NEW DELHI — India plans to launch the GSAT-12 communications satellite onboard a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C17) on July 15. “Preparations . . . are progressing well at Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota,” an Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) official says. The launch vehicle and the satellite were built by the Bengaluru-based ISRO.
The Defense Department will likely need more money to make it through its Future Years Defense Program (FYDP) projections, which run through 2016, according to a recent report by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). CBO also sees Pentagon acquisition costs rising through the end of this decade. CBO’s projection of the total cost of the FYDP through 2016 is $2.9 trillion, which is $64 billion, or about 2%, higher than the department’s estimate.
WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGE, N.M. — One of the major focuses of the U.S. Army’s six-week, brigade-sized network evaluations in the New Mexico desert this summer is to once again put the family of Joint Tactical Radio Systems (JTRS) through their paces, particularly the Boeing-built Ground Mobile Radio (GMR), a four-channel voice and data radio.
Lockheed Martin took a major step toward the development and delivery of its ACB-12 Aegis SPY-1 radar system with a recent test of its multi-mission signal processor (MMSP) against live aircraft, the company says. The radar—which combines air and ballistic missile defense (BMD—successfully identified, tracked and conducted simulated engagements against live aircraft in a “stressing electronic-attack environment,” according to the company.
SINGAPORE — Following decades of underfunding, the Philippines is boosting its military spending and preparing to make some major defense purchases, including a long-range maritime patrol aircraft. The Philippine government has disclosed it will allocate 40 billion pesos ($920 million) to upgrade the military. Lt. Gen. Oscar Rabena, the Philippine air force chief, has since said publicly that 14 billion pesos of that will be for the air force, which will use it to buy the maritime patrol aircraft as well as radar equipment and utility helicopters.
Integrating unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and helping to export them are chief among policy concerns to further the interests of U.S. aerospace and defense companies, says Aerospace Industries Association President and CEO Marion Blakey.
ZELTWEG Austria — The Austrian government is expected to decide this year on how to handle its long-term jet trainer needs. The country has been looking for several years into options for handling future training requirements, with the Saab 105 now in service aging.
The latest unmanned aircraft pictures from China show a reconnaissance truck with a joined wing and tail that could considerably increase range and payload and produce better handling at high altitudes.
The Defense Department lacks an overall plan to protect the maritime realm, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) says, and should “develop and implement a strategy with objectives, roles and responsibilities” for maritime domain awareness.
LightSquared has formally presented a revised plan for its nationwide wireless broadband network as the final report on interference testing shows that its original deployment plan is “incompatible with aviation GPS operations.” Without significant mitigation, the report says LightSquared’s plans to deploy 40,000 high-power terrestrial transmitters across the U.S. “would result in a complete loss of GPS operations below 2,000 ft. above ground level over a large radius” from metropolitan areas.
HOUSTON — NASA’s long-running shuttle program will transition quickly into a two-year final retirement phase – marked by thousands of reassignments of federal civil servants and contractor layoffs – once Atlantis touches down at the conclusion of the 12-day STS-135 supply mission to the International Space Station. “The program will end 30 days after wheel stop,” NASA Space Shuttle Program Manager John Shannon told a June 30 news briefing.
JAPANESE SATELLITE: The BSAT-3c/JCSAT-110R telecommunications satellite is poised for liftoff on July 1 aboard an Ariane 5-ECA rocket during a launch window that opens at 5:43 p.m. EDT. Built for Japan’s Broadcasting Satellite System Corporation and SKY Perfect JSAT Corp. by Lockheed Martin, the satellite is based on the company’s A2100 satellite bus. If features two independent Ku-band payloads incorporating 12 direct broadcast channels and 12 fixed direct communication channels with uplink and downlink coverage over Japan. The satellite will be located at 110 deg. E.
An Orbital Sciences Corp. Minotaur 1 launch vehicle orbited the Pentagon’s first Operationally Responsive Space (ORS-1) satellite late Wednesday in a launch from Wallops Island, Va., that was visible up and down the East Coast. Liftoff of the solid-fuel rocket crafted from surplus Minuteman ICBM motors came at 11:09 p.m. EDT, and the spacecraft separated 12 min. later. After a 30-day checkout period in its 400-km (250-mi.), 40-deg. orbit, it will be turned over to the U.S. Air Force 1st Space Operations Squadron.
SLICING OVERHEAD: Lockheed Martin is planning to cut 1,500 of 28,000 workers from its aeronautics division, which operates largely in Fort Worth, Marietta, Ga. and Palmdale, Calif. The move is intended to lean out the company and comes on top of recently announced plans to slice 1,200 workers from the space sector. All areas are being reviewed for cuts, though the focus is on “higher level labor grades,” company officials say.
When the U.S. Navy brass starts to talk publicly about the service’s international missions and needs these days, the discussion often takes a tack toward Asia — and especially China.
WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGE, N.M. — The U.S. Army is about to join its Special Operations brethren in being able to fingerprint or optically scan suspects on the battlefield and positively identify them within minutes. The capability, called SEEK II, comes in a 3-lb. box with a camera and a fingerprint pad made by Crossmatch Technologies. The Army has long relied on the Biometrics Automated Toolset (BAT) system, which is slow, bulky and must be plugged into a networked computer to connect to the Defense Department’s biometric database.
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Defense and war costs have grown 74% during the United States’ slide from budget surplus in 2001 to debt in 2011, the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee said in a statement Thursday.
As the U.S. Marine Corps prepares for the withdrawal from Afghanistan, the service is splitting its time between keeping its current aircraft and vehicles combat ready and staying on track to buy the new models it will need in the coming decades.
