Two years after the Ministry of Defence awarded U.K. Raytheon Systems Ltd. a $1.3 billion contract for the Airborne Stand-off Radar (ASTOR), company official Peter Robbie, the director of radar and reconnaissance systems, reports the battlefield surveillance program is on schedule and within budget.
The U.S. aerospace and defense industry, having gone through a period of consolidation, faces a period of refocusing in the wake of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, according to one industry analyst. "Regardless of how this crisis raises demands for defense goods, I think it's pretty obvious that the industry needs to be realigned," said Loren B. Thompson of the Lexington Institute, in Arlington, Va.
Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) has chosen not to offer an amendment to the fiscal 2002 defense authorization bill that would have required that $1.3 billion allocated for missile defense or anti-terrorism be used only for anti-terrorism, an aide said Sept. 26. Biden, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, had indicated Sept. 24 that he was considering proposing such an amendment (DAILY, Sept. 25).
The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in Washington and New York may speed initiatives to improve Foreign Military Sales (FMS), according to U.S. government and industry representatives, but at least one major U.S. ally remains skeptical. While offering words of support and sympathy for the U.S. in the wake of the recent attacks, the new Dutch defense cooperation attachE, Dirk Habig, criticized the U.S. for its reluctance to share technology with NATO allies.
A Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor successfully fired an Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile for the first time on Sept. 21, AMRAAM-maker Raytheon Co. announced Sept. 24. The F-22 launched a test missile in a beyond-visual-range, head-on engagement of a sub-scale target drone over a Naval Air Warfare Center test range in Point Mugu, Calif. The AMRAAM closed to within optimum range of the target seconds after its launch, according to the Boeing Co., which built the F-22 avionics software that guided the missile.
EMS TECHNOLOGIES, INC. has delivered a spare high-gain antenna for the International Space Station, the company announced. The space-to-ground high-gain antenna, capable of data rates of up to 75 Mbps, is used for data-rate transmissions and receptions to the ISS. Its 74-inch-diameter parabolic cassegrain reflector carries multi-channel video and high-speed scientific data. The Ku-band antenna automatically tracks NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System.
Cooperation between the United States and Russia on counter-terrorism efforts could offer opportunities, as well as challenges, to proponents of U.S. missile defense systems, according to analysts speaking at the Heritage Foundation in Washington. Kim Holmes, vice president and director of the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for International Studies, said Russian President Vladimir Putin could present a "bill" to the U.S. for its services in the coming campaign that might include a demand that the U.S. curtail its missile defense program.
SEA LAUNCH and Boeing Space&Communications will have a common sales and marketing organization for Sea Launch and Boeing Delta commercial launch services, the companies announced. The new marketing and sales organization will fall under Boeing Launch Services Inc. A separate organization will handle U.S. government marketing and sales for the Boeing Delta launch vehicle. Both marketing and sales organizations will be located in Huntington Beach, Calif., according to Boeing. Although Boeing Launch Services Inc.
With the deadline for the Defense Department's Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) looming, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said military transformation is still an important priority and only a few changes will be needed to the final draft of the QDR due Sept. 30. The work done on the QDR prior to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, "while not prescient, at least addressed the problems of homeland defense and the problem of asymmetrical threats very well," Rumsfeld said at a Sept. 25 press briefing.
CORNING INC. announced that its HPFS fused silica glass material is being studied by NASA as part of the Materials International Space Station Experiment, which investigates the stability and durability of a variety of materials planned for future space applications. Fused silica glass samples will be exposed outside the station for about 18 months, then retrieved and analyzed. The Corning, N.Y.-based company has provided the window glass for every manned space launch vehicle NASA has built, including all the glass for the space station.
BLOCK 5.3: Lockheed Martin has begun delivery of C-130Js with a new software configuration that brings the aircraft avionics to full functionality. The Block 5.3 software is part of the KC-130J tankers being delivered to the U.S. Marine Corps, and the Australian air force is accepting Block 5.3 upgrades for its existing aircraft.
SAT CORP., a subsidiary of Integral Systems, Inc., will develop and deliver a Telstar 8 satellite communications simulator to Space Systems/Loral, manufacturer of the Telstar 8 satellite. The simulator provides for ground-based testing of both the C-band and the Ka-band transponders that will be used on the Telstar 8.
The U.S. Navy's Cooperative Engagement Capability (CEC) passed its recent operational evaluation test, clearing the way for a Department of Defense full-scale production decision this fall, Raytheon Co. announced Sept. 25. If DOD gives the green light, the Navy can start building about 160 systems in full-rate quantities. Raytheon is currently producing more than 50 CEC systems under low-rate initial production contracts.
NASA's Deep Space 1 spacecraft has provided scientists with a close-up look at the nucleus of comet Borrelly, the best look ever inside a comet's core of dust and gas, researchers and NASA officials said Sept. 25. Deep Space 1 made its closest approach to Borrelly on Sept. 22 (DAILY, Sept. 25) and sent back pictures of the comet's rugged landscape.
LOCKHEED MARTIN SPACE OPERATIONS CO. of Houston will continue providing communications, engineering services and maintenance of facilities under a $47.5 million cost-plus-award-fee option under the existing $1.9 billion Consolidated Space Operations Contract with NASA. The work will be done at Kennedy Space Center and NASA facilities at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. No new jobs are being created.
BOEING SATELLITE SYSTEMS has completed the design of nine unique types of application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) for the Spaceway broadband satellite system, the Boeing Co. unit announced. Spaceway is a satellite network being developed by Hughes Network Systems, and is scheduled to begin North American service in 2003. Boeing is building three Spaceway satellites, two for the North American segment, plus a spare. The ASICs will execute key functions of the spacecraft's Digital Signal Processor.
Orbital Imaging Corp. (Orbimage) will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as it restructures in the wake of a launch failure that doomed its OrbView-4 satellite (DAILY, Sept. 25). Orbimage, of Dulles, Va., announced it has reached an agreement with investors to provide the company with additional working capital. Part of that agreement will give the company $13 million in insurance covering the OrbView-4.
Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) is trying to add a provision to the fiscal 2002 defense authorization bill to make federal loans and loan guarantees available for the development of commercial reusable space vehicles. The proposed amendment, which became public Sept. 25, would authorize $1.5 billion for loans and the administration of loans and loan guarantees.
THERMACORE INTERNATIONAL INC., a subsidiary of Modine Manufacturing Co., will supply cooling technology to Northrop Grumman for use on Block 60 F-16 fighters, the company announced Sept. 25. The company will supply flexible-loop heat pipes that will be used to cool the targeting laser in the Internal Flir Targeting System pod. The company said the Northrop Grumman buy represents the first significant production of the technology.
The biggest issue facing military planners is improving the flow of human intelligence and sharing that intelligence among the services and government agencies fighting terrorism, three military officials nominated for senior positions in the Department of Defense said Sept. 25.
A company in Ukraine said it is ready to begin offering the services of the Thuraya Satellite Telecommunications Co., while a company affiliate in Russia said it has taken a major step toward doing the same. The United Arab Emirates-based company's Ukraine affiliate announced it will begin selling Thuraya handsets and service activation. Thuraya-Ukrainian has roaming agreements with mobile service operators UMC, Golden Telecom and URS, and Thuraya aims to have 5,000 subscribers in Ukraine by September 2002.
The House will likely narrow a Bush Administration proposal that would give President Bush the power to waive sanctions on defense exports to countries that help the U.S. fight terrorism, a House aide told The DAILY Sept. 24. The Administration is seeking the waiver authority for five years to strengthen its ability to fight terrorism, but many House members view the provision as too sweeping.
In the wake of the recent terrorist attacks, Undersecretary of Defense (Comptroller) Dov Zakheim said he expects the Administration's 2002 defense budget request will have to go up even more as a result of national security programs being created or accelerated by fiscal 2001 emergency spending.
