The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) International has formed a new committee that will develop safety and performance standards for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) systems, ASTM announced Nov. 24. The committee includes manufacturers of UAVs and their components, federal agencies, design professionals, professional societies, maintenance professionals, trade associations, financial organizations and academia, according to ASTM.
PALM SPRINGS, Calif. - The U.S. Air Force is pondering what could replace the QF-4 as the next aerial target for testing and fighter pilot training, a service official said at the National Defense Industrial Association's Targets, UAVs and Range Operations Symposium here last week.
Two senior officials with the Boeing Co. were dismissed Nov. 24 after an internal investigation revealed they had acted improperly, Boeing said. The company's board of directors recommended that Chief Financial Officer Mike Sears and Darleen Druyun, a former Air Force acquisitions official serving as general manager of Missile Defense Systems, be dismissed.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - City officials and civic planners here like the idea of the Air Force's Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) moving to nearby Peterson Air Force Base if Los Angeles Air Force Base closes - but an Air Force spokesman said that's a big if.
The U.S. Marine Corps' UH-1Y utility helicopter completed testing of its Special Warfare Kit Nov. 21 at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., according to Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR). The 10-day evaluation tested the helicopter's ability to insert Marines into special warfare situations where landing the helicopter would be impossible. During the tests, Marines deployed from the aircraft via rappelling, fast rope and parachute from altitudes up to 10,000 feet.
LAW: President Bush signed the $401 billion fiscal 2004 defense authorization bill on Nov. 24. The bill includes $9.1 billion for ballistic missile defense, $74 billion for procurement, $63 billion for research and development, and approves the U.S. Air Force plan to acquire 100 Boeing KC-767A tanker aircraft by leasing 20 and buying the rest.
NASA released on Nov. 24 preliminary cost estimates for the space shuttle's return to flight as part of an update to its evolving return-to-flight (RTF) implementation plan. The RTF initiatives that have begun so far totaled $60 million in fiscal 2003 and are projected to cost $175 million in FY '04, according to NASA (see chart).
The U.S. Air Force has awarded Lockheed Martin two contracts worth $109 million to replace Paveway II laser guided bomb (LGB) kits used in Operation Iraqi Freedom, the company announced Nov. 24. One contract is for $56 million to provide the Air Force with Paveway II GBU-12 kits used on 500-pound bombs. The second is for $53 million to provide the U.S. Navy with both GBU-12s and GBU-16s, which are used on 1,000-pound bombs.
MIDEAST SPENDING: Military spending by countries in the Middle East is expected to rise from about $52 billion in 2003 to $55 billion by 2007, according to a report by Forecast International/DMS. Saudi Arabia, which is expected to spend $18 billion annually through 2007, will lead the region, the report says. Israel is expected to spend $9 billion annually, followed by Iran at $4.5 billion. "The Middle East, which is one of the world's largest single regional arms buyers, will continue to dominate the market," according to the report's author, Thalif Deen.
SHIELD WORK: The homeland security market is a "growing opportunity for Thales" that has led it to create a "security board" to coordinate activities across its defense, aerospace and commercial information technology business areas, a company official says. Tim Robinson, senior vice president of Thales' Secure Operations Business Group, says Thales is proposing the Strategic Homeland Intelligence and Electronic Deterrence (SHIELD) system, which he says is broader and more complete than systems offered by competitors (DAILY, Nov. 20).
The U.S. Air Force has certified the 21,700-pound GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB) for use on the MC-130E Combat Talon I aircraft following the second live test of the bomb. The aircraft dropped the MOAB, the largest conventional bomb in the U.S. inventory, on a test range at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., Nov. 21. The first live test of the MOAB took place March 11 from a Combat Talon II (DAILY, March 12). The bomb was developed for the Iraq war but was not used.
PRAGUE, Czech Republic - The Czech ministry of defense is to start work on an installation for a $19 million Fixed Air Defense Radar (FADR) system in eastern Bohemia within the next two weeks, according to the ministry. NATO is paying for the RAT 31DL 3D long-range FADR system under its security investment program. The system was to have been the second of two installed, but it was moved to the head of the line after plans to build a FADR system at Slavkov, south Moravia, were halted by objections from local villages.
A $200 million cut in the International Space Station's (ISS) fiscal 2004 budget would deplete funding margins and leave little room for error as NASA prepares to resume station assembly following the return of the space shuttle, according to Administrator Sean O'Keefe. According to congressional sources, a House-Senate conference committee has agreed to cut $200 million from the Bush Administration's $1.7 billion FY '04 budget request for the ISS on the assumption that the program can afford the loss while assembly is on hold (DAILY, Nov. 21).
A closed Nov. 20 meeting in Washington on unmanned aerial vehicles in the national airspace system (NAS) successfully made the case for routine commercial operations of UAVs in the next five or six years, industry and government officials said. The idea "was well received" by a standing-room-only audience at FAA headquarters, said Chuck Johnson of NASA, who told the meeting how UAVs would be introduced to the NAS.
DEFENSE BILL: President Bush is expected to sign the fiscal 2004 defense authorization bill into law Nov. 24, completing action on the regular FY '04 defense bills. Bush signed the FY '04 defense appropriations bill Sept. 30 (DAILY, Oct. 2). Congress formally delivered the authorization bill to the president Nov. 20.
Spacehab Inc. said Nov. 20 that it has been awarded a new mission under the Research and Logistics Mission Support (ReALMS) contract to provide NASA with cargo services to the International Space Station. The contract has been modified to add the use of Spacehab's Integrated Cargo Carrier (ICC) to shuttle mission STS-121, scheduled to launch in November 2004.
(The following is excerpted from the written responses by Michael W. Wynne, who has been nominated to be undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, to written questions from the Senate Armed Services Committee. Wynne testified Nov. 18.)
SUCCESSFUL ACQUISITION: The Defense Department's new acquisition policies, which emphasize accurate budgeting and adequate reserves, are "very consistent" with commercial acquisition models "because they require technologies to be demonstrated in a relevant environment before a program is initiated," says Michael W. Wynne. He has been nominated to be undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics (see Senate Armed Services Committee testimony excerpts on Page 7).
SPACE BASED RADAR: The Pentagon, which has been studying whether the Air Force's Space Based Radar (SBR) program will be affordable, hopes to complete its assessment in the spring, according to Stephen Cambone, undersecretary of defense for intelligence. That is about the time the Air Force hopes to pick one or two prime contractors to begin work on the SBR spacecraft (DAILY, Oct. 9).
The Defense Department is making a series of technological fixes to improve the sharing of intelligence information among coalition forces in Iraq, a DOD official said Nov. 21. Stephen Cambone, undersecretary of defense for intelligence, told the Defense Writers Group that it became evident over the summer that greater intelligence support was needed for stability operations in Iraq. In August, DOD sent a team to Iraq to assess the situation, which resulted in about 80 to 90 recommendations for improvement.
NEW ASAP: With a new staff and a new charter, NASA's revamped Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) plans to hold its first meeting shortly, according to the agency. The previous membership of the ASAP resigned following the Columbia Accident Investigation Board's (CAIB) assessment that the panel was "not very influential" within NASA (DAILY, Sept. 24). "We spent a lot of time over the last few weeks recruiting the right kinds of people," NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe says. "Not one of the new members ...
The Defense Department announced Nov. 21 that Clusters 3 and 4 of the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) will be merged to improve interoperability and gain cost-saving efficiencies in development and production. The Air Force and Navy have formed a joint management and oversight structure to handle the combined program. Cluster 3, which has been managed by the Navy, is intended for maritime and fixed-site platforms. Cluster 4, which has been led by the Air Force, is designed for airborne platforms.
Dec. 1 - 2 -- Shephard's Heli-Security 2003, "Helicopters in the War on Terrorism," Crystal Gateway Marriott Hotel, Washington, D.C. For more information go to www.heli-security.com. Dec. 1-4 -- I/ITSEC 2004 (Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation & Education Conference), Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, Fla. For more information contact Patrick T. Rowe at (703) 247-9471, email [email protected] or go to www.itsec.org.
