Has rescheduled liftoff of the MSG-3 meteorological spacecraft to July 5 from June 19 to give satellite fleet operator Hughes Network Systems time to conduct additional checks of its EchoStar 17.
AIR FORCE Cessna Aircraft Co., Wichita, is being awarded a $12,377,992 (face value) firm-fixed-price contract to purchase four C-208B aircraft for the Special Defense Acquisition Fund inventory, as well as training for 16 pilots, and 14 maintainers for future international partner needs by exercising the option against the subject contract. The location of the performance is Wichita. The work is to be completed by Nov. 30, 2013. ASC/WNZI, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8617-11-C-6209 P0009).
AIR FORCE Rockwell Collins Inc., Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is being awarded a $12,437,659 (face value) firm-fixed-price and modification contract for the order of 4,592 Defense Advanced GPS Receiver (DAGR) units and assorted accessories through the exercise of 30 corresponding options on the DAGR follow-on contract. The location of the performance is Coralville, Iowa. The work is to be completed by May 2013. SMC/GPK, El Segundo, Calif., is the contracting activity (FA8807-09-C-0002, P00029).
The U.S. Air Force’s chief of staff warns planners not to expect an influx of remotely piloted vehicles to shift from Central Command to training organizations.
PARIS — The proliferation of low-cost unmanned aircraft has driven Thales back to embracing the concept of gun-based air defenses. “You cannot afford to use very expensive missiles” against such targets, says Laurent Dupont, in charge of advanced weapon systems at Thales. RapidFire also looks to take advantage of improvements in sensor accuracy and ammunition to enable the gun air defense concept.
Click here to view the pdf 2013 House Appropriations Markup:Defense-wide Winners & Losers ($ in thousands) 2013 House Appropriations Markup: Defense-wide Winners & Losers ($ in thousands) Budget* Description Request
CAE is to provide a suite of ground-based training systems for BAE Systems Hawk Advanced Jet Trainers (AJT) ordered by Saudi Arabia, which the company identifies only as an “undisclosed customer.” The Saudis placed a ₤1.6 billion ($2.5 billion) order with BAE in May for 22 Hawk AJTs and 55 Pilatus PC-21 turboprop trainers. The Arab nation already operates earlier Hawk Mk.65s and PC-9s.
HOUSTON — A growing collaborative effort between NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) and the Houston Technology Center (HTC) to establish high-tech startups by leveraging the skills of laid-off shuttle and Constellation program workers as well as other active professionals is beginning to take advantage of synergies with the region’s other economic strong suits: energy, medicine, information technology and emergent nanotechnology.
Iran’s threat earlier this year to close the Strait of Hormuz highlighted what many experts view as a longstanding fundamental weakness in U.S. naval strategy: the inability to effectively and economically spot and neutralize naval mines. Such mines can cost as little as $1,000 each and are relatively easy for Iran to put in place. Finding and neutralizing them might take U.S. naval forces a month or more, essentially allowing Iran to achieve its strategic goal of blocking trade in the narrow body of water.
PARIS — German unmanned aircraft maker EMT is working on an upgraded version of its Luna tactical unmanned aircraft and a replacement for its hand-launched Aladin system. The Luna NG (next generation) is still in the development and concept phase, but targets an emerging German army requirement to replace the current-generation Luna and KZO unmanned aircraft. A vehicle mock-up is making its debut at the Eurosatory arms exhibition in Paris.
NUSTAR: NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuStar) high-energy X-ray observatory is on track for an 11:30 a.m. EDT launch June 13 by an Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL rocket dropped from a converted L-1011 commercial jet south of the Kwajalein atoll. During a teleconference from Kwajalein, NASA Launch Director Omar Baez said the drop, at 3:30 a.m. local time, will take place in a 120-mi. square “box” south of Kwajalein from an altitude of 41,000 ft.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) june 11 - 15 — AUSA's USA Pavilion Eurosatory 2012, Paris-Nord Villepinte Exhibition Center, Paris, France. For more information call Amy Frankenstein at (703) 907-2413 or go to www.ausa.org
Lawmakers are pursuing an investigation of leaks in the White House after a set of news stories detailing the Obama administration’s clandestine national security successes. The most recent story by David Sanger in The New York Times has drawn the most attention. The piece — a part of his book “Confront and Conceal: Obama’s Secret Wars and Surprising Use of American Power” — describes how President Barack Obama accelerated the use of cyberattacks on Iranian nuclear facilities.
The U.S. Defense Department needs to better analyze the effects of repositioning its force structure, especially in Europe, a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report says. “Although the Department of Defense (DOD) has conducted some analysis to support two recent global posture decisions, the full cost implications of these decisions are unknown,” GAO says in its report, “Force Structure, Improved Cost Information and Analysis Needed to Guide Overseas Military Posture Decisions.”
The first Bell OH-58D Kiowa Warrior armed scout helicopter upgraded from an OH-58A under the U.S. Army’s wartime replacement aircraft (WRA) program has been delivered by the Corpus Christi Army Depot (CCAD). The rollout comes as the Army prepares to release a request for proposals for the flight evaluation of potential off-the-shelf replacements for the OH-58D to meet the Armed Aerial Scout (AAS) requirement.
The Pentagon, FAA and NASA need to cooperate more fully to free up U.S. airspace to UAVs to nurture the market, says the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC).
LONDON — Australia’s order of 10 C-27s will help sustain production of the airlifter through 2015, with additional deals in the making that could keep the line alive until 2018-19, Alenia Aermacchi CEO Giuseppe Giordo says.
UNMANNED RESUPPLY: The U.S. Marine Corps Warfighting Lab is seeking information on available unmanned aircraft that could deliver at least 500 lb. of cargo to geographically distributed ground units from ships. Vertical-takeoff-and-landing capability is likely, but not mandatory, and the lab is interested in vehicles that could autonomously deliver at least two 250-lb.-plus packages to different locations from vessels up to 50 nm from shore.
