The U.S. Army's Space and Missile Defense Command over the next year will be conducting a tactical assessment of whether there is a need for direct downlink of commercial satellite imagery, Army officials said last week. The assessment will be conducted by managers of the Eagle Vision II program, a self-contained imagery downlink and processing station that will provide commanders direct access to multiple commercial imaging satellites.
DME Corp., Orlando, Fla., is being awarded a $16,090,759 option to a firm-fixed-price contract, F33657-99-C-0015-P00003, to provide for 171 Reduced Vertical Separation Minima Kits for the KC-135 aircraft. These kits provide a high accuracy altimetry system that allows aircraft to fly at reduced vertical spacing. Expected contract completion date is April 30, 2001. Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, is the contracting activity.
The Pentagon's national missile defense team estimates it will take up to $10 billion in addition to initial development and deployment costs of $10.5 billion to sustain an NMD site for 20 years. And, said Maj. Gen. Willie B. Nance, Jr., director of the NMD Joint Program Office, the cost could escalate depending on whether the system is upgraded in the future with more weapons and sensor capabilities.
United Technologies Corp., West Palm Beach, Fla., is being awarded a $2,685,400,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract, F33657-99-D-2051, to provides for technical services from January 2000 through December 2014 for the Component Improvement Program supporting the F100 engine on the F-15 and F-16 aircraft, the F119 engine on the F-22 aircraft, the TF33 engine on the B-52, C-141, E-3, and KC-135 aircraft, and the J57 engine on the F-4 aircraft. Expected contract completion date is Dec. 31, 2014.
NASA will convene a failure review panel to learn what it can from the apparent loss of the entire Mars '98 program of four probes to the Red Planet, with the "faster-better-cheaper" approach used to build the spacecraft likely to figure prominently in the investigation.
The European Commission said it will conduct an investigation of Astrium, a joint venture of Germany's DASA and the Franco-British Matra Marconi Space. Astrium, announced in October, would combine all space activities of MMS and most of the space activities of DASA. With more than 8,000 employees and annual revenues of 2.25 billion euros ($2.45 billion), it would be one of the world's leading space companies.
Boeing Co., St. Louis, Mo., is being awarded a $13,000,000 modification to previously awarded contract N00019-97-C-0009 to exercise an option for the fabrication, integration, and test phase of 4 advanced targeting forward looking infrared fleet training units for the F/A-18C/D/E/F aircraft. Work will be performed in El Segundo, Calif. (65%) and St. Louis, Mo. (35%), and is expected to be completed by May 2001. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured.
A plan redefining the roles of several U.S. government agencies in the development of aviation goals was released yesterday by the White House and the Dept. of Transportation. The document, entitled "National Research and Development Plan for Aviation Safety, Security, Efficiency and Environmental Compatibility," says that while implementation of the goals will continue to rest largely with the FAA and the aviation community, NASA and the Dept. of Defense will "play an essential role."
U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., has approved $500 million in financing for ICO Global Communications assembled by cellular telephone pioneer Craig McCaw, who has been joined by Indian television producer Subhash Chandra in putting up the equity needed to bring the London-based satellite communications out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
The South African Air Force has signed a contract for 28 Gripen and 24 Hawk aircraft, Saab Aerospace announced. The 15.7 billion Rand ($2.5 billion) contract, signed in Pretoria, represents the first export order for Gripen, which is marketed internationally by Saab and British Aerospace.
Boeing will unveil its X-32A Joint Strike Fighter concept demonstration aircraft in a ceremony Dec. 14 at Palmdale, Calif., the company announced. Boeing Chairman and CEO Phil Condit will be joined by Chief Operating Officer Harry Stonecipher at the ceremony, which will be attended by hundreds of people working on the program. The event will commemorate transition of the X-32 into the flight test program, which includes initial ground testing.
Major reorganization of the Royal Air Force's Strike Command headquarters is planned, following unit formations and changes resulting from the U.K.'s 1998 Strategic Defense Review.
U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command Chief Lt. Gen. John Costello has approved a plan to start exploring development of a 10-kilowatt solid state laser. Costello said at a symposium here that he signed off on the plan last Wednesday. It calls for SMDC to work jointly with Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. Livermore has already done some work on the laser.
NASA is considering use of a once-secret Mach 3-plus reconnaissance drone, the D-21, for reusable launch vehicle propulsion tests, according to Aviation Week&Space Technology magazine. The D-21, developed in the 1960s by Lockheed Skunk Works and the U.S. Air Force for CIA strategic reconnaissance operations, has not flown since 1971. If the program is approved by NASA, Aviation Week reports in its Dec. 6 issue, the D-21 would be reengined for flight tests in 2005 with the Rocket-Based Combined Cycle (RBCC) engine.
Lockheed Martin has completed the first article of a new series of "stretched" Centaur upper stages that will boost the performance of its new Atlas IIIB and Atlas V space launch vehicles. Measuring 38.5 feet long, the new "Common Centaur" stage carries a tank some 5.5 feet longer than existing versions. The cryogenic upper stage has flown more than 140 missions over 40 years.
An academic and an Air Force lieutenant colonel have been named assistant directors at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, replacing incumbents who are leaving for the private sector. Neal Lane, President Clinton's science adviser, named Gerald L. Epstein as assistant director for national security, and Lt. Col. Victor Villhard as assistant director for space and aeronautics. They will replace Bruce MacDonald and Jeff Hofgard, respectively.
Hughes Electronics Corp. announced formation of a task force headed by former Sen. Sam Nunn and Paul Wolfowitz, former under secretary of defense for policy, to review the company's new export compliance program. Hughes said they will also submit recommendations to ensure that the program sets a "best practices" standard for complying with the letter and spirit of U.S. export-control laws.
An Ariane 4 space launch vehicle pushed Europe's second Helios military reconnaissance satellite to orbit Friday, along with a piggyback military microsat called Clementine that will study the radio spectrum on Earth. Liftoff of the Ariane 40, which carries no strap-on boosters, came at 11:22 a.m. EST Friday from the Guiana Space Center near Kourou. The launch vehicle injected the Helios 1B spacecraft into its proper sun-synchronous polar orbit 18 minutes, 25 seconds later.
PROTON ENGINES: International Launch Services, which markets launches on Russia's Proton rocket, has told its customers a second-stage engine problem believed to have caused two launch failures this year does not affect the Protons they'll be using. "The second stage engines installed on the Proton launch vehicles assigned to future ILS missions were manufactured in 1997 or later and are not part of the production lot implicated in the recent Proton failures," ILS stated in a customer message issued Nov. 30.
SEA-BASED NMD STUDY: The Pentagon's Ballistic Missile Defense Organization is conducting a new study of the notion of using a sea-based national missile defense (NMD) as an adjunct to the planned ground-based system. While BMDO has studied the utility of a sea-based NMD in the past, Congress this time has required a report by March 15. A sea-based NMD is not permitted under the Anti Ballistic Missile Treaty.
TRANSHAB TALKS: NASA seems to be getting close to a decision on whether to proceed with a commercial laboratory module for the International Space Station. The space agency has been holding closed-door meetings with potential backers of a "Comlab" based on the Transhab inflatable module developed at Johnson Space Center, and the word is out that an announcement is likely next month and possible before the end of the year. Dan Tam, Administrator Daniel S.
Northrop Grumman said it will upgrade the E-2C Hawkeye aircraft operated by the Egyptian Air Force under a $138 million U.S. Navy Foreign Military Sales contract. The work will be carried out at Bethpage, N.Y., and in Egypt by the company's Integrated Systems and Aerostructures sector. The contract funds non-recurring design and development work and the procurement of aircraft retrofit kits and initial spares, the company said. The upgrade project, it said, will include replacing the Egyptian aircraft's APS-138 radar with the U.S.
Signal Technology Corp. said its Keltec Div. has formed a strategic alliance with Lockheed Martin's Sanders unit to develop a power supply for missile warning sensors. The Danvers, Mass., company said the move is part of an initiative to cut production cost of the Advanced Tactical Infrared Countermeasures (ATIRCM) system for the AH-64D Apache Longbow and other rotary and fixed wing aircraft.
