 deputies, including Alexey Mitrofanov, the deputy chairmen of Vladimir Zhirinovsky's ultra-nationalistic Liberal Democratic Party and head of the Duma committee on geopolitics.
INTEL BILL: The Senate Nov. 8 approved its version of the fiscal 2002 intelligence authorization bill by a 100-0 vote, paving the way for a conference with the House, which passed its version in October (DAILY, Oct. 8).
Northrop Grumman Corp. and Newport News Shipbuilding Inc. have signed an agreement for Northrop Grumman to buy the shipbuilder in a $2.1 billion deal, the companies announced Nov. 8. The move takes Northrop Grumman, an aerospace and defense company, from "ground zero as a shipbuilder last April to the largest shipbuilder in the world," said Paul Nisbet, an analyst with aerospace research company JSA Research Inc. Northrop Grumman completed its acquisition of shipbuilder Litton Industries over the summer.
L-3 COMMUNICATIONS' Display Systems division will provide cockpit displays for the JAS-39 Gripen fighter aircraft under a $10 million, multi-year contract with Saab Avionics. L-3 will manufacture multifunction, high-resolution 6 x 8 inch active matrix liquid crystal displays, including a Flight Data Display, a Horizontal Situation Display and a Multi-Sensor Display.
INTEGRAL SYSTEMS INC. of Lanham, Md., will provide primary and backup ground systems for Satellites Mexicanos, S.A. de C.V.'s Satmex-6 satellite. The Satmex-6 will use Integral Systems' EPOCH 2000 product, a commercial-off-the-shelf command and control software package. The contract also includes baseband and radio frequency antennas and a backup site antenna system. Satmex operates a satellite system that offers broadcast, telephone and telecommunications services to 31 countries in Latin America.
SPECTRUM ASTRO has opened a new office in Pasadena, Calif., to support NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Spectrum Astro, headquartered in Gilbert, Ariz., has worked with JPL on many projects, including the development of the spacecraft bus for the Deep Space 1 mission. That mission, launched in 1998, recently flew near Comet Borrelly, returning images of the comet's nucleus (DAILY, Sept. 26). Spectrum Astro plans to continue working with JPL on future outerplanetary and deep-space missions, according to the company.
LOCKHEED MARTIN SPACE SYSTEMS CO. is streamlining its operations and reducing about 360 jobs to save an estimated $30 million per year, according to the company. The job reductions will hit the business operations, legal, human resources, operations and information technology departments that support the company's satellite, launch and missile businesses in Denver and Sunnyvale, Calif. The reductions will be handled through layoffs, attrition and worker relocation, and should be completed by the end of March 2002.
Any agreement that the U.S. and Russia reach to reduce their strategic nuclear arsenals should be "transparent, predictable and difficult to reverse," according to Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.). "There is no benefit in creating a situation where we worry that it would be easy and quick for either nation to increase its nuclear forces significantly," Levin said Nov. 5. "We would be better served with an agreement that gives each side confidence that its terms are being met by the other side."
INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS INTERNATIONAL of Vienna, Va., is conducting a feasibility study to plan and design a satellite-based Communication, Navigation, Surveillance/Air Traffic Management (CNS/ATM) system to be implemented in Venezuela over the next 10-15 years. The study is funded by the U.S. Trade and Development Agency.
Although many Chinese are convinced that America's missile defense program is aimed primarily at countering China's strategic arsenal, a new arms race is not necessarily inevitable, according to a panel of policy analysts speaking at the Cato Institute in Washington. China currently has a modest strategic nuclear force, including 20 to 24 liquid-fueled CSS4 intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), according to Cato analyst Charles Pena. Two new types of Chinese ICBMs are also in development, along with a new short-range ballistic missile (SRBM).
The major impediment to developing a space tourism industry in the U.S. is the lack of access to investment capital, representatives of several space tourism-related companies said during a Nov. 7 conference sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Department of Commerce. The obstacle is not the technology, the panelists said, nor is it the size of the space tourism market, which one panelist predicted could be as high as $1 trillion worldwide.
NORTHROP GRUMMAN CORP.'s credit ratings remain on CreditWatch with negative implications, although they could improve if the company's stock-and-cash bid to acquire Newport News Shipbuilding goes through, ratings service Standard&Poor's said Nov. 6. Northrop Grumman intends to raise about $1.2 billion through offerings of common stock and equity security units to help finance the bid.
General Dynamics Land Systems' (GDLS) attempt to broker a ground-breaking deal to acquire Russia's active defense system for tanks, known as Arena, ended in September when the Russian government ordered the local design bureau to halt negotiations with their American counterparts. An agreement would have been the first commercial deal involving U.S.-Russian defense cooperation.
INTERSPUTNIK has signed a lease agreement with Moscow Independent Broadcasting Corp. for relay capacity on the LMI-1 satellite, for broadcasting Russia's TV-6 information and entertainment channel. LMI-1 is a new satellite operated by Lockheed Martin Intersputnik, a joint venture of the Intersputnik telecommunications system and Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems of Sunnyvale, Calif.
